its) NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 
1,187,973,000. This represented an increase over the number manu- 
factured in the preceding year, which totaled 1,066,982,000. The 
gain came from the counties along the Hudson river, from Rensse- 
laer county southward, and was due to the improvement in the 
building trades in New York and other large cities in the vicinity. 
The New England trade also showed a better demand, as instanced 
by the increase in the production of the plants which shipped mainly 
to that market, notably those of Saratoga county. 
The value of the common brick made last year was $6,646,436, 
or an average of $5.59 a thousand, as compared with $5,310,511, 
an average of $4.98 a thousand in 1911. The rise in prices indicated 
by this comparison was very substantial and the season on the 
whole may be considered as quite prosperous in this branch of the 
industry. Since 1910 the selling value at the yards has increased 
nearly 20 per cent. j 
In addition to the common building brick, there were manu- 
factured last year 17,731,000 front or fancy brick with a value of 
$243,504. The output for 1911 numbered 11,037,000 valued at 
$132,792. The aggregate production of brick for building purposes 
was thus 1,205,704,000 valued at $6,889,940. 
A feature of the record that appears on comparison of the 
statistics for several years past is the marked falling off in the 
number of plants and the tendency toward the restriction of the 
active industry to those localities or districts which possess natural 
advantages for manufacturing or marketing the product. As the 
annual output has been maintained at a fairly even rate, aside 
from fluctuations due to market influences, this indicates that the 
average outturn has enlarged very considerably, no doubt with 
resulting economies. In 1906, for instance, there were 231 yards 
in operation, distributed among 37 counties. 
