LEAD ORE IN TENNESSEE.

The Rodgersville Times says:-We have on our table a couple of specimens of lead ore from a mine on the land of our friend A. M. C. Taylor, of Carter County. One of the specimens is a simple "blossom," found on the top of the ground, and is full of small particles of metal. The second come from two feet below the surface, and is, from appearance, almost as pure as the metal itself. We learn that many of the hunters of the region in which this ore is found use it as lead, obviating the necessity of purchasing the article. There are inexhaustible quantities of this ore imbedded in the hills and mountains of Carter, and its existence has been known for many years, though from the difficulty of getting to market, of course the mines have not to any extent been worked. A brighter prospect is now dawning. At no distant day the cars will be running upon the East Tennessee and Virginia Railroad, extending in a southern direction to all the markets and cities upon the southern seaboard, and in an eastern direction to Lynchburg, Richmond, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, and every other place of note or importance; and when this great thoroughfare does once get into successful operation, not only will the citizens of Carter, with their inexhaustible supplies of iron and lead, feel its exhilarating and life-giving effects, but the same influence will extend throughout upper East Tennessee, giving renewed life and energy to every branch of business of penning up a market for our marble and copper, coal and iron, and hydraulic lime, &c., and also for the products of our rich and fertile lands. We are pleased, in this connection, to learn that the work on this road is being pushed forward with as much energy and rapidity as the severity of the season will admit. Without some unforeseen accident, the whole line will be completed in from two to three years. The condition of the company is good. The affairs of the road are managed with ability and economy, and without an accident, as we have said, nothing will now retard its rapid progress to completion.

TURKISH COAL MINES.

Between the Bosphorus and Heraclea are boundless fields of coal, which crops out on the side of the hills, so that no mining would be required to get the coal; and besides this great facility in its production, the hills are of such an easy slope that a tram road would convey the coal wagons down to the ships on the seacoast without any difficulty. No nation but the Turks would delay to make use of such a source of enormous wealth as this coal would naturally supply, when it can be had with such remarkable ease so near to the great maritime city of Constantinople. It seems to be a peculiarity in human nature that those who are too stupid to undertake any useful work are frequently jealous of the interference of others who are more able and willing than themselves, as the old fable of the dog in the manger exemplifies. I understand that more than one English company have been desirous of opening these immense mines of wealth, on the condition of paying a large sum or a good percentage to the Turkish government; but they are jealous of a foreigner's undertaking that which they are incapable of carrying out themselves. So English steamers bring coal to Constantinople, which costs I don't know what by the time it arrives within a few miles of a spot which is as well furnished with the most useful if not the most ornamental of minerals as Newcastle-upon-Tyne itself. (Since the above was written, the coal field of Eragle has been opened, under the direction of English engineers, and the coals are sent to Constantinople.)—Hon. Robert Curzon's Armenia.

NEW PULP AND MACHINE FOR PAPER MAKING.

The Long Island Vindicator says that Mr. Samuel Nolan, late of Dublin, Ireland, now of New York, and his brother-in-law, Dr. Antisel, have invented and patented a paper making machine and pulp, that will materially reduce the price of paper. Dr. Antisel has invented a pulp which, in its raw state, will not cost more than one-sixth of a cent per lb., and by aid of the machine invented by Mr. Nolan, can be brought into market, made into a paper, at a cost of about four cents per lb.

If this is true, the value of the invention is evident. It is stated that the pulp is as white and clear as the most clearly bleached cotton, and is capable of the most delicate tint. The harshness and transparency of the straw paper is not to be found in it, while it is capable of the highest finish, maintaining all the pliancy and toughness of the pure linen rags.

MERCANTILE MISCELLANIES.

STEEL PENS-RISE OF LABOR IN ENGLAND-RATE OF IRSURANCE.

It will be seen by the subjoined letter from Mr. COMER, that the price of labor is advancing in England as well as in the United States. will also be noticed that our insurance companies are charging" one hundred and fifty per cent" more than the Liverpool underwriters. The inquiry of our correspondent "Why this is so?" we must refer to the Boston offices. Their answer we will most cheerfully publish in the pages of the Merchants' Magazine.

