a mechanical engine employed by cloth-lappers, for dressing and finishing cloths and stuffs of various descriptions and fabrics, before exposure to sale, or delivery to purchasers. It is also used by calico-printers, in order to extend and smooth the surface of their cloths, after they have been bleached, and before they are subjected to the operations of the printing table or copperplate press.

In all cases two, and in many three, requisites must be attained, in order to give to cloth that appearance which it is deemed necessary that it should possess, to attract the eye and gratify the fancy of the purchaser and consumer,

The first of these requisites consists in as perfect extension and smoothness of surface as can be attained; so that no wrinkle or doubled folding may remain in it, excepting such as shall afterwards be intentionally made, in order to the reducing of it to the proper form and shape.

The second requisite acquired by the calendering of cloth, is the compression of the yarn or threads of which the texture is composed, which in some degree divests them of their cylindrical shape, and reduces them to a degree of flatness, which, by bringing them more closely into contact with each other, gives to the fabric a greater appearance of closeness and strength, than it would otherwise possess. The operation of the calender also improves the superficial appearance, by flattening down all knots, lumps, and other imperfections, from which no material, from which cloth is fabricated, can ever be entirely freed during the previous processes of spinning and weaving.

And thirdly, in many fabrics it is desirable, and esteemed a great addition to the effect and beauty of the superficial appearance, that cloth should receive, by means of friction and an application of bleached wax, an additional lustre or polish, which is generally distinguished by the appellation of glazing, and is chiefly required in those stuffs which are employed in the ornamental descriptions of female attire.

Such, in a strictly limited sense, are the sole and exclusive effects resulting from the mechanical operation of the calender; but, as other operations besides smoothing or glazing are necessary for the proper preparation of cloths for the market, these also are carried on by the same persons and in the same premises. Hence by a natural, although not strictly correct, extension of its acceptation, the term calender, which really means only the chief mechanical engine employed, gives the general name to the whole establishment where all the varied operations of cloth-lapping are carried on; and it is as usual to say that goods are packed, as that goods are dressed, at a calender. In the illustration, therefore, of those operations, which the limits of this article will admit, the first object will be to convey a distinct idea of the principles, construction, and operation of the principal machinery employed; and then to add such general and miscellaneous observations as may serve to elucidate how the business of cloth-lapping is carried on in its present extended form.

For the purpose of smoothing both surfaces of a piece of cloth, it is necessary that they should be exposed to universal contact and pressure in every point, with some body of sufficient density to acquire the requisite degree of superficial polish. Such equality of surface, however, as will produce this effect, is not very easily attainable in large plane surfaces. Hence the contact of cylinders, in this operation, has been found to be in all respects infinitely preferable to that of planes, both in the speed and the effect of the operation. The common domestic smoothing iron is the most simple of all calendering utensils; but, even in the application of its small and limited surface, it would be difficult to procure any table or board sufficiently level to bring the whole cloth into equal contact with the iron, without the intervention of a few folds of blanket, or some other thick and soft woollen cloth.

The old, and now almost entirely superseded, ma- chine, termed a mangle, gives the most simple and rude approximation towards cylindrical calendering, and the substitution of circular for plane surfaces. Its operation is that of a cylinder applied to a plane, upon which it is rolled backward and forward, until some degree of smoothness is produced by this reciprocating motion. It is, therefore, very analogous in principle to the common gardener's roller, with which land is resmoothed after having been dug up for sowing or other agricultural purposes.

The smoothing calender completes the substitution of cylindrical for plane surfaces, all the parts which operate upon the cloth being of that form. This ingenious engine, which was introduced into Britain from Flanders and Holland, during the persecution of the Hugonots, has, since its introduction and adoption here, undergone no very material or important alteration or improvement in point of theoretical principle; nor, until the extension of the cotton manufacture had introduced a general spirit of mechanical improvement, had it received any great amelioration in practical execution. Two very important improvements have, however, since that period, been introduced and adopted. The first of these, which originated in Lancashire, is now almost universally employed. The second, which was invented at Glasgow, is still limited to the original proprietors or their assignees by the operation of a patent, the period of which, however, has now nearly determined.

