tions feels the adverse influence of the high prices of food. On the seaboard, a universal spirit of retrenchment has set in. In New York, which is the largest market for coal, great economy will be observed in consequence of its exorbitant price; and those who hold large stocks in a tight money market, can no more expect to maintain its price, in face of diminished consumption, than those holding Erie Railroad stock, or any other article of which circumstances kill the demand. The high rates of transportation, to which the "Miners' Journal" charges the present high cost to consumers, must necessarily excite competition. The Erie Railroad, over its Newburgh branch, can deliver immense quantities from its junction with the Delaware, when the rate will pay. If the public come in now, and by laying in winter stocks, relieve holders of their supplies at present prices, the rate may be sustained. The eagerness to lay in stocks of coal when there is no occasion for it, has been a chief reason why the poor are compelled to pay high.

PROCESS OF MANUFACTURING SHOT.

The pig lead is carried to the top of the tower by windlass and chain, and worked by steam; it is then put in a furnace, kept constantly burning night and day, and attended by two sets of men, one for the fire and two to pour the melted lead in tin strainers. After passing through the strainers it falls a distance of 150 feet, the passage through the air giving the shot their shape or form; they fall into a large tub or basin of water; here is a man engaged in dipping them out with a ladle and throwing them in an inclined plane, down which they run to a drum heated by steam and worked by machinery, so as to dry the shot; when dry they are passed into a revolving drum, which stops by action of machinery every five minutes, for polishing them; from this drum they are thrown into a hopper, and from this pass over a series of inclined planes, where the defective shot are carried off, and then through sieves into drawers, where they are assorted by the action of machinery on the sieves; then into the large boxes from which they are taken and put up in sacks, weighed, and are ready for use.

GOLD DIGGING NEAR CANTON, CHINA.

It would seem from the following statement, derived from the China Mail of April 27th, 1854, that some of the "Celestials" who had returned from California, were determined to find gold in their native land. The China Mail says:

A fortnight ago we mentioned that some Chinese who had been in California had found gold in the extensive district of Nganping, to the southwest of Canton, and that considerable excitement prevailed in consequence. The first discovery is said to have been made last year, from observing shining particles in the sand of Tan-liu river, which, on being washed, turned out to be gold. Our most recent intelligence on the subject is, that the gold is also found in the hills called the Pak-wanshan, or White Cloud Hills, in Yan-ping-hien, and in a mountain stream called Kin Kai-shwui, or Gold Rivulet water. The most successful of the gold seekers got five taels of gold in less than a month; others have picked up in a day the value of a dollar, others half and quarter of a dollar, and some a few cents, or nothing at all. The gold is said to be purer than that of California, as 16 to 13.

MARYLAND COAL REGION.

Dr. Higgins, State agricultural chemist, reports fifteen veins in the great coal region of Alleghany county, Maryland, many of which, however, have no economical value, as it would cost more to work them than the product would justify. The chief veins are-first, the two-feet vein; second, the three-feet vein; third, the forty-inch vein; fourth, the six feet; fifth, the eight-feet vein; sixth, the big or fifteen-feet vein. The most important veins, however, and those now worked for exportation, are the big vein, the six-feet vein and the forty-inch vein. The big vein is considered the most valuable; it contains an average thickness of eleven feet of workable coal. It is estimated that there are in this field 20,000 acres of workable big-vein coal, 80,000 acres of six-feet vein, and 80,000 acres of the forty-inch vein. It will thus be seen that the smaller veins embrace a much larger area than the big vein. They do not suffer so much by denudations.

MANUFACTURE OF IRON BY THE RENTON PROCESS.

The Forest City Iron Works, manufacturing iron by the Renton process, says the Cleveland Leader, went into operation on the first day of July, 1854. The Leader remarks:

After encountering a series of difficulties, incident to all new projects, the new principle was put to a final test last Saturday afternoon, and the result was a complete vindication of the sagacity of the projectors and of the skill of Mr. Renton. We had the pleasure of being present during the trial. In a period of three hours, six blooms, varying in weight from 60 to 161 pounds were run off. Within five hours 1,188 lbs. were run off, averaging per hour during the first three hours 227 pounds, and during the last two hours 303 pounds. There will be no difficulty in running off three tons of blooms per day, from each furnace, and as the present works will contain twelve furnaces, the product each day, will be about forty tons.

