Rensselaer Union, Volume 8, Number 5, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 October 1875 — Cabinet or Parlor Organs. [ARTICLE]

Cabinet or Parlor Organs.

These have become the most popular of large musical instruments. There are now about two hundred and fifty makers of them in the United States, who produce more than forty thousand organs per annum. Most of these are very poor instruments. This is naturally so, because there are few articles in th? manufacture of which so much saving can be made by the use of inferior, improperly-prepared material and inferior workmanship, and yet which, when finished, show so little difference to the average purchaser. The important parts of an organ, made as well as they can be, cost two or three times as much as if made as low as possible. Yet, hen the organ is done, it is not easy, from casual hearings, to tell the difference between the best and a very poor one. Especially when shown by one who knows how to cover up defects, to one Who has not special skill in such matters, it is not difficult to make a poor organ appear a good one. The temptation to makers, then, to produce, at a fraction of the cost, an organ which will sell almost as well as a good one is almost irresistible. Hence the fact that so few good organs are made and so many poor ones, and that the country is flooded with peddlers and dealers selling these poor organs, which pay such large profits. The buyer of the poor organ doesnot fail to find out his mistake after a while. The thin, reedy tone of his cheap organ soon becomes offensive, it works noisily and roughly, is constantly out of order, and becomes useless by the time a really good instrument would have been getting into its prime. A good organ ought to last a generation, at least; a poor one may last five years, with considerable tinkering, or may break down much sooner.

There is one safe way. Get a genuine production of onu of the very best makers and you cannot go astray. Among these undoubtedly stands pre-eminent the Mason & HaSnlin Organ Co., whose organs are so well known that other makers are generally content to claim that they can make as good an organ as the Mason & Hamlin. They invented and introduced the Cabinet or Parlor Organ in its improved form, started with and have always closely adhered to the policy w of making only the best work, have shown such skill as has given their organs the highest reputation, not only in this country but also in Europe. At the Great Exposition at Vienna, in competition with eighty of the best makers in the -world, they obtained the highest medals. To enumerate the competitions at which they have received similar honors would be to give a list of the fairs at which they have exhibited; and to mention the prominent musicians who recommend their organs as unequaled would really be to give a very good list of the most illustrious musical names in the country, -with a good .representation in Europe. One who obtains a Mason & Hamlin Cabinet Organ need have no doubt that he has the best instrument of its class which can be made.— Neto York Independent.

Beans are very easily damaged and reduced in value in harvesting. From the time they are gathered until they are threshed and marketed they should be kept dry and protected from mildew’. Exposure to damp causes them to be spotted or discolored, in which case they are either unsalable or can be disposed of only at a much-reduced price. As soon as the beans are ripe they should be pulled. This may be conveniently done by passing down between two rows, commencing so that the fence is at the left hand ana the field at the right, and pulling the plants in both rows, laying them over on the right-hand row; then passing between the next two rows, gathering the beansand laying them over toward those already gathered. Before the dew falls the beans should be stacked. To do this, a pole six feet long should be stuck firmly into the ground, Then short pieces of rails Should be laid on each side of the pole. The beans should be laid on these rails, the roots all one way. One moderately-sized bunch should be laid on each side of the stake or pole. Then other bunches should! be laid across the first ones and the roots kept always on the same side of the stake. This is to prevent the earth from falling amongst the beans and discoloring them. In this way the stack is carefully built up, and on reaching tlie top of the stake a cap of straw is fastened around it, and spread so as to shed rain and keep the beans dry. The stack is so open and narrow that the wind passes freely through it, and curing goes on rapidly. When they are sufficiently cured they may be hauled to the barn ana threshed, either with the flail or the machine with the concave raised, and winnowed and bagged for market.— Rural New Yorker.

—Mr. Winegardner, of Williamsport, Pa., was considerate and courteous to the last. He tied a rope to his body and tastened one end of it to a bridge, pinned up q placard near by: “Pull on this rope—you’ll find me,” and calmly jumped off. They pulled on the rope, and lo! there was tlie cotpse. No trouble or unnecessary expense. Need we force the case of Mr. Winegardner upon a suicidal public? —Rochester Democrat. It is best to bear in mind that, however generous a person may be, and whatever he may give away, he should always keep his temper. ’ ’■> The increase in coal shipped from tlie Lackawanna region this year, as compared with 1874, footed up 688,150 tons, Sept. 11.