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ON THE IRON MANUFACTURE IN GREAT BRITAIN. 107 
at least have overtaken that obtained in 1840, and that it had not done so 
ealls for explanation. In the endeavour to obtain this I have been met by 
statements which might appear to be in some respects somewhat contradic- 
tory of each other, the different writers representing matters as presented to 
their own views and experience, and without possessing that general acquaint- 
ance with the facts existing in other districts which it is so desirable to attain, 
One most highly intelligent iron-master whom I have consulted writes, “I 
consider now,” that is, since the discovery of the hot-blast system, “that all 
the ironstone and coal of this country is applicable to the production of iron. 
I fear however that the deposits of ironstone exceed very much those of coal, 
and that the increasing demand upon this latter article will before many years 
show its effects. I think in Staffordshire they already feel a want in the high 
price of coal, and the iron trade seems migrating northward, where coal is 
more abundant and different deposits of ironstone are continually discovered.” 
The gentleman who thus writes is interested in iron-works in the county of 
Northumberland, where the make of iron has increased and is increasing 
greatly and rapidly, but still not sufficiently to compensate for the falling off 
of production elsewhere. 
Another gentleman, from whom I have received great assistance in my 
inquiries, writes, “ In some of the localities in Scotland there is beginning to 
be a great scarcity of ironstone, several furnaces being recently put out in 
consequence ; and in Staffordshire still more so. People’s ideas about increase 
of make of iron travel much faster than the reality. In fact, during 1845 
great numbers of the furnaces in Staffordshire were going on ha/f-quantity, 
simply from want of materials; this J know.” It is corroborative of this re- 
presentation, that a powerful iron company, having works in Staffordshire, has 
for some time had two new furnaces completed without putting them in action. 
From a third correspondent, whose interest is in the great iron district of 
South Wales, I hear of so great a number of new works building in Durham, 
Cumberland, Northumberland and Scotland, that any account taken of the 
produce in those districts, even so recently as last April, must necessarily be 
very imperfect. He adds, “They are progressing so rapidly, and can pro- 
duce iron at such a cheap rate in these new iron districts, as to lead to the 
conclusion that ultimately the principal seat of the iron manufacture will be 
removed from South Wales to the North of England and Scotland.” 
On the other hand, Mr. Mushet, whose acquaintance with the subject is 
probably of a more general nature than that of my correspondents previously 
quoted, writes so recently as the 16th of August in the present year,—“ The 
principal object in the iron trade which now attracts attention is the recent 
discovery of an extensive district of black-band ironstone, ranging from 
beyond Cwm Avon, through Maesteg, towards the valley of the Taffe. The 
two principal beds or veins of black-band lie high in the coal series, and in 
this respect differ from the Beaufort black-band, which wa’ found over the 
lowest coal, and from the Scotch, which was found descending in the coal- 
series at various depths. These beds measure fifteen inches each in thick- 
ness, and will each yield fully 3000 tons per acre. The lower bed contains 
40 per cent. of iron, and is put raw into the furnace ; the other is previously 
roasted, as it contains more shale, and when so roasted yields the same quan- 
tity of iron as the other when raw. As this range of minerals occupies both 
sides of the line from Cwm Avon to Cwm Taffe, large tracts of black-band 
ironstone must unavoidably be found, and it may not be hazardous to pro- 
nounce that this in time may rival Merthyr, and become an extensive iron- 
making district, probably the Lanarkshire of South Wales.” Mr. Mushet 
furnishes a list of fourteen furnaces in which this black-band ironstone is 