The new process is extremely simple to any one acquainted with the qualities of iron. The portion of ore usually called dross, is more easily melted than the iron; and this fact, probably, suggested the idea of the new process to Mr. Renton. By reducing the ore to about the consistency of coarse sand, and subjecting it to a heat sufficient to cause the particles of iron to cement, the dross is melted and thus separated from the iron which is taken out in masses, called balls, and beaten into blooms. The hammer weighs nearly 10,000 pounds, and the ore crusher possesses such vast power that fifteen tons can be crushed in sixty minutes.

Several scientific gentlemen were present during the trial, among them Mr. Foljambe, Mr. Renton, Mr. Houston, who is erecting iron works on the same principle, and a gentleman from Boston, eminent in the literary world. All perfectly satisfied in regard to the result.

NORTH CAROLINA GOLD MINES.

A correspondent of the New London Chronicle, writing from Concord, North Carolina, says :

But one of the several mining companies formed in New York for working the mines have paid a dividend, that is in the Goldhill mine. Capital of the company, one million dollars. The superintendent of the company was absent, but from his assistant I procured the following facts as to the working of the mine. They have in operation two engines and three Chilian mills; the average product of the latter is about 790 dwt. of amalgam per day. The total yield of the mines for the past two months was 50,000 dwts. of amalgam, yielding of retorted gold 18,595 dwts., the loss of which at the mint was 4 per cent value in coin. $16,800, from this deduct their expenses at a low estimate, say $5,000 per month, would leave as the net profits for two months' work, $6,800; this of course would allow nothing for wear and tear of machinery, which is very great. Their present machinery has been in use some time and is much worn, but I am informed the company intend putting in new the coming season. None of the other mines are as yet sufficiently developed to form any opinion as to their value.

THE GOLD MINES OF CALIFORNIA NOT GIVING OUT.

The good people of the Atlantic States, and particularly the money operators of Wall street, and the mercantile houses of the large Atlantic cities, who depend very much upon our semi-monthly shipments of treasure for their supplies, if they examine the published accounts of the success of the miners throughout all portions of the mining region, says the Alta California, will immediately become divested of the idea which some of the Atlantic papers have been struck with, that the "mines of California are giving out." Never since their earliest discovery were they in a more healthful and prosperous condition. By the application of organized and scientific labor, portions of them which years ago were considered as " worked out," are now made to bring forth and yield with a richness fully equal to that of the days of their youth. New discoveries have recently been made which are yielding immense profits to laborers, and we think there is no doubt that our placers will continue to furnish profitable labor for some time to come.

MERCANTILE MISCELLANIES.

LITERATURE OF COMMERCE.

[FROM THE BOSTON DAILY TIMES.]

It is with great pleasure that we transfer to our columns the following letter to the editor of the Transcript, by our old friend, FREEMAN HUNT, Esq. Mr. Hunt has succeeded in his important undertaking in a manner which shows that he has a perfect right to feel proud of what he has accomplished. His pride is an honest and a manly one, and has its source in some of the best feelings of our nature. The Merchants' Magazine is one of the most valuable periodicals in the world; nor do we know of any one that can be compared with it, all things considered. Not Blackwood itself is more essentially the prince of literary magazines, or the Edinburgh, the chief of quarterlies, than the Merchants' is at the head of the department of literature to which it belongs. It is the Eclipse of that department. It is but the merest justice to Mr. Hunt to say, that to him alone do we owe the existence of the periodical with which his fame is indissolubly connected. We rejoice to know that his literary and business talents have met with their well-deserved reward, not only in that solid shape which is always so acceptable, but also in their appreciation by an enlightened public.

The following is Mr. Hunt's letter, which we commend to the reader's attention:

"MERCANTILE LITERATURE."

