The Plymouth Cordage Company hereby give notice, that they have on hand One Hundred Tons, Clean St. Petersburg Hemp, of superior quality, which they are ready to manufacture into Cordage of any size or description to suit purchasers. Their machinery and water privilege is equal to any in the Country—and their Cordage shall in every respect be equal to their advantages. All orders for Cordage, in any quantities shall receive immediate attention, at the Ropewalks, from
BOURNE SPOONER.
Plymouth, March 12, 1825. tf46
N. B. A number of good Spinners would find employment as above.
PLYMOUTH CORDAGE COMPANY’S FIRST ADVERTISEMENT
The large consumption of Sisal during recent years has been caused by the production of binder twine, which has now become an important part of the cordage business. This company first made binder twine in 1882. In 1899 it completed its No. 2 Mill, devoted entirely to this product, and by the completion of the Welland (Ontario) factory in 1906 was enabled to supply its large Canadian trade from that point. The Sheaf of Wheat trademark and the name “Plymouth” on binder twine are now known the world over and, as in the case of the Ship brand on rope, are always recognized as standing for quality.
OLD-TIME METHOD OF HACKLING
In the early days to which we have referred, all the yarn for rope-making was spun by hand in the time-honored way. We are able to represent to our readers, by the photographs shown, this now almost lost art. The material shown in the pictures is American hemp, which, because the earlier machines were not adapted to working this softer fiber, continued to be spun by hand long after Manila was spun chiefly on machines.
The hemp was first hackled, as is also shown by our photograph, the hackle or “hechel” being simply a board having long, sharp steel teeth set into it. This combed out the tow or short, matted fiber, leaving the clean, straight hemp. This “strike” of hemp the spinner wrapped about his waist, bringing the ends around his back and tucking them into his belt, thus keeping the material in place without knot or twist, and allowing the fibers to pay out freely.