it is only by a peculiar movement of the wrist and hand, impossible to describe, and difficult to imitate, that it is properly effected. One man can seal one hundred in an hour!

In pasting and affixing the labels on the blacking-bottles, much dexterity is also displayed. As one man can paste as many labels as two can affix, groups of three are employed in this department. In pasting, the dexterity is shown by the final touch of the brush, which jerks the label off the heap, and which is caught in the left hand of the workman, and thrown aside. This is done so rapidly, that the three-fold operation of pasting, jerking, and laying aside, is repeated no less than two thousand times in an hour. The affixing of the labels is a very neat and dexterous operation; to the watchful spectator, the bottle is scarcely taken up in the hand, ere it is set down labelled. In packing the bottles into casks, much neatness is displayed.

The heads of certain kinds of pins are formed by a coil or two of fine wire placed at one end. This is cut off from a long coil fixed in a lathe; the workman cuts off one or two turns of the coil, guided entirely by his eye; and such is the manual dexterity displayed in the operation, that a workman will cut off 20,000 to 30,000 heads without making a single mistake as to the number of turns in each. An expert workman can fasten on from 10,000 to 15,000 of these heads in a day.

The pointing of pins and needles is done solely by hand. The workman holds thirty or forty pin lengths in his hand, spread open like a fan; and wonderful dexterity is shown in bringing each part to the stone, and presenting every point of its circumference to its grinding action. In finally "papering" needles for sale, the females employed can count and paper 3,000 in an hour!

MORALS OF MANUFACTURING TOWNS.

Until within a few years, the belief seems to have prevailed almost universally that manufacturing towns were necessarily doomed to moral degradation. The ignorance, corruption, and crime of the manufacturing districts of England were pointed to as indicating the unavoidable tendency of all such enterprises, and no doubt many persons in this country have dreaded the establishment of home manufactures, under the impression that the places where they might be located would become plague-spots, and high places of iniquity.

The actual experience and well-attested history of the principal manufacturing towns of the United States show a very different result from what many anticipated. It has been proved that such enterprises may be carried on successfully on the largest scale, not only without any deterioration in the morals and general intelligence of the operatives, but consistently with a system of means carried on at the same time for the improvement of the workers in virtue and intelligence.

For the evidence of this we might mention numerous manufacturing places in the United States, and quote from their history a large body of refreshing facts. But it may suffice to refer to Lowell, Massachusetts, the character of which place, and especially of its operatives, is generally known. And we say that here is an irresistible demonstration of the practicability of separating manufacturing enterprises from any special tendency to moral corruption and ignorance, and not only so, but of maintaining a high standard of moral and intellectual advancement.

We do not propose at this time to enter upon any detail of the system pursued by the managers of the Lowell factories. It is enough for our purpose to say that they have proceeded upon the simple, but often disregarded principle, that the usefulness, fidelity, and industry of any set of operatives will be in proportion to their intelligence and morals, and, therefore, if employers merely consult their own interest, they would take special care of the minds and moral characters of those in their service. We do not doubt that higher motives have had their influence with the Lowell proprietors, motives of benevolence and good will to the thousands in their mills, but we say, as a mere business calcu. lation, it was a wise one, in the very outset of their enterprise to provide for a careful moral supervision, and guarantee ample sources of improvement for the minds under their control.

Under the operation of the wise and wholesome care and watchfulness which in Lowell and most of the New England manufacturing towns are brought to bear, results are achieved which strike the minds of Europeans as partaking of the marvellous and incredible. And it is a fact full of interest that there is probably not a town in the United States which enjoys a greater European celebrity than Lowell, nor is there one which foreigners of intelligence are more anxious to visit when they arrive on our shores.

At the same time the training which the operatives in such places receive qualifies them far better than any merely theoretical school for eminent enterprise and usefulness in fu

ture life. Thousands of young women who leave the parental roof to spend one, two, or three years in the factories, return to their homes or enter upon married life with enlarged views, with a knowledge of the world, and with a self-relying and enterprising spirit, which enables them to maintain an elevated position and a commanding influence through life.

The manufacturing interest is destined to increase and multiply to a vast extent in this country. We trust it will be considered and understood also, that the true and only wise policy is to adhere faithfully to the Lowell plan of making every manufacturing neighborhood a school of sound morals and intelligence, as a means of success as well as a measure of benevolence. The manufacturers who have led the way are worthy of all honor and are sure of their reward.

ORIGIN OF DAY AND MARTIN'S BLACKING.

