106 On the Manufacture of Bar Iron in India. 



an iron work was set up in the interior, it must necessarily 

 be upon a small scale ; and if on a large scale near the sea 

 shore, it would be some time before the superior quality of 

 its products could bear down the opposition from the cheap, 

 but bad iron made in the English manufactories. 



7. In my last paper I remarked, that I thought it impro- 

 bable that European capitalists would be able to make an 

 iron work profitable in India ; but I then supposed that the 

 scale of the Native process might be much increased, and 

 still worked with the same ease as the small furnaces ; but 

 I have now found that the problem is so complicated, and 

 such nice regulation of all the principles is so absolutely 

 requisite, that it is necessary to use clock-work to regulate 

 the blast; and altogether, no idea of the mode of action 

 could be formed, even if a furnace was examined while at 

 work. 



8. It is not probable that " high blast" furnaces can be 

 set to work with any chance of a profitable return in India, 

 because the quantity of iron they produce — about 50 tons a- 

 week — is too large to meet with a ready sale. In consequence 

 of which, the capital sunk, before any returns came in, 

 would be enormous ; also the quantity of fuel they require — 

 at least 100 tons a-week — would be difficult to procure, 

 and would soon exhaust the thickest forest in the vicinity 

 of a furnace of this kind.* 



9. Even an experienced practical man would find great 

 difficulty in setting to work in India a " high blast" furnace, 

 from the total want of any information regarding the true 

 theories upon which the operation of these furnaces de- 



* We have forests enough, and purposes enough in India for the employment of 

 several such furnaces, provided the subject of internal improvement were once 

 fairly taken up. We can do nothing however without cheap iron; and for this 

 reason, we think Capt. Campbell would be profitably employed upon any terms. 

 He should follow out his experiments, and make as much iron as he can. The 

 result will be highly advantageous to the country. — Eds. 



