The analysis of the clay, as reported by Dr. Arthur E. Davis, is as follows:—silica, 56·74; alumina, 31·66; oxide of iron, 6·96; lime, 3·43; magnesia, trace; alkaline salts, 0·53; loss in analysis, 0·68; total, 100·00.

The rustic terra-cotta ware produced at these works is of a very superior quality, and the designs are so true to nature as to be faultless in every respect. In this ware garden-seats, flower-pots, and flower-vases, mignonette and other boxes, spill-cases, and a variety of other articles have been made, and all are equally good in design. Among the rustic flower-pots and stands some are excellent representations of the gnarled root of a tree; the small branches of trees nailed to the sides of the vessel; and the bole of a tree beautifully modelled, and apparently hollowed out to receive the plant. In these cases the grain of the wood is well copied. Mr. Barker’s great forte in these designs seems to have been the accurate and truthful copying of nature in the barks and peculiarities of growth of various trees.

Mr. Barker manufactures the ceramic part of Beckitt’s patent photographic apparatus—an apparatus consisting of an earthenware cylinder and a series of troughs of the same material, in which the cylinder is made to revolve by means of a handle; the troughs being intended for the hyposulphate bath, the gold solution, and wash, respectively.

Ordinary flower-pots and other horticultural ware, of good quality and excellent material, are extensively made, and form a staple branch of the St. George’s trade.

Stourbridge.

The Lye Works have the reputation of being the oldest in this district, having been established in 1750. Its present proprietors are Messrs. William King Perrens, of Wilmcote Hall, and George King Harrison, of Hagley. They are makers of fire-bricks of all kinds, blast furnaces, glass-house furnaces, gas retorts, gas ovens, &c., and are proprietors of best Glasshouse pot-clay.

The other makers at Stourbridge are—

F. T. Rufford Hungary Hill.
Hickman & Co. Haygreen and Brettell Lane Works.
Perrens & Harrison The Lye and Brettell Lane Works.
E. H. J. Pearson The Delph and Tintern Abbey Works.
Jas. B. Fisher & Co. The Hayes.
Mobberley & Bayley The Thorns and Cradley.
King Brothers Netherend.
Harris & Pearson Amblecote.
Edward Bowen Clattershall.
John Hall Amblecote and Bug Hole.
Trotter, Haines & Corbett Brettell Lane.
AND
John Walker Kingswinford, near Dudley.
The Himley Fire Brick Company Near Dudley.

I am indebted to Mr. George King Harrison, of the “Lye Works,” Stourbridge, for the following interesting particulars respecting Stourbridge clay. He says—

“The earliest account I have been able to obtain respecting Stourbridge fire-clay shows that, in the year 1566, a lease was granted for the purpose of getting and digging Glasshouse pot-clay. It is probable at that time it had only recently been discovered, and that its peculiar properties and purity, with the well-known abundance of fuel in the neighbourhood, were the causes of the establishment of the glass manufacture, which was introduced by refugees from Lorraine about 1557. It is believed that one of the first glasshouses was erected in a field (near to Stourbridge Station), and which is known by the name of the Glasshouse Field at the present time; an old plan shows the position of the works, foundations of furnaces, and portion of old furnace.”