=308. Pattern Makers.= The wife of a pattern maker told me it requires ingenuity, patience, and a knowledge of drawing to become a pattern maker. C. thought general pattern making would not do for a woman, as it would require planing, cutting, and turning wood. He said some of the finer parts of pattern making, as forming models on a small scale for the patent office, could be done by a woman who is qualified. It would require a knowledge of arithmetical proportions, ability to turn a lathe properly, and aptness at catching the ideas of others. A gentleman who makes models for the patent office, patterns for machinery, steam and gas fittings, &c., writes: "The varnishing might be done by women, but in most shops there would not be enough to keep one at work all the time." S. told me that a part of the work of pattern making could be done by women, but it would be advisable they should have a separate apartment in founderies. The variety of ornamental iron work is so great that it affords scope for inventive talent. We suppose the business of pattern making is not more laborious and is very similar to block cutting. If women were prepared for some branches of this business, we doubt not it would prove remunerative and furnish steady employment. A pattern maker writes from Hartford: "We do our own draughting, but there is considerable done independent of a shop. For such work we pay $2 a day. A knowledge of geometry and mathematics is a prerequisite." =309. Rattan Splitters.= Formerly, rattan was thrown from the ships that landed in New York, as something useless; now it sells at from four to nine cents a pound. The centre of the rattan is used for hoop skirts. The outside is split off by a strange-looking machine. The strips are then shaved thin by another machine, for making chair seats and ornamenting buggies. They are bleached in a close room with ignited sulphur. The refuse is used in some way in the manufacture of gas--also for making coarse mats and filling beds. At N.'s factory, I saw girls shaving rattan. The work was dusty--one sat, but the others stood. The girls had merely to attend to the strips as they ran through small machines moved by steam. Each girl received fifty cents a day of ten hours, for her services. In Fitchburg, Mass., fifty girls are so employed. =310. Segar Boxes.= I called in a segar-box factory where the man had four boys at work. The trade requires care, and some ability to calculate proportions. The work consists in driving small nails, gluing on tape, planing the edges, and similar labor. Women could do it, and I expect do in Germany. If boys from ten to fifteen years of age can, why cannot girls? After two months, a boy earns something. Two of the boys had been working at the trade two years, and were earning each $3 a week. The wood is cedar, and so easily managed.