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Mnlphurle Aeld and ita luniketnH.
Sulphuric acid is employed in the arts
and manufactures for a large number of pur
poses. The manufacture of it is an exten
sive Industry, immense quantities of it be
ing consumed in the manufacture of soda,
In that of bleaching powder, in calico print
ing and dyeing, and in most chemical oper
ations, both in the manufactory and labora
tory. It is to chemistry wbat iron is to the
mechanical world. It is used in making
nitric, hydrochloric, sulphurous, carbonic,
tartaric, citric, phosphoric, stearic, oleic
and palmitic acids. It is called into requi
sition in making super-phosphates, sulpnuto
of ammonia, alum, sulphates of iron and
copper, in paraiDne nnd petroleum refining,
silver refining, manufacture of garaacine,
garanceaux and other madder prepara
tions, glucose from starch, and to dissolve in
digo.
Sulphuric acid is a dense, colorless, oily
liquid, without smell, and of an intensely
acid taste and reaction. It has a powerfully
caustic action and chars and destroys or
ganic matter from its strong afllfiity for
water. Oil of Vitriol, or the protohydrate
is not the only hydrate of sulphuric acid.
Three others are known to exist.
When the fuming oil of vitriol of Nord*
hausen is ex}>osed to a low temperature a
white crystalline substance separates which
is a hydrate containing half ns much water
as the common liquid acid. Sulphuric acid
in its free state is a very rare natural pro
duct; although in combination with bases,
it is common to the animal and vegetable,
and abundant in the inorganic kingdoms.
The only case in which is known to occur
free are in certain American rivers, especial
ly the Uio Vinagre and some lakes in Ten-
nesssee and Java.
Sulphuric acid is made from sulphur and
pyrites—the first being the most extensively
used.
The only establishment mnking sulphuric
acid from pyrites that we know of is located
in DeKalb county, A'A miles from Atlanta.
Thu upiKirutus for manufacturing this acid
is composed of four parts.
I The furnuce, where by combustion of
pyrites sulphurous acid is formed; this car
rying witli it nitrous vapors prepured in
burners, escapes from the furnace by a tube.
2. An upparutus tilled with coke through
which the sulphuric and nitric acids perco
late.
3. leaden chambers wherein under a high
pressure of stcutu sulphuric acid is formed.
4. (iuy-Iaissac's condenser filled with coke
through which sulphuric acid percolates
the aim being to take up the nitric and hy-
ponitric acids from the gases which flow
into tlie last chamber previously to being
discharged.
The pyrites arc calcined in peculiarly con
structed kilns built with fire bars, the spaces
between being adjusted with a key and the
admission of the air required for combus
tion regulated with great nicety. The best
oven for this purpose was invented in 1864
by Gerstenhofeir. The principle of this oven
is that the pyrites is made to fall through
and meet the column of heated air support
ing the combustion. In order to prolong the
fall of the pyrites (broken up fine) terraces
or banks are built at intevals in the shafts.
The broken pyrites fall through the fun
nels provided with grooved rollers to pulver
ise it, on to the banksfrom one terrace to an
other. The furnace haviug been made pre
viously red hot, the ore ignites and burns off
aided by a moderate blast. The acid formed
is discharged by channels into acid cham
bers. Sometimes it is first conveyed to an
ante-room where the dust of the pyrites
mechanically mixed with the gases is de
posited. Selenium and thallium are found
in the Hue dust of pyrites burners.
The use of leaden chambers is due to an
Englishman. The present mode was in
vented by acalico printer in Rouen in 1774
and improved by the celebrated Chaptail.
As soon as the acid in the leaden chambers
has acquired a speclfio gravity sufficient it
runs off into a reservoir and is then ready
for use.
The Sulphurio Add works in DeKalb
county, Georgia is one of the great enter
prises of the day. The building is 300 feet
long, 00 feet wide and two stories high. The
lead chambers are said to be the largest in
the United States. The capacity of the
works is 40000 pounds of acid per day for
which they find a ready market
In addition to this they have a patent
dryer for drying phosphate rocks, and a mill
THE SOUTHERN WORLD, MAY 16,1882.
for grinding the rocks with a capacity of
10,000 to 20,000 tons per annum.
