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ON BEING A GOOD GUESSER.
The charge which I have been kneading in my furnace has now "come to nature," the stringy sponge of pure iron is separating from the slag.
The "balling" of this sponge into three loaves is a task that occupies from ten to fifteen minutes.

The particles of iron glowing in this spongy mass are partly welded together; they are sticky and stringy and as the cooling continues they are rolled up into wads like popcorn balls.

The charge, which lost part of its original weight by the draining off of slag, now weighs five hundred fifty to six hundred pounds.

I am balling it into three parts of equal weight.