No. 151] 493 



great branches, there are now at wort, in all, 414 factories, worked 

 by 11,965 horse power, and employing 48,070 persons, involving a 

 capital fully ^£11,000,000 to ^£12,000,000 sterling. 



The quantity of flax consumed in these mills may be estimated in 

 round numbers at from 100,000 to 110,000 tons per annum. Of this 

 quantity, 60,000 to 80,000 tons are imported from Russia, Holland, 

 Belgium, and other foreign countries, and the remainder principally 

 grown in Ireland. 



Coal as a Manure. 



Roswell L. Colt, requests the consideration of the Club to the 

 question whether the ashes of anthracite and bituminous coal are 

 useful as a manure? 



Dr. Underbill. It is important to decide, for the quantity of the 

 ashes is great and greatly increasing, I have tried experiments 

 with the ashes and found little benefit, except on my tomatoes, plant- 

 ed in a sandy, gravelly soil; on these the benefit was very striking; 

 on other plants I noticed but little effect. 



Mr. Meigs. Analysis shows that the ashes of the anthracite coal, 

 is composed of some fifty-three per cent of silex, (flint,) and thirty- 

 six of alumina, (clay,) some magnesia, iron manganese. On a clay 

 soil, the silex would be useful; on a sandy soil, the clay would be 

 so. Pure beach sand is well applied to clay soil; the benefit is 

 chiefly mechanical. The particles form that degree of looseness in 

 soil which permits the more delicate roots to penetrate. A very 

 small portion of this silex (flint) is chemically developed in the ex- 

 ternal coverings of the stems of wheat, &c. This wonderful coat of 

 flint, surpassing in its delicate formation all human conception, is 

 necessary to defend the interior of the plant, and sand should be put 

 upon and mixed with certain stiff clay soils, and clay upon the sandy 

 soils. 



Dr. Field. I have considered the coal ashes to be very worthy of 

 notice. They have been neglected. They contain no article that 

 is not useful, acting chemically as well as mechanically in the growth 

 of plants. They are good absorbents of the gases from the air, 

 and in kindling these coal fires, a large quantity of wood is neces- 

 sary, the ashes of which, mixed as they are wnth the residuum of coal, 

 are fertilizing. Thomas Addis Emmett, of New-York, uses coal 

 ashes with great benefit to his soil, which is heavy wet, requiring 

 drainage. He has a highly cultivated garden in which the ashes 

 are used. 



