^I)c jTarincv'ri iHcintl)ln iHsitor. 



95 



ers Imve liecotiie stailleil sit tliis and have dctci'- 

 niiiied to |nil down llie price. Prcsfnt rales', liiiu- 

 e\er, and llioso «l]icli will In: likely lo pievail lor 

 some ujirs, afliird lar^'er [irofns lo the iron mas- 

 ters than is realized in any other great lirauch nl' 

 trade. 



'I'he Uritisli iron masters say that tlie jirodnc- 

 tion eaimot readily he materially increased in 

 that eonntry, as the erection (d' new Inriiaees niul 

 machinery, the lorminf; ol' railways for the trans- 

 poriaiion of the nniieral to the points reipnred, 

 require of themselves a considcralile amount of 

 iron ; ami another r(;ason they jjive, which to onr 

 enterprisini; people will sound as a verj' strange 

 one. 'riicy s.iy that the advance of wa;.'es always 

 following' upon prosperous limes, teiiils to check 

 the production, as tlie miner will work six <lays 

 ill the week when he f;ets only his cnstoiiiary 

 p.iy of hair n dollar a day, hut oidy three or l()nr 

 davs wlieti he yets as at present §1 or $lfl'> per 

 (h,y. 



I'he amoiint of iron prodiiccil in Englaiul and 

 Wales last year, was 8.50,000 tons, and in Scot- 

 l;i:,d .3,"50,O0(l tons, iiiakiiii; » total of I.'JIO.OOO 

 Inns; and the consultations of ihe iron masters 

 have lesnlled in the eouclnsion, that iioiwith- 

 slandiii;; the iri'eat demand, they cannot make 

 n;ore llian T;],)0.000 tons the present ye.-ir. 



In the I'niied Slates, the prodiiciion last year 

 w.is ;?.iO,000 tons, ot which Peiinsjlvania (urnish- 

 ed :i-;?.').UUO Ions. This year il is eslini.-iled that 

 IVjMisylvania will increase lier jirodnctioii to 

 800.000 Ions, and Ohio, llie ne.\t largest iixui pro- 

 ducing Slate, «iil .also show a ftrettt increase — 

 'I lie I'liiladelphia PrnusylvMiiiau sa^ s, ''Our nu- 

 ineions iron disiiicls are full of life and eiieicy ; 

 and the firoaiiin^ of nujihty enyines.aiid the lij;hi 

 of i;lowiiif,' furnaces and rollinir mills can almost 

 be liear(l, so ihicdily are they located along Ihe 

 Wuimiii!; valley imd the Snst]nehanuah, and in 

 many other secfunis of llie Slaie, where vahiahle 

 (!i'posit--s of rich iron ore have heeii discovered ; 

 and months only have heen required to accoin- 

 pli'<li «hat formerly would have lieeii considered 

 llie lahor of years." 



The New York Sun states that orders have 

 heeii received in PeiiiisyKauia, for a large quan- 

 tity of iron to lie sent to tlie ISritish iharket. It 

 is likely we think thai this order c<Hiies from some 

 of the Clyde ship hnilders, « ho may he disposed 

 to Iry ihe anthiacile iron ol Pi'imsylviii,i,'i iii huilil- 

 ing iron vessels, lor which there v.as at ihe last 

 dale.«! a ^'reiit deujand, it heing stated that a single 

 lioll^e in tJlasgovv had oriiers on their hands lor 

 81 iron steam vessel.s, of from 200 or JlOO up to 

 1600 tons; and another was actually huihimg I.i 

 iron ships liir colliers. The iron maiiufacliire of 

 Gieat Britain is almost etiliielj in the hands of' a 

 lew heavy individual c;ipit.dists. One house in 

 Glasiiow, (Mesf.rs. Baird) run 9"2 rurnaces, making 

 2000 tons of pigs a week, on which at the present 

 price of the article, they will lealize a profit <d' 

 not much if any less than two millions of dallars 

 a year. 



