Lesley.] 474 [December. 



other consideration, it is hazardous to extend the calculation further. 

 Towards Quincy and Waynesborough, no good openings have been 

 made in that part of the belt, although the surface is covered with 

 blocks of ore, and the wash ore is seen in the roads. It is probable 

 that as large an amount can be obtained south of Mont Alto Furnace 

 as north of it. 



The ore in the ground consists of ball ore and wash ore, with lumps, 

 plates, and streaks of clay. The clay is thrown out where it is in 

 sufficiently large lumps, and the rest of it is washed oflp. There re- 

 mains a good deal of clay in the balls, which are irregular globes of 

 hematite, oftentimes hollow, and lined with beautiful acicular crystals, 

 standing apart like the bristles of a brush, but set at an angle with 

 the inside face of the shell. 



The ore when washed is about a 50 per cent, ore, the books show- 

 ing that 4600 pounds of washed ore made a (long) ton of iron. 



Professor Booth's analysis gave : 



Sesquioxide of iron, ..... 75.00 



Alumina, 1.00 



Silica, 16.00 



Water, 8.00 



(omitting decimals) with a trace of lime remaining, The iron has 

 always been inclined to coldshort, on account of the silica, and has 

 usually been mixed with ore from the Pond- banks (to be described 

 below), when it makes a very tough iron. Tested in Washington, 

 with three other varieties of iron, it stood as follows : 



Tredegar iron sustained .... 32,000 pounds. 



Ulster '' " . . . . . 32,000 " 



Glendon "".... 34,000 " 



Mt. Alto "''.... 34,000 " 



(decimals omitted), the test bar being round, and its section equal to 

 a square of .75 inch. 



To get the percentage of lump clay, T calculated the contents of 

 the tip-heap in front of the old tunnel, b, out of which it was taken, 

 and from which were also taken the proceeds of two years' mining for 

 the furnace, say 4000 tons of ore. The tip-heap contained about 

 100 cubic yards of clay refuse. 



I also saw washed 13 barrows of "wash ore," containing no lump 

 clay, and saw that they yielded llj barrows of washed ore ready for 

 the roasting pile ; = 90 per cent. 



