Mr. Maffty on Saltpetre. <io J f 
by drenching them with urine or muck water, 
and frequently turning them over, by which 
means, they are brought to maturity much fooner 
than the larger nitre beds. Thefe materials, 
with the wood-allies that their hearths fuppjy, 
if not added before, are thrown into a large cub, 
and water poured upon them, which runs out 
through a hole, fluffed with ftraw, at the bottom 
of the veffel. Thus Amply do they procure 
their leys, in the boiling of which, their women 
and children are chiefly employed. 
Where any article of commerce is compofed 
of materials of little or no value, and which re¬ 
quire fmall Ikill or ingenuity to manufacture, 
great numbers of poor perfons will naturally 
take up this employment, whofe diftreffes will 
oblige them to difpofe of it, upon the moft 
moderate terms; to which they will be farther 
urged by the policy of the government under 
which they live, which will reftrain them from 
exporting it, till its own wants is fupplied. To 
this we may fairly attribute the fmall price 
that faltpetre bears in France and Germany. But 
this can be no difcouragement to the Englifh, 
among whom it bears a much greater price, noc- 
withftanding the importations of their India 
Company-, and confequently, muft afford the 
makers a much greater profit, Ihould the govern¬ 
ment refufe, by a fmall bounty of one penny 
per 
