of the culture of flax-seeD IN ILLINOIS, MISSOURI, AND IOWA. A correspondent has sent us a copy of a letter from Mr. Henry T. Blow, Esq., addressed to Mr Benjamin Bond, United States Marshal. Mr. Bond informs us that Mr. Blow is one of the most industrious, enterprising, intelligent, business men in the city of St. Louis, who has long been identified with the West, and Western interests. He thinks the people of Illinois have too long turned their attention solely to the raising of Indian corn, to the neglect of other and more profitable staple products. He urges, and not without satisfactory grounds, that they should turn their attention to producing flax-seed, hemp and tobacco, articles of commercial value, and which yield a rich return, No country, he maintains, on earth is better adapted to the production of these articles, than is Illinois. Mr. Blow informs us, in his letter, that he has exerted himself to induce those connected with the great agricultural interest of Illinois, Missouri, and Iowa, to bestow some attention to the culture of flax. We give the substance of Mr. Blows letter, in the subjoined extracts, for the benefit of our friends in the West.

In the consumption and sales of linseed oil here, to the amount of five thousand dollars, or two hundred thousand gallons, it would require, say, one hundred thousand bushels of good flax-seed, which at one dollar and fifty cents per bushel, (fifteen cents below the present market rates,) amounts to $150,000. The manufacturer could pay the price and afford oil at eighty cents per gallon, and the farmer could receive a large return for his labor and capital, as I will presently show you, and not the least of all the money be retained at home-the simple fact is, that at present there is little or no seed in the country, and we are forced to import oil from all directions, reducing the usually heavy stocks abroad, until the value of linseed oil is so appreciated that it cannot be laid down here for less than one dollar and five cents per gallon, and scarce at this, whilst a farther drain on the reduced stocks of England and Germany must run up this important article to an unprecedented price--but let us continue with the calculation. We are forced to buy two hundred thousand gallons linseed oil to fill up the requirement of the trade-$1 05, say....

Deduct the cost of same to consumers and dealers of like amount, made from Illinois and Missouri seed, at the high price of $1 50 per bushel for seed, 200,000 gallons, at 80 cents....

$210,000

160,000

$50,000

Loss to consumers and dealers by importing, instead of raising at home.. Again, as you doubtless know, and as numerous good farmers have told me, flax-seed can be raised and laid down in St. Louis, wagoned seventy-five miles, at a cost of eighty cents per bushel to the producer. Then haul in one hundred thousand bushels, and sell it for.....

Deduct cost of same laid down.

There is left the enormous profit to the farmer of.

$150,000

80,000

$70,000

which is certainly a large margin to work on.

MINERAL PRODUCTIONS OF MEXICO.

QUICKSILVER-COPPER-IRON.

QUICKSILVER. From the information given by the Committee appointed in 1844, by the "Board for encouraging Mining Operations," it appears there existed at that time twenty-five mines of this metal in the States of Queretero, Guerrero, Guanajuato, San Luis Potosi, Zacatecas, and Jalisco, to which there must be added others which have been since discovered.

The annual product of all those that are now worked, is estimated at from 2,000 to 2,500 quintals, a quantity very much below that needed for the mining operations of this country, the annual consumption of which now amounts to 14,000 quintals. The richest of these mines of quicksilver is that of Guadalcazar, in the State of San Luis Potosi, which produces more than 1,000 quintals a year.

COPPER. Notwithstanding there exist not a few mines of this metal in the Repub lic, the abundance of those of gold and silver is the cause of there being found few speculators to undertake the working of them.

Of those that have been worked up to the present time, the best results has been

from those of Chihuahua, now abandoned on account of the frequent invasions of the Indians. Those of Santa Clara, in the State of Michoacan; those of Mazapil, in Zacatecas, and that of Zomlahuacan, in the State of Vera Cruz. The richest of these mines in the present day are those of Mazapil, which produce from 4,000 to 6,000 quintals a year.

IRON.-The principal veins of this metal, discovered up to the present time, are to be found in the States of Mexico, Guerrero, Michoacan, Durango, Jalisco, Oaxaca, Puebla, and in the Territory of Teaxcala. For its extraction there are several foundries established, as that of San Rafael and Micaflores, near Texcoco and Chalco; that of Guadalupe, close by Zacualpam; that of Santa Maria, two leagues from Atotonilco, --and also various others in other points of the Republic.

