, cuts it to the required degree of
fineness, removes impurities from it, and flings it to the side of the
operator, where it falls on a hempen net stretched over a four-cornered
wooden frame. The spaces of the net are about one-quarter of an inch
square, and through these any particles of dust that may still have
adhered to the cotton fall to the floor, leaving piled on top of the
net the pure cotton wool in its finished state. This work is always
performed by a man, and by assiduous toil throughout a long day, one
man can card from ten to twenty pounds weight of raw cotton. Payment is
made in proportion to the work done, and in the less remote country
districts is at the rate of about one penny for each pound carded. As
regards spinning and weaving, in the first of these branches of cotton
manufacture the Japanese have largely had recourse to the aid of
foreign machinery, but it is still to a much greater extent a domestic
industry, or at best carried on like weaving in the establishments of
cotton traders, in which a number of workers, varying from 20 to 100 or
more, each with his own spinning wheel, are collected together. Consul
Longford says the spinning wheel used in Japan differs in no respect
from that used in the country 300 years ago or (except that bamboo
forms an integral part of the materials of which it is made) from that
used in England prior to the invention of the jenny. The cost of one of
the wheels is about 9d., it will last for five or six years, and with
it a woman of ordinary skill can spin about 1 lb. of yarn in a day of
ten hours, earning thereby about 2d. There are at present in various
parts of Japan, in all, 21 spinning factories worked by foreign
machinery. Of four of these there is no information, but of the
remainder, one has 120 spindles; eleven, 2,000 spindles; two, 3,000
spindles; two, 4,000 spindles; and one, 18,000 spindles.--_Journal Soc.
of Arts._

* * * * *

[Continued from SUPPLEMENT, No. 612, page 9774.]

CENTRIFUGAL EXTRACTORS.

By ROBERT F. GIBSON.

SUGAR MACHINES.--Besides separating the crystalline sugar and the
sirup, secondary objects are to wash the crystals and to pack them in
cakes. The cleansing fluid or "white liquor" is introduced at the
center of the basket and is hurled against and passes through the sugar
wall left from draining. The basket may be divided into compartments
and the liquor guided into each. The compartment