One word in regard to the pens referred to in this letter. Mr. COMER is a most accomplished penman, with a large experience in every detail of a thorough commercial education. He has spent much time in England, and these pens have been "got up" under his supervision and direction. The Editor of this Magazine is not a very accomplished penman, but he may be allowed to say that he has never used a steel pen which has afforded him so much satisfaction. It does not corrode as soon as many of the pens in use. The pens of Mr. COMER's importation are numbered from one to four, and adapted to the great variety of style practiced by our American book-keepers. We have used them for the last year or two, and we have no disposition to change, unless some mechanical genius will invent a pen or machine that will render it impossible for us to write otherwise than legibly and handsomely.

COMER'S COMMERCIAL COLLEGE, Į
BOSTON. August 7th, 1851.)

To FREEMAN HUNT, Editor of the Merchants' Magazine:

DEAR SIR-Herewith I forward you samples of an invoice of steel pens just received, manufactured at Birmingham to my own order and pattern. There are four numbers, adapted to different styles of writing; but as I am personally interested in the matter, I leave you to decide upon their quality. One fact in connection with this subject inay, I think, be interesting to you, and that is the extraordinary rise in the price of labor and materials of this nature in England. I have been in the habit of importing steel pens for some years past, and the prices have ranged remarkably uniform; while for this last invoice I am, in consequence of the rise alluded to, charged seventy-five per cent advance upon the invoice prices of last year; and this is not all, for upon receipt of invoice per Steamer Niagara via New York, announcing that the goods were to be forwarded by the screw-steamer Alps to this port, and not being advised of insurance having been effected in England, I had to pay the Boston Insurance Company of this city, one-and-one-quarter per cent, when the same goods, I afterwards found upon receipt of shipper's charges, had been insured in Liverpool for onehalf of one per cent, thus making the enormous difference of one hundred and fifty per cent in favor of having the goods insured on the other side of the Atlantic. Surely our insurance companies must be blind to their own interests in this matter. Can you inform me why this is so? I am, dear sir, with much esteem, Your obliged obedient servant,

GEORGE N. COMER.

A SHORT CHAPTER ON DRY GOODS.

We cut from one of our exchanges the following rather humorous, or sarcasticor both-remarks on the influence of dry goods. We are quite sure the readers of the Merchants' Magazine will not say they are ill-timed or inapposite to the pages of a work devoted to trade in all its varieties and bearings :—

Among all the glorious institutions of our happy land, there are few which, in our opinion, ought to take precedence in public esteem of the great but unpretending Dry Goods Institution." After the sterling Anglo-Saxon qualities which were our

national birthright, perhaps nothing has contributed more than dry goods to the greatness of the republic. It has been the dry nurse of our wealth-the fosterer of our early Commerce-a power that existed before the Constitution, and will probably survive it. Nay, for that matter, are not dry goods coeval with "original sin ?"-at once the emblem and the consequence of " man's first disobedience?" Has it not outlived many nations and races, and will it not be found flourishing in immortal youth, enterprise, and active competition when the crack of doom foretells the wreck of elements and crush of worlds?

But although dry goods is a world-wide fact, (except, perhaps, among some unmissionaried tropical heathen, whose ignorant sinlessness requires no covering at present,) it may be called an American fact par excellence, rising indeed to the importance of one of the regular institutions of the country. In no other land does it exercise that paramount influence, or is of such universal acceptation. Dry goods and the law engage the intellectual energies of the great majority of our citizens, apart from the mechanical and laboring classes. They have achieved higher results than any other profession or occupation.

We fancy we hear some envious fellow of another pursuit suggest "groceries!" in a dissentient whisper; but, while we are ready to acknowledge grocery importance and believe in grocery influences-profitable, saccharine, and otherwise-we cannot consent to place groceries on an equality with law and dry goods. Groceries may become wealthy, corpulent, and occasionally aldermanic-indeed, in some few cases it has gained the distinction of "eminent" from newspapers; but greatness is beyond its sphere. We never yet heard of a truly great groceryman, whereas, in the other two pre-eminent avocations, greatness is a matter of every-day occurrence!

Did the reader ever seriously reflect on the grand part performed by dry goods in modern society and civilization? Let him look around among his acquaintances, past and present-extend his view through the controlling political and financial circles of the time-and he will be astonished to discover how many of the most prominent characters have risen to their present rank by aid of dry goods. No matter though they failed in this supreme calling. Everybody fails; it is one of the conditions of success; and a failure in dry goods is equivalent to a triumph in business--which is life. Do we not see broken jobbers become wealthy bankers-bankrupt importers of muslins become eminent merchants-wholesale unfortunates in bobbin and sheeting afterwards command fortune in a thousand ways? Did not Barnum himself graduate in dry goods? How many of our authors and artists trained their youthful intellects in vigorous dry goods discipline-and how many of them ought never to have forsaken the bustling alma maters where they were taught the rudiments of double entry and the mysteries of mousselines! We might trace the influences of dry goods through all the ramifications of society; but it is needless, as they will be evident to every one who will think on the subject. This truth is established by the fact, that among all the benefits to be derived from dry goods, failure is not the least.