The pyrites is brought from a mine in
Harralsou county, Georgia, near the line of
the Georgia Pacific railway. Prom 20 tp 30
tons per day are mined. After the pyrites
is burned in the furnace the refuse is roast
ed and carried into vats for leaching, and
the copper and silver extracted by conden
sation on iron bars. The residue (iron ore)
is used at rolling mills.
These works run day and night from
Christmas to Christmas. They are erected
near the center of a lot of 85 acres, covering
a number of acres with their buildings.
They have asliip load of Kainetfor mixing
with acid phosphates.
Some $200,000 is invested in these works
by northern capitalists. Pendleton's Guano
Works are located on one side and Col. G.
W. Scott’s Phosphate Works on the other—
both extensive enterprises. A Cotton Seed
Oil Mill is being erected on the same lot.
The combined capital in these four enter
prises will aggregate about $500,000, and over
300 hands will find employment at them.
They are quite an addition to the industrial
and agricultural interests of thiji section,
Mouth Carolina Cotton Hills.
The annual report of H. H. Hickman,
President of the Grnniteville (S. C.,) Manu
facturing Company gives a fine exhibit of
the results of the mills at Graniteville and
Vauclause:
Gross profitsnt Graniteville . $142,344.04
Expenditures .... 36,055.20
Net profits . 100,280.65
Gross profit of Vauclause . 77,106.00
Expenditures .... 4,117.63
Net profits 73,040.27
Muking a total of net profits . $170,338.02
Of this $54,000.00 was paid out as dividends.
The amount placed to profit and loss, March
1st, 1882 was $203,882.13. Graniteville mill
produced during the year:
Lbs. Yds.
4-4 Sheeting 1,480.027 4,470,000
7-8 Shirting 750,206 2,767,200
7-8 Drilling 009,587 2,671,077
3-4 Shirting 300,122 1,390,000
Total 3,458,002 11,317,177
The cotton consumed during the year was
4,064,25!) pounds, or about 0,032 bales of 450
pounds average weight.
Vaucluse Mill turned ont the following
aggregate quantity of cloth: Of all styles,
1,542,080 pounds—5,043,873 yards. Consum
ing in the process 1,840.150 pounds of cotton
or about 4,000 commercial bales.
At Graniteville 5 dwelling houses and one
lumber house, and at Vaucluse 8 dwelling
houses and one lumber house, were built.
Mr. Hickman has been handling the work
ings of the Graniteville factory for 15 years
with remarkable ability and gratifying suc
cess. His management is wise and prudent,
and Northern manufacturers pronounce it
the finest mill in the country. He is a large-
hearted, liberal minded man. That our
readers may see that he exhibits a proper
regard not only for the interest of the Com
pany, but for the employees, we make the
following extract from his able report:
"During the four years, beginning March
1st, 1878, and ending with February 28th,
of the current year, the Graniteville Mil)
was closed forty-five work-days, by reason
of protracted drouths and low water: and,
during much of the time when it run, the
speed was too low to develop its full capac
ity. To give you an adequate idea of the
value of the time lost, to say nothing of the
slow speed, I will state that the production
of the mills during the four years would
have exceeded the actual production by
482,070 pounds of cloth, or 1,604,400 yards,
and your gross profits would have been
greater by $24,477.40 estimating the full
running time at 312 days in each year. In
addition to this, the wages and salaries of
the non-producers of the employes, whose
duties and labors are not interrupted by the
stopping of the mill, add very considerably
to the cost of the goods produced—how much
it would be very difficult to ascertain defi
nitely.
There Is another important matter worthy
of very serious consideration. The produc
ing classes of your employes—the carders,
the spinners, the spoolers, the warpers, the
weavers and the like—whose labors and
wages stop with every stopping of the mill,
can 111 afford to endure this loss of time;
for with them “time is money” in the most
literal meaning of the word.
