2IO ON THE WING, 



feet gun pervades the thinking and affluent portion of 

 the sporting world 



" The iron ore of Great Britain is, beyond a doubt, 

 inferior to that of many parts of the world ; as ail 

 attempts to produce good steel from it have been at- 

 tended ultimately with disappointment. Mr. Mushet, 

 in his excellent work on iron says : ' The successful 

 exertions of individuals have increased the manufac- 

 ture of cast and malleable iron beyond all precedent 

 in this country ; nor have we been without some en- 

 lightened individuals, who have laudably endeavored 

 to form a superior quality along with the extension of 

 their manufactures. Success has so far crowned their 

 praiseworthy exertions, aided by the operation of 

 knowledge, in removing the prejudices of the artisan, 

 that bar iron of our own manufacturing has been sub- 

 stituted, to a great extent, in place of that formerly 

 used of the Swedish and Russian marks ; but hither- 

 to all attempts have failed to make bars of proper 

 quality to form steel, in any degree comparable to 

 that we daily manufacture in great quantities from 

 foreign iron 



" ' The rapid progressive rise in value of this iron, 

 for many years past, has already nearly doubled the 

 price of steel to the workman, and given the trade in 

 general a melancholy foretaste of the evils of depen- 

 dence and monopoly! So it is with the scrap, requisite 

 to form good iron for gun-barrels." 