A late London paper furnishes the following curious history of Day and Martin's Blacking, by the manufacture of which, the late Mr. Day amassed nearly £500,000. It will be read with interest:

"Mr. Martin was a native of Doncaster, and served his apprenticeship to a barber at Gainsborough, which place he quitted for the great metropolis, where he became a journeyman to the father of Mr. Charles Day, his late partner, and who carried on business some fifty or sixty years since as a perfumer, in Tavistock-street, Covent Garden. Mr. C. Day was also a friseur, but born in London, and they both cut their way for a few years over the heads of their superiors, till the following circumstance happened:

"Doncaster races have always been attractive, and Mr. Martin resolved to visit not only this scene of sport, but all his relatives. He accordingly arrived there, and sojourned at the house of his brother-in-law, Mr. Anthony Moore, who kept the Kings Arms, in Sepulchre-gate. At the same house a soldier was quartered, named Thomas Florry, who was a servant to Captain Wilson, then on the recruiting service in that town; the beautiful polish of Florry's shoes caused the landlord not only to admire them, but eventually to obtain the blacking recipe for a quart of ale, which was readily granted. This valuable document, as it afterwards proved to be, was presented to young Martin on his return to London, and hence the magnificent edifice, No. 97 High Holborn, and its valuable appurtenances. The black diamond' receipt was proffered to young Mr. Day, he having more of the 'ready' than Mr. Martin, and soon after commenced business in a small way. Schemes, of course, were easily resorted to, in the absence of puf's,' prosaical and pcetical, to bring this shining liquid into notice, and among them, the following:- Nearly one hundred suits of let-off liveries were purchased in the purlieus of Petticoat Lane, London, and having engaged as many bodies as suits, they were despatched alternately to all parts of London to inquire for Day & Martin's blacking.' The trick told; an article so much in request must be valuable, and the perfumers, oil men, grocers, &c., soon laid in a stock, and thus laid the foundation for an immense fortune. All went on prosperously for many years; nothing went down but Day & Martin,' and they got up as rapidly, till at length Day, who originally had de monish,' made a proffer that himself or Martin should quit the concern on the receipt of £10,000. Martin being minus that sum, thought it advisable to accept, and he accordingly withdrew on a handsome income, which amounted to nearly £1,000 per annum. He built two houses at Doncaster, in one of which he resided for some time, and then removed with his family to Sheffield or its neighborhood, where he expired. The poor soldier has been dead many years, but his only reward was a quart of ale."

ANTI-PUTRID DISINFECTING AGENT.

Dr. Lewis Feuchtwanger, a skillful chemist of New York, has invented a new disinfecting agent for purifying and ventilating ships, hospitals, prisons, sick rooins, sinks, cispools, &c., which we understand has been tested in most of the hospitals in New York, as well as in the prisons, hotels, and other public places, and "everywhere," we are assured, with the most decided and unqualified approbation," as may be seen by reference to certificates which Dr. F. has received from Bellevue, Emigrant and Quarantine Hospitals, Coroner, City Prisons, Astor House, and from eminent chemists, as Drs. Chilton, Recse, Geer, Ball, Doane, &c., which have been published in a pamphlet form.

ANCIENT MINING ON LAKE SUPERIOR.

The last Lake Superior News gives a further account of the discovery of evidences of the working of the copper mines of that region by a people now extinct, a notice of which was published some time since. It says that the indication which led to the discovery is a sunken trench upon the line of vein, which, being drifted into, disclosed a mass of native copper lying in this vein estimated to weigh about seven tons. The remains of large timbers were found by which this had evidently been propped, and beneath it were several cart loads of ashes and cinders, showing that the miners had endeavored to reduce the mass by fire. Several of the implements used in the mining operations were found, consisting of stone hammers, a chisel, and a gad of copper. The perfect state of the point of the latter would seem to indicate a process of hardening the metal was known, for the hammer end was most battered. With the copper of this were some large particles of silver. The chisel is ingeniously constructed so as to admit a handle. No iron instrument was discovered. That the mining operations were conducted to a greater extent than is practised by any existing tribe of Indians is apparent from the fact that the trench sunk upon the vein extends more than a mile in length. The accumulation of earth in the trench concealed the depth of the workings, except in the small part re-opened; but here the depth was found to be twenty feet, and the width of eight feet. Similar trenches exist in the neighborhood, which were traced for several miles.

Not the least interesting part of the discovery is the evidence of the great antiquity of the workings. Large trees were growing upon the earth that had accumulated in the diggings-one of which, directly over the large mass of copper, proved to be four hundred years old! Beneath it were trunks of trees that had previously decayed or fallen in, and the whole depth of soil that, by the process of time, had accumulated upon this antique furnace was eighteen feet.

