778 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 
there are some large basins that fall a little below the standard in 
quality. It is an open-burning coal, but not of the same character as 
the Mahoning Valley seam. From the latter it is distinguished by its 
larger proportion of bituminous matter as shown by its burning with 
a longer flame. It is also a brighter coal, holding much less mineral 
charcoal. Its open-burning character is, however, pronounced, and it 
has long been used successfully in the blast-furnace as a smelting fuel. 
It is the dryer or splintier portion of the seam that is turned to this 
use. It is well faced, so far as the main joints are concerned, but the 
end joints or “cutters” are very close and tight. This fact has led to.a 
system of mining different from any that is elsewhere followed in the 
State. The coal is blasted without being undermined, and sometimes 
without being “sheared,” or, in mining phrase, it is “shot out of the 
solid”. The undermining can well enough be dispensed with, but the 
shearing or cutting of the coal is essential to good mining. More powder 
is required to the ton of coal in this field than in any other in Ohio. 
The most coal that can be expected from a keg of powder is 36 tons, 
and the amount is sometimes reduced to 20 tons. At these rates, the 
cost of powder to the miner ranges between 9 and 16 cents for each ton 
of coal. 
Royalty ranges between 15 and 30 cents per ton, and is paid on 
lump or round coal in nearly all cases at the present time. Sereens 
are in universal use for cleaning the coal. The standard commonly 
recognized, is 12 feet by 5 feet, with a mesh of 1g to 14 inches, but | 
this last element has some range. It never falls below the standard, 
but often overruns. The amount that goes through the screens differs 
in different mines. Generally from 3 to + of what is sent out in the 
bank cars is found below the screens. Of this amount about half, 
sometimes more and sometimes less, is nut coal. South of Massillon 
the output is divided thus: one car of nut to 9 of lump; one of slack to 
7 of lump. The nut derived from the curly coal is more valuable than 
that from the splinty coal, the former selling at the mine about 40 cents, 
and the latter about 65 cents below the lump coal. In the city markets, 
these distinctions are apt to vanish, and the price of both grades comes 
within 25 cents of the lump coal. Within the last few years a market has 
been made for the slack also. The entire product of the mines now 
goes forward. Throughout the field, the face of the coal is often 
encrusted with a thin film of carbonate of lime, which is commonly 
