ZINC AND MANGANESE MINES OF ARKANSAS.

To FREEMAN HUNT, Editor Merchants' Magazine:

There are two ores of zinc which are of very frequent occurrence in the lead mines of the United States, viz: the sulphuret, or blende, usually called by the miners black jack" and the carbonate, called also "dry bone." They frequently occur in large quantities, particulariy the "black jack," nearly or quite equal to the lead itself. And yet, until very recently, no use whatever has been made of them. They have been thrown aside along with the common rubbish of the mine as utterly useless, while our country has been importing its whole consumption of zinc. The zine ores of other countries are of no better quality, nor greater quantity, than our own; and yet we throw ours away, and send to other countries for all the zinc we want.

Why is this? Merely because the ores of zinc are more difficult to reduce than those of most other metals, and we have not had the skill and patience necessary to bring them into the metallic state.

But a change is about to take place; science has rendered the reduction of refractory ores more simple and easy than it formerly was; and blende, which was formerly considered almost incapable of reduction, has been compelled to give up its sulphur, and to yield its metal as a compensation to the enterprise of the smelter.

There is an unusual quantity of zinc ore in Arkansas, some of which is connected, as usual, with the lead mines, mostly in the form of blende; while large quantities occur by itself, of the kind called “dry bone," or the carbonate. This latter kind is much more easily reduced than the other.

Hitherto the demand for zinc in our country has not been very great, or the quantity used has been rather limited; hence the market has been easily supplied. But the new uses to which it is now being applied, and the great increase in the quantities consumed for purposes to which it has long been applied, will cause a large increase in the demand for this article, and will add much to the motives for attempting to supply our own markets by the reduction of our own ores.

The discovery of the magnetic telegraph, and other uses to which electro-magnetism is now applied, will cause a considerable increase in the demand for this metal.

Another discovery has recently been made, which will probably cause a still greater increase in the consumption of zinc; and that is, that its oxide is an excellent pigment, considerably superior to white lead, which it seems destined strongly to rival, if not to supersede altogether.

Another, and still later discovery has also been made, which seems likely to create a brisk demand for blende or the sulphuret of zinc; which is, that the ore, in its natural state, without smelting, or any other preparation than mere grinding, when mixed with oil, makes a valuable paint.

In view of these things, there is reason to believe that our zinc mines, which have hitherto been considered as utterly worthless, will hereafter be considered as offering inducement for the employment of capital and labor, equal to those of lead, or any other metal.

Manganese is a metal which, both in its metallic state and in that of its ore, strongly resembles iron. It is harder, heavier, and more brittle than iron, and oxidizes more readily. It is not used in the metallic state at all, for any use to which it is capable of being applied, so far as is known, iron is better.

It is used altogether in the arts, in the state of ore, and in a variety of ways; for instance, in the manufacture of certain kinds of glass, of chloride of lime, and in the chemical laboratory. Its value chiefly depends upon the great quantity of oxygen it contains, and upon the facility with which it yields it up.

It is nearly always associated with iron, and is found in small quantities in almost every country in which iron ore is abundant. But it is usually so mixed with it as to be without any value. It is rather rare to find it by itself in such quantities as to admit of being worked.

In Arkansas there is a very large quantity of it, nearly or quite free from iron, probably enough to supply the world for ages to come. It is being mined by a company from Nashville, which has raised not less than two hundred and fifty to three hundred tons.

Small quantities of manganese have been mined in the State of Vermont, and likewise in New York, but I believe the business has been abandoned in both, on account of the poverty of the lands. There is a bed of it in Virginia, which is said to be of good quality, and of large quantity; where mining is going on at the present time which is the only one now known in the United States, worthy of attention, except

that in Arkansas.

B. LAURENCE, Geologist.

PRICE OF LABOR IN SAN FRANCISCO IN MAY, 1853.

The Alta California furnishes the following as the price of labor in California in May, 1853. The letters v. s. mean that work is very scarce for such mechanics to which it is affixed. The letter b. affixed means that boarding accompanies the pay.

