MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 79 



abandoned, and the revenue derived from that source now amounts to 

 comparatively a small sum. By the removal of the tax, the domestic 

 salt became just so much cheapened to the consumer, and by a refer- 

 ence to the statistics of the prices current of salt in the city of New 

 York for the last few years, it will be seen that the domestic article 

 has had its influence in reducing the price of the foreign from 50 cents, 

 in 1832, to 24 cents per bushel in 1849. To evaporate the brine of 

 five million bushels of salt, the quantity made in 1849-50, would re- 

 quire 125,000 cords of wood, which at $ 2.50 would cost $ 312,500 

 One million of barrels are required for packing, which, at 



25 cents each, is . ...... 250,000 



The laborers' wages for boiling 5,000,000 bushels, at $ 1.75 



per hundred, are ........ 87j500 



The State duty of one cent per bushel is . . . 50,000 



Packing, half a cent per bushel, ..... 25,000 



$ 725,000 

 One million barrels of salt at 75 cents per barrel, thi being 



the average price of the season, is .... $750,000 



Thus it appears from a receipt of three fourths of a million of dol- 

 lars' sales for the year, that the farmers for the wood, the coopers for 

 the barrels, the laborers for boiling and packing, and the State for the 

 duty, are paid $ 725,000, leaving but $ 25,000 per annum as the prod- 

 uct of the salines, out of which is to be paid the expense of kettles, 

 buildings, &c. The profit on solar evaporated salt the committee 

 state to be somewhat greater than the above calculations show to be 

 derived from boiled salt. 



If, in addition to the quantity of salt manufactured at the salines and 

 on the sea-shore of the United States, we add the quantity of salt im- 

 ported, the aggregate will nearly equal twenty-two million bushels, 

 which is equal to an apportionment of one bushel to every man, wom- 

 an, and child in the country. The committee also recommend that 

 in the curing of butter none but solar evaporated salt be used, butter 

 dealers making a difference of from one to two cents per pound in the 

 price of butter salted with the two kinds of salt. 



Solar salt is also considered preferable for curing meats for long 

 sea voyages, and for exportation to tropical climes. Provisions cured 

 with boiled salt are not accepted by the government for the use of either 

 the army or navy. The reason for this preference of solar evaporated 

 salt over boiled salt arises from the fact that the latter, from the pro- 

 cess of manufacture, cannot be so pure as the former ; and besides, it 

 Avould not be preferred by packers, for the reason that coarse salt 

 keeps the meat from settling close together in the barrel, and the salt 

 remaining undissolved between the pieces or layers of meat thus fur- 

 nishes continually a supply of its preservative qualities to the pickle. 



MANUFACTURE OF BEET-HOOT SUGAR IN EUROPE, 



DR. STOLLE, of Berlin, has published a beet-sugar map of Europe, 

 in which nothing is marked down except the boundaries and names 



