WOOL.--Railway carriage, felt, printing and lithography, bedding, needles, optical instrument. In reference to some materials, Mr. Arthur Robottom, who has introduced a variety of new products for use in Birmingham sends me the following notes: _Cryolite_ from Greenland, is used in making glass globes for the electric light. _Nitrate of soda_, from Chili.--Mr. W. R. Lloyd, merchant, Newhall Street, sold the first small lot to W. C. Alston, about 50 years ago; since then I have sold large quantities to the manufacturers of nitric acid. _Lard oil_ was first used in Birmingham. _Carnubia wax_ (Brazil) was first used in Birmingham for wax tapers. _Mica._--The first import of large plates from India was sold to Griffiths and Browett for lanterns to be used in powder magazines. _Istle or Mexican Fibre._--The first bale was sold by me to Mrs. Grew, of Church street, and used for brush making. _Kourie Gum_, from New Zealand, first used in Birmingham by Barratt, Postans and others for varnish making. _Cow Hair_ from River Plate used for circular brushes in glass cutting. _Carozo nuts_ or _Vegetable Ivory_.--The first arrivals from Venezuela were sold to Mr. Burgiss, of Great Charles Street, for toys; afterwards some were obtained by Mr. Bricknall, button maker, who first made buttons from this material. Subsequently the late Mr. J. S. Wright, then a clerk with Smith and Kemp, took up the material, and it soon became generally used. Now some thousands of tons are consumed every year for this purpose. _Piassava._--“I sold the first small lot to Richard Deen, and got him to retail it to Irishmen living in London Prentice street and neighbourhood, to make into bass brooms for hawking. At the present time some 200 tons per week of this material is made up into brooms. _Gum Animi_, largely used in Birmingham for varnish. _Button Lac_ was first used in Birmingham by Joseph Shorthouse, Market Street, who had the first five cases from Calcutta, for the manufacture of lacquer. _Kiltool_, from Ceylon. The first shipment came to me, I put it aside in some stables at my house in the Coventry Road, intending to sell it for putting under ripe strawberries, but by accident I found out that by putting it into hot oil it took a beautiful black colour. Upon this Mr. Lovedee, of Bartholomew Street, at my suggestion, dressed and prepared the material for the brush trade. It is now used in great quantities.” _Lemon_, _Orange_, and _Citron Peel_.--Large quantities sent to Birmingham to be candied at Mr. Pattison’s works, Spring Hill. They are imported from Sicily. The reader having now some idea of the materials entering our district, let us see generally, though in mere outline, how these materials are worked up in the metal trades.