The iron in this state is still of very inferior quality, although its external appearance may be good. It is, notwithstanding, sometimes thrown into the market, and this has given rise to the impression that prevails in this country of the bad quality of English rolled iron. It may, however, be used in some cases, where it need not be fashioned by forging; thus, where it requires no more than to be cut into lengths, or where the original bars will answer the purpose, its cheapness may recommend it. Iron for rail-roads is of this quality; and the punching of holes, by which it may be fastened down, is effected by a simple addition of steel teeth, at proper distances, to the last groove through which it is passed. In this form, ready to lay down, rail-road iron may be shipped from England at the low price of 7_l._ 10_s._ sterling per ton; and a similar quality in the simple bar may probably be afforded at about 7_l._ We have never heard of its being sold so low as is stated in the evidence before the Committee of Congress, say 5_l._ 5_s._ There was, however, a period, when an excess of production, caused by a competition between the manufacturers of Wales and Staffordshire, entailed ruin on many of them, and their articles were sold far below the price of production. The price which we have stated is lower than that which has recently been paid in England for rail-road iron, and is that of some shipped from Liverpool, 1st March, 1831, when a considerable fall had taken place. In order to render the iron which has undergone this process merchantable, it is subjected to the third of the operations which we have enumerated. For this purpose, the bars are made from three to four inches in breadth, and half an inch in thickness. These are cut into lengths, proportioned to the weight of the bar of finished iron that is to be made, and piled together by fours, in a reverberatory furnace, similar in character to the puddling furnace. Here they are exposed to a white heat, by which the four pieces of each pile are made to adhere; they are then withdrawn, and subjected to rollers similar to those used after the puddling process, but of more careful workmanship. The cost of finishing bar iron in this way, when the pig is made by the manufacturer himself, as ascertained upon the spot by Dufrênoy and de Beaumont, is, in Wales, 8_l._ 15_s._, in Staffordshire, 9_l._ 12_s._ The cost of making pig iron in Wales is 4_l._ 7_s._, or about half that of the finished bar iron, and in Staffordshire 5_l_ 2_s._ The iron prepared by the three processes of which we have spoken, although merchantable, and suited for various common purposes, is still far from good. We give the characters by which it is distinguished, from the work of Karsten:--