ill the Unitcil St ites the iron works are prinei- 

 |iall\' owned liy individuals associated as eoparl- 

 liers, and the operations are on a comparatively 

 small scale. Larger works are, Iwinever, now 

 going into active operation. The Pemisylvaniaii 

 gives the lollowiujr account of some ol' the re- 

 cent movemeiils: 



"III all seeliims of Pennsylvania there is the 

 greatest activity in huilding new furnaces and 

 starting old ones. Among the last new works, 

 the most promiuein is a rolling mill at Wilkcs- 

 liarre. It is one of the largest esiahlishments in 

 the country, and cost $75,000. Its size 2i?.5 teet 

 hy 184. The retlners are 50 feet hy 59. The 

 nail factory is 75 hy 44. In the mill are two en- 

 gines, one of 00 and one of (jO horse p.ouer. 'J'lie 

 largest one drives two sheet iron mills, tiirge rolls 

 iiiid hammer; and it is coniemplated to add to 

 the machinery one of Burden's iviary squeezei-s. 

 The smaller one drives a large mereiiaut mill, a 

 rod and hoop mill, fans for the furnace and hlow- 

 iii:; cylinders for refinery, &c. There are 9 heat- 

 ing fn'uaces and 7 donlile pudding furnaces. 

 Attached to one of the reliners, constructed on a 

 new plan, and eapahle of making 20 tons per day 

 id' retined iron, is a melting fiuaaee tapping into 

 the refinery. 'J"he nail machines, twenty-tive in 

 niimher, are diiven hy an engine of twenty-tive 

 horse jiower; they now produce 30 tons per 

 week, — 1,560 tons per aiuuim, and give einploy- 

 iiiPiit to 31 men. The yearly product of these 



works, in maiinnietured iron and nails, including 

 all the various kinds of iron Ibniid in any market, 

 from nail roils to cahle iron, is e^linlaled <it )^,000 

 Ions, The iinmher (d' hands now employed in 

 ' the eslahlishmcnl is 250. 



The IMoniour Iron works, at Danville, are also 

 in lidl opcralioii, ^uid large addiiions, ni'aily com- 

 pleted, a nitw and exiensive rolling mill, 260 leet 

 iiy 160, is liiiihling. In addilion to e.Mending 

 iheir hranch railroads to the limcsloue cpiarrie.s 

 they also have under contract one himdred and 

 twenty dwidliiig houses for their workmen. 



There are now four anthiacile hirnacesin con- 

 stant hiast al Danville, and a fifth is soon to he 

 Iniilt. Hach of the large liirnaces yield 90 tons 

 weekly, and the smalleronesSO, making 2.'i0 tons 

 per we(d< — and 11,960 tons p<!r year. Deiliicling 

 one-fourth of this anionnt for casting made al the 

 taps, will leave ill pigs 8,970 tons. Allowing a 

 loss of 17 per cent, (and it varies from 15 lo 17,) 

 on !>,970 of pigs in maniifactiu ing it into iiicr- 

 idiaiit ic'ii, would he ),,^24 tons; so that the pro- 

 duct of those three furnaces alone in pigs would 

 yield ill meridiant iron 7,440 tons, and the same 

 calciilalioii will hohl good in retraicl lo the oilier 

 furnaces in the vicinity, of which there are seve- 

 ral, aiul ill! of the largest class. 



In Venango Co., three new liirnaces are in the 

 course cd' <'rection, together with several in Cla- 



rion and Arnistroiifj coimties. 



From the Massachusetts Pluii'^hnnn. 



We presume the following commnnicatioii is 

 from the pen of the IIou. Morrill Allen. It is 

 copietl from the Old Colony Memorial: 

 Potatoes. 



