Sept. 12 med in that operation, and consequently lower the ex-pence of that procefs, the iron coming from the furnace: equally pure after one smelting, as it can be made by the operations now in use, by being smelted twice at least. There is also reason to believe that the iron will be ren,

dered thus softer and more malleable than it now is; as it. is well known that metals in general are rendered more brittle the oftener they are fused. The particulars of this process will be communicated to the public as soon as the Editor fhall be authorised to do so.

NOTICES OF IMPROVEMENTS NOW GOING ON IN INDIA.

THE views of Dr Anderson, and the way in which he promotes improvements in India, are beautifully illustrated by the following letters.

From John Braithwaite, to Dr James Anderson, physician general, Madras.

DEAR SIR,

I RETURN you many thanks for the communication of your farther correspondence in relation to the silk business. I think it promises fair; and were we once clear of war and famine, I think would certainly succeed.

The times have been, and are against it. We have not hands at present sufficient for agriculture; the half of these circars are a desert waste, and in some measure owing; to the great manufacture of cloth, which, in proportion to the population of the country, takes too many hands from agriculture.

I believe the first great object to attend to in all coun tries, is to procure abundance of food at a cheap rate, which soon creates abundance of people, and when you have abundance of food, and a superabundance of people, then is the time to set on foot, and encourage manufac tures; but I fear in the present state of these countries, let the industry of individuals be what it may, no new

manufacture can be successfully established; but, on the contrary, those so long since established, must decline. I am, &c.

Feb. 19. 1792.

From James Anderson, to Colonel Braithwaite, commanding the troops north of the Kistna.

DEAR SIR,

I AM favoured with your letter of the 19th instant, and it is with pleasure I acknowledge the receipt of sentiments so conformable to my own, in as far as the arts, agriculture, and commerce, justly balanced, are necefsary for the mul tiplication of our species; but you know me better than to suppose I have much expectation of introducing improvements, which, from me, can only be received as speculations, in the present distressful situation of the country.

On the contrary, when you observe the opening of the business of cultivating silk, under the circumstances of war, you will acquit me of establishing a new culture under the circumstances of famine, because I have taken care to make allowances for such serious impediments.

The whole amounts to this, that as we have only a certain time to figure on the stage, it occurred that if I did not employ the present moment, the future might escape my powers; and thinking I had something to say, that at some future period might be converted to utility, I, have ventured to engage in the service of posterity.

In this view of being useful, I shall embrace every opportunity of distributing nopals for the purposes I have mentioned to government; and knowing that you pofsefs the same laudable disposition, you will not be surprised that I send you some by every tappal for your garden, and the silk when you are better able to receive it. I am, &c. Fort St. George, Feb. 26. 1792.

From James Anderson to Nathaniel Webb esq.

DEAR SIR,

As I understood there was a famine in your circar, I did not presume to trouble you with the eggs of silk worms in the late cold season, when they might have been safely

conveyed to even a greater distance, under cover of a letter; for it is needlefs to suppose that they are bruised when we every day see those eggs that get addled, from any cause whatever, soon flatten and collapse, without any external prefsure.

I know that there are mulberry trees enough in your. district to supply leaves for a large investment of silk, but the distress of the inhabitants I am truly sensible must have involved you in an infinite deal of trouble and anxiety.

I will only observe that nothing appears to me so well calculated to obviate the frequent repetition of such weighty calamities as a diversity of employment for the lower classes of the people.

No real attempts having ever been made to better the natives; and their whole subsistence consisting of grain, which can only be raised by rain happening to fall at certain stated seasons, it is obvious that if we can enable them, by the circulation of cash, which must attend the' culture of silk, to purchase grain from other countries when their own crop fails, we fhall render au efsential service to the human race here.

