The world's opportunities and how to use them

Front matter

Class Book.

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Chapter I. The Aim And Purpose Of This Book

Success in Life. — Where Opportunities Lie.— Inquiries Based upon Facts. — Summary of the Principal Subjects : Population ; Farming ; Fruit-culture and Gardening ; Live-stock and Dairy Products ; Forestry ; Manufacturing and Mechanical Industries; Trade and Commerce; Mines; Fisheries; Professional Occupations ; Applied Sciences and Inventions ; Health and Mortality ; Work for Women; Amusements i

Chapter II. Who Are Seeking Opportunities

Area and Population of the United States. — Ratio of Increase of Population.— Nativity. — Density of Population. — Ages and Probabilities of Life . . . . .14

Chapter III. Where Opportunities Are Sought

Migration of Population. — Movement from State to State. — Motives for Migration, — The Great Currents of Migration. — Probable Migration from the North to the South. — Emigration from Europe to America. — No Return Current. — Distribution of Foreign Emigrants. — Residents in City and Country. — Comparative Growth of City and Country Population. — Distribution into Families. — Dwellings and Families 17

Chapter IV. The Occupations We Follow

The Necessity for Labor. — Importance of Labor Statistics. — Value of the Census Reports. — Producers and Non-producers. — Who are the Non-producers. — Net Results of all Industries. — Increase of National Wealth. — Increase Pro Rata 26 vi

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Chapter V. Farms And Farm Areas

Ratio of Agriculturists to Population.— Their Probable Increase. — No European Competitors in Agricultural Products. — What Constitutes a Farm. — Table of Farm Acreage and Values. — Number and Size of Farms Page 32

Chapter VI. Farm Products

Indian Corn : Its Acreage, Product, and Value. — Increase of Production. — Area of its Growth. — Qualities of the Grain. — Its Future. — Wheat: Qualities of the Grain. — Area of its Growth. — Where it has Advanced or Declined. — Causes of Changes. — Yield and Value per Acre. — Advantages of Better Tillage. — Oats: Area of Production. — Acreage and Value of the Crop. — Its Future. — Barley : Area of Production. — Value of the Crop, and its Future. — Rye: Area of Production. — Value of the Crop, and its Future. — Buckwheat : Acreage, Amount, and Value of Crop. — Its Future. — Rice: Area, Value, and Future of the Crop. — The Potato : Area of Production. — Acreage and Value in 1880. — Yearly Fluctuations in the Yield. — Its Advantages, Disadvantages, and Future. — The Sweet Potato : Area of Production. — Fluctuations in its Cultivation. — Probable Future. — Other Root Crops. — Sugar : Whence Produced. — Cane-sugar. — Main Sources of Supply. — Area and Amount of Production in the United States. — Maple-sugar. — Sorghum-sugar. — The Sorghum Plant in the United States. — Its Value for Forage. — Early Attempts at making Sugar from it. — Recent Improvements. — Large Increase to be Expected. — Beet-sugar. — Largely Produced in Europe. — Unsuccessful in the United States. — Corn-sugar, or Glucose. — How Produced. — Its Character and Uses. — Hay : Comparative Worth of the Crop. — Value and Estimated Acreage, — Amount Consumed per Head of Cattle. — Importance of Fodder. — Selection of Grasses. — Introduction of New Varieties. — Green Fodder. — Ensilage. — Cotton: Importance of the Plant. — Area of its Growth in the United, States. — Amount and Value of the Crop from i860 to 1882. — Value per Acre. — Price Dependent upon the Foreign Market. — Uses and Value of the Seed. — Future of the Crop.— Flax : Area and Production. — Decrease from 1850 to i860. — Increase from i860 to 1870. — Subsequent Decrease. — Value of the Seed. — Future of the Flax Culture. — Hemp : Area of its Cultivation—Great Decline since i860. — Ramie: Produces a Fine Fibre. — Introduced into the United States in 1857. — Why its Cultivation was not Profitable then. — Probability of Success. — Tobacco: Acreage and Product. — Slight Increase since i860. — Uncertainty of the Crop, and other Disadvantages. — Hops: Where Grown. — Fluctuations in the Area. — Pease and Beans. — The Pea-nut. — Its Value for Oil. — Beets, Turnips, etc 38