PRODUCT OF THE AUSTRALIAN GOLD FIELDS.

The Melbourne Argus of the 3d January, 1853, estimates the grand total of the yield up to 30th December, 1852, 3,998,321 ounces. The same journal continues:

We may say, in round numbers, 4,000,000 ounces, which, at 7s. per ounce, is £14,000,000 sterling, but its intrinsic value is certainly more, nearly £16,000,000 sterling. The world has never, perhaps, exhibited so astonishing a result as these figures show. The number of diggers at the various gold fields may now be estimated at 100,000 and the average earnings may probably still be calculated at an ounce per man per week. There has been a slight falling off in the quantities sent down by escort during the last month, but this is partly to be referred to the departure of diggers to spend their Christmas at their respective homes. Three several gold fields, viz: Mount Alexander, Ballarat, and the Ovens, are now being advantageously worked. The astonishing richness of Mount Alexander is evidenced by the large amounts which it yields, notwithstanding the immense quantities that have already been drawn from it. The whole country thereabouts appears to be more or less auriferous.

MANUFACTURES OF NEW HAMPSHIRE.

The following statistics of the manufactures of New Hampshire, are derived from the last annual message of the Governor of that State :

There are in the same State 44 cotton establishments in operation, covering an investment of $10,950,560; manufacturing 113,106,247 yards of cloth, using 93,026 bales of cotton; consuming 7,679 tons of coal; involving a value of raw material of $4,839,429; employing 2,912 male, and 9,211 female operatives; disbursing to the former $75,713, and to the latter $124,131 per month; making an average to the males of $25 45, and to the females $13 47 per month; and producing an aggregate value of products of $8,830,619. Woolen establishments, 61; investments $2,437,700; yards of cloth manufactured, 9,712,840; pounds of wool used, 3,604,103; tons of coal, 3,600; value of raw material, $1,267,293; number of males employed, 926; females, 1,201; entire wages per month, males, $21,177; females, $17,451; average wages per month for the former, $22 84; the latter, $14 51; value of the entire products, $2,127,745.

GALENA LEAD MINES.

The amount of lead shipped from Galena and other ports, annually, is about 42,000,000 pounds, according to the register kept in the city of Galena. This amount would be $4 per cwt., the price there, worth $1,780,000. The number of miners actually at work does not exceed 2,000, which would show an average of $890 for each man. Now deduct $90 for cost of working and smelting the mineral, and we have the large average production of $800, an amount of prosperity indicated of which no other country can boast. The lead business, which for a few years has been declining, is daily becoming more active, and confidence in the mineral resources of this region is continually increasing. Not one acre in one hundred of the mineral lands has been scratched with the pick or spade, and all the leads (lodes) heretofore worked, lie within a few feet of the surface. Beneath the water, there is every reason to believe, far more extensive deposits lie yet to be explored, when the necessary capital shall be invested in machinery for raising the water. It is currently reported that mineral has been discovered beneath the sand rock which underlies the lead-bearing limestone hitherto worked. If this be so, the mines must rival those of Cornwall in depth and extent. Whether this be so or not, one thing is certain; and that is the fact that all the lead raised up to this time, has been raised from very small patches of ground, while the land for miles adjoining lies in its native beauty untouched. Some of the largest lodes have been struck immediately upon the surface, and most of them within a few feet.

Lead is not the only valuable mineral found there. The most productive ores of zinc and copper, the sulphuret and carbonate of zinc, and the sulphuret of copper every where abound. Wherever exploration for lead has been made, more or less of these metals has been discovered. Thousands of tons of zinc lie to-day upon the surface, for the very good reason that it interferes with the working of lead mines, and is neglected because, in the absence of coal, it cannot be profitably smelted. It is popularly known there as Dry Bones and Black Jack. Sulphate of iron is found in sheets of large extent, ranging from a few inches to several feet in thickness.