Respecting the other mineral productions, there do not exist any data in respect to the quantity annually extracted, therefore it is not possible to decide on their annual value. Nevertheless, taking into consideration the little importance they have up to the present, we may be assured that including quicksilver, copper and iron, the amount would not exceed $1,000,000, which sum added to that of the gold and silver, the result is that the total product of the mines of Mexico is over $26,000,000 annually.

CANNELTON, INDIANA, COTTON MANUFACTORY.

This new establishment is now in successful operation. It was built by contract under the direction and on the plan of our intelligent and enterprising countryman, General CHARLES T. JAMES, elected United States Senator for Rhode Island, for six years from the 4th of March, 1851. Mr. James enjoys a wide-spread reputation, as an engineer, and his practical knowledge of the manufacturing interests of the Union, will doubtless render him a most useful member of the Committee on Manufactures, in the Senate of the United States.

The Cannelton (Indiana) Cotton Manufactory employs from seventy to one hundred operatives daily. The editor of the Cannelton Economist remarks:

"Everything moves like clock-work, and harmony and efficiency seem to characterize the whole establishment. There are now thirty looms running, to which number additions are being constantly made. The first piece of cloth was woven by George Beebe, the superintendent of the weaving department, on Tuesday, the 7th inst., and a more substantial article for sheeting we have never seen. We thought, as we examined the body of the cloth and the firmness of its texture, that like the building whence it emanated, it seemed destined to last for ever. If such is to be the character of the cloths fabricated in this mill, (and we believe this was designed as a specimen piece,) we shall soon expect to find a demand for western manufactures all over the country.

"But not only are improvements going on within the mill, but around it daily progress is made leveling down and filling up, and bringing to a constant grade, commanding the position upon which the building is erected. And we are sadly mistaken, if those who are called up and down the Ohio, do not feel an almost irresistible inclination, as they pass this point, and the towers of this temple of human industry glide gently in view, to stop for a while and examine for themselves the grandness of the scale of manufacture, yet to be consummated in the West, of which this establishment may be regarded only as the initiary step."

MINING IN FRANCE AND Belgium.

The usual annual reports have been presented in both the above countries. In France, it appears that in 1850 twenty new mines had been opened, principally iron, which hold out promise of productiveness; some extensive coal seams had also been discovered, of excellent quality. Many modern improvements had been introduced, particularly in the coal-districts, and in respect to ventilation. In Belgium a large increase in the development of her metallic resources has taken place. The iron forges have been continually in full work, and few furnaces are now out of blast. The demand for iron has been considerable, particularly in rails, both for foreign demand and home consumption. The zinc trade has much improved. The collieries are in full operation, and exports of coal to France expected to increase under the new tariff.

SHIP BUILDING IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK.

As an example of the extent to which this branch of mechanical and commercial industry is carried on in the city of New York, we will give the following statament of one of the principal ship builders here, furnished to the United States Marshal, developing facts in relation to the business conducted by him, for the year ending June 1st 1850:

About 385 men were constantly employed during the year for which the report was made, at an average of $1 75 per day. The monthly payment for work performed, amounted to $17,517, or $210,204 per annum. During the time mentioned, two steamships, measuring 3,000 tons, and eight ships of 11,040 tons, were launced by him. There were consumed in the construction of vessels of various descriptions, 80,000 lbs. of copper bolts, brass work, &c.; 535,000 lbs. of iron bolts, wrought and cast iron work; 60,000 cubic feet of live oak; 6,000 do. locust; 4,000 do. cedar; 175,000 white oak; 90,000 pitch pine; 10,000 white pine; 400,000 superficial feet of white oak plank; 850,000 do. pitch pine; 720,000 do. white pine; 300,000 do. lumber; $10,000 worth of spars; 50,000 lbs. oakum, &c. This is quite an extensive business, we should judge, and appears the larger when we reflect that it is the business of only one man engaged in ship building. There are, however, a number of ship builders on the East River, from Corlears Hook and upwards, and also in Brooklyn, Williamsburg and Hoboken, &c., whose business will compare favorably with the above. We also learn that several new ship yards, both in the city proper, and in the neighborhood, are in contemplation by our enterprising mechanics, those now in operation not being sufficient to supply the demand for vessels; a large portion of which vessels our merchants are compelled to order from Maine, and other Northern States, for the simple reason that there are not yards enough to build them here.

COPPER AND IRON MINES OF LAKE SUPERIOR.

