The Anderson daily intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson, S.C.) 1914-1915, 1914-06-02
WAT BECOMES or THE HORNS or
CtTTLE!
tI;y Edgar l.. Ninccnt.b

States som" days when The door Is
open and. looking i'll. see the great
pill oI cattl" horns. you would sure
lN wonder what possible use could
h' Inad' Of 50 man" Of them. Zig
horns ana little hoInS. horns crooked
and horn. straight. horns black. horns
white. and hOin* Of every kind. sort.
and dc. criprion. all brough, together
ny the carload and thrown into this
mammoth heap. waiting for What?
S,:uuld we venture over the thrcs-
mold in o'ir pursuit for knowledge ON
This subject. W. would be met with
Il peculiar smell. NOT really offensive.
md vet perhaps different fror any
We eyer nave experienced. This Odor
comn, from heated horns. And why
heated?
This j.; u comb factory the pleas
AMI faced guild" tells u*. coming for
waid To a;L us as lar as he can in
our quest for light on what Is coming
- ~. a most Interesting subjec, to us.
!'oi this is the court OF last report"
or IN" horns 0f the animals which go
to the market in This country. Gath
cred up from east and from west.
here ii!,y ar" now. waiting The last
chang" which shall make them once
more useful as well AS ornamental"
This is the day oi conservation.
Nothing must he lost. moi even tho
ipg OF the horn oi IL big Texas steer
n or" which once served both as Il
weapon OF defense ana a source of
pride TO the Eumblcs, horned creature
OF the Western wilds. So one after
another the horns are taken from the
heap III the SioreroOn and the tip
sawed OFF. Just a:' near 10 III" end as
Is practicable. 20 that IL: much of the
l:"rr as possible may he saved for
Combs Aud some day those who use
tobacco may find in The stem of their
pipes or the holders of their cigars
OF cigarettes. Ii they have the in
;,uisitiv' ness to pursue their inveSti-
CATIONS SO far. the little end of the
norm Of some OK that once brandish-
ed his eightrtE-inch weapon away
out on Il big ranch of the Southwest.
Even the dust of the factory is care
fully swept up and made into fertili
Zcr. which may some day appear
transformed by the wonderful ale
hcnly Of nature. into corn or wheat.
and so round again to horn and comb
Now Il deft workman takes the horn
robbed of its tip and saws il in two
lcngthwisc. deXter0usly shifting the
position of the bone as it is fed up to
the taw. so that it will come out as
nearly as possible in two equal parts
But the horn is too stiff and hard in
its present form to be fashioned into
anything that looks like IL comb.
Just how or when it was no one
knows now, but somebody more
thoughtful than his fellows found out
4 long time ago that boiling will soft
Ell even this seemingly inflexible sub
stance. This. therefore. is the next
process in the art of comb making.
II does not take long for the curves
all TO straighten out.
rapid process Of pressing sends
the pieces out In flat. triangular
shape. A bath in cold water hardens
them once more. and they are ready
for the workman standing next to the
tip saw Here the horns are cut into
strips OF various lengths according to
their size. Every bit is sawed so far
as can be done. ~
In the beginning of horn comb
making it was not so essential that
waste should he avoided as 1t is to-
day. Not so many cOmbs were re.
quircd as at present. and the horns
were not worth as much as they are
teeth of combs were cut by thin saws
which made a slit of the desired
depth down toward the back OF the
comb. One such saw was at first
used then gangs Of twos working
side by side. doing the work more
rapidly.
This was costly process, how
ever. and the day came when a ma
f,hin in
the teeth down through the plate Of
horn. Just az ii die would chop out a
disk of metal. This sawed every bit
Of the horn and lcssened the expense
for raw material very greatly.
But the comb would not be very
comfortable to use at this point in
the process of manufacture. neither
would II be beautiful enough to ap-
pear In places where combs may be
called upon to do service. To give
it more Of beauty and bring II to the
smOothncsS required. the comb is
now put through an operation of pol
ishing which takes every bit of the
rough exterior away. leaving 1t very
pretty as we'll as highly necessary
article Of household furniture. In
this process Of polishing the humble
corn husk and the smooth-faced cha
mois are brought into play. 1t may
seem strange that the husk OF corn
sould be worth anything as polish
ers: any one who has cut his finger
on to edge OF one OF these wrappers
of the corn ear knows that 1t is al
most as sharp sa razor however 1t
really was n bright idea to put this
quality of the corn husk to use in
making combs, and, after the chamois
skin and the rough corn leaves have
done their work. horn combs have a
beauty which makes them preferable
to many people. even to the excius-
lon of tortoise shell.
According to the census figures for
1905, te latest now at hand, there
were then forty-two factories III this
country making combs. Nearly seven