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T!ie Country Gentlcinaii s Magazine 



grated sandstone'. He bores a hole some 12 

 to 18 inches in diameter, going down till the 

 mineral is plainly visible. When the lowest 

 layer is reached, the hole is widened to about 

 3 feet, filled with charcoal and sulphur and 

 fired. The explosion breaks and tears up 

 the ground for twice that distance around, 

 and then properly begins the bringing up of 

 saltpetre. The crude article varies consider- 

 ably in compactness, colour and quality, and 

 is named accordingly. The so-called sul- 

 phuret, which owes its name to its mode of 

 manufacture, is the purest. The porous, 

 earthy, and the congealed are different in 

 quality. If the raw product contains less 

 than 50 per cent., the mine is abandoned as 

 not worth working ; a yield of 70 to 80 per 

 cent, is exceptionally good. The raw ma- 

 terial is transported on pack animals or 

 waggons to the factory, where it is refined in 



two different ways. One method is to break 

 it up in pieces and put it in an iron kettle 

 half full of water, which is then heated over a 

 fire for an hour, the insoluble matter removed 

 and a fresh quantity of raw material added 

 until the solution is saturated. The clear 

 solution is run oft" into crystallizing vessels, 

 the crystals collected when formed, and 

 allowed to dry in the sacks in which it is 

 shipped. In the second method, steam heat is 

 employed ; the crude material is put in per- 

 forated iron baskets and suspended in boiling 

 water, and the process repeated until the 

 liquor is saturated. The saltpetre prepared 

 in this way contains less than i per cent, of 

 common salt, while that obtained by the for- 

 mer method contains upward of 2 per cent. 

 Large quantities of iodine are annually re- 

 claimed from the mother liquors of the salt- 

 petre works of South America. 



IMPORT AND EXPORT OF AGRICULTURAL COMMODITIES. 



NOTWITHSTANDING the high price 

 of meat in this country, our receipts 

 of cattle from abroad are gradually falling off". 

 From the Trade and Navigation Accounts for 

 the month and six months ended June, we 

 notice that our im.ports of cattle during the 

 month — oxen, bulls, and cows, together — were 

 only 10^846 — less than half the number 

 received in the corresponding period of last 

 year, when we imported 22,409. In the six 

 months, also, there is a great decrease — 

 50,920, to contrast with 58,971. There was 

 also a great falling off in sheep and lambs 

 during the month — but an increase in the 

 longer period, the numbers being for the first 

 six months of 1871,381,963; for the half- 

 year just passed, 397,510. Pigs have dropped 

 in the six months, from 37,854 to '^^(iZ- ^'-^^ 

 the decline in the porcine imports is to be 

 accounted for by the large increase in the 

 receipts of bacon. 



We cannot so easily account for the de- 

 minished and diminishing supplies of cattle. 



According to the ordinary law of supply and 

 demand, we ought to have had, under the cir- 

 cumstances of scarcity and dearth at home, a 

 much larger quantity of foreign cattle than 

 we ever had. All that come find a ready 

 and a good market. Two things occur to us ; 

 and they are these, either that the restric- 

 tions are too stringent, or that the meat con- 

 suming population in foreign countries are 

 gradually becoming more numerous. With 

 regard to the restrictions, much caution is ne- 

 cessary, but we aie glad to notice that some 

 latitude has been allowed, so far as Schleswig- 

 Holstein animals are concerned. Without 

 the supply received from Tonning — dear as 

 beef and mutton were, the prices would have 

 been much higher. About one-third of the 

 beasts in the market have been lately shipped 

 from that port. Taking the total number of 

 foreigners from all parts, we find that more 

 than one-half of the market supply some- 

 times come from over seas, and considerably 

 more than half of the sheep. Were these 



