him to say, a week's work in Birmingham comprises, among its
various results, the fabrication of 14,000,000 pens, 6,000 bedsteads,
7,000 guns, 300,000,000 cut nails, 100,000,000 buttons, 1,000 saddles,
5,000,000 copper or bronze coins, 20,000 pairs of spectacles, 6 tons of
papier-mache wares, over L20,000 worth of gold and silver jewellery,
nearly an equal value of gilt and cheap ornaments, L12,000 worth of
electro-plated wares, 4,000 miles of iron and steel wire, 10 tons of
pins, 5 tons of hairpins and hooks and eyes, 130,000 gross of wood
screws, 500 tons of nuts and screw-bolts and spikes, 50 tons of wrought
iron hinges, 350 miles' length of wax for vestas, 40 tons of refined
metal, 40 tons of German silver, 1,000 dozen of fenders, 3,500 bellows,
800 tons of brass and copper wares. Several of these items are rather
over the mark, but the aggregate only shows about one half a real week's
work, as turned out when trade is good.

_Agricultural Implements_, such as draining tools, digging and manure
forks, hay knives, scythes, shovels, spades, &c., as well as mowing
machines, garden and farm rollers, ploughs, harrows, &c., are the
specialities of some half-dozen firms, the oldest-established being
Messrs. Mapplebeck and Lowe, opposite Smithfield Market.

_American Traders_.--It has been stated that there is not a _bona fide_
American trader residing amongst us, though at one time they were almost
as numerous as the Germans now are. Be that as it may, the following
statistics, giving the declared value of exports from Birmingham to
America during the ten years ending Sept. 30, 1882, (taken from a report
made by the American Consul-General in London), show that a vast trade
is still being carried on with our friends on the other side of the
Atlantic:--Year ending September 30 1873, 7,463,185 dols.; 1874,
5,778,957 dols.; 1875, 4,791,231 dols.; 1876, 3,135,234 dols.; 1877,
2,842,871 dols.; 1878 2,309,513 dols.; 1879, 2,435,271 dols.; 1880,
4,920,433 dols.; 1881, 4,376,611 dols.; 1882, 5,178,118 dols. Total,
43,231,429 dols.

_Ammunition_.--To manufacture ammunition for guns and pistols so long
made here by the scores of thousands would seem but the natural
sequence, but though percussion caps were yearly sent from here in
millions of grosses, the manufacture of the complete cartridge is a
business of later growth. For the invention of gunpowder the world had
to thank a monk, and it is no less curious that we owe percussio