HASSELQUISTIA, in botany, so nam ed, in memory of Frederick Hasselquist, M. D. a genus of the Pentandria Digynia class and order. Natural order of Umbel latx. Essential character : corolla radia ted in the disk, male : seeds in the cir cumference double, with a notched edge; in the disk solitary, pitcher-shaped, he mispherical. There are two species.
HAT making. The materials for mak ing hats are, rabbit's fur, cut off from the skin, after the hairs have been plucked out, together with wool and beaver.
The two former are mixed in various proportions, and of different qualities, ac cording to the value of the article intend ed to be made; and the latter is univer sally used for facing the finer articles, and never for the body or Main stuff. Expe . rience has shown that these articles can not he evenly and well felted 4ogether, unless all the fibres be first separated, or put into the same state with regard to each other. This is the object of the first process, called bowing. The materials, without any previous preparation, are laid upon a platform of wood, or of wire, somewhat more than four feet square, called a hurdle, which is fixed against the wall of the work-shop, and is enlightened by a small window, and separated by two side partitions from other hurdles, which occupy the rest of the space along the wall The hurdle, if of wood, is made of deal planks, not quite three inches wide, disposed parallel to the wall, and at the distance of one fortieth, or one fif tieth of an inch from each other, for the purpose of suffering the dust, and other impurities of the stuff, to pass through ; a purpose still more effectually answered by the hurdle of wire.
The workman is provided with a bow, a bow pin, a basket, and several cloths. The bow is a pole of yellow deal wood, between seven and eight feet long, to which are fixed two bridges, somewhat like that which receives the hair in the bow of the violin. Over these are stretch ed a cat-gut, about one-twelfth part of an inch in thickness. The bow-pin is a stick with a knob, and is used for plucking the bow-string. The basket is a square piece of ozier work, consisting of open strait bars, with no crossing or interweaving. Its length across the bars may be about two feet, and its breadth eighteen inches.
The sides into which the bars-are fixed are slightly bonded into a circular curve, so that the basket may be set upright on one of these edges near the right hand end of the hurdle, where it usually stands. The cloths are linen, and dyed of a dark olive brown. Besides these implements,
the workman is also provided with brown paper.
The bowing commences by shovelling the materials towards the right hand par tition with the basket, upon which the workman, holding the bow horizontally in his left hand, and the bow-pin in his right, lightly places the bow-string, and gives it a pluck with the pin. The string, in its return strikes part of the fur, and causes it to rise, and fly partly across the hurdle in a light open form. By repeated strokes, the whole is thus subjected to the bow, and this beating is repeated, till all the original clots or masses of the filaments are perfectly opened and sepa rated. The quantity thus treated at once is called a batt, and never exceeds half the'quantity required to make one hat.
When the batt is sufficiently bowed, it is ready for hardening, which term de notes the first commencement of felting.
The prepared material being evenly dis posed on the hurdle, is first pressed down by the convex side of the basket, then covered with a cloth, and pressed suc cessively in its various parts by the hands of the workman. The pressure is gentle, and the hands are very slightly moved backwards and forwards, at the same time, through a space of perhaps a quar ter Of an inch, to favour the hardening or entangling of the fibres. In a very short time, indeed, the stuff acquires suf ficient firmness to bear careful handling. The cloth is then taken off, and a sheet of paper, with its corners doubled in, so as to give it a triangular outline, is laid upon the batt, which last is folded over the paper as it lies, and its edges, meeting one over the other, form a coni cal cap.' The joining is soon made good by pressure with the hands on the cloth. Another batt, ready hardened, is in the next place laid on the hurdle, and the cap here mentioned placed upon it, with the joining downwards. This last batt being also folded up, will consequently have its place of junction diametrically opposite that of the inner felt, which it must therefore greatly tend to strengthen. The principal part of the hat is thus pelt together, and now requires to be worked with the hands a considerable time upon the hurdle, the cloth being also occasion ally sprinkled with clear water. During the whole of this operation, which is called basoning, the article becomes firmer and firmer, and contracts in its dimensions. It may easily be under stood, that the chief use of the paper is to prevent the sides from felting toge ther.