Chapter VII. Products Of The Garden

Deficiency in Statistics.— Horticulture : Market-gardening.— The Great Opportunities which it Offers, — Requisites for Success.— New Species of Vegetables to be Sought.— Improvements by Cultivation and Hybridization.— The Blackberry. —The Cranberry. — The Currant.— The Gooseberry.— The Raspberry.— The Strawberry. — The Whortleberry. — Floriculture : Cultivation of Flowers for

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Sale. — Rapid Increase of the Industry. — Affords Opportunities for Women to make Money. — Cultivation of Flowers for Perfumery. — Not likely to Increase Page 66

Chapter VIII. Products Of The Orchard

Productiveness of some Tropical Fruits. — The Banana, Date, Cocoa-nut, and Bread-fruit. — Few American Fruits Indigenous. — Fruit-culture heretofore Neglected. — Value of Orchard Products, from 1850 to 1880. — Where Changes have Occurred. — Consumption of Fruit per Head of the People. — Naturalizing Fruits. — The Apple : Its Introduction. — Early Favorable Conditions for its Growth. — The Most Valuable Northern Fruit. — Decay of Orchards. — The Causes of this. — Errors in Treating Orchards. — Starving the Trees. — Insect Enemies. — How to Destroy them. — The Best Soil for the Apple. — Manures and Fertilizers. — Peach-trees not to be Over-manured. — Grafting. — Special Value of the Apple. — Durability of the Fruit. — Varieties Ripen in Succession. — Varieties Recommended. — The Pear : A Product of Cultivation. — Standards, Budded, Grafted, and Dwarf Trees. — Area of Growth. — The Peach: Area of Growth. — Qualities of the Fruit. — Adapted for Canning. — The Cherry : Varieties and Value of the Fruit. — Plums: Not a Leading Orchard Product. — Dried Plums or Prunes. — The Gathering of Apples and Other Fruit. — Hand -gathering. — The Fruit-plucker. — Bruising and Freezing Fatal to Fruits. — Handling Fruit. — Storing Fruit. — Canning Fruits a Growing Industry. — Fruit and Health. — Fruit-eating a Substitute for Drinking. — Southern Fruits. — The Orange : Area of Growth. — Nordhoff on Orange-culture in California. — Seedlings and Budded Trees. — Importation of Oranges. — Great Increase of Growth in California and Florida. — Statistics of Growth, Cost, and Profits of Orange - culture in California. — Prices of Land in California. — Necessity of Irrigation. — Advice to Emigrants. — The Apricot : Successfully Introduced into California. — Plums: Largely Grown for Canning. — The Olive: Succeeds Fairly in California. — Probabilities of its Future. — The Almond : Experiments in its Cultivation. — Probabilities of Profit. — The English Walnut: Reasons for its Cultivation. — The Italian Chestnut 73

Chapter IX. Products Of The Vineyard

Area of Growth of the Vine in the United States. — The Soils Best Adapted to it. — Modes of Cultivation. — Future of American Vine-growing. — Diseases of the European Vines. — Oidium and Phylloxera. — Exemption of American Vines. — Value of the Wine-product of Europe. — Vine-growing in California. — Nordhoff s Anticipations, — Wine-making in California. — Raisins: Mode of Drying in Europe. — Raisin-making Recently Introduced into California. — Profits of a Raisin Vineyard. — Where they may be Located. — Processes of Drying and Packing the Raisins. — California as a Fruit-growing Region 97

Chapter X. Live-stock, And Its Opportunities

Importance of Live-stock. — Live-stock upon Farms. — Estimate of Animals not upon Farms. — Table of Live-stock. — Increase should be Estimated Relatively viii