The scope of the former of these improvements consists in the substitution of pasteboard, in the place of wood, in constructing three out of the five cylinders of which the engine is composed. These cylinders, when previously composed of wood, were found to be liable to two serious and important objections. Calenders employed in general business are necessarily subjected to frequent alternations and vicissitudes of heat and cold. These are entirely unavoidable, because, in smoothing or dressing cloths of the denser fabrics, the effect, as in the common operation of ironing linens, is found to be greatly heightened by the application of as great a degree of heat as can safely be communicated without danger to the fabrics which are to be smoothed.

The expansion of every thread which composes a given extent of cloth, although individually indistinguishable, even with microscopic aid, produces very considerable general effect, when exerted upon eight or ten thousand of these minute cylindrical substances, all combined together, in the space of one single square yard. In this expanded state, the pressure of the calender divests them more easily of their cylindrical form, and flattens them down until they come more closely into contact than before. This effect, which is in exact unison with the general theories of expansion and contraction, will at once produce an apparent increase of closeness and density to the texture, as well as of gloss to the surfaces; although the former is in fact deceptive, as no real acquisition of strength to the fabric can thus be obtained. The apparent density of fabric, as well as a higher accession of gloss, are also frequently obtained by impregnating and stiffening the cloth, after it has been bleached, with a mucilage of starch; and this is too frequently carried to a very unfair height for the purposes of deception, which is not very easily detected, until the cloth be again exposed to moisture, when the delusive appearance instantly vanishes. Hence, in all dense fabrics, the calender is generally used in a heated state, whilst in flimsy fabrics, in which transparency of appearance is more the requisite than strength, the operation is conducted with the calender perfectly cold.

The effect of these frequent and sudden transitions upon wooden cylinders was necessarily productive both of fissure and warping or twisting; and no care in drying or seasoning the wood before turning could entirely remove these defects. The substitution of pasteboard, however, afforded a radical cure for both, as well as a collateral advantage arising from its being susceptible of a much higher degree of superficial polish, which is always transferred to the cloth.

The paper or pasteboard cylinder, besides total exemption from all defects incidental to ligneous substances, from the immense density of which it is susceptible, by compression, presents a superficies capable of receiving and retaining an almost unparalleled smoothness and polish.

In order to construct cylinders of this description, an axis of malleable iron, and two circular plates of cast-iron, are, in the first place, provided. In these plates, which must be at least from one to two inches thick, there are six equidistant perforations near to the circumference, each capable of admitting a rod of malleable iron at least three-fourths of an inch in diameter. The entire space between the two iron-plates is then to be filled with circular pieces of the strongest pasteboard, exceeding, by about one inch in diameter, the iron-plates, and having each a correspondent perforation, through which the six iron rods may pass parallel to the axis. A cylinder is thus formed, the substance of which is of pasteboard locked together by plates of iron at the extremities, and susceptible, by means of screws on the extremities of the six connecting rods, of immense compression.—After undergoing this preparation, the cylinder is exposed to strong heat in a confined apartment; and, as the pasteboard daily contracts, the screws are every day tightened for the space of some weeks. The density of the cylinder is thus increased, whilst it is contracted in length upon the axis, for which contraction adequate allowance must be made in its original measure, and the operation is continued until it has gradually acquired the requisite compression. It is then re-exposed to the ordinary temperature of the atmosphere, and by its re-expansion presents a body almost inconceivably compact, its specific gravity in this state being greater than even that of silver.—The only operation now required is that of turning its superficies until correctly cylindrical; and this is a work of immense labour and patience.

The rotatory motion in turning does not exceed 40 or 50 revolutions per minute; and the turner requires two or three assistants constantly employed in sharpening his tools. When properly finished and smoothed, a pasteboard cylinder, however, amply compensates, by its strength, its gloss, and its dura, bility, for the great labour and expence which its construction has created.