This mine is about four miles east of the large mass of copper, which was removed from its place some years since, and is now in the National Cabinet at Washington.

These mementoes of ancient aboriginal industry are deserving of more than a mere passing notice. They may be considered as adding to the proof that, long before the discovery of America, a race existed on this continent among whom the arts had reached a higher grade than with the wandering tribes that have succeeded. The Indians now living in this region know nothing of the people by whom, or the time when, these operations were undertaken. They evince a concerted effort which does not characterize their present feeble effort in the art. It is somewhat singular that among a people so observant and persevering the use of iron remained so wholly unknown, since some of the ores which exist in vast abundance, and upon the surface in the Carp River region, are found to be easily reduced to a valuable steel by the heat of a common forge. A knowledge of the use of iron might have changed the destiny of that people, as it may be said to have done that race who now triumph, in the pride of art and power over their almost perished memorials.

ARTIFICIAL MINERALS AND PRECIOUS STONES.

A process has been explained to the Paris Academy of Sciences, and a patent obtained for it, whereby artificial stone of every quality may be produced, from artificial granite to statuary marble.

This invention is, it is said, from its cheapness, a great advantage for all the purposes of architectural decoration, and from its plastic nature before it becomes hard, of great service to sculptors in taking casts of statuettes, busts, &c., and even of figures of the size of life. The cost, in all cases where carving is required in stone, in which this composition is substituted, is less by nine-tenths. The invention is founded on the chemical analysis of the natural varieties of stone, and the manufacture is capable of such modifications as are requisite to produce all the varieties-" stones manufactured to order."

The artificial stone produced is less absorbent than natural stone, and is superior in compactness of texture, and will resist frost, damp, and the chemical acids. It is made of flints, and siliceous grit, sand, &c., rendered fluid by heat, and poured into moulds, as required, till cool and hardened. Its strength and solidity enable it to resist more blows than real stone.

Specimens of the invention have been forwarded to London, and their appearance is pronounced exceedingly curious. They consist of many varieties, some being plain pieces of coping-stones for variegated pavements for halls and rooms, stone ornaments, such as mouldings for friezes, finials, and some more elaborate, having flowers and devices appa rently cut with a chisel.

A NEW PROCESS FOR PRESERVING BREADSTUFFS.

Several notices of this invention have appeared in the eastern papers, all of them speaking highly of the invention. We have deferred any extended notice of it, until its merits should be to some extent tested. Mr. E. W. Andrews, of the Empire Mills, in this town, has had one of these machines in operation about one year, upon corn meal. About filteen hundred barrels of this meal, manufactured last spring, was shipped for Europe. It not only performed the voyage of the lakes, canals, and rivers of our own country, but, after remaining during some of the hottest months in store, it was sold in Liverpool for from 3s. to 39. 6d. sterling per barrel more than the current quotations of the market for corn meal. The enhanced price is understood to have been realized in consequence of the superiority of this process of expelling the moisture, over all others; meal prepared by this process being devoid of any other taste or smell than that which pertains to the natural meal. Heretofore it has been deemed necessary to destroy the germinating principles of grain, to enable it to withstand the vicissitudes of climate, and hence the parched, ill-flavored meal that is usually sent abroad. Being divested of much of its nutrition, it is rendered unfit for the use of man. Mr. Stafford's theory is, that without the presence of moisture, nothing in nature can change. Upon this theory is his machine made to operate. It is simplicity itself. A cylinder, armed with flanches on the exterior, is made to revolve in a trough-the inclination of the cylinder and trough moves the substance to be dried gradually to the opposite side from which it was received. The interior of the cylinder is heated by steam. By this simple process, Mr. Stafford is enabled to obtain all that is requisite for preserving grain, flour, meal, &c., for an indefinite time. The heat is uniform, the motion of the article drying is constant, and the ventilation perfect.

So far as we are able to judge of this invention, from the tests already made of its utility, we are inclined to regard it of very great importance, particularly to the graingrowing regions of the West. The amount saved to the government would be large if they would supply the ships of the navy with flour and meal sufficient for a long voyage, with a perfect assurance that they would remain good for any length of time. So of whale ships, &c. Mr. Stafford richly deserves not only the large pecuniary benefit which is already made sure to him, but also the gratitude of the world.

