BLACKBURN. This is one of the great cotton manufacturing towns of Lancashire. As far back as 1650, one particular article of the staple trade of the county was produced here with better success than in any other place. It was known by the name of Black.. burn checks,' and was a. species of cloth con sisting of a linen warp and cotton woof, one or both of which being dyed in the thread, gave to the piece when woven a striped or checked appearance. This fabric was after wards superseded by another, the Blackburn grays,' so called because the materials of which it was composed were not dyed, but sent to the printers unbleached, or as it is technically lescribed, in the gray state, in order to have she patterns stamped upon them. In the his Any of the improvements by which the mann Icture of cotton has been brought to its present ;tate of perfection, it appears that several im ?rovements of considerable importance owe ;heir discovery to the ingenuity and talent of natives of this town. Among others the in vention of the crank and comb for taking the mrding from the cylinder of the carding-en ;ine, undoubtedly belongs to James Hargrave, t working carpenter of Blackburn. His patent
vas one of the earliest that was taken out for le construction of the spinning-jenny. But, 'or a long period, the chief article manufac tured here was calicoes, for which the Black mrn weavers were celebrated- This branch )f trade is now transferred to the power looms, end the remnant of hand-loom weavers are :hiefly employed in making low-priced muslins. According to statistics recently furnished to is, there are now (1850) from 50,000 to S0,000 pieces of cotton goods manufactured each week in Blackburn and the vicinity, on vhich above 10,000 persons are employed. Die annual value of the goods produced is ;uppoged to exceed 2,000,0001. About 100,000 ;pindles are employed in cotton-spinning, pro lueing about 100,000 pounds of yarn weekly, at 40 hanks to the pound. The power-looms and woven fabrics of Blackburn will be illus trated at the Industrial Exhibition.