A second practical improvement in calenders of the common description consists in the substitution of cast iron for wood, in the construction of the connecting frames. This improvement is now common to almost every description of machinery; and when applied to the calender, it is of more than usual advantage, because, independently of the accession of strength and diminution of space occupied, the total exemption of iron from warping is of peculiar advantage in an engine so rapidly exposed to alteration of temperature as the calender must be. The entire exemption of iron framing from combustion forms also another advantage of some importance in an engine frequently heated by the application of red-hot cylinders of iron. With this cursory outline of general improvement, the next object of the present article is to afford a description of calenders in their present state of improvement, referring for illustration to the figures which are delineated in the Plate.

A representation of a common smoothing calender, combining in its construction all the improvements which have been detailed, will be found represented by fig. 1. Plate XLV.

The framing of this calender, as well as of the glazing calender (fig. 2.), and which will afterwards be noticed, is represented as composed partly of iron and partly of wood; the upright posts which form the lateral connections, and which contain the bouchees or sockets in which the axes or journals of the cylinders revolve being of the former substance, whilst the horizontal parts at top and bottom are represented as of the latter. The latter, however, may also be very advantageously cast in iron.

The constituent parts of this calender are as follow: MA is the chief or main cylinder, which is represented as 24 inches in diameter, and five feet in length, betwixt the connecting and compressing plates at the extremities. It must, however, be premised, in order to avoid misconception, that different Engineers adopt different dimensions for their cylinders; and that those adopted and specified in the representations given, are merely selected as specimens of such diameters as are in general use, and found to answer their end sufficiently; but they may unquestionably be either extended or contracted, according to particular circumstances, without any perceptible alteration of effect, provided care be taken that the ratio of velocity be always correspondent with that of dimension.

BB are two cylinders of cast iron externally turned until perfectly smooth. Their diameter is fixed at six inches each, allowing the substance of iron to be one and a half inches, and leaving a central cavity or perforation of three inches diameter, for the reception of red-hot cylinders of cast iron, when the calender is required to operate at a heated temperature. Both extremities are perfectly open, in order that the heated cylinders, which, for the sake of convenient exposure in the furnace, should not exceed 12 or 16 inches in length, may be easily introduced at one end, and, after cooling, may be expelled at the other by fresh cylinders from the furnace. Their diameter should so far correspond with that of the cavity into which they are to be introduced, that, in their utmost state of expansion from the heat, they may slide freely along, with as little vacant space as can safely be allowed, but without exposing them to the danger of occasional obstruction from excess of diameter.

The cylinders CC, like the main cylinder A, ought to be constructed of compressed pasteboard, and their diameter is assumed to be 12 inches. These five cylinders, with the wheels which put them in motion, constitute the whole dynamical or moving apparatus of the calender; and, at the diameters which have been assigned to them, will occupy, when in contact fit for working, a space of five feet perpendicular in whole. To this must be added the thickness of the top and bottom parts, and an allowance of two or three inches vacancy to clear these from the upper and lower cylinders. A space in whole of about two feet will be sufficient for these purposes, and the total altitude of the calender from the floor to the vertex will be about seven feet.

The cylinders revolve in bouchees or sockets, generally of smooth hard brass or bell-metal; and all these, excepting those of the main cylinder, are so connected with the lateral framing by which they are supported, as to render them capable of being shifted upwards or downwards occasionally. This admits of altering the degree of pressure given by the cylinders, so as to suit the great variety of fabrics which are necessarily subjected to the operation of the same calender, if employed in general business. The quantum of pressure exerted upon the cloth is sometimes regulated by projecting levers, operating as steelyards. The short end of these being connected with the centres of the cylinders, the pressure is proportional to the weight applied to the longer extremity, and its distance from the fulcrum.

This is perhaps the best and surest mode of tempering and adjusting the quantum of pressure. The steelyards, however, require more space than the proprietors are generally willing to allot for their calenders; and, consequently, the pressure is most commonly regulated by screws. This, however, subjects everything to the discretion of the operator, and an unskilful person often injures the machinery, and even stops its motion by overscrewing the calender. At other times, he is apt to set it so open, as to permit the cloth to pass through it without receiving nearly the effect which will be derived when the calender is skilfully adjusted.