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to the Increase of Population. — Stock-raising a Growing Industry. — Increase in Numbers and Value of Stock. — Reasons why Stock-raising will Increase. — The United States Must to a Great Extent Supply Europe. — All Parts of an Animal may be Turned to Use. — Neat-cattle : The Number of Working Oxen Diminishing. — Milch Cows, their Number and Value in Various Sections. — Improvements of Breeds. — Value of Animals Slaughtered. — Sheep: Their Number, and Ratio of Increase. — Value of the Wool. — Sheep Slaughtered. — Value of Sheep per Head. — Sheep-raising in Great Britain. — Profitable Results of Sheep-breeding. — Where Wool-growing Pays. — Swine: Their Number and Increase. — Where they are Most Numerous. — Slaughter-houses, Swine, and Corn. — Horses : Their Number and Increase. — Loss Occasioned by the Civil War. — Profits in Horse-breeding. — Mules and Asses: Their Number and Value. — Profits in Breeding. — Poultry : Its Estimated Value. — Where Poultrykeeping may be Profitable. — Mr. Bement's Experience. — Management of Fowls. — Their Feeding. — Poultry-raising by Women. — Bee-keeping: Less Practised than Formerly,, — Where it may be Profitable Page 106

CHAPTER XL

PRODUCTS OF THE DAIRY.

Milk: Quantity Produced and Consumed. — Its Value. — Milk Yielded by son* Improved Breeds. — Varying Proportion of Milk to Butter Produced. — Pedigree and Breeding. — Experience of Messrs. Pratt, Boutwell, and others. — English Dairy - farming. — Housing and Feeding Cows. — Corn -stover, and other Green Fodder. — Swill-slops as Food for Cows. — Milk should be More Largely Used as Food. — Preserved and Condensed Milk. — Cheese: Changes in Mode of Manufacture. — Quantities Produced. — Factory Cheese. — Butter : Increase in Production. — Creameries or Butter -factories. — Where Butter is Chiefly Made. — Value of the Butter Product. — No Necessity for Bad Butter. — Opportunities in the Dairy Business . 131

Chapter XII. Requisites For The Successful Farmer

Proportion of Agriculturists to other Producers. — Wealth of the Farming Class. — The Mechanic Works upon Dead Substances, the Agriculturist upon Living Ones. — Agricultural Chemistry. — Water and other Elements of Plants. — How Manures and Fertilizers Act. — Rotation of Crops. — Special Requisites for the Market-gardener or Fruit-grower. — They Need Good Business Skill. — Requisites for the Successful Stock-raiser. — Must Understand Agricultural Chemistry and Animal Physiology. — Value of Statistics. — Illustrations. — Opportunities in Stock-breeding, — High Prices for Blooded Stock. — Advantages of some Mechanical Dexterity. — Farming Requires Capital. — Suggestions for Acquiring it. — How to Learn Farming. — The Emigrant Farmer. — The Farmer Bound to the Soil. — Things to be Considered. — Salubrity of Climate. — Social and Educational Considerations. — Whence and Whither to Emigrate. — Accessibility to a Market of Great Importance. — Working of the Colony System of Emigration. — Suggestions for Co-operative Emigration. — Best Size for Farms. — Advice from a Successful Emigrant. — A Profitable Wheat Crop. — General Advantages of the Colony System. — Agricultural Laborers becoming Owners of Farms. — Mental Culture of the Farmer 144

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Chapter XIII. Agricultural Summary For 1881 And 1882

The Harvests of 188 1 Unfavorable —The Winter of 1881-82— Drought of the Next Summer. — Comparison between the Crops of 1880 and 1881. — Corn: Increase of Acreage and Decrease of Yield. — Increase of Prices, and Nominal Increase of Value. — Relation of Exports to Prices. — Effect of Diminution upon the Price of Meat-products.— The Corn-crop of 1882 between that of the two Preceding Years. — Wheat : Comparison between the Crops of 1880 and 1881. — The Exports of Wheat Affect its Price here.— The Wheat-crop of 1882. — Oats : The Crop of 1881 a Good One. — Statistics of the Crop. — Barley : Amount and Value of the Crop. — Probability of Increase. — Rye and Buckwheat : Comparative Statistics. — Potatoes: Marked Fluctuations in the Product and Price. — Their Cultivation recently Extended to the Southern States. — Hay : Statistics of the Crop. — Ranks in Value above Cotton. — Probable Increase of Cultivation. — Winter-feeding of Cattle. — A Farmer's Opportunity. — Cotton: Variation in Yield for 1880, 1881, and 1882. — Prices Low. — Nominal Prices and Real Prosperity. — Lessons from Good and Bad Years. — Live-stock : Grains and Meats. — Advance in the Price of Cattle. — Causes of the Rise. — Decrease in Swine. — Large Increase in Sheep. — Large Increase in the Value of Live-stock. — Growth of Exports. — Improvement in Breeds. — Future of Live-stock. — Proportion of Agricultural and Other Exports Page 162