Idleness is demoralising, disorganising in
its influence upon some of them, as well as
upon others not similarly employed, and is
calculated to make them discontented, and
' to incline the beat and most industrious of
them to seek more constant employment
elsewhere. Their patient endurance in the
past is indeed wonderful, and worthy of the
highest commendation; and we owe it to
them, and the right, not to tax it too
heavily.
These and other reflections prompted me
to take counsel with experts, that some plan
might be devised by which the very prob
able recurrence of protracted drouth and
low water should not so seriously affect the
running of your mill in the future, as they
have done in the past four years. After
consulting with Mr. Hill, of Columbus, Gs.,
and Mr. Howard, your Superintendent, I de
cided to adopt the following scheme: To.
attach to the mill a steam engine of three
hundred horse power to supplement your
water power in times of protracted drouth;
to build substantial and secure head gates
at the mouth of the canal os safeguards
against sudden freshets; to deepen the canal
so that more water may be drawn out of the
pond when it shall be needed; and to sub
stitute iron tubes for the wooden ones now
in use, which are very much decayed, are
unsafe, and waste a great quantity of water
in its flow through them from the canal to
the water wheels. With the consent of your
Road of Directors, I at once proceeded to
put this plan into execution, and have made
considerable progress in the work, as you
may see. I hope to have the work completed
in time for any exigency that may arise
next summer.
I shall also supplement the water power
at Vaucluse with asteam engine of one hun
dred horse power, for that mill likewise
suffered serious falling away in its produc
tion and profits by reason of low water and
slow speed.”
At the annual meeting of the stockholders
of the Sibley Mill at Augusta, Georgia, Pres
ident W. C. Sibley, reported:
"On the 22d February last water was sup
plied to the wheels for the first time, and
the machinery has been gradually started
up since. We now have in operation 14.-
102 spindles and 252 looms. Thus far oper
atives have come to us as fast as we needed
them. We shall require at least thirty now
tenement houses and I would recommend
that they be built; also, that the capital
stock be raised $100,000—making it $1,000-
000; also, that the Directors bo authorized
to issue the company’s bonds to the extent
of $100,000. I have received from parties
who built our present machinery bids for
enough machinery to increase our number
of spindles to 37,600, and find that it would
cost not qti' to $350,000. Constructive account
of the mill $921,203.75. The March pay roll
was $5,670.33; total assets, $1,114,510.04; cap
ital stock, $900,000.
Tub Roswell (Ga.) Cotton factory lias de
clared a four per cent dividend out of their
earnings for six months. They will erect a
new cotton mill with 5,000 spindles.
R. J, Tkammkll has erected a large wagon
factory in Opelika. Ala.
Cultivating the Black Walnut.
A paper read before tbe Indiana State Board of Ag
riculture, January Sth 1682 by W. II. Kagan, secre
tary Indiana Horticultural Society and furnished
by the author to the Southern World.
th* BLACK walnut (Juglandt Nigra.)
On page 450 Report of the Department
of Agriculture for 1870, occurs the follow
ing statement: “In January, I860, there
was brought to New York from the West
a walnut tree, seventy feet lon& containing
4,600 feet, board measure, which when cut
Into veneers, thirty to the inch, would be
equal to 138,000 feet, worth at 20 cents per
foot $27,000. Tbe estimated cost of cut
ting, cartlug and storing for sale, was $700.”
And again, though I cannot give the author
of this item: “Aman in Wisconsin planted
a piece of land with black walnut., 23 years
ago. The land flooded spring and summer
and was unfit for ordinary cultivation. The
trees are now from 16 to 18 inches in diame
ter and have been sold for $27,000.” As we
are all aware, these are exceptional cases,
but that walnut lumber now commands
from $75 to $100 per thousand feet in this
/City, and that too, located as it is right in
the midst of 'former groves of which any
country might have been proud, is a fact
beyond controversy. But this noble forest
it gone, and we, whose immediate ancestors,
a stalwart band of pioneers, tolled long and
faithfully to remove the almost worthless
cumberera of the ground, are to-day care
fully engaged in gathering up the once ac
cursed stumps for their commercial value.
