Mr. F. Forster's Observations on the South Welsh Coal Basin. 115 



" In the year 1740 the whole of the Iron made in Great 



Britain was 17,000 tons from 59 furnaces. 



1788 68,000 — from 121 do. 



1796 125,000 — 



1806 259,000 — 



1820 . 400,000 — 



1827 690,000 — from 284 furnaces. 



" The diiFerent parts of the kingdom in which it was made are as under : — 



In Staffordshire, 216,000 tons from 95 furnaces. 



In Shropshire, 78,000 — 31 do. 



In South Wales, 272,000 — 90 do. 



In North Wales, 24,000 — 12 do. 



Yorkshire, 43,000 — 24 do. 



Derbyshire, 20,500 — 14 do. 



Scotland, 36,500 — 18 do. 



690,000 tons. 284 furnaces. 



" About three -tenths of this quantity are of a quality suitable for the foundry, and which 

 is all used in Great Britain and Irelaod, with the exception of a small quantity exported to 

 France and America. The other seven-tenths are made into bars, rods, sheets, &c. of which 

 a large quantity is exported to all parts of the world." 



From the above statement it will be observed that the quantity of Iron smelted in Wales 

 is upwards of one-third of the total quantity made in Great Britain, and that the produce of 

 the Welsh furnaces considerably exceeds the average of other districts ; a circumstance 

 which may, doubtless, in some degree, be attributed to the greater size of some of the Welsh 

 furnaces, and to the less refined state of the metal they produce ; but much is owing to the 

 different basis on which the Welsh Iron works are conducted, at least, as contrasted with 

 those in the central parts of England, where the Iron smelter, generally speakings is the 

 proprietor of the furnace only, and purchases his Coal and Ore from the miner ; and thus, 

 a less capital being required, the manufacture of Iron in these districts is in a great variety 

 of hands. In Wales, on the contrary, the smelter is generally the lessee of an extensive 

 tract of Coal and Iron Ore, upon which he has embarked a large capital in the erection of 

 a number of furnaces, &c. and from which he can effect such a mixture of Ores and Coal as 

 are best adapted for the production of metal ; an advantage of which every smelter knows 

 the value. Owing to this arrangement the manufacture of Welsh Iron is in the hands of a 

 few extensive capitalists, and is carried on with great spirit and attention to improvement. 

 The principal works are in the town of Merthyr, and its immediate vicinity; and, as the 

 greatest proportion of the metal produced is manufactured into bar Iron, a process, which 

 in the refining, puddling, and cementing of the metal, necessarily requires a great number 



