Page:Walks in the Black Country and its green border-land.pdf/187



N visiting some of the leading manufacturing establishments of the district. I selected those which have a reputation abroad, especially in the United States. There are certain English names inscribed on articles of common use which may be truly called household words in America Barlow, Butcher, and Rodgers are names familiar to every American boy sporting a pocket knife of any size or price. But there is still another name more exclusively connected with an implement of wide use with us. That is the Brades trowel. This brand rules the market, and probably it is borne by ninety-nine in a hundred of those wielded by the American masons. For this reason I had a particular desire to see the establishment in operation, and felt amply repaid for my visit. The Brades Iron and Steel Works are situated in Oldbury, between Birmingham and