Chapter XIV. Opportunities For Improvements In Wheat-growing

Our Small Average Crop per Acre. — Sowing Broadcast or in Drills. — Reasons in Favor of Drilling. — Where Broadcast Sowing is Necessary. — Hybridizing Cultivation of Seed-wheat. — Experiments by Prof. Blount in Colorado. — Summary of the Results attained by him. — Cautions to Experimenters. — Wheat-breeding as a Profession 178

Chapter XV. Opportunities For Farm-laborers

Farm-laborers and Farm-owners. — Wages paid to Agricultural Laborers. — Fluctuaations from Time to Time. — Great Reduction in 1879. — Rise in 1882. — Influence of Manufacturing upon the Wages of Agricultural Laborers.— Negro Labor in the South. — Average by Sections.— Occasional Laborers during Harvest. — Opportunities for the Laborer to become a Farmer. — How Savings may be Invested. — The Annual Saving of $120, invested at 4 per cent., will produce $1100 in Eight Years 185

Chapter XVI. The Precious And Non-precious Metals

Quantity and Value of the Gold and Silver.— Condition and Prospects of the Mining Industry. — Gold : Its Original Condition, — The Great Australian Nugget. — Placer^ or Surface, Mining. — Deep, or Vein, Mining. — Gold-bearing Rocks. — The Gold-veins. — Chutes.— Separating the Gold from the Rock.— Schools of Mines. — Opportunities for Success. — Silver : Its Wide Diffusion. — Where found

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in the United States. — Relative Values of Gold and Silver.— Iron; Rarely found Separate in Nature. — Value of Iron Ores.— Iron-miners, their Wages, etc. — Fluctuations in Iron-making. — Its Present Condition. — Opportunities for Skilled Labor. — Copper: Where Produced in the United States. — Metallic Copper and Copper-miners. — Quantity and Value. — Wages of Miners. — Copper-mining a Profitable Industry. — Lead: Quantity and Value. — Where Produced. — Zinc: Quantity and Value. — Statistics of Production. — A Growing Industry. — The Minor Minerals. — Value of all Metallic Products Page 192

Chapter XVII. Coal, Anthracite And Bituminous

Distinction between Anthracite and Bituminous Coal. — Quantity and Value of the Anthracite. — Where it is Mined. — Bituminous Coal, Quantity and Value. — Total Value of Coal and the Minor Minerals. — Statistics of Production. — Wages Paid and Capital Invested. — Present Condition of the Industry 206

Chapter XVIII. Petroleum And Its Products

Known from Remote Times. — Boring for Oil begun in 1858. — The Quantity and Value Produced from 1859 to 1879. — Great Over-production in 1880. — Number and Cost of Wells. — Wages of Miners. — Refining Petroleum. — Value and Cost of Refined Petroleum and its Products. — Uses for Petroleum Increasing. — Prospects of the Industry 212

Chapter XIX. Stone-quarrying And Salt-making

Quantity and Value of Building-stone Quarried. — Salt, the Quantity and Value Produced. — General Summary of all Mining Values 219

Chapter XX. Fisheries And Fish-culture

Inadequacy of Former Statistics. — The Report for 1880. — Capital and Hands Employed. — Value of Products.— Rate of Remuneration. — The Grouping of the Fisheries.— The Whale Fishery : nearly Extinct. — The Seal Fisher}-. — Danger of its Extinction.— The Salmon Fishery. — How carried on in Oregon and California. — Canning Establishments.— The Cod Fishery. — The Mackerel Fishery.— The Herring Fishery. — Herrings put up as Sardines. — Prospects of Deep-sea Fishing. — The Oyster Fishery. — Fish Cultivation. — Rapid Advance in this. — Artificial Breeding of Oysters. — -The U. S. Fishery Commission. — What it has already Accomplished. — Further Work to be Done. — Certain Increase of Fish Culture.— Opportunities which it Presents 222

CHAPTER XXL

FORESTS AND THEIR PRESERVATION.

