126 Economy of Machinery and Manufactures. 



" Professor Playfair, who visited this singular slide, states, that the usual time 

 occupied in the descent of a tree was six minutes; but that in wet weather, it 

 reached the lake in three minutes." 



The manufacture of bobbin-net is carried to an almost incredible 

 extent ; and such have been the improvements in the machinery, 

 since that article was invented, that it is difficult which most to ad- 

 mire, the lightness and beauty of the fabric, the rapidity with which 

 it is made, or the low price at which it is sold. Mr. Babbage gives 

 a short history of its progress, and says — 



"The bobbin-net trade is, at present, both extensive and increasing; and as it 

 may, probably, at some future time, claim a larger portion of public attention, it will 

 be interesting to describe, briefly, its actual state. 



" A lace frame, at the present day, on the most improved principle, manufactur- 

 ing a piece of net, two yards wide, when worked night and day, will produce six 

 hundred and twenty racks per week. A rack is two hundred and forty holes; and 

 as in the machine, to which we refer, three racks are equal in length to one yard, it 

 will produce twenty one thousand, four hundred and ninety three square yards of 

 bobbin-net annually. Three men keep this machine, constantly, working; and 

 they were paid by piece work, about 25 s. each, per week, in 1830. Two boya, 

 working only in the day time, can prepare the bobbins for this machine, and are 

 paid from 2s. to 4s. per week, according to their skill. The total capital employed 

 in the manufactories for preparing the cotton, in those for weaving bobbin-net, and 

 in various processes, to which it is subject, is estimated at above £2,000,000, and the 

 number of persons, who receive wages, at above two hundred thousand. 



"The following condensed view of the state of this trade- is quoted from a state- 

 ment, made by Mr. Wm. Felkin, of Nottingham, in 1831. 



" Amount of Sea Island cotton, annually used, is one million six hundred thou- 

 sand pounds, value £120,000; this is manufactured into yarn, weighing one million 

 pounds, value £500,000. There are also used twenty five thousand pounds of raw 

 silk, which costs £30,000, and are doubled into twenty thousand pounds thrown, 

 worth £40,000. 



" Of this production about half is exported in the unembroidered state, and, prin- 

 cipally, in the white ; yet a large quantity is sent in the unbleached state, and is 

 embroidered abroad ; and much is figured in the white, on the continent. So that 

 it is probable, that as much is figured abroad, as at home ; and this principally, on 

 account of wages being lower there than here. The foreign embroidery is chiefly 

 done in Belgium, Saxony, and, until recently, in Poland. The exports are, in great 

 part, to Hamburgh, for sale at home, and for the Leipzic and Frankfort fairs; to Ant- 

 werp and the rest of Belgium ; to France, by contraband ; to Italy; and to North 

 and South America. Three eighths of the whole production are sold unembroidered 

 at home, and the remaining one eighth is embroidered in this country. 



" From this it appears, that in the operations of this trade, which had no existence 

 twenty years ago, £120,000 of original cost of cotton becomes, when manufactured, 

 of the ultimate value of £3,242,700 sterling." 



Mr. Babbage has some very interesting speculations and many 

 facts, on the position of large manufactories ; on roads, canals, and 

 rivers ; on combinations among workmen, and combinations among 



