MANUFACTURE OP CHARCOAL POWDER. 65 



"As to the yield of powder, pine bourrees take the highest place. 

 Careful carbonisation also affects the yield, a certain quantity being 

 converted into ashes if the admission of air is not properly regulated. 

 " To prevent the necessity of continual superintendence, the work- 

 man is paid according to the yield. At La Motte-Beuvron he gets 

 15 centimes per hectolitre of powder. 



" 100 bourrees may be carbonised at the following cost : — 

 Price of 100 bourrees, ... 2 francs cents. 



Carriage, ... ... 1 „ „ 



Cost of manufacturing 6 hectolitres 



of powder, ... ... ,, 90 „ 



Total, 3 francs 90 cents. 



"From these 100 bourrees are obtained 6 hectolitres of powder, 

 which is worth on the spot 50 cents the hectolitre, or 4 francs for 

 6 hectolitres. The net profit is 60 centimes per 100 bourrees. In 

 this calculation I do not include the kiln, which costs very little, and 

 lasts for a number of years. If the work be done by proprietors, it 

 will be seen that their bourrees will bring them 2 francs 60 cents per 

 100. 



" The expense of manufacture, at present 15 cents per hectolitre, 

 would be very much diminished if several kilns were made at the 

 same place. Whilst the bourrees are burning, the workman has a 

 good deal of spare time. When he has the care of two kilns he can 

 feed one while the bourries are burning in the other. He can roll 

 and extinguish the powder from one while attending to the fire in 

 the other. But it must be kept in mind that a collection of kilns 

 in one place increases the expense of carriage. If the roads be bad 

 the kilns should be isolated, and built at equal distances. The 

 expense of manufacture would be greater, but this would be largely 

 compensated by the reduction in the expense of carriage. A kiln 

 costs little, especially to proprietors who make their own brick and 

 lime. 



"The tools required by the charcoal burner are simple in the 

 extreme. 



" 1st, a wooden fork to put the bourrees in the oven ; 2nd, a long- 

 handled iron rake to draw out the charcoal ; 3rd, two gardener's zinc 

 watering-pans; 4th, a wooden rake; 5th, a wire sieve; 6th, a half 

 hectolitre measure ; 7th, a large square shovel of sheet iron bent up 

 at the side, each side measuring - 38 metres, with a wooden handle 

 0'80 metres in length. 



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