Year: 1876

"A fifteen year old boy" who was borr

 snd has always lived west of the Rocky

 Mountains where he has not learned to call himself anything but .boy" learner as yet (he would have signed himself "a young

 man" had he lived in some places we wot of

 wants us to tell him and his fellows hor our

 engrayings are made, Wewill try Uncol-

 ored pictures are made by marks, dots, or fine lines, upon fiat surface, with pen, pen

 Gil or brush. Light and dark shades show

 the different parts of an object. To print

 such pictures, the artist takes very hard

 piece of Turkey boxwood, cuts of across

 the grain piece just the thickness of the

 length of type. One side of this he polishes

 smooth, and colors it white like drawing pa

 per. This is on the ends of the grain of the

 wood. Next he draws upon it, with pen

 Gil, just the picture he wants printed. Then

 the eagrarer takes 1t, and with some sharp,

 fine pointed little chisels, he cuts away every

 bit of the surface of the wood that is not

 touched with the pencil in making the

 picture. To help his sight, and hand, he

 has magnifying glass on frame between

 his eye and the block, so that he can see and rightly cut out the finest point. Now, when an linked roller passes over, the points and lines not cut away will take off some of the ink. A paper pressed upon these takes up enough ink to make picture upon the pa per just like that frs. drawn upon the block. This block is set up in page with the type, and an electrotype plate is cast from 1t. Then the printing press goes on multiplying copies of the whole page. The block being engraved on the end of the grain will stand a good deal of printing, but will wear after a time. The copper plates used to print do not wear readily; and the original wood cuts are kept fresh and new, to cast other plates from when wanted. (We have engraved blocks of nearly all the pictures that have appeared in the American Agricultmist. They have cost nearly $200,000 or quite that sum-. It takes good artist, and good engraver, and good deal of time, and patience and skill, to get such fine engravings as are used in this paper. Sometimes man must work two days on a single square inch or so.

 Examine now carefully the fine points and lines in the picture and see how skillfully the work is done; and then how carefully it is printed with fine ink, not to have any blots, or filling in the cut away spaces. Such pictures instruct and cultivate ones taste, while the majority of coarsely cut, roughly printed pictures usually seen, are far less beautiful and instructive. We pride our selves on our engravings, even those on the cover, a large portion of which are new in every paper. We give 800 to 600 of these pictures in every volume. They costa great many thousands of dollars; but hundreds of thousands of people see and enjoy them, md are instructed by them. Did you ever .hink that while some of these engravings cost from $1O0 to $200 each your beautiful copies of them, in the paper, cost you less han half cent each? even if you allow lothing for all the rest of the paper9 Six hundred of these engraving in year at $1.- 0 is only quarter of cent each. Now we lave told you how these are produced, we hink you can examine them infinitely, and njoy them all the more. We shall have ot of good ones for you in the next volume. 'ell your friends about them, explain how hey are made, and perhaps you will get Ome of them to join you in procuring cop ,s, in the paper, next year, for which the arc now ready to receive orders.