COMMERCE. 
28 3 
into wicker barrows, each containing about half a 
bushel, in the shape of a sugar loaf, and let them stand 
at the side of the pan for some minutes to drain ; they 
then drop the salt out of the barrow, and place it in the 
stove to harden. 
They boil a pan-full of brine in about twenty-four 
hours, the drawing out they call a lade ; 14 or 15 cwt. 
of good coal will, with care, boil a ton or 40 bushels of 
salt; they usually boil the brine very fast, which 
makes the salt weak, and of a fine grain, for the vio¬ 
lent coction deprives the salt of part of its acid spirit. 
The best salt fpr pickling is from a heat not much 
greater than solar heat. 
By Dr. Johnson’s analysis, a bottle of Droitwich 
brine, weight, with the bottle, 4lb. 3|oz. weighed with 
Malvern water Sib. l2|oz.; and 4lb. 7|oz. of brine in 
a heat of 10° Fahrenheit, produced salt, when dried, 
lib. 3foz. more than one-fourth its whole weight, per¬ 
fectly free from bittern, and every foreign admixture. 
The strength of the Droitwich brine, exceeds that of 
any other we are informed of, except Barton, Lan¬ 
cashire, and some pits at Northwich. 
Sea water on our coasts, seldom contains more than 
one-thirtieth, and to one-fiftieth, of sea salt. Nant- 
wich and Northwich yield one-sixth, and Weston, 
Staffordshire, one-ninth part of salt. 
The Droitwich brine certainly exceeds all others, and 
is, perhaps, one of the richest sources of sea salt in the 
world in purity. 
In 1755, Mr. Baker, a druggist from London, spent 
12,0001. in a project for conveying the Droitwich brine 
in pipes to the Severn, without success. 
Dr. Nash, from experiment, believes Droitwich salt 
to be neither a manure in itself, nor capable of exciting 
any 
