soda and chloride of ammonium. The bicarbonate was placed in a
reverberatory furnace, where the heat drove off the water and one
equivalent of carbonic acid, leaving the alkali as monocarbonate. Near
Middlesbrough, the only branch of industry established in connection
with its salt trade was the manufacture of soda by an ammonia process,
invented by Mr. Schloesing, of Paris. The works were carried on in
connection with the Clarence salt works. It was believed that the
total quantity of dry soda produced by the two ammonia processes,
Solvay's and Schloesing's, in this country was something under 100,000
tons per annum, but this make was considerably exceeded on the
Continent.

* * * * *




COTTON INDUSTRIES OF JAPAN.


The cotton plant principally cultivated in Japan is of the species
known as _Gossypium herbaceum_, resembling that of India, China, and
Egypt. The plant is of short stature, seldom attaining a growth of
over two feet; the flower is deciduous, with yellow petals and purple
center, and the staple is short, but fine. It is very widely
cultivated in Japan, and is produced in thirty-seven out of the
forty-four prefectures forming the empire, but the best qualities and
largest quantities are grown in the southern maritime provinces of the
mainland and on the islands of Kiusiu and Shikoku. Vice consul
Longford, in his last report, says that the plant is not indigenous to