, and it has become highly desirable to have
pianos that occupy less of it than the square instrument which we
usually see. Successful attempts have been recently made to apply the
new methods of construction to the upright piano, with a view to make it
as durable as those of the usual forms. Such a brisk demand has sprung
up for the improved uprights, that the leading makers are producing them
in considerable numbers, and the Messrs. Steinway are erecting a new
building for the sole purpose of manufacturing them. The American
uprights, however, cannot be cheap. Such is the nature of the American
climate, that a piano, to be tolerable, must be excellent; and while
parts of the upright cost more than the corresponding parts of the
square, no part of it costs less. Six hundred dollars is the price of
the upright in plain rosewood case,--fifty dollars more than a plain
rosewood square.

Paris pianos are renowned, the world over, and consequently three tenths
of all the pianos made in Paris are exported to foreign countries.
France, too, owing to the cheapness of labor, can make a better cheap
piano than any other country. In 1852, there were ten thousand pianos
made in Paris, at an average cost of one thousand francs each; and, we
are informed, a very good new upright piano can now be bought in France
for one hundred dollars. But in France the average wages of
piano-makers are five francs per day; in London, ten shillings; in New
York, four dollars and thirty-three cents. The cream of the business, in
Paris, is divided among three makers,--Erard, Hertz, and Pleyel,--each
of whom has a concert-hall of his own, to give _eclat_ to his
establishment. We presume Messrs. Steinway added "Steinway Hall" to the
attractions of New York from the example of their Paris friends, and
soon the metropolis will boast a "Chickering Hall" as well. This is an
exceedingly expensive form of advertisement. Steinway Hall cost two
hundred thousand dollars, and has not yet paid the cost of warming,
cleaning, and lighting it. This, however, is partly owing to the
good-nature of the proprietors, who find it hard to exact the rent from
a poor artist after a losing concert, and who have a constitutional
difficulty about saying _No_, when the use of the hall is asked for a
charitable object.

In Germany there are no manufactories of pianos on the scale of England,
France, and the United States. A business of five pianos a week excites
astonishment in