OCR Text |
Show Handles Grow Crooked. The Japanese are expert in the patient pa-tient work needed in gardening, and it is from the Japanese farmers on the Pacific coast that most of the wood is sent for use as umbrella handles. Twisted handles were formerly bent laboriously by steaming the wood to make it flexible, but the Japanese force the pretzels and other twists in the growing plant which by a system of pruning is forced to nourish the distorted dis-torted twigs, the whole process taking three years before they are ready for the manufacturer to strip and polish, or to use bark and all. |