On the Muriate of Soda, or Common Salt. 5 



amount. The brine at the Kanawha works, as appears from 

 carijful experiments made by Dr. Putney, is very strong, — 

 sixty-five to seventy gallons yielding one bushel of salt. The 

 price at the works is from twenty to twenty-five cents per 

 bushel, according to the quantity purchased. It is obtained 

 by boring to a depth of from three to five hundred feet. Large 

 quantities of inflammable gas are sometimes disengaged, with 

 considerable noise and violence, preventing operations for 

 several days. The salt works at Kanawha, and those on the 

 Hojston near Abingdon, are the only two in Virginia worked 

 to any extent. These works, and those of the Kiskiminicus, 

 one of the waters of the Alleghany river, furnish the principal 

 part of that used in the western states. 



Pennsylvania. On the Kiskiminicus, near Pittsburg, are 

 the most extensive works in the state. The price of salt 

 at the works is from twenty to twenty-five cents per bush- 

 el. There are several other works in the neighbourhood 

 of Pittsburg ; they are, however, all comparatively small. 

 The brine of the Kanawha and Pittsburg works is evapo- 

 rated by coal : all the other works in the United States em- 

 ploy wood, which operates in diminishing the profits by in- 

 creasing the expenses every year. This, with many other 

 causes, produces the suspension of operation in many salt 

 works, particularly in places where a competition exists, and 

 some of the competitors enjoy the above named advantages. 

 Hence it is, that although the price of salt at Kanawha 

 and Kiskiminicus is only from twenty to twenty-five cents, 

 the manufacture is conducted with profit, whilst other estab- 

 lishments, w^iere salt brings fifty cents and upwards, are ra- 

 pidly declining, in consequence of the reduction of price, 

 which formerly was one dollar to one dollar and twenty-five 

 cents per bushel. Their brine being weak, and laboring un- 

 der other disadvantages, they cannot afford to work the 

 springs for salt at that price, and the manufacture is conse- 

 quently on the decline. 



There are numerous salt springs in the state of New- York, 

 some of which are very productive. The best springs are 

 near the canal which connects the Hudson with Lake Erie. 

 The salt is obtained by the spontaneous evaporation of the 

 brine exposed in vats to the influence of the sun, aided by 

 steam conducted through tubes immersed in the brine. 



There are also salt works in Alabama. Being recently 