To look higher, may it not be truly said, that in this age of steam and manufacture, the welfare of dry goods is the chief object of the true statesman's solicitude--that the necessities of dry goods shapes the course of empire? Why is Britain extending her expensive conquests in the East, but to disseminate dry goods, and keep her myriad fabricators busy, lest the demon of discontent should find some mischief for their idle hands to do? What is our never-ending slavery question, with its annexations and agitations, but a question of dry goods at bottom-of commonest cotton goods? In short, look in whatever direction we may, we shall find dry goods mixed up more or less with every subject and principle--social, political, or religious; and the cry of the age ought to be, "Mammon is god, and dry goods is his prophet!"

HOW TO PRESERVE TIMBER FROM THE SHIP WORM.

The United States Naval Inspector at the Gosport Navy Yard, Virginia, states that after making various experiments to preserve timber, &c., from the attacks of the teredo or ship worm, he found that zinc paint was the best remedy, and that it also will keep copper or other metals, submerged in water, more free from barnacles, &c., than any other paint. Would it not be well for some of our railroad companies who have to build pile bridges over salt water, to kyanize their piles with a preparation of zinc before driving? If zinc paint will prevent the destruction of ships' bottoms by the teredo, the discovery is one of great importance to ship builders and merchants.-Nat. Intelligencer.

CHINESE MERCANTILE OPERATIONS.

The Chinese are looked upon by Americans and other people as decidedly inferior in many things relating to commercial matters, at least, so far as the civilized method of conducting them is concerned. As a nation, they are certainly behind the age in many important matters, but those who are brought in contact commercially with the Chinese merchants and traders, generally find them keenly alive to a bargain. True, in their own produce they may be expected to have very definite ideas of the worth of the article they may wish to purchase. An American dealer may have a correct estimate of the quality of flour, pork, &c., and know also about the current market rate; so also the Chinese in his own country's produce, both in regard to quality and relative price consequent upon the freight, charges and supply in the market. Some of the Chinese merchants of San Francisco have gone into operations in their own goods at different times, and realized handsome fortunes. It is a matter of common report that many of this class of people, residing both in the city of San Francisco and in the State of California, have heavy amounts of capital invested in business, and are quite extensive dealers and operators. The ship Potomac, which recently arrived at the port of San Francisco from Hong Kong, is a striking illustration of Chinese thrift. She was purchased in that port some time since for about $5,000, and cleared for Hong Kong, where she was subsequently re-sold for some $25,000. In the mean time an extra deck was added to the vessel, and the sum of 37,000 dollars obtained for a single voyage from Hong Kong to San Francisco and back. The Poto mac brought a large number of emigrants and a small cargo of rice and assorted Chinese goods. She will probably carry back a goodly number of this class of people, who have become satisfied with the result of their work. The ship Hamilton, which traded to the port of San Francisco some time ago, also belongs to native Chinese merchants. Since the commencement of the trade between. California and China, the latter people have imbibed some of our commercial ideas, and enter into maritime transactions with considerable alacrity. Since the late commencement of the emigration to this country and Australia, consequent upon the disturbed condition of their native land, the Chinese merchants charter and freight vessels with the same spirit as the foreign mercantile houses at Hong Kong.

BUSINESS FACILITIES OF BOSTON.

A correspondent of the Atlas calls attention to the following facts in connection with the dry goods trade of Boston. He says:

Our domestic manufacturers generally pay but one per cent commission for selling their goods in Boston, while in New York or Philadelphia no domestic goods are sold for less than from five to seven and a half per cent commission and guaranty. Of course this difference must be paid by the purchaser there; comment is unneces sary. Another advantage in trading here is, that the trade already established consists of the best kind of customers. I know of one large establishment, (and doubtless the same fact will apply to others,) whose losses by bad debts during the last five years have not amounted to one fourth of one per cent. The paying customer does not, therefore, have to make up for the shortcomings of others. Still another consideration of great moment is, that when certain favorite styles of goods are scarce in the market, which is net by any means a rare occurrence, they are much more likely to be found in Boston, where they originate, than abroad.