We learn from a statement of the Detroit Free Press, that the amount of copper brought from the mines of Lake Superior in 1849, was eleven hundred and fourteen tons. The amount shipped in 1850 exceeded four thousand tons, and that to be shipped during the present year will be sufficient to supply the whole consumption of copper in the United States, which is a little over six thousand tons.

The amount of ore which had been raised on the shores of Lake Superior up to December, 1849, exceeded thirty-seven thousand tons. This ore will, in the opinion of competent judges, average twenty per cent of pure metal, so that even this amount, if reduced and taken to market, would this very year supply the United States. The copper ore from the mines in Cornwall, in England, for thirty years past, has yielded but about eight per cent of pure metal.

There are now, including the two iron companies on Carp River, in the vicinity of the celebrated iron mountains, twenty-four organized companies in active operation. Their mines have been purchased of the government, and they employ at this time eight hundred and thirty men. The iron companies referred to are prepared to melt and ship the coming season twenty-seven hundred tons of pig iron. Much is said of the superior quality of this new product of Michigan, its remarkable malleability peculiarly adapting it for boiler iron, wire, and machinery, and even in its crude state, owing to this fact, it readily commands the highest market price in Pittsburg.

WINE MAKING IN MISSOURI.

Information brought out at the dinner of the Horticultural Society of St. Louis gives us a higher estimate of the progress made in wine making in Missouri than we had had any idea of. It appears that at Herman alone, a small German village in Gasconade county, on the Missouri river, there are four hundred acres in vines. All around Herman are hills, and nothing but hills-the village being built in the only plain to be found. These hills are covered and crowned by fresh and luxuriant young vineyards, and from them will be produced this year from thirty to forty thousand gallons of wine, which is sold at the press at from $1 to $150 per gallon. The business of wine making at Herman is already carried on under the division of labor necessary for the attainment of the greatest success. There are three classes altogether distinct now engaged in it; the grape-grower, the wine-presser and the wine-merchant. "The day is not far distant," says the St. Louis Intelligencer, "when our State will be as distinguished for her grapes and vines as for her hemp and tobacco, and other produce.

MERCANTILE MISCELLANIES.

CREDIT TO WHOM CREDIT IS DUE.

We very cheerfully make the "amend honorable" to our contemporary of the Bal. timore Price Current, by bringing his just cause of complaint before the readers of the Merchants' Magazine. The omission, on our part, to credit that Journal for the table referred to below, was an inadvertence, which we trust will not again occur. Our experience has taught us to appreciate editorial sensitiveness in this particular, having frequent cause of complaint, although we have seldom, if ever, expressed the grievance to our readers. But for the notice of our Baltimore cotemporary :—

"HUNT'S MERCHANTS' MAGAZINE.—We have ever entertained the highest opinion of this work, and have commended it, all times, everywhere. But it seems to us a periodical of as high standing as Hunt's Magazine should never fail to give credit for its selected articles, especially when they are appropriated verbatim et literatim. To new publications, credit for aught good that may emanate from them is of the greatest importance.

"In the March number of Hunt's Magazine we observe a tabular statement of the Cotton Factories of Maryland, first published in the Baltimore Price Current, January 4, 1851, (which it took three days' hard labor to get in correct shape,) inserted figure for figure, word for word, without a single syllable of allusion as to its origin. While we feel honored in being thought worthy of copying, by our able cotemporary, we feel more sensibly any act or any omission that deprives us of our own."

AN HONEST MERCHANT.

The Salem Register publishes, under the title of a "Praiseworthy Act,” an account of a Boston merchant, who failed seventeen years ago, and at the expiration of that time came forward and paid to "the uttermost farthing." From the heading of the paragraph in the Gazette, and the surprise of his old creditors, one would very naturally infer that such acts were of rare occurrence; if so, comparatively speaking, it was certainly a "praiseworthy act." And we don't know that we ought to object to the commendation awarded to an honest and honorable man. We wish, however, that such circumstances were so much a matter of course among mercantile men, that it would not be necessary to note their occurrence, as rare examples to stimulate others to "go and do likewise." When all the readers of the Merchants' Magazine adopt the plan of the Boston trader, (and it will not be long, as they are continually increasing in numbers, and are generally successful in business,) we shall discontinue the habit of discoursing upon the morals of trade, either in the form of precept or example. But we will no longer keep the reader from the statements of our cotemporary:

PRAISEWORTHY ACT.-Several persons in Danvers, interested in the leather trade, were this week surprised by a visit from one of their old customers, who presented them checks, drawn on the Shoe and Leather Dealers' Bank, for various sums, amounting in the aggregate to several thousand dollars. It appears that, seventeen years ago, the gentleman referred to, by reverses in business, was obliged to compromise with his creditors, and was then fully discharged from all liabilities. His subsequent efforts having been successful, he now comes forward, unsolicited, and voluntarily makes up the deficiency-thus recognizing the true principle that no legal discharge can absolve a man from his moral obligation to meet all his engagements, whenever it may be in his power.

