• WALL AND FLOOR TILES.

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sive firings to which they must be submitted, is so-great, that they are now usually made in three or more parts, or tiles, and are fitted together after the last firing.

Great labor is expended upon the finer qualities of encaustic tiles. They are made chiefly by hand, of moist clay, and are finished by scraping. Such tiles cost from Is. to 2s. GeZ. each, and are too costly for general use.

Eleven or twelve large kilns are required for the burning. An engine of sixty horse-power suffices to do the grinding and mixing of the materials. An average of 700 persons is employed.

Other exhibitions of the encaustic and enamelled tiles were made in'the British section by Robert Minton Taylor, and by the Mintons, the latter being chiefly enamelled tiles and slabs for grates, hearths and flower-boxes. Messrs. Maw & Son did not exhibit, but manufacture tiles in great variety from designs by distinguished artists.*

Simpson, W. B., & Sons, London , exhibited a chimney- piece of art tiles and walnut wood, with tiled sides, arranged for an open grate.

Dutch Tiles.

Gebruder Ravesteijn, Westraven, near Utrecht , made a very complete display of the cheap tiles of Holland, arranging them upon the sides of a tall pyramidal column. They are characterized by crude and quaint designs, usually in blue or purple upon white enamelled ground. There were also yellow, black and marbled tiles in great variety, but no data as regards production and cost could be obtained.

These tiles are designed chiefty for wall decoration, being thin, about one-quarter of an inch thick, and with a smooth, glazed surface. They measure five and one-quarter inches square, and are not very strong. Their use about old- fashioned fireplaces is well known, and there is more or less

* Most of the larger tile works of Great Britian are represented by agents in the United States. Messrs. Miller & Coates, of New York, have long represented Messrs. Minton, Hollins & Co., and the public are indebted to them for great efforts to extend the nse of tiling for decorative purposes. The establishment of R. Minton Taylor is represented by Mr. Thomas Aspinwall, 39 Murray Street, N. Y.; and Maw & Son, by Anderson, Merchant & Co,