seltzer, lithia, &c. The old-fashioned water-carriers who used to supply
householders with Digbeth water from "the Old Cock pump" by St. Martin's
have long since departed, but Messrs. Goff's smart-looking barrel-carts
may be seen daily on their rounds supplying the real _aqua pura_ to
counters and bars frequented by those who like their "cold without," and
like it good.--Messrs. Barrett & Co. and Messrs. Kilby are also
extensive manufacturers of these refreshing beverages.

_Nails_.--No definite date can possibly be given as to the introduction
of nailmaking here as a separate trade, most smiths, doubtless, doing
more or less at it when every nail had to be beaten out on the anvil.
That the town was dependent on outsiders for its main supplies 150 years
back, is evidenced by the Worcestershire nailors marching from Cradley
and the Lye, in 1737 to force the ironmongers to raise the prices.
Machinery for cutting nails was tried as early as 1811, but it was a
long while after that (1856) before a machine was introduced
successfully. Now there are but a few special sorts made otherwise, as
the poor people of Cradley and the Lye Waste know to their cost,
hand-made nails now being seldom seen.

_Nettlefold's (Limited)_.--This, one of the most gigantic of our local
companies, was registered in March, 1880, the capital being L750,000 in
shares of L10 each, with power to issue debentures to the vendors of the
works purchased to the extent of L420,000. The various firms
incorporated are those of Messrs. Nettlefold's, at Heath Street, and
Princip-street, Birmingham, at King's Norton, at Smethwick, &c., for the
manufacture of screws, wire, &c., the Castle Ironworks at Hadley,
Shropshire, and the Collieries at Ketley, in the same county; the
Birmingham Screw Co., at Smethwick; the Manchester Steel Screw Co., at
Bradford, Manchester; Mr. John Cornforth, at Berkeley Street Wire and
Wire Nail Works; and Messrs. Lloyd and Harrison, at Stourport Screw
Works. The purchase money for the various works amounted to L1,024.000,
Messrs. Nettlefold's share thereof being L786,000, the Birmingham Screw
Co.'s L143,000, the Manchester Co.'s L50,000, Messrs. Cornforth, Lloyd
and Harrison taking the remainder. The firm's works in Heath Street are
the most extensive of the kind in existence, the turnout being more than
200,000 gross of screws per week, nearly 250 tons of wire being used up
in the same period.--See "_Screws_."

_Nickel_ owes its intr