To the Editor of the Boston Evening Transcript:—

SIR-You published, in a recent number of your valuable journal, a brief article from the Philadelphia Merchant, with the above caption, which contained, as you may recollect, an allusion to the Merchants' Magazine. The editor of the Merchant is not perhaps aware that, prior to the establishment of my work in 1839, now more than fifteen years since, the term "Mercantile Literature,” or “Literature of Commerce," had never been used in the application which has since become so familiar to the general reader. When I started the magazine, it appeared to me that Commerce, more or less intimately connected as it is with all transactions and all pursuits in life, was deserving not only a name, but the possession of a literature, as much so at least as any other class of topics-that the term "Merchant" implied more than the mere buyer, seller, and exchanger of "goods, wares, merchandise, and money;" and that to become a large and liberal merchant, required a greater variety and amount of information than had generally been considered necessary, or was embraced in that cognomen. The time has, in my opinion, gone by, when men can blunder into fortunes or succeed in trade, without a knowledge of the diversified operations and principles of Commerce. There is scarcely a science or a branch of knowledge that may not be turned to a useful and profitable account in mercantile enterprise; and it will, I suppose, be readily admitted that the study of mercantile and maritime law, the languages of commercial nations, geography, history, mineralogy, chemistry, political economy, &c., all go to make up the necessary accomplishments of the large merchant. The fact is, Commerce must now be regarded as a liberal pursuit, and the merchants of the future will then become in reality the "Kings of Commerce."

Prior to the establishment of the Merchants' Magazine, there were, at home and abroad, periodicals devoted to agriculture and the mechanic arts, law journals, medical reviews-in fine, almost every class and profession had a literature of its own, while Commerce remained unrepresented, (except by the Price Currents, Shipping Lists, and Daily Advertisers,) in this broad and varied field.

It was this condition of things that suggested to my mind the idea of a Commercial Literature, and the establishment of a Merchants' Magazine and Review, which must, I think, be regarded as the pioneer periodical devoted to that speciality, and the earliest movement looking to the concentration and embodiment of the literature of Commerce. At all events, no similar work had ever before been published, and no work in existence at this time, contains so large an amount and variety of matter relating to the multiform operations of trade and Commerce.

May I not, then, claim the authorship of the expression I was first to apply to Commerce, and which I have, for so many years, sedulously labored to realize and embody in a permanent and durable form-that is, the LITERATURE OF COMMERCE?

With great regard, your friend and servant,

FREEMAN HUNT.

We give below the paragraph from the Philadelphia Merchant, referred to in the preceding letter:

'MERCANTILE LITERATURE." Some one has hit the mark in saying, "The business man should be continually on the watch for information and ideas that will throw light on his path, and he should be an attentive reader of all practical books, especially those relating to business, trade, &c., as well as a patron of useful and ennobling literature." The relation of mercantile literature to success in mercantile life is too little understood. It quickens the mental faculties by the employment it gives to them in broader fields of thought; it interests the mind in the relations of business to the great concerns of civilization and progress; it serves to enhance the dignity of the merchant's duties, and it shows how the union of the man of thought with the man of practice helps on the grand ends of true Commerce. When the poet designs the production of a great effort, he seeks access to every work which promises any information respecting the geography of the land of which he would write-the customs and usages, the modes of thought and expression, so that he may be able to live, as it were, the very life he would describe. So with the merchant. He must make himself conversant with the world of mercantile life-its manifold relations, its great characters, its illustrious examples of energy, intelligence, and breadth of culture. We have no hesitancy in saying that a careful student of Hunt's Merchants' Magazine from the beginning will prove better qualified for important mercantile duties than one ignorant of its treasures, other things being equal.—Philadelphia Merchant.

