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STEEL FAILS.—The question of the manufacture of steel rails continues to tea subject of intense interest in the iron districts of England. The Birmingham, Daily Gazette gives an account of the Siemens-Martin process, i which has recently been brought into practice on a manufacturing scale at [ the North Yorkshire Steel and Iron Works, near Stockton-on-Tees, by Mr. I Samuelson. The works were recently put into operation, and on the fol lowing day, the first rail was rolled for the Darlington section of the North Eastern Railway Company, with, it is said, perfect success. The rail placed on bearings 3 feet 6 inches apart, was subjected to the impact of a ball weighing 22 cwt., falling from a hight of 30 feet, without showing the slightest flaw, and each subsequent days product has borne the same extraordinary test. Mr.Siemens himself is erecting similar works in South Wales. UTILIZATION OF BLAST FURNACE SLAG-.—The following method is now adopted in several iron works in Belgium: The slag is allowed to run direct from the furnace into pits about eight or nine feet in diameter at the top, with sides sloping inwards towards the center, where they are about three feet deep. The mass is left for eight or nine days to cool, when a hard compact, crystalline stone is obtained, which is quarried and used for building purposes, but chiefly for paving stones. They appear to wear exceedingly well, being quite equal to the grits and sandstones already so much used. The Lawrence (Mass.) American, gives the number of operatives employed in the manufacturing establishments of that city. The total number is 10,542; 4 558 males and 5,984 females. The Pacific Mills employ 3,6S7hands; the Washington, 2,312; Atlanticl,150; Everett, 883; Pemberton. 836; Arlington, 199; Duck Mills, 180; Bussell Paper Company, 138; Lawrence Woolen Company, 116; Gilmores Straw Works, 184; Wright Manufacturing Company, %9; Lawrence Worsted Company, 79. The total number of hands employed in the aaanufacturing establishments of Lowell is 13,927; 4,814 males and9,013females. WISCONSIN WOOLEN MANUFACTURERS ASSOCIATION.—The Wisconsin woolen manufacturers held their annual meeting at Milwaukee on the 13th of April. The display of samples from some of these mills was very creditable; the Racine shawls and Appleton doeskins, flannels, and cassimeres being especially fine. A committee was appointed to consider the expediency of holding an annual trade sale. Tlie next meeting will be held in Milwaukee, in April, 1870. A blast furnace for the manufacture of charcoal pig iron is to be established at Frankfort, on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan, by a company recently organized in Detroit, with a capital of $100,000. A furniture factory in Hanover street, Boston, employs 500 hands, runs a 100 horse-power engine, and keeps constantly on hand 1,500,000 feet of dry black walnut lumber. In a few weeks the Rock Island and Pacific railroad will De completed to Council Bluffs, and thus Chicago will have two entirely independent lines to Omaha. In the lumber yard of the Pacific railroad, at Omaha, are stored four and one-half million feet of lumber, and seven hundred and sixty-eight workmen are employed. A rollingmill to employ one hundred and fifty hands is about starting at Joliet, 111.
