An experienced writer on manufactures thus observes, concerning this part of the process:--“The drying of the glue is the most precarious part of the manufacture. The least disturbance of the weather may injure the glue during the two or three first days of its exposure. Should the temperature of the air rise considerably, the gelatine may turn so soft as to become unshapely, and even to run through the meshes upon the pieces below, or it may get attached to the strings and surround them, so as not to be separable without plunging the net into boiling water. If frost supervene, the water may freeze, and form numerous cracks in the cakes. Such pieces must immediately be remelted and reformed. A slight fog even produces upon glue newly exposed a serious deterioration, the damp condensed upon its surface occasioning a general mouldiness. A thunder-storm sometimes destroys the coagulating power in the whole laminæ at once, or causes the glue to _turn_ on the nets, in the language of the manufacturer. A wind too dry or too hot may cause it to dry so quickly as to prevent it from contracting to its proper size, without numerous cracks and fissures. In this predicament the closing of all the flaps of the windows is the only means of abating the mischief. On these accounts it is of importance to select the most temperate season of the year, such as spring and autumn, for the glue manufacture.” When the glue is properly dried a gloss is imparted to each cake, by dipping it in hot water, and passing over it a brush, also wetted with hot water. The cakes are then placed on a hurdle, dried in the stove-room, or in the open air, if the weather be sufficiently dry and warm. It is then packed in casks for sale. It has been found by experiment that when two cylinders of dry ash, one inch and a half in diameter, were glued together, and after twenty-four hours torn asunder, a force of 1260 pounds was required to produce the separation, thus making the force of adhesion equal to 715 pounds per square inch. Another experiment made the force of adhesion to equal 4000 pounds on the square inch. The House-Decorator of Italy. In an interesting notice, by Mr. Wilson, of the present state of the arts in Italy, read before the Society of Arts, in Scotland, in November, 1840, a few details are given of the skill with which the house-builder converts the commonest materials into tasteful decorations. The following is an abstract of that part of the notice which relates to the subject of the present volume:--