No. 85.] 463 



the bricks are baked as soon as dry enough to handle. The mortar 

 is dumped on to a table which is moved along the yard as the ground 

 is covered with brick laid out to dry ; another man molds it, the 

 mold containing but one brick, (instead of six, as at the north,) 

 each clod intended for a brick is rolled in loam sand ; it is then 

 throwm into the mold w^hich has no bottom, being carried off by a 

 boy ; the mold being drawn quickly from the table, and at the same 

 time turning it edgewise that the brick shall not fall out — 2,300 

 being the day's work. The mortar made in this way is not well 

 mixed, many imall lumps remaining unbroken, and the common 

 bricks though made in this slow manner, are not as smooth as many 

 brick makers make them where six are molded in one mold instead of 

 one, and where the quantity molded with the same number of 

 hands is four times as great ; but the beautiful red color they receive 

 from the presence of oxide of iron covers up all defects. The stock 

 in the vicinity of Boston, and many other places, make much stron- 

 ger brick. Pressed brick', of which many are made in Philadelphia 

 and Baltimore, are made the same as other brick, but when sufficiently 

 dry to handle, they are put one at a time into a strong metallic mold 

 in which they receive a powerful pressure, to make them straight 

 and smooth ; they are then handled carefully and burned the same 

 as other brick. Many of this kind of brick are used in New-York 

 city, there being little or no stock on the Hudson river, (where 

 bricks are made for the New-York market,) that will color such a 

 beautiful red, in consequence of the presence of magnesia in most of 

 the stock, which renders it unfit for pressed brick. If some chemical 

 substance, not too expensive, could be mixed with the sand used for 

 molding, that would give the outside of the brick when burned a 

 bright yellow, or straw color, they would be very beautiful for fronts. 



Very respectfully, 



A. HALL. 



SILK CONVENTION. 



Proceedings of the second JVational Convention of Silk Culturists and 

 Silk Manufacturers^ held at the Repository of the American Insti- 

 tute ^ in the city of J^ew- York ^ October 9th and lOth, 1844. 



The Convention assembled in compliance with the following call 

 of the American Institute, entitled, an 



Address to the Silk Culturists and Manufacturers of the United States: 

 We, the Trustees of the American Institute of the city of New- 

 York, address you as known friends of the silk cause in this country. 

 We have long been fully satisfied that the soil and climate of our 

 country are eminently suited to the culture of silk, and that our peo- 

 ple are abundantly competent to the manufacture of this precious 



