Evencoalsofaninferiorqualitywerebyitsmeansmadeavailableforthemanufactureofiron。ButoneofthepeculiarqualitiesoftheBlackBandironstoneisthatinmanycasesitcontainssufficientcoalymatterforpurposesofcalcination，withoutanyadmixtureofcoalwhatever。Beforeitsdiscovery，alltheironmanufacturedinScotlandwasmadefromclay-band；buttheuseofthelatterhasinagreatmeasurebeendiscontinuedwhereverasufficientsupplyofBlackBandcanbeobtained。AnditisfoundtoexistveryextensivelyinmostofthemidlandScotchcounties，——thecoalandironmeasuresstretchinginabroadbeltfromtheFirthofForthtotheIrishChannelattheFirthofClyde。Atthetimewhenthehotblastwasinvented，thefortunesofmanyoftheolderworkswereatalowebb，andseveralofthemhadbeendiscontinued；buttheywerespeedilybroughttolifeagainwhereverBlackBandcouldbefound。In1829，theyearafterNeilson’spatentwastakenout，thetotalmakeofScotlandwas29，000tons。Asfreshdiscoveriesofthemineralweremade，inAyrshireandLanarkshire，newworkswereerected，until，in1845，wefindtheproductionofScotchpig-ironhadincreasedto475，000tons。Ithassinceincreasedtoupwardsofamillionoftons，nineteen-twentiethsofwhicharemadefromBlackBandironstone。*
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ItisstatedintheNorthBritishReviewforNov。1845，that”AsinScotlandeveryfurnace——withtheexceptionofoneatCarron——nowusesthehotblastthesavingonourpresentproduceof400，000tonsofpig-ironis2，000，000tonsofcoals，200，000tonsoflimestone，and#650，000sterlingperannum。”ButastheScotchproduceisnowaboveamilliontonsofpig-ironayear，theabovefigureswillhavetobemultipliedby21/2togivethepresentannualsavings。
Employmenthasthusbeengiventovastnumbersofourindustrialpopulation，andthewealthandresourcesoftheScotchirondistrictshavebeenincreasedtoanextraordinaryextent。Duringthelastyeartherewere125furnacesinblastthroughoutScotland，eachemployingabout400meninmakinganaverageof200tonsaweek；andthemoneydistributedamongsttheworkmenmayreadilybecomputedfromthefactthat，underthemostfavourablecircumstances，thecostofmakingironinwagesaloneamountsto36s。a-ton。*
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