The Wanton Destruction of Forests.— Its Effect upon the Water Supply.— Direct Influence of Trees upon the Rainfall, — They Equalize the Distribution, and

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Prevent both Floods and Droughts.— Forests Prevent the Washing Away of the Soil.— Fertile Regions which have been Ruined by Deforesting : Palestine, Northern Africa, India, Greece, Parts of Spain, France, and Italy. — The Spice Islands.— Island of Penang— A New England Instance.— Influence of Forests upon Climate. — Hurricanes. — Necessary Proportion of Forest Land.— Estimate in 1870 for Europe and America. — Careful Estimate for the United States in 1875. — Where the Deficiency chiefly Exists. — What Should be Done.— Forestry as a Profession. — Report of the British Royal Association.— Forest Laws. — Organized Tree-planting. — Duty of the Government. — Schools of Forestry. — Care of the Forests of Prussia. — The Bavarian Forest-school. — Necessity of Forests for Lumber Page 238

Chapter XXII. Lumber And Other Forest Products

Rapid Extension of Lumbering since 1880. — Quantity and Value of Products.— Wages of Lumbermen.— Other Forest Products. — Wood-pulp. — Money Value of Growing Forest -trees. — Forest Reports from Various States.-— The New England States. — The Middle States. — The South Atlantic and Gulf States.— The Central Western States. — Missouri. — The Half-wooded States.— The almost Treeless States.— California. — Requirements for Forest Cultivation.— Its Profits Certain, if Slow -253

Chapter XXIII. Condition And Prospects Of American Forests And Forestry

Sources of Future Supply of Lumber to be Found at Home. — Who must Conduct our Forest Culture. — Our Present National Forest Lands.— Present Condition in the Valley of the Mississippi and East of the Rocky Mountains. — On the Lower Mississippi. — Exhaustion of the White Pine. — The Yellow Pine of the South not Inexhaustible. — Timber in Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, and Colorado. — In Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho. — The Treeless Plains on the Upper Missouri. — Arizona and New Mexico. — Forest Distribution in California. — The Redwood Forests.— Their Rapid Destruction. — Foreign Lumbering Companies.— The National Redwood Forests, and how to Preserve. them. —Reservation of Forest Land from Sale or Grant.— Governmental Encouragement to Tree-planting. — Land-grants to Railroads, etc. — Importance of Forestry. — Opportunities which it Presents 267

Chapter XXIV. The Professions

Number Engaged in the Professions.— Former Status of the Professions in General. — The Clerical Profession, — Facilities for Entering it. — Its Advantages and Disadvantages. — Duties of Laymen. — Teaching. — Number of Teachers.— Their Wages. — Our Common-school System Defective.-— Offers too few Inducements to Teachers.— Other Disadvantages.— Importance of the Profession. — Poor Economy of Underpayment. — Requisitions for the Teacher.— The Medical Profession.— Its Requirements.— The Duties which it Involves.— Its Opportu» nities. — The Legal Profession. — The Strong Inducements which it Presents. — It is Overcrowded. — Advantages and Disadvantages. — The Literary Profession. —Newspapers and Periodicals. — Their Number and Distribution. — Journalists xii

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and Journalism— Editors, Contributors, and Authors— Hints for Beginners.— What Kinds of Writing Pay.— Preparation of Manuscript.— Rates of Payment. —Male and Female Authors Page 278

Chapter XXV. Manufactures And Mechanics

Manufactures and Operatives.— Mechanics and Workmen.— The Number thus Employed.— Steam-power and Water-power Employed in Manufactures— Advantages of Water-power. — Where it is Available. — Bearing upon Manufactures in the Future. — Advantages of Steam-power. — Ratio of Power to Operatives. — Concentration of Manufactures in Large Establishments —Large Increase in the Number of Female Operatives and of Children. — Average Wages of Operatives. — Comparative Prosperity of Operatives in 1870 and 1880. — Increase in Manufacturing Values— Raw Material, Wages, Capital, and Profits. — Wages and Skill. — Circumstances which Affect Numbers of Workmen in Different Occupations. — Workers and their Wages. — Influence of the Labor of Women and Children upon Rates of Wages. — Skilled and Unskilled Labor. — Other Factors in the Labor Problem. — Wages in Cities for Trades. — Laborers Employed, Capital Invested, and Percentage of Profits in 330 Manufactures 299