We learn from another source, equally authentic, that the gentleman referred to, as having performed this praiseworthy act, is Mr. Nathan Jones, of the respectable house of N. Jones & Co., Pearl-street, Boston.

A MERCHANT, PHILANTHROPIST, AND CHRISTIAN.

The Baltimore Price Current, in announcing the death of James Wilson, a gentleman of that city, distinguished "as a most exemplary merchant, a true philanthropist, and a sincere Christian," gives the following brief sketch of his character, and the mercantile house with which he was connected:

JAMES WILSON, Esq., the last surviving partner of the old house of William Wilson & Sons. In connection, it may not be improper for us to give a brief history of the house of which he was so prominent a member. The war of our Independence had just closed, when Baltimore became one of the largest and most active markets, for various staples of our country, upon the Atlantic seabord. At this time it was that the firm of Wm. Wilson & Sons began to assume a prominence in the mercantile world; they occupied the counting room that continues to be occupied and used by their survivors, for the same purpose, to this day. It is in Baltimore-street, opposite the Clipper office-not a whit changed, except by age, since the year 1770. The subject of our obituary was born in this building, in 1775; the trade and fortune that his father founded, he was learned to manage with his brothers Thomas and William, Jr., and it continued under their superintendence after death had removed the head of the house; and now the grandsons of Wm. Wilson still conduct the immense business that he originated. James Wilson desired to be a leading man of no sect or party-but when a leading name for philanthropic object was wanting, the signature of "Wm. Wilson & Sons" was never applied for in vain. In his daily life, he observed a strict rule of unobtrusiveness, and his greatest acts of benevolence were only known by those who blessed him in silent gratitude for their relief. As a business man, his integrity, punctuality, and fairness were unexampled, at the family altar his devotion was unfeignedly earnest, and at the hearth his affection was true and ingenuous. Men like him the world can hardly spare-it can spare its heroes of military or political renown; their places are soon filled; but when a good man dies, a good man in the strict sense of the term, it may long seek among its millions in vain for one worthy to be his suc

cessor.

IMPORTANT TO MERCHANTS TRADING WITH SARDINIA.

We are indebted to our cotemporary, WILLIAM FAIRMAN, of the "New Yorker," for the translation of the subjoined extract from a letter of a correspondent of the "Eco D'Italia," the only Italian journal published in America:—

"The city of Genoa is, as I told you in my last letter, to become not only the emporium of the Mediterranean, but also one of the most flourishing and commercial cities in Europe. All vessels loaded with goods for Germany, Switzerland, and Lombardy, coming from the Levant, East Indies, and other eastern sea-ports, will disgorge in this port, and the goods will be carried by the new railroad line to their destination. In order to facilitate still more the trade of foreign vessels and our Commerce, the Sardinian government intend to establish the navy yard in the Gulf of Spezia, and to turn that of Genoa into a depot of trade.

"You know that the present condition of the harbor of Genoa does not allow ships to approach the city, and for this reason the labor of man instead of machines is used to load and discharge vessels. It was necessary to establish several public stores in the interior of the city-which caused great expense and much time-for the operations of loading and discharging. To reform this great inconvenience the Sardinian government has decided to contract large docks, on the model of those of London and Liverpool, at which will be used all the modern improvements of machinery. By such means the Sardinian government will offer great advantages and save much expense to foreign traders, and afford greater facilities to Commerce than can be found in any other port of the Mediterranean."

A MERCHANTS' CLUB FOR ALL NATIONS.

The foreign merchants and shippers of London have agreed to establish a "club for all nations," to meet the requirements of the strangers, merchants and others, who will be in London, during the Exhibition of 1851. The club will be provided, in addition to the usual accommodations, with interpreters acquainted with all the languages of the East and Europe, guides and commissioners, and departments for information. A committee of merchants of London, have been elected to carry out the undertaking