70 On extending the Uſe ef Tinned Iron.[Sept.

the houſe is building. IT applaud(in general) your happy con- centration of that article into four pages, which, in the commu- nications to the Board of Agriculture, ſeems to occupy ten times as many.

In that paper on Fertility(inſerted p.87) I do not like the orthography of the word Mould. I always underſtand that to imply an idea ſimilar to‘mouldineſs. If for no better reaſon, for diſtin@tion?s ſake, it ſhould be ſpelt mold. So I have always ſeen it ſpelt. Thar paper on Fertility(if it be well founded) muſt make a radical alteration in the theory of cultivation. Tt is pity that it is more important than amuſing—more ſolid than intelli- gible. But it is well worth the attention neceſlary in its peruſal.

My curioſity was attracted by your account of the portable Threſhing-Machine, and I was not ſatisfied without inguiring more particularly about it. Some of your country readers, in | the ſame predicament, may be glad to learn, that its length is | 5 feet 9 inches; its breadth 4 feet; and its height 4 feet 3 inches: MN its weight not exceeding 6 cwt. What is become of Mr. Boyce’s D Patent Machine ſor reaping Corn? You have not yet narrated

| the ſucceſs or failure of his attempt.*

If you inſert this(or the ſubſtance of it, in any ſhape conve- nient) I ſhall occaſionally continue my animadverfions.

I remain, with good wiſhes, yours,

London, Sept. 6, 1800. MINUTITUS.

* We have made inquiry about the Reaping Machine above mentioned,

and are ſorry to find that it is not yet ſufficiently 2ccurate in its operations, Therefore the ſketch of it given with our firſt number can only ſerve the 10 purpoſe of exciting the ſpirit of improvement in that moſt uſeful, but moſt ORE negle&ed body of men, the projeéors of Great Britain. We are obliged to Y Minutius“for his criticiſms, and are convinced that if more of our readers would condeſcend to mention to us their opinions and corre&ions of our Publication, it would become more worthy of our intentions, and more con- ducive to general utility. E.

— GEEK CE EEA

| ON EXTENDING. THE USE OF TINNED-IRON AS A M SUBSTITUTE FOR COPPER.

For the Commercial and Agricultural Magazine:

HERE never exiſted a time when an œconomy in the conſumption of copper and iron was more palpably re=

| quulite than at preſent. The great, riſe of price on both theſe M metals already amounts to a ſerious national inconvenience 5 | while the produce of the tin mines has been“forced to ſeek.a vend for their overplus as far of as China, though with very inoderate, and(it is feared) with decreafing ſucceſs. The re- medy of theſe evils is of more moment than any inquiry ínto Mh the cáuſes of their exiſtence; though the immenſe demand: of | the navy for copper ſheathing and bolts, and the iron which, in