Chapter XXVI. Requisites Of Success For The Artisan

Comparatively little Capital Required. — Apprenticeship System. — Our Present Apprenticeships usually too Short. — Guilds and Trade Unions. — The Education of the Hand. — Characteristics of the Human Hand. — Man's Supremacy Arises from his Hand and his Brain. — Either Ineffective without the Other." — Man and Tools. — The Hand Supplies the Place of other Organs of Animals. — General Education of the Senses. — The Special Education of the Hand. — It seems to Act Automatically.; — Type-setting and Distributing. — Other Illustrations. — The Hands two Independent Organs, to be Trained Separately. — Heredity of Manual Dexterity. — Skill the Prime Requisite for Mechanical Success. — Foreign Workmen more Skilful than Americans. — The Reasons for this. — A Tendency towards Improvement 319

Chapter XXVII. Success In Mechanics And Manufactures

The Occupation must be Judiciously Chosen. — Some Trades go out of Use. — Improved Supersede Old Ones, — Machinery takes the Place of Hand-work. — The Effects of this. — Example of Improvements in Printing. — The Workman must be Able to do More than One Thing. — Uncertainty of Some Occupations. — Clerkships under Government. — Choice of a Place of Residence. — The Local Distribution of Trades in the United States. — Change to be Expected, especially in the Southern States. — The Bearing upon the Future of the Trades. — Concentration into Large Establishments. — The Artisan as Man of Business and Masterworkman.— Comparative Decrease in the Number of Employers. — Two Aspects of this Change. — General Requisites for Success : Skill and Energy, Foresight and Invention. — Cautions and Encouragements. — Honesty in Manufactures. — Value of an Established Brand or Trade -mark. — Illustrative Examples. — A Character Gained must be Maintained. — Examples in Various Manufactures and

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Productions. — Silver Ware. — Woollen and Cotton Goods. — Sardines. — Canned Meats, Fruits, Wines, etc. — Summation of the Main Conditions for Success in Mechanics and Manufactures : Select the Avocation wisely; become a Thorough Master of it ; find a Favorable Location ; be Alert for all Opportunities ; always aim Higher * Page 331

Chapter XXVIII. Trade And Transportation

How Trade and Transportation increase Values. — Number of Persons Engaged. — Railroads : Their Progress in the United States. — Their Total Cost. — Capital Stock and Debt. — Gross Income and Dividends. — Losers and Gainers. — Speculation in Stocks. — Prospects for Railroad Enterprise. — Employes of Railroads and their Average Earnings. — Number of Passengers and Ratio of Accidents. — Ca?ial Navigation : Extent and Cost of Canals. — Probable Future of Canals. — Steam Navigation : Miles of Navigable Water within the United States. — Number of Steamers, Capital Invested, and Gross Earnings. — Wages paid in Different Sections. — Total Mercantile Water-craft of the United States. — Telegraphs and Telephoiies : Statistics of Telegraph Companies. — Operators and their Salaries. Requisites for a Successful Operator. — Prospects of Operators 350

Chapter XXIX. General Requisites For Mercantile Success

Large Proportion of Mercantile Failures. — This Industry Overcrowded. — Reasons for this. — Large Establishments destroy Small Ones. — Prospects of Clerks and Book-keepers. — Chief Requisites for Mercantile Success : Good Credit, Sagacity in Buying and Selling. — Judicious Enterprise. — Fluctuations in Production and Demand. — Every Industry is Connected with Every Other. — Available Capital. — Business Capacity is Capital. — Ready for Opportunities. — Illustrative Example. — Retrospect of Ordinary Opportunities. — General Conclusions. — Special Vocations 360