BAG LOOM AND NEW SHUTTLE MOTION.

Mr. Cyrus Baldwin, of Manchester, N. H., the ingenious inventor of the Bag Loom, now used in the Stark Mills, where five thousand seamless bags are daily manufac tured, has invented two looms of wonderful construction, and has taken the necessary steps for securing the patent rights. The important advantages of these looms can be thus stated: They get greater speed with less power. They have entirely a new shuttle motion, so that the shuttle can be stopped without stopping the loom. They do away with the use of cams, levers, treadles, pickers, and race-rods, thereby saving seventy-five per cent of oil used about the old looms. What is not less important, perhaps, they can be used for weaving all kinds of fancy goods, with from one to twenty harnesses.

UNSUCCESSFUL MANUFACTORIES.

During the excessively hard times for manufacturers, says the Newburyport Herald, two or three years ago, two woolen factories at Thompsonville, Conn., failed; but, in order not to stop the works, bonds to an amount nearly equal to the capital were issued, and they went on. A recent sale of stock and bonds in these companies, at New York, indicates that they have been unsuccessful in retrieving their losses. Of the Tariffville Manufacturing Company, 2,173 shares sold at $1 per share, and $137,000 of the bonds of the Company at 25 per cent. Of the Thompsonville Company, 274 shares sold at $3 each, and $142,000 of the bonds at 35 per cent.

SPANISH LACE, EMBROIDERY, ETC.

The Spanish industry of lace, blonde, and other articles has been, and is, long known and esteemed. Its seat is in Catalonia and other places, where the work-people, who amount to thousands, are scattered to a great extent in many small villages. Some few good patterns from the above province were exhibited at the great Exhibition in London; but Almagro, a town so long ago renowned for its products of good quality, and particularly for the extreme lowness of its prices, presented nothing.

MERCANTILE MISCELLANIES.

FOREIGN POSTAGE ON PAMPHLETS AND MAGAZINES.

We publish below a letter from the Postmaster General, in reply to a note we addressed to him, concerning the rates of postage on pamphlets and magazines. It will be seen by this letter, that the postage to Liverpool on a periodical of the weight of the Merchants' Magazine (six ounces) amounts to five dollars and seventy-six cents per annum—that is, seventy-six cents MORE than the subscription price of the Magazine.

A bale of cotton, weighing some 450 pounds, is frequently shipped to Liverpool for six shillings sterling, (about $1 50,) and the freight on a barrel of flour, weighing 196 pounds, from New York to Liverpool, seldom exceeds 25 cents. Now, if bulky articles like a barrel of flour and bale of cotton can be transported with benefit to the shipper at a low rate, is it not reasonable to suppose that publications, if charged proportionately low, would likewise pay a profit? Our Magazine, devoted as it is to the great commercial, industrial, and financial affairs of our own country, contains just that kind of information which the merchants, manufacturers, bankers, &c., of England and the other commercial nations of Europe require; and we have reason to know that in England alone the circulation would nearly equal what it has already attained in the United States and the British American Provinces, were the postage reauced to a low or reasonable rate. No "pent-up Utica contracts" the power or the influence of Commerce and its handmaid Productive Industry, unless incumbered with governmental tariffs and restrictions. Cheap foreign postage-indeed, the penny system, so efficiently agitated by ELIHU BURRITT in England (and it will come eventually, and at no distant day) will be accompanied with benefits of immeasurable importance to the moral, social, and commercial world. Every wise statesman, every true patriot, and every Christian philanthropist should labor arduously for the realization of a reform so full of hope and promise to the race. We heartily thank the Postmaster General for his efforts to bring about even a slight reduction in the rates of foreign postage, or remove in part a tax upon knowledge, amounting almost to a prohibition.

POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT, June 2, 1853.

SIR-Your letter of the 28th ult. is before me. The Postage Tables, &c., desired by you, were forwarded to your address a day or two ago.

