A Catechism of Familiar Things | Page 7

ground to powder, and boiled.
Metallic, consisting of metal.
What is Chocolate?
A kind of cake or paste, made of the kernel of the cacao-nut.
Describe the Cacao-nut Tree.
It resembles the cherry tree, and grows to the height of fifteen or sixteen feet. The cacao-nut tree bears leaves, flowers, and fruit, all the year through.
Where does it grow?
In tropical regions, where it is largely cultivated.
Of what form is the fruit?
It is somewhat like a cucumber, about three inches round, and of a yellowish red color. It contains from ten to forty seeds, each covered with a little rind, of a violet color; when this is stripped off, the kernel, of which they make the chocolate, is visible.
How do they make it into a drink?
By boiling it with water or milk. There are various newly-invented ways of preparing chocolate, so that it may be made in a few minutes, by only pouring boiling water upon it.
CHAPTER III.
CALICO, COTTON, CLOTH, WOOL, BAIZE, LINEN, FLAX, HEMP, DIAPER, HOLLAND, CANVAS, AND FLANNEL.
What is Calico?
A kind of printed cotton cloth, of different colors.
From what place did it take its name?
From Calicut, a city on the coast of Malabar, where it was first made; much is now manufactured in the United States, England, and many other countries.
What is Cotton?
A downy or woolly substance, enclosed in the pod, or seed-vessel, of the cotton-plant. The commercial classification of cotton is determined--1, by cleanliness or freedom from sand, dry leaf, and other impurities; 2, by absence of color; both subject also to character of staple, length, and strength and fineness of fibre. These together determine relative value. There are two general classifications, long-stapled and short-stapled. Of the former the best is the sea island cotton of the United States. The short staple cotton, grows in the middle and upper country; the long staple is cultivated in the lower country near the sea, and on the islands near the coasts.
How is it cultivated?
The seeds are sown in ridges made with the plough or hoe; when the plants are mature, the pods open, and the cotton is picked from them.
Where did Cotton anciently grow, and for what was it used?
In Egypt, where it was used by the priests and sacrificers, for a very singular kind of garment worn by them alone.
In what manufacture is it now used?
It is woven into muslins, dimities, cloths, calicoes, &c.; and is also joined with silks and flax, in the composition of other stuffs, and in working with the needle.
How is the Cotton separated from the seed?
By machines called cotton gins, of which there are two kinds; the _roller-gin_, and the _saw-gin_. In the former, the cotton, just as gathered from the plant, is drawn between two rollers, placed so closely together as to permit the passage of the cotton, but not of the seeds, which are consequently left behind. In the _saw-gin_, the cotton is placed in a receiver, one side of which consists of a grating of parallel wires, about an eighth of an inch apart; circular saws, revolving on a common axis between these wires, entangle in their teeth the cotton, and draw it from the seeds, which are too large to pass between the wires.
How is it made into Calico, &c.?
The cotton having been separated from the seed, is spun by a machine for the purpose. It is next woven, then dressed, and printed.
What is Cloth?
The word, in its general sense, includes all kinds of stuffs woven in the loom, whether the threads be of wool, cotton, hemp, or flax.
To what is it more particularly applied?
To a web or tissue of woollen threads.
Web, any thing woven.
What is Wool?
The covering or hair of sheep. To prepare it for the weaver, it is first shorn, washed, and dried, then carded or combed by machinery into fibres or threads: formerly this was always performed by the hand, by means of an instrument, called a comb, with several rows of pointed teeth; this, though not much used now, is still occasionally employed, except in large factories. This combing is repeated two or three times, till it is sufficiently smooth and even for spinning. Spinning or converting wool, or cotton, silk, &c. into thread, was anciently performed by the distaff and spindle: these we find mentioned in sacred history, and they have been used in all ages, and in all countries yet discovered. The natives of India, and of some other parts of the world, still employ this simple invention.
What was the next improvement?
The invention of the hand-wheel. In 1767, a machine called the spinning-jenny was invented by a weaver named Hargreaves; but the greatest improvement in the art of spinning was effected by Mr. Arkwright, in 1768: these two inventions were combined, and again improved upon in 1776; so that by the new plan, the material can be converted into