In order that the operating effect of the calender may be merely by pressure, it will be obvious that the relative velocity of rotation, communicated to each cylinder respectively, should be reciprocally as its diameter; for thus each will expose equal superficies in equal times. And to effect this, it will be equally obvious, that the diameter of the wheels (reckoned to the pitch lines or working parts of the teeth) should be commensurate with those of the cylinders, upon whose axes they are respectively placed. These diameters being respectively 6, 12, and 24 inches, and that of the wheels the same, the perimeters of this latter (avoiding minute fractions) will be nearly 18.8, 37.6, and 75.2 inches; and to deduce from these the requisite number of teeth, it is only necessary to ascertain what strength it will Calendering.

be necessary to allow for each. An epicycloidal tooth, measuring .75 inch thick at the pitch line, will be abundantly strong to undergo any opposition which it may encounter in a well constructed calender; and should this be adopted, the numbers of the wheels will be

<table> <tr> <th></th> <th>Inches.</th> </tr> <tr> <td>Main cylinders A,</td> <td>24 diameter, 48 teeth nearly.</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Iron cylinders BB,</td> <td>6</td> <td>12</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Extreme cylinders CC,</td> <td>12</td> <td>24</td> </tr> </table>

liable to such modification as the engineer may deem it proper to adopt, under the special circumstances of each case.

When these connections betwixt the cylinders are formed, and a sufficient moving power is applied to the main cylinder A, the whole will revolve with velocities proportional to their diameters; and as equal surfaces will be exposed by all in equal times, pressure alone will be applied at the lines of junction, and the calender will smooth, by compression exclusively, whatever pieces of cloth may be exposed to its operation. This pressure, it is also apparent, will take place at the four lines of contact between the cylinders, and, of course, will be four times applied during the transit of the cloth. Those who attend the calender must be careful that the pieces are fairly extended before insertion, to prevent cressing; and that they are regularly although loosely collected into regular folds after being calendered; and in this state delivered to those whose business it is to refold and press them into the proper folds, which they are permanently to retain, until they shall come into the possession of the consumer.

The above description of the common calender supersedes, in a great measure, what it might otherwise be necessary to detail respecting that employed for glazing. Both engines are, in fact, nearly the same; and the same calender may, by a few minutes labour, be altered so as to answer either purpose.

Previously to the introduction of this improvement, the operation of glazing, although performed sufficiently well, was somewhat tedious, being effected almost exclusively by the mere application of manual labour. It was performed upon a table, the cover of which was oblique to the horizon, forming with it an angle of 15° or 20°. The cloth being stretched on this, and a quantity of wax being thinly spread on its surface, the glazing was effected by the reciprocation of a smoothed flint, vibrating at the end of a rod, somewhat similar to the oscillations of a pendulum. The centre of oscillation was also moveable on a spring, in order to reduce the arc of vibration to a plane, and keep the flint in uniform contact with the cloth. But a man's power was competent to glaze only a few inches in breadth at once, and it was only by successive shiftings, that the whole breadth was successively brought under the friction of the flint. The glazing calender produces the same effect, with increased uniformity, simply by changing the relative velocities of the cylinders to each other, and generating friction, as well as pressure, at the points of contact.

Indeed, the whole changes necessary to convert a smoothing into a glazing calender, consists merely in accelerating the rotatory velocity of the main cylinder A, whilst those of the other cylinders remain unchanged. The shifting of one wheel upon the Calender main cylinder, and the addition of four smaller wheels or pinions to the engine, is entirely adequate to produce this effect; and, in point of fact, this is the whole extent of the improvement. The extent of alteration in the relative velocities, of course regulates the quantum of friction, and the extent of gloss which is given to the cloth; and this must be varied in proportion to the strength and density of the fabric to be glazed. As an illustration of the principle, let it be supposed, that a friction of one inch is to be communicated in every three inches of cloth, and the effect will be attained in the manner represented by the glazing calender, fig. 2. Plate XLV.

