It is a fact that America, which had not a single manufactory worth the name at the time of the New York Exhibition, produces now, with the assistance of British workmen, granite ware of tolerably good quality; and I have been told by an eye-witness, that no less than seventy ovens are now at work at Trenton, in New Jersey. The clays and coals used by these potters are good, and if the salaries are higher than they are in England, they find a compensation in the heavy duties which, since the war of Secession, are levied on our wares. Our commercial intercourse with France has not much altered, and the quantity of our goods sent across the Channel may be considered small compared with the importance of this market. The French are the largest producers of hard porcelain, and they make their common earthenware quite as cheap, if not cheaper, than ours. However, if they are strong at home, they have never affected our trade abroad, except in the United States, where they send their porcelain in competition with English granite. At the present time, the rivalry from which we have suffered most in Germany, the North of Europe, and as far as Italy, comes from a group of establishments situated in the Rhenish provinces and that neighbourhood: at Sarreguemines, Sarrelouis, Vaudrevange, Mettlach, Maestricht, and a few other places. Built in the centre of a populous district, where labour is still very cheap, their intelligent and wealthy proprietors share in each other's business, and consequently have no inducement for lowering their prices. They seem to have given a considerable portion of their time to the study of the various processes, and they have so far succeeded, that they are a great deal more independent with regard to their men than we are. Possessing these advantages, we cannot wonder, if we have not been able to keep our hold on those markets which were the nearest to them. Besides, it is plain, that the important rise which has taken place in the price of wages and fuel, and the consequent increase in the price of our wares, has acted as an encouragement to foreign production; and perhaps it may be good policy, in future, to resist any further opportunity which might offer to increase the price of our goods. It would, however, be singular if, in the course of time, England did not derive some benefit from this competition; she is used to close contest, and, everything considered, her position is an enviable one. Our home trade is excellent; and if the amount of our exports does not progress so fast as we could desire, we know that we have in our commercial fleet more facilities that any other nation for sending our goods to those numerous countries where the trade of pottery is hardly established, and we rely on our honest and straightforward way of dealing, for securing new customers for English manufacture. GLASS AND SILICATES. BY PROFESSOR FREDK. S. BARFF, M.A.