FULLERS EARTH. 
of nearly two yards in thickness, between it and the 
soil, The blue earth in this pit is nearly 16 feet 
deep. In some places the yellow kind is found lying 
upon the blue; . _ seems, indeed, to be no regu- 
larity either in, the position or inclination of the strata 
where the fullers earth is found, nor any mark by 
which its presence could be detected. It seems rather 
thrown in patches, than laid in any continued or re- 
ar vein. In the midst of the fullers earth are often 
‘ound large pieces of stone of a yellow colour, trans- 
lucent, and remarkably heavy, which have been found 
to be sul of barytes, encrusted with quartzose 
crystals, These are carefully removed from the fullers 
earth, as the-workmen say they often spoil ary tons 
of it which lie about them. There is also found with 
the yellow fullers earth a dark brown crust, which the 
anion consider as. injurious also. In Surry, the 
price of fullers earth seems to have varied very little, 
at least for these last SO years. In 1730, the price at 
the pit was 6d. a sack, and 6s. per load or ton. In 
1744, it was nearly the same, It is carried in wag- 
oT 
No stratum of this mirieral occurs in Derbyshire ; but 
lumps of it of considerable size, very pure, and much like 
that of Bedfordshire, are 
Similar lumps occur in the hard gravel rock imder Ma- 
sham town, andsmaller ones inthe alluvial covering of the: 
gypsum quarries south-east of Chellaston, In Brassing- 
ton a clay is dug.with which cloths are scoured; and 
at. Brathwell, north-west of Tickhill in Yorkshire, con- 
siderable quantities of fullers earth are got, probably al- 
-_ on the yellow lime. See Farey’s Derbyshire, p. 
405: 
Of the more rare kinds of earths and clays; there have -In Here- 
been found red and yellow ochres, fullers earth, and to- fordshire. 
bacco pipe-clay ; but probably from the want of an ade« 
quate supply, or some imperfection in their qualities, 
they arenow generally procured from other places. Ful-- 
lers earth-is, however, still dug occasionally for sale in, 
small quantities, onsthe estates of. the late honourable 
Edward Foley, of Stoke Edith. See Dunscomb’s He- 
refordshire. 
tly found in the marshy. »p Gora 
gravel pit one-third of a mile east of Bretby church, tower “ 
gons, each drawing from three to four tons, to the be- 
ginning of the iron rail-way near Westham, along 
ehich tt is taken to the banks of the Thames, where 
it is sold at the different wharfs. for about 25s. or 26s. 
per ton, It is thence shipped off either to the north 
or west of England. A considerable. quantity is also 
taken down into Wiltshire by the waggoners, especially 
when they happen not to have a full load of goods. 
The workmemare paid at the rate, of 2s. 6d. per ton; 
this includes the expence of rg baad the upper 
soil, as well as that of raising the fullers earth. They 
Fullers earth is found at Tillington, and consumed tn sussex: 
in the neighbouring fulling mills. See Young’s Sussex. 
Mr Little and Mr Brown, in sinking a well at Pad- In Middle- 
dington in the year 1802, near the one mile stone on s¢x- 
the Edgeware-road, discovered a stratum of. fullers- 
earth at a considerable depth; but so thin .as-not to be: 
of any importance. See Middleton’s Middlesex, 
The above seems to be nearly all the places in Eng Mode of 
land where this mineral is best found. We. have now preparing 
to give an account of its preparation by manufacturers, fwllersearth. 
for their peculiar purposes. We have seen in the che- 
mical account of 
can work on the earth only when the weather is dry ; 
it is then weighed as it is dug out, by means of a rude 
scale suspended over that of the pit where they 
happen to be working, on three or four poles fastened 
together at the top, and spread out at their lower ends, 
(an instrument called provincially a triangle}. The 
earth that is not immediately carted off by the wag- 
gons,-is put under cover in an adjoining shed, in order 
to e it-from the rain. During rainy weather, 
and after it till the earth is pretty well dried, the 
workmen employ themselves. in uncovering the upper 
soil... The sandstone that lies over the blue fullers 
earth is broken into pieces; the larger pieces are used for 
building, and the smaller for the roads ; the first brings 
4s. 6d. the waggon load, the second 3s. 3d.; of each 
of which the workmen receive about one-half. In the 
heart of the sandstone, pieces of petrified wood, of con- 
siderable size, and sometimes of a very grotesque shape, 
are often found. The workmen complain, that since 
the iron rail-way was brought to Westham, the de- 
mand for this earth, though equally great, is not near- 
ly so regular as it used: tobe. It is thought that the 
for the Surry fullers earth will be lessened by 
the recent discovery of a pit of the yellow, or better 
sort, near Maidstone in Kent. Fullers: earth does not 
appear to hasten or impede, to injure or to benefit, ve- 
getation. See Stevenson’s Surry, p. 50—53. 
The next characteristic stratum, owing to its forming 
a ridge of conspicuous hills through the country, is the 
Woburn land, a thick f inous stratum, which be- 
low its middle contains a stratum of fullers earth, which 
is thicker and more pure in Aspley and Hogstye End, 
awe les Oe of Lapa than in any known 
place. upper parts of this land are frequently ce- 
mented by the oxidated iron inte«car anes a the 
Jower parts contain fragments of silicified wood. See 
Farey’s Derbyshire, p. 112. 
is mineral, that it is not perfect] 
diffusible in water; but when immersed in that fluid, it 
falls into pieces of greater or less magnitude, or in such 
amanner as to assun:e the appearance of curds. Of this 
the manufacturers are fully aware ; but as it is neces- 
sary for them that the coarse and fine should be minute- 
ly separated, they pursue the following method. That 
they may effect a complete solution, they-bake it for one- 
or two hours, according to the degree of heat. To ac- 
complish greater regularity in the baking, and to make 
it dissolve much sooner, the large lumps are broken into 
pieces of a quarter or a half pound each. After baking: 
it'is thrown into cold water; when it falls into powder; 
and the separation of the coarse from the fine effectually 
accomplished, by a simple method used in the dry co- 
lour manufactories, called washing over. It is done in the 
following manner : ‘Three or four tubs are connected oi: 
a line by spouts from their tops ; in the first the earth, 
is beat and stirred, and the water, which is continually 
running from the first to the last through intermediate 
ones, carries with it and deposits the fine, whilst the 
coarse settles in the first. The advantages to be de~ 
rived from this operation are, thatthe two kinds will 
be much fitter for their respective purposes of clean~ 
sing coarse or fine cloth ; and without baking the earth 
would be unfit, as before noticed, to incorporate so mi- 
nutely with the water in-its native'state ; it would nei- 
ther so readily dissolve, nor so easily be divided into 
different qualities, without the process of washing over. 
When fuel is scarce for baking the earth, it is broken 
into pieces of the same size, as mentioned above, and 
then exposed to the heat of the sun. 
The various uses of fullers earth may be shortly explain- 
ed. According to the above method, the coarse and fine ers earth. 
of one pit are separated ; and the first is used for cloths 
of an inferior, and the second for those of a superior 
quality. The yellow and the blue earths of Surry are of 
