On the Manufacture of Bar Iron in India. 39 



duced. He stated, that for this purpose, the Indian pig-iron 

 might be procured very cheaply ; but as it is well known that 

 the Porto Novo Company were willing to repurchase old cast- 

 ings of their own iron at 401bs. per ton ; it is plain that they 

 could not make it cheaper than this rate, or they would not 

 have repurchased it ; and if pig-iron could not be made in 

 India for less than this, it is not likely that it could compete 

 with wrought iron made on the spot with bloomery furnaces. 



11. In France, the progress of improvement in the iron 

 manufacture has been very rapid within the last 10 years, 

 and so great has been the economy with materials expended, 

 that although the price of charcoal is three times as great 

 as it was formerly, yet the price of bar iron has fallen one- 

 third. This result has been produced by the introduction 

 of the hot blast from England, by the use of wood in the 

 blast furnaces, and the combustion of the gas as given off 

 in the blast furnace, to puddle and reduce pig-iron to the 

 malleable state. 



12. " On the use of wood in the blast furnaces in France, 

 " many experiments have been made in the last 7 or 8 

 " years. Some have introduced the daily and habitual use of 

 " green wood ; others, have dried ; others and by far the 

 " larger number, have used a process for preparing it in a 

 " close vessel by means of the heat lost from the mouth of 

 M the blast furnace, so as to subject the wood to a less 

 u advanced carbonisation than that performed in the forests, 

 " and producing a combustible intermediate between dried 

 " wood and charcoal. The use of green or torrefied wood has 

 " not extended as far as might have been wished. Only 51 

 " furnaces make use of it, and even this number seems to di- 

 " minish. Several reasons explain this result. The first is, 

 " the irregularity produced in the proceedings of the fur- 

 " naces. The green wood occasions coolings down, which 

 " prevent fusion taking place in a regular manner, and tor- 

 " refied wood always presenting a very variable degree of 