The disease in potatoes, which in some sections 

 of the connlry nearly desliojed the crop of last 

 year, has not yet progressed many very alarming 

 e.vlent in the Conniy of Plymouth. But, there 

 have heen siiftieient indications of its existence, 

 and advance.-', tojiislily some general attention to 

 the suhjecl, and the employment of such preven- 

 tive, or remedial means, as may seem to cidiiva- 

 lors the most likely to prove eflicacious. Unlil 

 llie causes of the malady shall be more salisliie- 

 toiily invesligaled, no rules can, wiih implicit 

 confidence, he given for the treatment. The liir- 

 mers must do as physicians are sometimes idilii. 

 ged to do in cases of undefined hoilil) disease 

 pipscrihelo Ihe symptom.--, 'i'his pi-ictice is at 

 tended with great nncerlainiy, vet ihe results of 

 it in experience sometimes prove highly valuable. 

 Till! different causes to which Ihe disea.se in po- 

 tatoes has been ascribed, lead wrilers to suggest 

 a great variety of remedies in accordance with 

 their views of the probable origin. Let fiirmers 

 select and apply such as their reason and judg- 

 ment best approve, and it may be ilnit merely 

 practical men uill, in the course of iheir experi- 

 ence, clearly prove what theory has hitherto fail- 

 ed of doinir, the moving cause of the difficulty. 

 If, as supposed by some, it be of insect origin, 

 then sail and lime would seem proper applica- 

 tions, and these are also strongly recommended 

 by persons who think lliat fungus is the produc- 

 ing cause of the disease. Those who suppose it 

 arises from atmospheric influence may properly 

 apply the same means which would lie recom- 

 inmrled by those who believe it the result of ex- 

 cessive grontb. Preparalioii of the soil, and a 

 course in the cidlivaiioii likely to produce an even 

 growth is imi]iieslionably iinporiaut in this ;uid 

 oilier crops. Some persons seem confident that 

 the rot in potatoes results wholly from deteriora- 

 lion in the seed. If this be tine we may not ex- 

 pect to avoid the evil merely by sending to anoth- 

 er place (or seed potatoes ; we should renew them 

 fnun the bulls. This is a process reqiiii ing some 

 p.alience, but ue know of no easier method of 

 eiiiire renovation. We suppose renewal can be 

 approached in successive plMiiiings of uuui.-iinrpd 

 poiatoes. Tliese have ofieii been strongly recom- 

 mended for seed, not only for the purpose of 

 avoiding disease, biit as a means of incicasing 

 ibe cro[i. It is manifestly contrary to what we 

 regard as a general law in vegetation, that the 

 most perfect .seed produces the healthiest and 

 most fruitful plains. There are, however, several 

 reasons for believing that the potoio may he an 

 exception to the geiiend law. The vegetative 

 principle is not so eonceiilr.iled in the poi.Uo .-is 

 ill most olher articles. It can be |)roiluced from 

 the balls, the bulbs, or from sprouts which have 

 grown in the cellar, or the earth. The vegeta- 



tive principle being so widely difliised, it may be 

 reasonable lo suppose, that the perltct ripening 

 of till! poI;ilo to some exienl v\eakens it.s power 

 of re-pioduclioii. That power after the complele 

 malnriiy of the bulbs may be more perficily eon- 

 eeiilraled in the ball.''. The experiment is "easily 

 made, and it is hoped that many fininers will this 

 year pl.'uit poiaioes for ihe nexi yciu's seeding as 

 lale as llie 25ili of June. IM. A. 



