Birmingham state herald., 1895-12-22

A Big Industry Which Grew Up From Very
 Small Beginnings in Back Yard.
 New York World
 More than twenty-five years ago, in the back yard of an uptown house, man with an idea started to chop up kindlfng wood and tie it into bundles of requisite size to use in the stove. In those days people bought loads of hickory logs in the fall and had the professional sawyer and splitter, who paroled the streets with ax, buck and saw over his shoulder, to reduce them to the required size.
 From that man, with his back yard and his idea, great industry has sprung. The business was a success from the start. First the wood was sold only in the poorer sections of the town, where the slum dwellers found it very convenient to buy the cheap little bum dies all ready for use. They thus econo- mixed minutes that could be applied to their working, day. After time it got to be that there was not a street where there were not stores that kept the bun dies, and the small coal and wood deal- CTS, in the slum basements made them part of their stock in trade
 With the general use of the kindling steam and improved machinery came in- to use in the cutting and bundlng of the wood. Now there are extensive estab- lishments in the city, and the bundles turned out in the course of year amount to millions. At the present day all man. ufacturers bundle their wood in the same general way. In the early days the ends of the little sticks were dipped in rosin; another bundler put a small piece Of cork in the center of each bundle, while still another had each stick saturated with a chemical preparation. It was the general belief that some aid must be given to the wood, otherwise the coal would not ignite. But all other methods were put aside when one bundler hit upon the idea of evaporating all moisture from the wood through the agency of steam heated kiln.
 The wood used by the bundlers of kindling in New York is pine and hem- lock- The first comes from Virginia and the second from the forests of Pennsyi- vania. It reaches the city in the shape of long slabs. These slabs are split into lengths of kindlng thickness. From the splitting machine the lengths are run along a platform to a buzz saw, where they are cut into the lengths used in the bundling. As they fall from the buzz saw table the bits of wood drop directly into box through which runs an end less chain elevator. By this elevator the wood is carried far up to the top of the building and dropped into the opening of the kiln. Around the sides Of the Kiln run close coils of steam pipes. In the great kiln the little sticks remain from one to TOUT udyS. IHe iosS III tne NH treatment amounts to 10 per cent A cord of wood produces 1000 bundles. The wood is now infiammable and ready for bundling.
 The last work is done by boys, who stand at a foot-power press. Through openings at the bottom of the kiln the kindling falls to the table before which the boys stand. The bundling machine is two half circles of iron. one of which fits above the other. making an opening the size of bundle of wood. There is a slot at the bottom of the machine, in which the tarred twine is placed. On top of the twine goes a label with the manufacturers name and then the wood is packed in. One top of the wood falls the upper half circle of iron, the boy gives pressure with his foot the wood is pressed firmly in bundle, the twine is tied and the kindling is ready for deliv cry. In a day boy can tie pp 1000 bun dies.