Let the wheel on the main cylinder A be reduced to thirty-two teeth, and let the power be so applied, that its own velocity of rotation shall be increased until it makes three revolutions where it formerly made only two. Then the diminished wheel, which has been substituted, in place of direct operation, will communicate rotation to the iron cylinders BB, by the intervention of two intermediate pinions DD, the diameters and teeth of which are entirely discretionary, as they affect only their own respective velocities, and not those of the cylinders in general.

Notwithstanding the extreme simplicity of this improvement, it has given very universal satisfaction, and, as the time of the patent will very shortly expire, there is little doubt of its universal adoption, to the entire supersession of the common and tedious operation of glazing.

For dressing muslins, gauzes, lawns, and other goods of the light and transparent fabrics, a smaller species of calender, represented by fig. 3. is employed. It consists of only three cylinders of equal diameters (generally about six inches), and is easily moved by a common winch or handle at F. The mid cylinder is iron, and the others wood or pasteboard. They are of equal diameters, and are moved with equal velocities by the small wheels at E. This machine is always used in a cold state.

The folding of cloth is so entirely regulated by fashion, that no precise rules can be laid down for its regulation. In general, as all the different manufactures of cloth have been imported from other countries, the original foldings have been copied to complete the resemblance. In the infant state of imitation there was probably some policy in this, but the continuance may be ascribed almost exclusively to the power of habit. Preservation and portability are the main requisites to be attained by folding; and these are attained by subjecting the cloth, when folded, to a very powerful compression.

To communicate this, very strong presses are employed, of which various kinds are in use.

The capstan press, which is the most usual, is represented by fig. 4. at G. They are now generally constructed of cast iron, the screw and handle excepted, which are malleable. They are tightened to a certain pressure, by merely using a lever of 10, 12, 16, or more feet in length, to turn the screw. When greater compression is required, the end of the lever is connected by a strong rope or chain with the capstan at I, which is heaved round by handspikes until the desired compression be obtained. The pieces of cloth are separated in the press Calendering.

Calender, by smooth wooden boards and folds of that species of glazed pasteboard, which, from its application to this very use, has acquired the appellation, among stationers, of pressing-paper.

Water-presses, upon the forcing principle of Mr Bramah, or acted upon by the pressure of a column of water, are also employed; but the latter depend much on local situation, and cannot easily be applied in large towns like Manchester or Glasgow, where the chief command for calendering exists.

To the mechanical art of calendering, it is found expedient, in the extended states of commerce, to add many of the operations of packing, sheeting, and preparing goods for shipment, and these generally form a branch of the establishment. In order to suit the great extent and variety of manufacture practised in Britain, and to adapt these to the prevalent tastes and views of the extensive range of consumers to be supplied, a multiplicity of foldings or lappings have been necessarily adopted, few of which, probably, possess much claim to entire originality. The high, and perhaps preeminent, station which the productions of the British looms have gradually attained, seem to be rather the effect of assiduous and enterprising industry, than of great originality of invention, or precedence in mechanical improvement. Certainly, she can, at the utmost, boast of only one raw material, from which cloth is manufactured, as peculiarly indigenous.

At an early period, no doubt, the British wool had attracted the peculiar attention of economists and statesmen, as of paramount value; and the prohibition of its exportation became an object of legislative enactment. That manufacture, therefore, has long been the staple of England, as the linen trade, at a later period, has become that of Ireland.

The attempts to introduce both of these branches of industry into Scotland, although, during the latter part of the last century, they engrossed much of the attention, both of public bodies and of patriotic individuals, cannot be regarded as having proved eminently successful; and the progress actually made, has been almost entirely superseded and extinguished, by the more recent introduction of the cotton manufacture.

The latter branch of industry, since the splendid invention of spinning by the aid of machinery, has, indeed, made most rapid advances in every part of the United Kingdom; and has attained to a height, which has, perhaps, absorbed a greater portion of national industry, than consumers can easily be found to employ. The extension of external commerce has constantly supplied the raw material at easy, and, generally, moderate rates; and even the India Company have long ceased to oppose to it any very formidable competition in the market.

