Gold Mining Notes. 47 
He recommends that the quartz to be tested should be as 
true an average of the rock in sight as can possibly be 
obtained, and be not less than thirteen cubic feet. This 
is broken to the size of macadam stuff, or road material, 
with "cobbing''' hammers, and the result well mixed. 
Two cwt. of the broken fragments are then placed on a 
piece of canvas two yards square, in the centre of which 
is a stamp-die, and then with hammers the quartz is 
reduced small enough to pass a two-inch riddle. The die 
is removed, the broken quartz well mixed, and two 
samples of 4 lbs. each taken. A " bucking hammer" formed 
of a piece of iron 6 inches square and one inch thick, 
fixed on a wooden handle, and a "bucking iron" placed 
on a piece of canvas so arranged that it collects what flies 
from under the hammer, will reduce the macadam stuff 
more rapidly than the "cobbing" hammer. The 4 lb. 
samples are then passed through Taylor's hand rock 
crusher till fine enough to go through a sieve with 30 
holes to the linear inch or even finer. It is difficult, 
however, to explain the construction and action of 
this crusher without the aid of diagrams. It is 
rapid in a6tion, and does not as is the case with 
the grinding aftion of the pestle and mortar, reduce 
the gold into scales which have a tendency to float and 
be lost. The crushed quartz is treated so as to separate 
it from pyritic matter and earthy materials by the "pan" 
before described, which Mr. ATTWOOD says is better 
than any other utensil. Its utility would be enhanced by 
the addition of a small riddle with about 8 holes to the 
linear inch, to which two long handles are attached. 
The riddle with the gravel or crushed quartz placed in it, is 
immersed in a tub of water, and by a quick half rotatory 
