be produced by means of the wheel, they either are pressed or cast in molds of plaster of Paris.
When shaped and dried, the articles are ready for the kiln, in which they are exposed to a high temperature until they acquire a sufficient degree of hardness for use. After the kilns have been allowed to cool very slowly, the articles are taken out, and, if they are not to be decorated in color, sometimes also when they are to be so decorated, they are immersed in a composition called glaze, which, after the vessels have been a second time subjected to heat, is converted into a coating of glass, rendering the vessels impermeable to water.
There are two methods of printing on earthenware: Press-printing, which is done on the bisque, and bat-printing, done on the glaze. In both cases an engraving is first executed in copper and thence transferred, by means of a sheet of paper containing an impression, to the article requiring to be printed; but the processes differ slightly in detail. When the vessel has received its impression, it is ready to be fired in the enamel kiln. Painting on earthenware is effected with a brush over the glaze.
Porcelain or chinaware is formed only from argillaceous minerals of extreme delicacy, united with siliceous earths capable of communicating a degree of translucency by means of their vitrification.
The processes employed in manufacturing porcelain wares are much the same as those for other earthenware, but they require more delicacy and care. Metallic oxides incorporated with some fusible flux, as borax, flint etc., are used for painting on porcelain. The colors are mixed with essential oils and turpentine, and applied by means of a camel's-hair brush. When the painting is finished, the vessels are baked in peculiar ovens called muffles, which are also used for fixing the printed figures on the glaze of stoneware. In order to secure the desired tint the baking must be stopped at precisely the proper time.
Potts′town, Pa., a borough in Montgomery County, on Schuylkill River and Canal and on the Reading and Pennsylvania railroads, 18 miles southeast of Reading and 40 northwest of Philadelphia. Here are the plants of the McClintock and Marshall Bridge Company and of the Pottstown Iron Company, together with many industrial establishments for the manufacture of nails, pig-iron, boilers, carriages, agricultural implements and cigars. It has some schools, including Hill School, churches, libraries, banks and other civic institutions. Population 15,599.
Potts′ville, Pa., a borough, the capital of Schuylkill County, on the river of the same name, in the rich anthracite regions, 35 miles northwest of Reading and 92 northwest of Philadelphia. It was at Pottsville furnaces that hard coal was first successfully used for smelting purposes in 1839; it continues to be notable not only as a shipping-point for anthracite but as an industrial center; there are rolling, spike and planing mills, stove foundries, nut and bolt factories, machine and engine shops, silk, skirt and stocking factories and breweries. Buildings of prominence are the county court-house, the jail, a public hospital and Pottsville Athenæum. There are a school library and a county law-library, an admirable public and parochial school-system and a commercial college. Pottsville has the service of three railroads. Population 20,236.
Poughkeepsie (pō̇-kĭp′sĭ), N. Y., a city, county-seat of Dutchess County, is on the east bank of the Hudson, 65 miles by rail from New York City. The Hudson is crossed by a steam-ferry and spanned by a railroad-bridge of masonry, steel and iron. Poughkeepsie is the largest town between New York and Albany; its manufactures include machinery, ironware, boots, shoes, clothing, chairs, glass, wheels, boxes, horseshoes, underwear, knit-goods, agricultural machines and automobiles. It also has a rolling-mill and a blast-furnace. Two miles north is the state's hospital for the insane, which cost $750,000; but Poughkeepsie has chief reason to be proud of its educational facilities. Famous Vassar College is just beyond the eastern limits, and the town contains Riverview Military Academy, Eastman National Business College and a number of academies and seminaries, besides the public schools. Poughkeepsie is quite noted for its homes for aged people, among which are the Old Ladies' Home, Vassar Brothers' Home for Old Men, Pringle Home for Aged Literary Men, Gallaudet Home for Deaf-Mutes and St. Andrew's Novitiate. Poughkeepsie has the service of four railroads. Population 27,936.
Poul′try (Latin pullus, a chicken), birds domesticated by man, usually embracing chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys and guinea-fowl. From the time when men began to abandon their wandering mode of life and settle in fixed habitations poultry in some form or other has taken the place of the wild birds which they are no longer able to snare and kill. Poultry are raised for the food furnished by their flesh and their eggs. Their flesh enters largely into the food-supply, and is both healthy and nutritious. The production of eggs in the United States in 1908 was 1,293,662,433 dozen. In France, where poultry are bred to so great an extent, there are no poultry-farms, in the exclusive sense, but fowls are kept by every farmer and cottager. The same remark applies to Italy, Denmark and Ireland, all of which export large quantities of eggs and poultry. In the vinegrowing districts of France fowls are permitted to wander among the vines nearly all the year, and they do excellent