The silk manufactures of Britain have never been carried to a very great extent; and whatever may have, directly or indirectly, tended to regulate the finishing, folding, and preparing of British goods for the various markets of consumption, will chiefly refer to the three former branches of manufacture.

Extensively as the woollen trade is carried on, it is, in a great measure, absorbed either by internal or colonial consumption, and does not, therefore, enter so generally into actual competition with the cloths of other nations, as to render it either peculiarly desirable that its marketable aspect should be either servilely copied from those of other countries, or very peculiarly distinguished from them. The chief object appears to have generally been, to prevent the intrusion of foreign cloths and stuffs into our own markets; and hence adopting their usual folds into such rolls, as most effectually preserve the dressed surface from acute cresses, is found to be most expedient and convenient, the goods being distinguished by letters denoting them to be "British manufacture," on the ends of the pieces.

In the Irish manufactures of cambrics and linens, the case is almost entirely reversed. From the superiority of climate, the French flax is admitted to be of finer appearance; and although the importation of manufactured cambrics be strictly prohibited, the restraint, during periods of peace, has always been considerably evaded, in consequence of the demand experienced, and the reputation in which they are held. Indeed, it was found generally most expedient, by many retailers, to sell Irish cambrics under the title of French, and hence the fold was correctly imitated. The pieces, after being folded into lengths of about 12 inches, and twice laterally doubled, until the whole breadth of 34 inches was reduced to about 8½ inches, were subjected to a powerful compression in the press until fully flattened. They were then packed in purple coloured wrappers or papers, and a small engraved card or ticket was attached to each piece, specifying the length, generally about 8 or 8½ yards. The cards were attached by a silken string, so as to be easily cut away with a penknife or pair of scissors, in order to avoid seizure; and French or Irish goods were sold indiscriminately as "foreign cambrics." Custom has even carried this practice farther; and cotton cambrics, which are avowedly British manufacture, and subjected to no risk whatever, because easily distinguishable from any cambric manufactured from flax, are put up into the same folds, papered, and ticketed, in exactly the same manner.

In linens, holland, and sheetings, whether of foreign or Irish manufacture, the same fold is also employed; and in cotton shirtings and sheetings, is closely imitated. The form is that of a cylindric roll, somewhat flattened by subsequent compression; and, in general, all dense fabrics, whether of linen or of cotton, are rolled up and compressed in a similar manner; the object of which is, evidently, safety, and diminution of space, in land carriage or exportation.

In others of the extensive varieties of cotton cloths of British manufacture, some are avowed imitations of the manufactures of Hindostan, whilst others profess no such imitation. Very few among the manufactures of Lancashire are either distinguished by Indian names, or copied from Indian cloths, although some of great extent are directly so. Calicoes, cos-sacs, and jacquets, for printing, as well as Ballusore, Bandana, and Pullicate handkerchiefs, are amongst the leading articles of the latter description; whilst amongst the latter may be classed the very extensive manufactures of corduroys, thicksetts, velveretts, Calender. velveteens, &c. although their origin is also probably Asiatic, but because well known and manufactured by the Genoese, French, and other European nations, even before the discoveries of De Gama, and other mariners, had first laid open the maritime intercourse with India by the Cape of Good Hope.

When, at a period infinitely more recent, the splendid invention of spinning cotton by the agency of machinery, to any degree of fineness, afforded new scope to the British weaver, the imitation of the lighter Indian fabrics fell chiefly into the hands of the Scottish weavers; for executing which, they had been, in a considerable degree, previously, prepared, by their habits of weaving lawns in imitation of the French, as well as their lighter fabrics of silk and thread gauzes. To their share, in consequence, fell the bouks, mulls, and japans, almost exclusively; as well as the lighter jacquets, designed for ornament, from the needle and tambour frame. And whilst they have made no successful attempt to compete with their Lancashire brethren in the dense fabrics of corduroys, quiltings, and other ponderous articles, they have shared with them the manufacture of the middling textures of cambrics, Pullicates, and ginghams.