Not only this, but I to-day stand before this
association of farmers, many of whom like
the speaker, have spent wearv days in con
tributing to the destruction of these mon-
archs of the forest, without one word of
apology for advocating the claims of this
noble tree, as pre-eminently the most worthy
variety for artificial groves and timber
belts. Although addressing myself to men,
resident of a once densely forest-covered re
gion, whose business for half a century has
been the destruction of our noble forest, I
shall reiterate tbe warning, '‘Woodman spare
the tree,” and with it urge upon you the
propriety of devoting a few spare acres to
the cultivation of a walnut grove. I know ■
it has been sneerlngly said by our prairie
neighbors on the West, that they could raise
corn and have It manufactured into whisky
and glucose, for which they could barter us
Hoosiers out of our timbers, cheaper than
they could raise it. However true this may
have been in the past, I am satisfied that it
cannot long be practiced, unless we defeat
"prohibition,” or plant groves at an early
day, since we are so rapidly learning the
true value of our timber. Before present
ing my subject in detail, I will briefly al
lude to the fact that horticulturists, rather
than agriculturists, have been first to ad
vocate the claims of artificial forestry. This
is but natural, since their occupation leads
them directly to this result, the propaga
tion and care of young trees being to them
a source of revenue, and in view of the fact
that their tender and precious crops are
more susceptible of unfavorable influences
by climatic changes incident to the removal,
or partial absence of forests and groves. But
after all, the farmer has the greater real
interest in this subject. In the first place
he has the broad acres on which to grow tim
ber; he too, is greatly interested in the pre
servation of moisture and the amelioration
of climate incident to the culture of tim
ber; his herds and flocks receive comforting
shelter, both winter and summer from his
groves, while fuel and timber for his own
comfort and proflt result therefrom. Hav
ing thus briefly argued a few of the points
of interest to the agriculturist, in the sub
ject in hand, and assuring you that this is a
work that must be begun in anticipation of
a period of absolute necessity, if we would
provide against a timber famine in the near
future, I will proceed to lay before you a
few of the many arguments in favor qf the
black walnut, which in ray judgment, gives
it pre-eminence over ull other varieties. In
point of quality, as relates to the actual
value of the timber, I could not add to the
testimonials quoted at tho head of this
paper. It is doubtful whether any tree of
any variety bos proven of rnoro value than
the one cited, and the quality of the timber
is such that no fickle whim of fashion can
seriously depreciate its value. It is true,
black walnut Is not celebrated on account
of its durability when brought in contact
with frequent cliangos from a condition of
dryness to moisture, and hence is not so val
uable for posts and cross ties as many other
species but for other purposes, from the fin
est parlor decorations to the external finish
of the roughest out-buildings, it stands
without a peer.
It Is indiginous to our soil and perfectly
hardy, not requiring acclimation; it is com
paratively free from the attacks of depre
dating insects; it grows rapidly into a tree
of noble proportions. In the economy of
its nature, it gathers from the elements, and
annually deposits through its decaying fo
liage, bark, etc., a fund of wealth to the
soil, that has, in Hoosier parlance conferred
on it the title of “witness tree,” it being
regarded as a “witness” to good soil. It
bears at an early age, and annually thereaf
ter, full crop of nuts, that even now, possess
a commercial value, equalling if not excell
ing tho average value of a grain crop, and
this particular, if in no other, yielding a
yearly income far above that of most if not
all other trees that have been recommended
for artificial forestry.
BOW TO PLANT AND CULTIVATE.
All nut-bearing trees are difficult to trans
plant. This is due to the fact of their invar
iably starting from the germ with a strong
radical or tap root, which is apt to be seri
ously cut back in digging. On this account
nurserymen avoid the culture, and espec
ially the recommendation of nut-bearing
trees. One of the principal elements of
popularity of the Catalpa Spedosa, and one
no doubt which prompts many fabulous
statements concerning its extreme durabil
ity, is due to the ease of propagation, and
facility and almost absolute certainty of
success attending its transplanting. This
has also given unmerited reputation and
prominence to numerous other trees of far
less value than the black walnut,, or even,
the Catalpa Speciosa. But fortunately what
would be an objection to the black walnut,
when viewed from the nurseyman’s stand
point, that of self interest, is really one of