drawing, and are poured out into a basin; each net is shaken for a few moments, in order that the ends of the filaments may attach themselves to the meshes of the net, so that the winder is enabled to catch them by the hand alone, without the aid of the broom now used.

The following are the important results which are anticipated from this process:-1, Concentration in the hands of one person, no matter how important the establishment may be, of so delicate an operation as the preparation of the cocoons, from whence will result a regularity almost mathematical of the operation, a great saving in expense, and a perfect uniformity in the quality of the produce; 2, complete suppression of the broom in the operation of drawing, and consequently less ravelling and piercing of the cocoons, whilst the gathering of the ends of the filaments will be more easily effected; 3, an increase of 10 per cent. of raw silk over the system now in use; 4, the production of a silk without down, more regular, of greater lustre, more elastic, more tenacious, and consequently of proportionally greater value; 5, the drawing being performed at a temperature below that now employed, a saving of fully 50 per cent. in fuel, and 20 per cent. in cost of drawing will be effected; 6, absence of all vapour in the apartment, and consequently of all injurious effects upon the work-people, and the possibility of drawing at every season, and in every country, without inconveniencing the person employed, at the same time that there is a diminution of the general expenses; 7, the mode of preparation restoring to the cocoons their original forms, cocoons may be drawn indiscriminately, and with equal success, whether indigenous or imported from foreign countries, even when the latter come into commerce flattened; 8, finally, the employment of this process scarcely necessitates any change in the existing plant of any drawing-house.

All these advantages put together, may be estimated as a mean at 18 to 20 per cent. An apparatus of this kind which would prepare the cocoons for 100 basins, and 100 drawing reels, could be made for about 200 to 300 francs (£8 to £12). An establishment of 50 basins worked throughout the year, could produce raw silk to the value of 250,000 francs (£10,000), the saving upon which, at 20 per cent., would be 50,000 francs (£2,000). All the advantages here stated, are said to have been fully and positively established at a model establishment at the Batignolles, near Paris.

These results are of vast importance to the silk trade, and although of more immediate value to France for the moment, they are destined to be of equal value in every other silk producing country. India will at once suggest itself to all our readers, and we accordingly recommend it to the notice of all those interested in that country.-See Bulletin de la Société d'Encouragement, No. 8, April, 1854, p. 240.

Employment of Wood in the manufacture of Paper.-M. Charles Cheron, of Heimsprung, near Mulhouse, states that he has succeeded in overcoming every difficulty in preparing wood so as to serve as a material in the manufacture of paper.-Bulletin de la Société d'Encouragement, No. 4, Feb. 1854, p. 127.

ART. V.—Bulletin of Industrial Statistics.

SHIPPING OF BELFAST COMPARED WITH THAT OF LIVERPOOL.

We extract the following statistics relative to the gigantic progress of Belfast, from that admirable organ of the trading interests of that town, the Belfast Mercantile Journal. And in doing so, we would ask, why it is that similar statistics are not compiled for every other town in Ireland? This is surely the duty of local boards, and we hope that the subject will henceforward be attended to.

Table of comparison between the Shipping and Tonnage of Liverpool and Belfast, from the Year 1800 to 1853, inclusive.

RAILWAYS OF THE UNITED STATES.

The following Table, containing some of the most important data connected with the American Railways in the end of the year 1853, will serve to complete the statistics of the United States, which we gave in No. IV. of this Journal.

Besides this amazing network of railways, the United States of America has one of the most perfect systems of navigable rivers in the world. The single river, the Mississippi, with its immense tributaries, present a water-way, navigable for considerable steamers, of 16,674 miles, and waters 1,200,000 square miles; whilst the great chain of lakes, one shore of which only belongs to the United States, gives a coast line of 3,000 miles. Some idea may be formed of the importance of this coast line, when it is told, that in 1849, the Americans possessed 1,208 sailing vessels and steamers upon the lakes, reporting a tonnage of 192,982 tons, and manned by 10,500 sailors. These vessels transported in that year 6,500,000 tons, and 425,000 passengers! From these facts we may assume that in a few years the United States will possess the most perfect system of internal communication which has ever existed in any country in the world.

The striking contrast presented by the progress of the United States with the state of things in Europe, notwithstanding that the latter has enjoyed a considerable amount of prosperity of late years, shows to great advantage the benefit of really free institutions. While the resources of America are being devoted to education and the development of commerce, those of Europe are squandered in playing at soldiers or destroying liberty.

STATISTICS OF THE PRIZES ADJUDGED AT THE EXHIBITION OF NEW YORK IN 1853.

Table showing the ratio between the number of Exhibitors and the number of Prizes, according to the Nation.

The proportion of prizes to exhibitors is certainly remarkable, fully one-half having displayed in their goods sufficient excellence to call for special mention, if not deserving of a medal. We do not recollect any similar exhibition, in which presumed excellence ranged so high. If these prizes were really given only on proof of special excellence or novelty of invention, the New York Exhibition was a better representation of industry than the number of exhibitors would indicate.

An examination of the preceding table shows, that the superior excellence shown by the French manufacturers at the London Exhibition of 1851, was fully maintained at New-York. And if we calculate the proportion between each class of rewards and the number of exhibitors, we shall find that there too France was in the first rank. The following table shows this:

THE

JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS.

No. VIII. AUGUST, 1854.

ART. I.-The War, as it affects Irish Fiax production.

MACADAM, JUnr.

By JAMES

RUSSIA, as a great agricultural country, has for many years furnished these islands with large quantities of certain articles of general use, the sudden cessation of whose import has materially affected different branches of our trade. The chief items of this import have been grain, flax, flax seed, hemp, and tallow. With the second and third of these only we now propose to deal, in considering the influence which the existing war may have upon the cultivation of the flax plant in Ireland.

From a table lately presented to Parliament, we learn the proportion which Russian flax bears to that derived from all other countries, as the supplementary aliment of the linen manufacture of these kingdoms. That table embraces the ten years from 1844 to 1853, inclusive. During this period the supply of flax from Russia has fluctuated from 34,058 tons in 1847, to 64,742 tons, in 1853. Dividing these ten years into two given quinquennial periods, we find the average annual import from Russia, as compared with that from other countries, to be as follows:

Average Annual Import of Flax into Great Britain and Ireland.

It thus appears that the quantity annually obtained from Russia in the first period was 67 per cent. of the entire importation, and in the second period 69 per cent.

As regards the value of these imports, the quantities given do not show the relative cost. Russian flax is, with the exception of the Egyptian and some of the Prussian, the coarsest flax of commerce. Its average value