The Cleveland Herald says:-"Flour from Ohio, wheat dried by Mr. Stafford's process, loses 8 per cent of its weight." This fact has been recently tested in Elyria. When, therefore, dried flour is exported, the miller will save transportation upon 16 pounds of water to each barrel, the consumer paying at the same rate for 196 pounds of dried flour that he would for 212 pounds of undried. The consumer, then, has the certainty of purchasing and having flour always sweet and fresh, instead of running the risk of buying flour which is stale, musty, or sour.-Elyria (Ohio) Courier.

BAMFORD'S IMPROVED STOCKING FRAME.

Mr. W. Bamford, of Ipswich, Mass., has recently patented a valuable improvement in the Stocking Frame, consisting in the application and use of a conductor to each of the plain-stitch and rib-stitch needles, in such manner as to enable any one to carry on the process of knitting either plain or ribbed work, without the use of needles with beards or points, and a presser or pressers, such as are generally used in the common plain and ribbed, hand or power looms. His improvement is also applicable to what are denominated Warp Net Machines, whether automatic or noved by hand, and will perform onethird more work than any hand frame worked in the ordinary way with pressers. Mr. B. has expended a large amount in this invention, and performed the constant labor of nearly three years in bringing it to its present state of perfection.

The first application of the invention was in connection with a new Warp Frame and afterwards a common hand Plain Stocking Frame. The inventor then applied the "Rib,” and succeeded in making ribbed work with the same motions that made plain work. This improvement, with a little expense, can be appended to every kind of stocking and warp frame now in use and save the presser motion, which has always been the most difficult and destructive one to every kind of frame.

This machine is capable of making one-third more plain work, and double the quantity of ribbed over one stocking frame that works with pressers. Mr. B.'s ribbed machine can be built at two-thirds the expense of the old Derby rib machine, which in fact is en-, tirely superseded by this improvement, which saves two presser and one heel paddle motion to every bout or course, in which it must come into general use.

BRITISH SALES OF COPPER ORE.

The sales of copper ore in Cornwall during the last quarter have been 39,206 tons, realizing £175,609 16s. 6d., against 40,018 tons, which realized £187,770 14s. 6d. during the quarter ending June last.

At Swansea the sales of copper ore during the same period have been much greater than during the preceding three months. The quantity sold has been 15,143 tons, realizing £161,583 168., averaging £10 13s. 4d. per ton, against 9,895 tons and £84,454 79., average £10s. 8d. The great increase in the sales at Swansea during the period mentioned is attributed to the extended imports of foreign ores, principally from Australia and Cuba. The subjoined table of the respective quantities sold of each description, with the amount of purchase money, during the two last quarters, will doubtless be found interesting:

The produce of the mines in Ireland has been on a diminished scale during the last quarter. The return is

Against 3,540 tons and £19,304 1s. 6d. during the quarter ending June last.

EXPERIMENTS WITH GALVANIZED WIRE AND HEMP ROPES. An experiment was recently tried in Woolwich Dockyard, to ascertain the compara. tive strength of wire and hemp ropes. A wire rope, three inches round, and a hemp rope of three strands, hawser laid, common make, seven inches round, were spliced together and placed in the testing machine, and on the hydraulic power being applied, the hemp rope broke in the middle on the strain reaching 113 tons, the wire rope remaining apparently as strong as when the experiment commenced. A wire rope, 3 inches round, was then spliced with an eight inch hemp shroud rope, and on the power being applied, the hemp rope broke in the middle with a strain of 10 tons, the wire rope continuing apparently uninjured.

ELECTRIC DECOMPOSITIONS OF METALS.

The magnetic process of the late Mr. Woolrich, says the London Mechanics' Magazine, which was patented about five years ago, is, we believe, now universally allowed to be superior to every other. Mr. J. S. Woolrich, the son of the patentee, carries on an extensive business in plating for the trade at St. James-street, St. Paul's, Birmingham. The advantages of the magnecto plating are briefly these:-The metal deposited is perfectly smooth, and the adhesion between it and its base so firm as to be capable of standing a red heat without any injury. The silver may be deposited of any required degree of softness or hardness. And so also the quantity of silver put on the goods may be ascertained to the greatest nicety.

RASPBERRY VINEGAR OR SYRUP.

Put one quart of best white wine vinegar to two quarts of raspberries, not over ripe. Let them steep in the vinegar twenty-four hours; then strain them through a sieve, without pressing the fruit, and pour the liquor so strained on two quarts more of raspberries. In twenty-four hours more strain it off again, and to a pint of juice put one pound and a half of very fine loaf sugar. Put the above into a jar, and the jar into a pan of warm water, and let it stand till all the sugar is melted, taking off the scum as it rises; then take the jar from the warm water, and, when cold, bottle off for use. These directions are given from a correspondent of the Gardener's Chronicle.