But deception is ever fertile in expedients, and an ingenious invention was soon found out to imitate the advantage possessed by the “_smoke brown_,” which they obtain by first browning or staining the barrels very dark. A weak solution of muriatic acid, or spirits of salt, is applied very lightly with a sponge, and the colour is extracted from those portions of the iron left more prominent, by the excessive _pickling_ they are subjected to before staining; they are then immediately dried, scalded with hot water, and the stain is complete; it is a most ingenious imitation. I have already stated that this iron is very much used in consequence of its cheapness; its cost being only fourpence per pound, while stub twist costs fivepence. It is also easily worked, being considerably softer than any of the above-described kinds of iron. It may be asked, why so much inferior iron is used, when the difference in the price between the good and the bad is only a penny per pound? The reason is this:--If a barrel filer receive an order for a pair of barrels, he (having probably deceived his customer before, or, at any rate, knowing that he can deceive him without running any risk of detection) sends to the welder sufficient charcoal-iron to forge these barrels. Should the quantity amount to ten pounds, he, of course, saves tenpence. The welder receives two shillings less for welding this description of iron, than for welding stub-twist; so that here is already a saving of 2_s._ 10_d._ At the boring-mill, and the grinding-mill, the charge is also proportionate: the wages of the journeymen are less; so that by imposing on his customer one pair of barrels manufactured of this sort of iron instead of the real stub-twist, he pockets a clear gain of above 9_s._; and should he manufacture one hundred pair of such barrels in the year, it would make at the end no small item in the year’s account of profit. Thus it is with all description of barrels. The charge for making, by each workman, in the various stages of the manufacture, is according to the quality of each pair of barrels. The saving, then, to the man who makes one hundred pairs of barrels in the year, though it be but a farthing in the pound of iron, amounts to a considerable sum. This fraudulent gain of more than 5_s._ on a pair of pretended stub barrels, is what is called in Birmingham, “doing the natives,” and is a reward for ingenious knavery.