In speaking of the high rate of Postage on pamphlets and magazines to and from England, you remark that "the postage on a magazine of the weight of the Merchants' (6 ounces) is 24 cents;" and this sum you appear to regard* as the full postage to its destination. On looking at the postage tables above referred to, however, you will observe that this (four cents an ounce, or fraction of an ounce, where the weight exceeds two ounces) is only the United States' postage; and that all such works are subject to the same rate, as an additional charge, in England. Therefore, the entire annual postage on a monthly periodical not exceeding six ounces in weight, sent to or received from England, is $5 76. This is in accordance with the stipulations of the Postal Treaty of 15th December, 1848, between the United States and Great Britain. It is true, either party has a right to reduce its own postage, and until our postage act of 3d March, 1851, went into effect, raising the rates of postage, the United States charge on pamphlets and magazines to or from Great Britain, was but one cent an ounce. The British Government, still keeping their charge up to four cents an ounce

• We were aware of the additional charge in England. although we were not apprized of the precise amount.-Ed. Merch. Mag.

the United States' rate under the act of 1851 has been permitted to stand unchanged. In December last, the attention of the British Post-office was drawn to this subject, and the proposal was made by this Department to reduce the postage on pamphlets and magazines to one cent an ounce, or fraction of an ounce, on either side, so that the combined rate should be but two cents an ounce. This proposition the ritish office declined, and asked the adoption of a Book Post, now generally in operation between the United Kingdom and British colonies. The details of this plan are given in a circular of the British Post-office, a copy of which I enclose herewith. In extending this Book Post to the United States, they proposed that the postage be divided as follows:-The British office to receive two thirds, and the United States one third when the Atlantic conveyance should be by British packets; and the United States office two thirds and the British one third, when the Atlantic conveyance should be by United States packets. This proposition, which was first made in October, 1851, was declined by Judge Hall and Mr. Hubbard, my predecessors in office, for reasons which I deem conclusive.

I intend to take up this subject of magazine postage to England for further and more particular consideration at the earliest day practicable, and shall do all in my power to induce the British office to agree to a reduction. I have already made an order reducing the rate to the Continent, &c., to two cents an ounce.

Your obedient servant,

JAMES CAMPBELL, Postmaster General.

To FREEMAN HUNT, ESQ., Ed. Merchants' Magazine, &c.

We give below the circular of the British Post Office touching the "Book Post," referred to in the foregoing letter of the Postmaster General:

BOOKS, ETC., TO MAURITIUS.

GENERAL POST OFFICE, June, 1852.

On and from the 1st July next, printed books, magazines, reviews, and pamphlets (whether British, colonial, or foreign) may be transmitted by the post 'between the United Kingdom and Mauritius, by packet via Plymouth, or, if specially so addressed, by the Overland Mail via Southampton, at the following reduced rates of postage, viz: For each packet not exceeding 4 lb. in weight..............

08. 6d.

1 0

2 0

3 0

And so on, increasing one shilling for every additional pound or fraction of a pound. Provided, however, that the following conditions be carefully observed:

1st. Every such packet must be sent without a cover, or in a cover open at the ends or sides.

24. It must contain a single volume only, (whether printed book, magazine, review, or pamphlet,) the several sheets or parts thereof, where there are more than one, being sewed or bound together.

3d. It must not exceed two feet in length, breadth, width, or depth.

4th. It must have no writing or marks upon the cover, or its contents, except the name and address of the person to whom it may be sent.

5th. The postage must be prepaid in full, by affixing, outside the packet or its cover, the proper number of stamps.

If any of the above conditions be violated, the packet must be charged as a letter, and treated as such in all respects.

To prevent any obstacles to the regular transmission of letters, any officer of the Post Office may delay the transmission of any such packet, for a time not exceeding twenty-four hours, from the time at which the same would otherwise have been forwarded by him.*

Similar regulations govern the transmission of books, magazines, &c., to all the British Colonies. -Ed. Merch. Mag.