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ble. The capital required for the purchase of the raw materials is not large, and the manufactured article will always meet with a ready sale; since the con-sumption of so indispensable a part of dress is great, and continually increasing, beyond the power of the tradesmen of the city to supply.* * Large quantities of shoes have heretofore been brought from New Jersey and the Eastern States, and sold in New York. The manufacture of nails, and other articles, has been carried on for about two years. This required more capital; and it was not until very lately that sufficient experience was gained, in the purchase of stock and the use of machinery, to enable the inspectors to manage this branch of business with advantage. These circum-stances, and many others that might be detailed, which necessarily attend an infant establishment, and which diminished the profits of the past years, will, in future, cease to produce expense and embarrass-ment. It is doubtful, whether the manufacture of nails, and of several other articles, ought to be carried on to a great extent, as they require too large a capi-tal in advance. Experience will furnish, every year, grounds for improvement in the mode of conducting the branches of industry, or in the introduction of more advantageous kinds of labour; and there is every reason to believe, that, with a competent capi-tal, the business may be rendered so productive as to defray the expenses of conviction and maintenance of the prisoners. Calculations, however, founded on the statements of the past year, will not furnish ade-quate means of judging with certainty of the future profits which may be made to arise from the labour of the convicts. That the number of convicts has increased since the erection of the State Prison, is evident. But to infer from that fact, that the new and milder scheme of punishment has been less efficacious in preventing crimes than the old and sanguinary system, would be a most partial and erroneous conclusion. The true