Buhrstone. 



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Cheshire and Warwick, Mass., and in Utica, N, Y. ; and at present 

 in Keene, N. H. It answers well for Crown and cylinder glass. 

 The quantity is inexhaustable. It is sold at the road, one mile from 

 the bed, at 6i cents per bushel. This sand is employed extensively 

 in Berkshire in the process of sawing marble. 



I am inclined to believe that some of the sand associated with the 

 tertiary and diluvial formations in the State, particularly in the gneiss 

 region, is pure enough to be employed in the manufacture of coarse 

 kinds of glass : such for instance as is found in Pelham and Leomin- 

 ster. The purest and coarsest variety, however, that I have met with, 

 forms the shores of Lock's Pond, in the North West part of Shutes- 

 bury. Similar sand, I believe, is used for glass making in the east- 

 ern part of Connecticut. 



When examining the milk white quartz, that exists in mountain 

 masses in the east part of Cumberland, R. I. : the inquiry forced 

 itself upon my attention, whether it might not be employed in the 

 manufacture of glass 1 Those particularly acquainted with that man- 

 ufacture, can, however, judge better of this matter than myself. 



2. Buhrstone. 



In the same hill that furnishes the fine stratified quartz rock for 

 architectural purposes, in Washington, three miles from Pittsfield, a 

 porous quartz is found, which greatly resembles, and is used instead 

 of buhrstone, for millstones. Whether geologists would allow it to 

 be real buhrstone, may admit of doubt ; since it is unquestionably a 

 rock of primitive formation ; whereas the real Paris buhrstone, is a 

 member of the tertiary formation. But in an economical point of 

 view, this question is of little importance, since the rock seems to an- 

 swer nearly all the purposes of buhrstone so well that it is employed 

 somewhat extensively for millstones. These are manufactured near 

 the ledge, and sold for seventy or eighty dollars each. I am told 

 that they answer well, especially for the coarser kinds of grain. I 

 should presume that the only difficulty would lie in their being less 

 tough than the genuine buhrstone. The quantity at the ledge is in- 

 exhaustible. 



Sometimes our citizens employ the finer and more compact varie- 

 ties of granite for millstones. I have seen even a coarse conglome- 

 rate, or puddingstone, used for this purpose. And while upon this 

 subject, I cannot but express my surprise that no attempt has been 

 made to employ our greenstone, and other hornblend rocks, for mill- 

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