1 WORD TO MERCHANTS TOUCHING THEIR CLERKS.

A number of the clerks along Delaware Avenue and Market street, Philadelphia, have petitioned their employers to be allowed to cease their labors at an earlier hour in the afternoon, thus giving them more time for recreation. There is a limit to toil set by God. He who has given bounds to the ocean-who has placed the duration of light and darkness under a rule-who has put all things under law-whose universe is an embodiment of order-has made it impossible to continue toil beyond a certain limit, without detriment. And if that limit be passed, injury succeeds. The man made rich by the long-hour system may be a murderer of men; the destroyer of morals and happiness; the adversary of souls, and may hold riches as Judas held the thirty pieces of silver-his gains may be the price of blood!

THE SULPHUR TRADE OF NAPLES.

An English cotemporary published a paragraph intimating that the King of Naples had prohibited the export of sulphur. From a letter published in the Belfast Commercial Journal, dated Newcastle-upon-Tyne, we make the following extract:—

As the Tyne is largely interested in this trade, sulphur forming an important ingredient in the raw material and in the immense chemical works on its banks, the committee of the Newcastle, Shields, and Gateshead Chamber of Commerce communicated with the Foreign Office, pointing out the injurious results to our trade that would arise from this prohibition. The chairman of the Chamber of Commerce has received a reply from Lord Clarendon which states-" that on an attentive examination of the terms of that declaration, and of the language employed by the Neapolitan Minister to her Majesty's Charge d'Affaires and Consul on the subject, the prohibition to export sulphur appears to be solely applicable to Neapolitan vessels, and accordingly her Majesty's government have not felt themselves called upon to make any remonstrances against the decision of the Neapolitan government, not to allow Neapolitan vessels to be employed in the export of sulphur to the ports of the belligerent Powers, except in a particular instance in which an intimation that vessels chartered previously to the promulgation of the declaration should not be interfered with appears to have been disregarded. With the view, however, of preventing any future misunderstanding as to the meaning of the declaration, her Majesty's Charge d'Affaires at Naples has been instructed to mention to the Neapolitan Minister that, relying upon the terms of that document, and upon the explanations given by him to her Majesty's diplomatic and consular agents, her Majesty's government consider that the apprehensions felt in regard to British vessels being probibited from exporting sulphur to this country rest upon no solid foundation. Her Majesty's Charge d'Affaires will also point out to the Neapolitan Minister that sulphur is an article which should be looked upon as contraband of war according to circumstances, and according to the use for which it may fairly be presumed to be destined, and to the character of the port to which it is to be conveyed; and that when exported in its native or unmanufactured state, it may be presumed to be destined for peaceable and not for warlike purposes, especially when sent to mercantile ports.”

CONSUMPTION OF SUGAR IN THE UNITED STATES.

In 1853, there were consumed in the United States, about 705,000,000 pounds of cane sugar, and 27,000,000 pounds of maple sugar. This gives more than 24 of cane sugar and 1 pound of maple sugar to every man, woman and child. If this were put into barrels holding 200 lbs., and each barrel occupied the space of 3 square feet only, it would require 336 acres of land for it to stand upon. The barrels, if placed in a row, would reach 280 miles. If this sugar were put up in paper packages of 5 lbs. each, it would require 145,400,000 sheets of wrapping paper; and if only a yard of string was used to each package, there would be required 439,250,000 feet, or 83,000 miles of string--more than three times enough to go round the earth. If every retail clerk sold 100 pounds of sugar each day, it would require nearly 25,000 clerks to sell it in a year. If the dealers, wholesale and retail together, made a profit of only two cents a pound on this sugar, these profits alone would amount to nearly $15,000,000.

THE GUM ARABIC OF COMMERCE.

In Morocco, about the middle of November, that is, after a rainy season, which be gins in July, a gummy juice exudes spontaneously from the trunk and principal branches of the acacia-tree. In about fifteen days it thickens in the furrow, down which it runs either in vermicular (or worm) shape, or commonly assuming the form of oval and round tears, about the size of a pigeon's egg, of different colors, as they belong to the white or red gum tree. Aboat the middle of December the Moors encamp on the border of the forest, and the harvest lasts six weeks. The gum is packed in very large sacks of leather, and brought on the backs of bullocks and camels to certain ports, where it is sold to French and English merchants. It is highly nu tritious. During the whole time of harvest, of the journey, and of the fair, the Moors of the desert live almost entirely upon it, and experience proves that six ounces of gum are sufficient for the support of a man twenty four hours.