Fresh-felled wood is rarely converted into charcoal, the greater portion of that used being thinnings of the previous season. The proportion of wood to charcoal varies greatly, much depending on the size, quality, and maturity of timber. Having had occasion to purchase charcoal lately, I found the price, retail, to be 2_s._ 6_d._ per bushel, or in quantities of not less than a ton, £14, for that of fair quality. From about the twelfth century onwards Scotland, where wood was abundant, produced annually a large quantity of charcoal iron; and in 1660 the Navy Commissioners nominated John Evelyn to investigate the then denudation of forests owing to the manufacture of charcoal for iron smelting, and the following quaint extract from his report will be interesting:—“Nature has thought fit to produce this wasting ore more plentifully in woodlands than any other point, and to enrich our forests to their own destruction—a deep execration of iron mills and ironmasters also.” The Lorn Works, in Argyllshire, were started in 1753, and annually consumed upwards of 3,000 tons of lump charcoal. The Sussex and Kentish forests at one time supported many of the familiar charcoal burners, and right brawny and thrifty were these denizens of the woodland with their rustic wooden huts and piles of rifted firewood, but the industry was almost a thing of the past till again called into active existence by the exigencies of the war. =Kiln burning.=—The kiln is made of brick, one course being sufficient, if bands of iron be added to strengthen the brickwork. It is usually conical in shape, 24 ft. in diameter, with an equal height, and holds about forty cords of wood. The wall of the kiln is carried up nearly straight for about 6 ft., when it is gradually drawn in and made a blunt cone shape. A plate of iron is fastened on the top in the manner of a stone to an arch. Three-inch hoop-iron bands, about an eighth of an inch thick, are placed around the kiln and drawn together by means of screw-bolts and nuts. At the base, and near the top, are double sheet-iron doors, by which it is filled with wood or emptied of charcoal. The time required to fill, burn and empty is about three weeks. Pit-burning, for estate purposes, is, however, most commonly pursued, and has this advantage—that the charcoal can be made at any place where timber is being felled, without extra expense, save that of the cartage of the charcoal, whereas in using the kiln or retort the wood must, in most cases, be conveyed to the place where it is erected. =Comparative Value of Woods for Charcoal making.=—Amongst home-grown timber, oak, ash, and beech are generally preferred for charcoal making, but the following table will show pretty correctly the proportionate relative values of the various descriptions of wood for gunpowder charcoal:—