The universal geography : earth and its inhabitants

456
THE BEITISH ISLES.
the manufacture of iron has attained a wonderful development in England,
and still more so in Scotland, and until recent years the production increased
every decade bv hundreds of thousands of tons. The blast furnaces of Great
Britain are equal to an annual production of 10,000,000 tons of iron and
steel ; but in no single year have more than 7,000,000 tons been actually
produced, and of late more than half the available furnaces have occasionally had
their fires extinguished. Xo other branch of industry has suffered more from the
depression of the years 1872—79 than that of iron, but happier conditions of
international trade have led to a wonderful revival. English iron-masters have
more especially been intent upon reducing the cost of producing iron, and in this
respect they have been eminently successful. In 1787 the Muirkirk Iron Company
in Ayrshire expended 9 tons of coal in the production of a ton of pig-iron ; in
1840 the average consumption of coal to effect the same result was 85 tons
in 1872, 2 J tons ; and at present it does not probably exceed 2 tons. Equally
important are the new processes introduced into the manufacture of steel, and the
" age of iron " is likely soon to be succeeded by an " age of steel."
In comparison with iron the other metals won in the Bi-itish Islands are
of small importance. Cornwall and Devonshire 3-ield copper and tin ; Northum-
berland, Yorkshire, Derbyshire, Shropshire, Wales, Lanarkshire, and the Isle of
^lan yield most of the lead. Zinc is principally found in the Isle of Man and in
Wales.*
MAN^UFACXrRES.
Next to coal mining and iron-making there is no branch of manufacture in
which the British Isles are so deeply interested as in that of textiles ; or, in other
words, the spinning of yarn from the raw material, and afterwards converting it
into manufactured goods. f Of the various groups of this trade, that in cotton is
by far the most important, and the one in which the prosperity of Great Britain
is most bound up. In 1861 England supplied half the cotton goods consumed
throughout the world. The quantity of English produce has increased since then,
notwithstanding frequent oscillations ; but continental Europe and the United
* Minerals raised and metals produced from British ores :
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