Supply of Coal and Ironstone from the Wesl of Scotland. 297 



calcining of ironstone, and for the use of the engine fires. Estimated 

 area still to work, 1,150 acres. 



Splint Coal. — At 81 Fathoms — Average Thickness, 40 Inches. — 

 This coal was for many years known as the " Lady Anne " coal, and is 

 justly celebrated for the purposes of iron-smelting, and has been used 

 almost exclusively for this purpose at the iron-works around Coat- ' 

 bridge. In the Glasgow district its thickness ranges from thirty to 

 thirty-six inches. At Jerviston, near Holytown, and in the locality 

 around Newarthill, its thickness is upwards of 4^ feet. At Bredis- 

 holm, and for a small part of the surrounding district, it changes into 

 a Parrot coal, which begins as a thin leaf, gradually thickening to about 

 a foot, when the Splint coal entirely disappears, except a few inches on 

 the top and bottom of the seam. The Parrot coal is of medium quality, 

 and is shipped in considerable quantities for the supply of the Irish gas- 

 works. It does not extend eastwards far beyond Bredisholm, as we 

 find it throughout the lands of DrumpeUer, a compact, hard Splint 

 coal, ranging from three to five feet in thickness, without the least 

 appearance of Parrot in it. 



This seam extends over nearly the same area as the Main coal last 

 described, but is much worked out in the north part of the field in the 

 parishes of Old and New Monkland, where it was shallow, and lay con- 

 venient to the iron-works where it was consumed. At Mount Vernon, 

 Bredisholm, and DrumpeUer, there is still some of it to work; but in 

 these localities it is very much troubled. Estimated area still to work, 

 14,875 acres. 



Throughout almost the entire area where we meet the Splint coal 

 we find it accompanied by a Clayband ironstone, lying immediately 

 above it, of about two and a-half inches in thickness, which is generally 

 worked with the coal, and calcined in bings containing from 800 to 1,000 

 tons of raw ironstone. Estimated area still to work, 12,000 acres. 



Sour Milk Coal. — At 84 Fatlwms — Average Thickness, 36 hiches. 

 — This seam is known by these three names — the " Sour Milk " coal, 

 the " Wee" coal, and the " Virgin" coal. It is sometimes divided in 

 the centre by a bed of shale ten to eighteen inches thick, and it is only 

 when this intervening shale disappears that the seam becomes of work- 

 able value. In the district south-east of Glasgow — at Dalmarnock 

 and StonelaW' — it is thin and not of much value. At Cardowan and 

 Camedie, about four miles east of Glasgow, it is burned, by its nearness 

 to whinstone, rendering it a most valuable coal for steam-producing 

 purposes. 



In the Airdric district it is valueless, at least for the present, and 

 has not been worked. Estimated area still to work, 1,G20 acres. 



