CCXXX GENERAL SUMMARY OF SCIENTIFIC AND 



to the fact that the extraordinary impulse given to the iron- 

 producing industries of the country during the years imme- 

 diately preceding the panic called into existence a large 

 number of new furnaces, many of which were of the largest 

 size and constructed upon the most approved plans. The 

 furnaces which made 2,854,558 tons of iron in 1872 were 

 mostly small, and, owing to the excitement and recklessness 

 of those times, not so managed as to produce the best results. 

 " When we consider," says the secretary, " that the lessened 

 number of furnaces which made 2,868,278 tons in 1873 in- 

 cluded all the large and improved new furnaces, and when 

 we consider that there were almost as many furnaces in blast 

 in 1874 as in 1873, that as a rule the best furnaces in the 

 country were running in 1874, while the poorest stood idle, 

 and that, from motives of enforced economy and by reason 

 of increased skill, the management of most of the furnaces in 

 blast in that year was such as to produce the largest possible 

 yield, we need no longer wonder that the production of 1874 

 was only 178,865 tons less than the product of 1873." The 

 number of new furnaces completed in 1874 was 38, against 

 50 in 1873, and 41 in 1872. No less than 46 stacks are re- 

 ported as being in course of erection in 1875, while other 

 new furnaces are projected. The district showing the great- 

 est increase of production during 1874 was the miscellaneous 

 coal and coke district of Ohio. The district showing the 

 greatest decrease during 1874 was the Lehigh anthracite re- 

 gion of Pennsylvania. Utah Territory made her first pig- 

 iron in 1874 200 tons of charcoal. After a Ions: rest, Ore- 

 gon, with one furnace, made 2500 tons of charcoal iron in 

 1874. Texas made 1012 tons of charcoal iron in 1874. South 

 Carolina, with eight furnaces, and Minnesota, with one fur- 

 nace, made no iron in that year. 



The total imports of pig-iron into the United States in 

 1874 were 61,165 net tons, against 154,708 net tons in 1873, 

 295,967 net tons in 1872, and 245,535 net tons in 1871. 



The total exports of pig-iron from the United States to all 

 countries in 1874 were 16,039 net tons, against 10,103 net 

 tons in 1873, and 1477 net tons in 1S72. 



The following table affords an oversight of the growth 

 of the pig-iron branch of the iron trade of the United States 

 from 1854 to 1874, compiled from the association's statistics: 