Since the above was in type, we have received the Philadelphia Merchant of September 23d, containing our letter to the Boston Evening Transcript, together with some remarks from the editors of the Merchant, with which we take the liberty of closing this already extended notice of matters apparently personal. The liberal and intelligent readers of the Merchants' Magazine will, we feel quite sure, overlook any egotism displayed in the present publication, for the sake of the suggestions it contains relative to the education and character of the TRUE MERCHANT. We therefore,

without further comment, give the remarks which our letter elicited from the editors of the Philadelphia Merchant :

"We cheerfully accord to Mr. Hunt all he has claimed, and we believe no man to be more worthy of the gratitude of the Mercantile community. The testimonies he has received of the estimate put upon his labors by eminent judges of their value, may well satisfy the ambition of any man. The Editor of the Merchants' Magazine has not only labored to impart to the name of the Merchant a higher and broader meaning, but he has been eminently successful in drawing out talent into the field of Mercantile Literature, and developing the resources of this department of literary effort. A collection of the Biographies published in his Magazine would be exceedingly valuable, and would show that the presence of the highest qualities, in their best development, is to be found in the character of the true merchant. To any of our readers who may as yet be strangers to the Merchants' Magazine, we earnestly commend it, as truly valuable, embracing articles of great interest and of permanent worth. In each number are given articles on general subjects of commercial interest;

a journal of mercantile law; a commercial chronicle and review; a journal of banking, currency and finance; commercial statistics and regulations; intelligence concerning insurance, navigation, railroads, canals, steamboating, &c., &c., together with a journal of mining and manufactures. A thorough familiarity with the monthly variety of this important publication must have a happy effect on all engaged in mercantile pursuits, adding interest to their daily labors, and by showing the broad significance of Commerce, increase the attractions of Trade, while the moral qualities and the breadth of intellectuality demanded of the true merchant will impart dignity to the conception of that character."

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

Among the numerous papers that visit the sanctum of the Merchants' Magazine there is none that we more highly prize than this. It is not merely a stock-jobbing financial paper, as its title would seem to indicate. It is an admirable reflex of monetary affairs. Mr. Robinson, its accomplished editor, possesses the rare faculty of condensing; and at a glance, almost, the weekly doings of the "street" are spread before the reader, and that in a style both intelligible and agreeable. A considerable portion of this journal is devoted to the real estate interest of the country, and it has become quite an authority on that important subject. It is neutral and independent in politics; but thoroughly American in its tone. With flings at what the editor regards (and generally very justly) the follies and foibles of the day, it forms, with its racy touches at the times, a kind of necessity to read it, if one would be "posted up" on such matters. It is free from all personal asperities and scurrilous remarks-hightoned in its principles, the lover of order and the defender of mercantile honor and honesty. It is printed on snow-white paper, and a bold and clear type, and is altogether one of the most comely-looking sheets we receive. We are gratified to learn that its success is commensurate with its great merits. It is deserving a place in our "Literature of Commerce."

MERCANTILE HONESTY OF A TURK.

In a late work—“ A Year with the Turks," there is one passage that testifies admirably to Turkish honesty, while it shows how a person who does not practice the "beat down" system is liable to get cheated this side of Turkey.

Only a little trait of Turkish honesty may I introduce, as it happened to fall under my own observation. A friend of mine wandering through the bazaars, wished to buy an embroidered handkerchief of a Turkish shopkeeper. He asked the price. “Seventy five piasters." "No," said he, aware that it is usual among all traders, whatever their creed, to ask at first more than the value, "that is too much, I will give you seventy;" and as the dealer seemed to nod assent, he counted out the money. But his surprise was great when the great bearded Osmanli, gravely pushing back to him, twenty piasters, observed, "This is more than the just price. It is always the custom here to bargain over a thing down to its fair value, and as fifty piasters is my fair price, those twenty belong to you." Verily, not a few among our professing Christians might take a lesson from the believer in the Koran.

THE LAW OF COMPENSATION.

Human labor, through all its forms, says Ralph Waldo Emerson in his Essay on Compensation, from the sharpening of a stake to the construction of a city or an epic, is one immense illustration of the perfect compensation of the universe. Everywhere and always this law is sublime. The absolute balance of give and take, the doctrine that everything has its price, and if that price is not paid not that thing but something else is obtained, and that it is impossible to get anything without its price,— this doctrine is not less sublime in the columns of a ledger than in the budget of States, in the laws of light and darkness, in all the action and reaction of nature.