Chapter XXX. House - Building And Its Opportunities

Necessity for Competent Architects. — Our Public and Private Buildings Defective. — We Live more In-doors than Out-of-doors. — Employing an Architect. — Increasing Opportunities for Architects. — What is Required of them. — Adaptation of a Design to its Uses. — Hints for House-builders. — Modifications According to Climate. — Painting. — Foundation, Roof, and Chimneys. — Interior Arrangements. — Light and Ventilation. — Privies and Water-closets. — Estimating Cost. — Superintendence by the Architect. — Prospects for Architects in the Newer States and in the South.— In the Union Generally. — Plumbers and Gas-fitters : Science and Skill Required. — Evils from Bad Plumbing. — House-warming. — Furnaces 368

Chapter XXXI. Household Decorations And Furniture

Care for the Beautiful. — Pleasing Colors.— Designing Wall-papers as an Occupation. — Arrangement of Forms and Colors. — The Dado, Interspace, and

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Frieze. — The Ceiling. — Windows and Doors. — The Fireplace. — Marble and Wooden Mantels.— Carpets. — Where Carpets are out of Place. — Opportunities for House Decorators. — Decorative Furniture. — Furniture and Homes. — Utility and Beauty.— Durability. — Good and Bad Cabinet-making— Opportunities Presented Page 385

Chapter XXXII. Decorative Pottery, Or Ceramics

Antiquity and Prevalence of the Art.— Uses to which it was Applied. — An African Potter of the Present Day. — Growing Taste for Ceramics. — The Ceramic "Craze." — Progress and Prospects of Ceramics in the United States.— Ceramic Home Decoration. — Illustrative Exemplar. — Opportunities for Ceramic Artists. — Schools of Industrial Art. — The Cooper Institute. — Drawing and Designing , 395

Chapter XXXIII. The Industrial Arts

The Popularizing of Works of Art. — The Public the Best Patron.— Designers for Engravers. — Engravers. — Lithography. — Copperplate - engraving. — Method of Printing. — Etching. — Uses of Copperplate - engraving. — Wood - engraving. — Comparison between this and Copperplate. — Black Lines and White Lines. — Progress of Wood - engraving. — Early Specimens. — Recent Rapid Progress in the United States. — The Causes of this. — Cost of Good Engravings. — Opportunities Furnished by Wood - engraving. — Requisites for Success. — A Profession for Women 402

Chapter XXXIV. Opportunities In The Sciences And Arts

The Sciences and the Arts Applied to Practical Ends.— Who are the Great Workers.— Physical Science. — Applied Sciences. — Chemistry. — Civil Engineering. — Its Work and its Rewards. — " Getting an Education. 11 — Classical and Scientific Courses of Study. — Electricity. — What it has Accomplished and may Accomplish. — Mineralogy. — Importance of Mineral Products. — Opportunities for the Mineralogist. — American Schools of Mines.— Glass-working. — Decorative Glass. — Glass-painting. — Affords increasing Opportunities for Artists. — Ornamental Glassware. — Working in the Precious Metals. — Silverware and Jewellery. — Rapid Increase in Workmen shows Increase of Opportunities 412

Chapter XXXV. Patents, Patent -rights, And Patentees

What Constitutes a Patent. — Earliest Patents in England and America. — Objections Urged against Patents. — Extent of the Patent System. — Patents in European States.— American Patents. — Mode of Obtaining a Patent. — The Invention must be Useful and New.— Completeness of the Invention.— What may be Patented. — Forfeiture of the Right to a Patent.— Caveats.— Abandonment of a Patent.— Infringements of Patent-rights.— American Patentees and Patents— Number of Issues.— Distribution in Different Sections.— Principal Articles for which Pat-

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XV ents have been Taken Out. — Some Minor Subjects. — Number of Inventors. — Profits of Inventors. — How the Value of a Patent may be Affected. — Examples. — The Revolving Turret. — Opportunities for Inventors. — Mechanical Progress of the United States.— Requisites for an Inventor.— The Possible and the Impossible. — Learning what has been Attempted or Accomplished. — Some Cautions.— Clear Specifications in the Claim for a Patent— The Future of Inventors Page 425

