No. 161.] 
45 
Three tons of Arnold ore at 72 per cent, == 4,838 lbs. metallic iron. 
Three and one-half do. clay iron stone 
at 35 per cent, = 2,744 do. do. 
2,094 
Showing that by the process of which we are now speaking, for 
every ton of rough bar iron obtained, there is a waste of nearly 
another ton of nnetallic iron. And in this estimate nothing has 
been allowed for the loss which these bars suffer in the various 
operations to which they are subjected previously to their prepa- 
ration for the manufacture of nails, &c. 
The important influence which the facts just stated must exert 
upon the manufacture of iron in the district where this process is 
almost exclusively employed, can scarcely be doubted, when it is 
stated that the price of ore is seldom less than five dollars the ton. 
To all this should be added the waste of fuel, which I am satisfied 
may be fairly set down to this mode of manufacture. 
Another, and perhaps more serious objection, to the process un- 
der examination, is the want of uniformity in the texture of the 
iron, and its unfitness for many uses to which this metal is applied. 
This is owing to the alternate mixture of steely grains with those 
of the malleable iron, a result which no care can prevent. Hence 
chain cables manufactured from this kind of iron, although they 
are sufficiently tough in some parts, in others have a tenacity so 
inconsiderable as to be easily destroyed by the weight applied to 
them. To the same want of uniformity in the texture is to be as- 
cribed the rapidity with which they are oxidated by exposure to 
the atmosphere. 
In adverting to these facts, I trust that I shall not be accused of 
a want of interest in our manufactures. They are, it is believed, 
well known to most of our manufacturers, and my object in thus 
noticing them, is to urge the importance of the introduction of a 
less exceptionable process than that which has just been described. 
The iron ores of the northern counties will not suffer in the com- 
parison with any in the world, and there is no reason, if proper 
attention be paid to the manufacture, that the iron of that district 
should not be as valuable as any other. 
The Dannemora iron ore, from which the most celebrated Swe- 
dish iron is obtained, is similar in its characters to the primitive 