Pembroke, Alay 



We have not yet, in all the spi eolations of ibo 

 curious and the scientific, oii ihe subject of the 

 recent disease in |)Olatops, seen any thing lo 

 throw light enough to enable im to lake n single 

 step towjirds a remedy. In raising Ihlrleen hun- 

 dred bushels of potatoes last J ear, we bad ce.n- 

 gratnlated ourselves On an entire escape from the 

 disease complained of by the most, if not all onr 

 neighbors. We had disposed to good advantage 

 of something like halldf our crop; and we 

 ihou:;hl we should do betler lo .save llie remain- 

 der iiiiiil the opeinng of spiing by then sending 

 them to the Boston market. .\s the most safe 

 kind, ue li.id planled half Ihe ground with long 

 reds the two last years. In the lidl of J843 oi r 

 long red poi.iiiies u eie l.'iid in the ground in a bed 

 not over two feet deep, covered with a coaling of 

 green hemlock boiiglis. and tliesie covered wiih 

 the snrronnding soil so ihat the winter I'rost could 

 not reach through. The potatoes in the follow- 

 ing spring came out its fresh and fair as they 

 were on tlie day they vMne covered. Precisely 

 the same w:iy and near the same spot did we in 

 Oclober last dispose of about five hundred bush- 

 els of the long reds, the kiiiil that were supposed 

 to be proof againy the rut, and near them in a 

 continued bed about one hundred bushels of" the 

 round pink-eyed potatoes, ;m earlier kind. The 

 pink-eyes came tut as good as they were when 

 they were covered: the long reds were a muss 

 of rollenness so general ihat of tlie whoh? (piaii- 

 tity not a busherwas tnkeu out to be saved. We 

 believe the potatoes suffered finm the disease, 

 because a few d;iys before they were dnir their 

 growth was anesled by the sudden dying of ihe 

 tops, which seemed lo be stricken as with the 

 blight which fieqnenlly takes place at the earlier 

 season. The vines, heing thus killed, we ring 

 them perhaps a (iirlnighl earlier llian we iiii;:lit 

 otherwise have ilone ; and it was observed, when 

 they were disposed of in their bed, that the skin 

 peeled off easily. '! I. e lop of the bed was kept 

 open as fiir as il could be done safely imiil the 

 approach of severe fiost. We .no inclined lo 

 think that the potatoes perished in consequence 

 of being taken out oi' the air perhaps a fortnight 

 too soon. Only a pail of ihe same potaiocs, dug 

 at the same time, and laid in the bin of a cellar, 

 above ground, adjoining to ;i basement kiichen, 

 where a lire is kept continually, snlTered fi-om the 

 rot : the potatoes remiiiiiini; of these are some of 

 Ihe best we have ever seen at lliis season of the 

 year. The potatoes of last year disposed of in 

 ihe same position, were greatly improved fioiii 

 the exposure to the air nnil beat fiom the kitch- 

 en: the long reds of the present spring seem to 

 have been beni'filled from the same e.vprisnre — 

 so that in the tw:; positions of the \ ears 1843 anil 

 1844 llie case was exaclly leversed. We saved 

 the potatoes where iliey were before lost,aiid we 

 lost the potatoes where ihey were before preserv- 

 ed. Onr belief is that the cfTects of the disease, 

 which appeared o;i the killing of the vine.-', 

 might have been avoided by keepiii;; the potatoes 

 ill the ground until they bad been perfcctiv ri- 

 pened. 



Most strange and t-naccounlable is this potato 

 di.sejise. Souielimes we h:ive seen one Kind of 

 potatoes (the Chenaii;oes Icir insiaiice,) half rot- 

 ten .-It the time of digging, and some of them in- 

 dicating the rot by specks upon llie end; while 

 alonr side, in ihe sail e (iei.i, olhei kinds of po- 

 l.'iioes were enlirely he; fioiu rot, or fiom all in- 

 dicalions of disease. Other fiidds of the same 

 kind of potatoes escape the rot entirely. The 

 richest soil seems to have been most liable to the 

 rot. The high grounds of ibis Stale, the latest 

 broken up pasture ground.-', have commonly pro- 

 ihieed the best pol.-iloes. Of last year's proflnc- 

 lioii it is believed .t'aat in these grounds llie 

 greater portion of t'le crop ivhs lost — more 

 llian in the grounds where the blight had in for- 

 mer years been more common. 



Maple for England. — Two boat loads of 