Chapter XXXVI. Minor Professional Vocations

The Stage : Number of Performers. — Fascination of the Stage. — Its Disadvantages and Temptations.— The Opera.— Perils of Studying Abroad.— Music Teachers and Musicians : Increasing Importance of Music as a Branch of Education. — Increase in the Number of this Profession. — Women as Teachers and Private Performers.— The Platform : Public Lectures and Recitations.— Opportunities for Popular Lecturers. — Canvassers and Agents : The Commercial Traveller. — The Book-agent, or Canvasser— Peculiarities of the Book Trade.— Requisites for Success.— Good Books and Responsible Publishers. — A Good Address. — Neither Bore nor Beggar. — An Honorable Vocation. — Choice of Location. — Opportunities as a Permanent Occupation. — Constant Increase in the Demand for Books. — Prospects of the Book Canvasser 447

Chapter XXXVII. Suggestions For Research And Invention

New Mineral Fields to be Explored : Tin, and its Probable Existence in the United States. — Aluminum and Magnesium "the Metals of the Future." — Their Qualities and Uses, if Cheaply Produced. — New Fields in Chemistry: Valuable Products from Old or Worthless Materials. — Electro -magnetism. — Aniline Dyes. — Importance of the Dyeing Industry. — New Textile Plants. — The Silk-worm. — Wools and Furs. — Paper, and New Paper Materials. — Papier-mache, and its Uses. — Acclimatization of New Plants. — Mate and Coca. — Canning of Meats, Fish, Fruits, and Vegetables. — Devices for the Conservation of Heat. — The Solar Engine. — Utilization of Motive Powers. — Electro-magnetic Motive Power. — Compressed Air. — Where it may be Economically Used as a Motive Power. — The Mont Cenis Tunnel. — Compression by Water-power or by Steam-power. — Windmills. — Sandmills 459

Chapter Xxxviii. Building Materials

Increasing Scarcity of Timber. — The Quarries must Make Up for the Forests. — Importance of our Quarries. — Concretes and Artificial Stone. — Beton-Coignet. — Ransom's Concrete Stone. — The Sorel Artificial Stone. — The Frear Artificial Stone. — Portland Stone. — Opportunities for Invention and Experiment. — Selection of Natural Building Stone. — Brick our Chief Future Building Material. — Clays Suitable for Bricks. — Moulding and Burning the Brick. — Terra-cotta. — Iron in Building. — Influence of More Durable Materials upon our Architecture. — The Sand-blast. — Uses to which it is Applied. — Ornamental Work. — The Dressing of Stone. — Turning of Pilasters. — Machinery and House- , building 477 xvi

CONTENTS.

Chapter XXXIX. Work For Women

Women's Work and Wages. — The Number of Working-women. — Women in Outdoor Labor. — Some Female Farmers. — A Woman's View of the Matter. — Horticulture and Floriculture. — Illustrative Instances, and Cautions. — Domestic Service. — Why Women are Paid Less than Men. — Women as Workers in Silverware. — Women as Artists. — Usually Impatient of Study. — The Metropolitan Art School. — Various Opportunities for Women as Artists. — Pupils of the Cooper Institute. — Wood-engraving. — The Free Art School. — Art Teachers. — Coloring Photographs. — Painting on China. — Embroidery. — Women who should not Study Art for a Living. — Art and Matrimony .... Page 486

CHAPTER XL. WORK FOR WOMEN— Continued

Women as Clerks and Book-keepers. — Telegraphy. — Type-writing. — Type-setting : How Learned, and How Paid. — Opportunities which it Presents. — The Civil Service : For what Positions Women are Eligible. — Mode of Obtaining them. — Examinations. — Appointments. — Working of the Civil Service System. — Opportunities which it should Present. — Law, Divinity, and Medicine. — Teaching : Salaries of Male and Female Teachers. — In the New York Grammar Schools. — Nursing : Untrained Nurses. — Nursing as a Regular Profession. — The Nurse and the Physician. — Nursing a New Profession. — Training Schools for Nurses. — The New York Bellevue Hospital School. — Its Course of Study. — Results of the Experiment. — Pecuniary Value of Health. — Opportunities Presented for the Profession of Nurse. — Hints for Household Nurses . . .510