STATISTICS OF BELGIUM. 



435 



any other branch of industry in seasons of commercial distress.* The same may 

 be said of the manufacture of machinery and of arms, principally carried on 

 at Liège ; of that of glass, concentrated around Charleroi.f Belgium annually 

 exports glass into every country of the world. Far more settled than either 

 of the above industries is the manufacture of zinc, which inci'eases from year to 

 year.+ 



The textile industries are flourishing. True the silks no longer enjoy the 

 reputation which made Antwerp famous in the sixteenth century, and the carpets 

 of Ingelmunster and Malines are not as highly esteemed as, were those of Aude- 

 narde ; but the extension in the manufacture of linen, cotton stufis, and woollen 



Fig. 241. — Production of Coal in Belgium, 1845 — 75. 

 According to J. Eeuleaux. 



cloths has been very considerable since Belgium has formed an independent state. 

 Ten times more wool is annually consumed in the cloth-mills than was the case 

 thirty years ago, and Verviers has become a formidable rival of Elbeuf and 

 Sedan. § The cotton industry is of importance, but only furnishes goods of 



* In 1873 there were 54, in 1876 only 31 blast furnace.s, turning out, in the former year. 607,373, in 

 the latter 490,508 tons of iron. In 1876 there were produced 80,759 tons of oast iron, and 416,214 tons 

 of manufactured iron, inclusive of 47,200 tons of steel. In 1S75 ihe iron works, &c., employed 40,51.5 

 hands ; in 1S77 only 37,019. 



t In 1873, 72 glass works, producing articles valued at £1,848,000; in 1876, 76 glass works, value 

 of produce £1,575,200. 



X In 1850, 22,246 tons; ISCO, 45,457 t' ns ; 1870, 65,000 tons; 1873, 62,871 tons; 1876, 70,369 

 tons (£1,605,600). 



§ In 1840, 2,913 t ns ; in 1874, 51,054 tons (value, £4,600,000). 



