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.

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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 Japan, the seed having been first imported from China in the year 1558.  There are now many varieties of the original species, and the cultivation of the plant varies in its details in different localities.  The variations are, however, mostly in dates, and the general grinding principles of the several operations are nearly the same throughout the whole country.  The land best suited for cotton growing is one of a sandy soil, the admixture of earth and sand being in the proportion of two parts earth to one of sand.  During the winter and spring months, crops of wheat or barley are raised on it, and it is when these crops have attained their full height during the month of May that the cotton is sown.  About fifty days prior to the sowing a manure is prepared consisting of chopped straw, straw ashes, green grass, rice, bran, and earth from the bottom of the stagnant pools.  These ingredients are all carefully mixed together in equal proportions, and the manure thus made is allowed to stand till required for use.  Ten days before the time fixed for sowing, narrow trenches, about one inch in depth, are dug in the furrows, between the rows of standing wheat or barleys and the manure is liberally sprinkled along them by hand.  For one night before sowing the seed is steeped in water.  It is then taken out, slightly mixed with straw ashes, and sown in the trenches at intervals of a few inches.  When sown, it is covered with earth to the depth of half an inch, and gently trampled down by foot.  Four or five days after sowing, the buds begin to appear above the earth, and almost simultaneously the wheat or barley between which they grow is ripe for