8178. STEAM, Grist mills.—
I could
write you volumes on the improvements which
I find made, and making here [England], in
the arts. One deserves particular notice, be
cause it is simple, great, and likely to have extensive
consequences. It is the application of
steam, as an agent for working grist mills. I
have visited the one lately made here. It was,
at that time, turning eight pair of stones. It
consumes one hundred bushels of coal a day.
It is proposed to put up thirty pair of stones. I
do not know whether the quantity of fuel is to
be increased.—
To Charles Thomson. Washington ed. i, 542.
(L.
1786)