I will not farther obtrude on your cares, than to tell you, that whenever you are sufficiently disengaged, Mr Binny, or Mr Roxburgh, will supply you with eggs; or, which is much nearer you, Mr Haliburton at Vizagapatnam, to whom I mean to forward some in a few days; and your establishing the Bungalo will at least save a dozen children

from being starved. I am, &c.

Fort St. George, Feb. 15. 1792.

From Robert Andrews to James Anderson esq. DEAR SIR,

I HAVE been favoured with your letter, forwarding a supply of silk worm eggs, for which I beg you to accept my thanks ; my family have encreased much, and continue to multiply very fast.

The late heavy rains, however, have caused the death of many hundred worms, which I conceive may proceed in some degree from the dampnefs of the walls of the

house, which are made of mud, in which the worms are kept.

I am yet very unsuccessful in the business of winding off the silk, although I have lately acquired a third person who was exprefsly sent, as he says, by Tippoo to Bengal, to perfect himself in this branch of the business. He says the silk is of a much slighter texture than that which he has been used to wind off, either in Bengal, or the Mysore country; and the silk weavers who have attended two or three generations of the worms, under me, observe, that the silk first produced by the worms was much stronger than that which they now yield.

If in your power to instruct me in this very material point, I fhall esteem myself much obliged, for without it my zeal in the farther prosecution of the business will be much damped. I remain, c.

Trichinopoly, Nov. 29. 1791.

From Dr James Anderson to Robert Andrews, esq. SIR,

Ir will be a wretched business indeed, if, after having done so much, your zeal should slacken on the observance of a circumstance which all the world knows, that the silk worm as injured by damp and wet.

In Europe there is but one crop a year, and you see by Mr Glass's letter they have only three good crops in Bengal; yet here, the climate is so much more favourable between 70 and 100 degrees of heat, that the worms pass through seven or eight evolutions, and yield more good crops than in either of those countries.

The silk of my last breed on the setting in of the rains, was like yours, much worse than ever I had seen it ; nevertheless I made the boys wind it off as well as they could, and the silk weaver has twisted it into excellent thread, of which I am making a purse.

It is not only the damp and wet, but a foul air is likewise generated thereby, which kills the worms; and, as they decline in health, the quality of the silk is affected. However, although the rains have continued in a more violent degree than has been known for many years by past, by directing a greater attention to the neatnefs and iring VOL. Xi.

Sept. 12% of the house in which they are, although likewise walled with mud, my present breed are perfectly healthy, and now spinning the most beautiful cocoons; I therefore trust that you will not be discouraged, but depend on a zeal and attention like yours, being crowned with uncommon success.

I have found nets to fhift the worms from their litter, very convenient and useful, as it is only necefsary to lay the net upon the worms, and fresh leaves upon the net; and as soon as they have fastened on the leaves, to remove them with the net to a clean basket.

In this way one person will do more, in clearing the worms from litter, and with greater ease, than twenty could, before the nets came into use. I am, &c.

1

Fort St George, Dec. 1791.

Dr James Anderson, to the honourable Sir Charles Oakeley, bart. acting governor, and council, Madras.

HONOURABLE SIRS,

THAT YOU may not be insensible to the close attention so delicate a matter as the establishment of a silk manufacture requires, I have the honour to inclose a letter from Mr Andrews at Tritchinopoly, with my answer

I have likewise the pleasure to tell you, that captain Mackay at Arnee, is winding silk on a reel, which I sent him by a native who can use it,-and understand that Captain Flint still preserves the breed of worms which I sent Mr Anderson at Tiagàr, as before stated.

The eggs distributed during the late hot season have hatched at several stations, as far as Palamcotta to the south, and Ganjam to the north, but lost again for want of accommodation.

You will see by Mr Andrews' letter, that mud walls are affected by rain; but I have devised a method which suits the nature of the worms in this climate all seasons of the year, and of the most easy construction, being no other than an extensive roof, supported on pillars, and walled round with bamboo matting, which is sufficient to break the force of high winds, without preventing the pafsage and circulation of air.