St. Johnsbury Caledonian

MILLS FOR MARBLES.--Almost all the "marbles" with which boys everywhere amuse themselves, in season and out of season, on sidewalks and in shady spots, are made at Oberstein, Germany. There are large agate quarries and mills in that neighborhood, and the refuse is turned to good account in providing the small stone balls for experts to "knuckle" with. The stone is broken into small cubes, by blows of a light hammer. These small blocks of stone are thrown by the shovelful into the hopper of a small mill, formed of a bedstone, having its surface grooved with concentric furrows; above this is the "runner," which is of some hard wood, having a level face on its lower surface. The upper block is made to revolve rapidly, water being delivered upon the grooves of the bedstone where the marbles are being rounded. It takes about fifteen minutes to finish half a bushel of good marbles, ready for the boys' knuckles. One mill will turn out 169,000 marbles per week. The very hardest "crackers," as the boys call them, are made by a slower process, somewhat analogous to the other.--Am. Machinist.