Indeed, whatever prepossession may, at an early period, have existed in favour of the real Indian fabrics, it has now so entirely subsided, as to possess no influence whatever in swaying general opinion. The British workmanship has proved itself long ago so decisively superior to the Indian, both in spinning and weaving, as to eradicate every doubt in the minds of all who are really competent to decide the question of comparative superiority. Still, however, candour will compel us to allow, that the Indian possesses advantages in the rich qualities of his cotton, and the brilliancy of some of his dyes, which, in some degree, compensate for the immense superiority of the British skill and machinery, and which, to those who examine superficially, may appear to entitle him to the preference.

Nothing, therefore, exists in the cotton manufacture which could, in general cases, prompt to a servile imitation of external appearance for the purposes of deception; and the Indian mode of lapping their cloth is too rude and laborious to admit of its being copied as a matter of convenience. Their method consists merely in doubling a piece of twenty yards, to reduce its length to ten yards; which is again doubled, in order to reduce it to five; and thus they continue to redouble, until the piece be reduced to a moderate length, capable of being contained in a chest or bale. Thus often redoubled, an Indian piece cannot be examined throughout, unless the whole piece be again unfolded; and this, in large transactions, would be utterly impracticable.

British muslins are folded generally to a yard in length, with a small allowance for extra measure; and as the folding is alternately from right to left, every part can be instantly examined upon a table or counter, every fold opening as easily as the leaves of a book, in its uncut state. The piece, when folded, is reduced by doubling it longitudinally to about 19 inches, and it is then folded across to the breadth of about 13 inches. An ordinary sized trunk, 39 x 19 inches, thus contains three layers of pieces; in which package, goods for exportation to the colonies are generally packed; the trunk there forming an article of merchandise as much in general demand as the muslins which it contains.

Even the Indian ornaments of gilt silver threads, which were at first woven into one end of each piece, although they did not exceed the value of twopence each, have been either greatly curtailed, or totally given up upon principles of economy. Even the cost of this trivial ornament has been computed to have amounted annually in Glasgow and Paisley to about L. 30,000.

Pullicate, and other handkerchiefs, are most commonly folded up in dozens. For the African, and some other foreign trades, pieces containing only eight handkerchiefs are preferred. These are still imitations of Indian precedents, confined to markets where competition continues to exist, not only with the British Company, but with Americans, and others trading to India. A species of pale orange-coloured India handkerchief, distinguished by the name of Mudrus, being in extensive reputation in the Caraccas, and other Spanish settlements in South America, at the period of the capture of Trinidad in 1795, patterns were procured by some British traders, who ordered very large quantities to be manufactured in Scotland, of the same quality and appearance. With such effect were these imitated in texture, in dye, in finishing, and even in the packages, that some hundreds of pieces sent to London for exportation, were actually seized at the Custom House, as India goods, either illegally imported, or stolen from some of the Company's ships in the river. A scrutiny, however, clearly ascertained that these goods were not Indian, but British; and that no trespass against either the privileges or the property of the Company had been even attempted. The goods were of course released, and permitted to proceed to their destination, where, after examination and trial, it was found totally unnecessary longer to conceal their real origin, and a very extensive trade, through direct channels, has been since carried on for similar goods.

From the above general and cursory sketch, it will be obvious that the management of an extensive Observacalendering establishment will require, on the part of its conductor, not only a competent knowledge and experience of the mechanical operations, and duties of his particular profession, but that a more extensive mercantile acquaintance with the demands, habits, and tastes of particular markets, will conduce equally to his own interests, and those of his employers. From the variations of markets, and fluctuations of mercantile transactions, there can be no precise or definite limit to the extent of such knowledge. It is only by constant attention and sedulous inquiry, that he can preserve accuracy, in what is liable to almost daily change. His immediate employers will, no doubt, be often both able and desirous to supply him with this. But, as even they must sometimes be liable to error or deception, he ought to omit no opportunity of extending his inquiries, and arriving, as nearly as he can, at the most comprehensive and unambiguous information. (L. L.)