level, twenty-fathom level, thirty-fathom level, etc." From the foot of the bluff also, work is generally commenced, and an opening is "driven" horizontally into the rock, connecting with one of the first levels. This is styled an “adit,” used for purposes of drainage and ventilation, and often as a means of entrance and egress. The shafts, levels and adits constitute the mere skeleton of a mine, and this preliminary work, which requires months of labor and immense outlay, is called "opening the mine," and not until it is completed can the production of mineral in any considerable quantities be attempted. The shafts are provided with a series of narrow ladders, each from 30 to 40 feet in length, which are securely partitioned off and firmly fastened, and by which the miners ascend and descend. The shafts are also provided with massive hoisting apparatus, a large bucket being used in case the descent is perpendicular, but a tramway and a car known as a "skip," if it is inclined. Tramways are all placed in the levels to transport the rock to the shafts, and provided with small cars. A large pump is carried to the lowest depth of the mine and kept continually in motion, and in occasional cases artificial ventilation is furnished in remote portions by means of air tubes, connected with a farning machine on the surface.

When the mine has been thus opened and the necessary machinery provided, parties of miners commence to "stope," that is, to remove by blasting the rock which either surrounds or contains the mineral. "Stoping" is therefore the main business of the mine, to the wants of which all the other operations are subservient. "Stoping" parties, with one of the levels or shafts as their base, take out all the "vein matter," as the copper-bearing rock is termed, leaving here and there natural pillars to sustain the ponderous roof, whose weight no timbers, however massive, could support. The copper is often found in enor. mous masses, and then it is handled with great difficulty. It cannot be drilled, and it is too tenacious to be blasted. The rock is therefore removed from its surface as much as possible, and holes are drilled below it. Immense sand blasts, consisting of many kegs of powder, are placed underneath, and by several of these it is torn from its stony fastenings. In the Minnesota Mine, a mass of copper was found which weighed 450 tons, and in one of the sand blasts, which were placed under it, 33 kegs of powder were used. At the same mine, a mass of copper of about five tons, found some 18 feet beneath the surface, was thrown by one of these large blasts through the over-laying earth high in the air, and fell many feet off in a deep ravine. When these masses are too heavy for handling, or too large for transportation through the narrow levels, they are cut up with cold chisels, a tedious but the only efficacious process. The copper is also obtained in small pieces of a few pounds, and this is called " barrel work." Mass and barrel copper are generally freed from all the rock possible with the pick and hammer, and thus shipped for smelting. The third variety of the mineral is found in small grains scattered through the rock, and this is crushed in the stamp mills, freed from the rock by washing, and shipped under the name of "stamp work." Considerable native silver is found mixed with the copper, but most of this is abstracted by the miners, and never reaches the company. The Cliff Mine, however, obtained $1,800 worth of silver from their stamp work last year. Openings, similar to the shaft, are frequently made for various purposes from one level to another, or from a level to the surface; these

are called "winzes." Often, also, a species of "level" is started at right angles with the general openings of the mines, i. e. running across instead of with the formation of the copper-bearing rocks; this is termed " cross-cutting," and is generally used for "prospecting," or determining the character and value of the adjacent strata.

This account would not be complete without some brief allusion to the enor mous amount of surface improvement, which is as necessary to the successful prosecution of mining operations as the underground labor. The ground has to be cleared, and houses erected for the accommodation of the officers and employees of the company. Miles of road are made to connect the mine with the nearest port, both to secure supplies and also a market for the copper. Ponderous and expensive machinery must be imported, and stamp-mills machineshops, forges, kilns, sheds, barns and offices constructed. A large dam must be built to secure a constant supply of water to wash the stamp rock. An enormous quantity of fuel must be supplied. Few people realize the tremendous consumption of wood resulted from this cause. The demands of a large mine

will clear more than 200 acres of woodland in a twelvemonth. Of course many teams and laborers are required in this department of the business alone. Stores, capable of filling the wants of the new settlement, must also be started and maintained, and all the chief mines possess their own school house and church. All this must be created from nothing, and in the midst of a barren wilderness. It is only when these things are seen, that the beholder commences to realize the enormous capital required for mining operations. The prevalent ideas on the subject are ridiculously absurd, and only those who have personal knowledge can form just conceptions concerning the matter. Every mine necessitates a village upon the surface, as well as vast underground avenues, and when it is stated that there are nearly one hundred mines on the Lake, the mind begins to comprehend the immensity of the copper interest of this section.

WEALTH OF VIRGINIA.

THE State geologist, Dr. Grant, has recently returned from a tour of this State, and is more than ever impressed with the vastness and variety of the material resources of Virginia. He appears to be surprised into an unusual degree of admiration at the wonders he has witnessed. Although Virginians have long heard vague accounts of the vast wealth in mines and minerals concealed in the bowels of the earth, and are prepared to expect gratifying disclosures, they will scarcely be prepared for the wonderful results exhibited in Dr. Grant's recent explorations. Virginia energy has been chiefly directed to agriculture. Few of our citizens have sought to explore the hidden wealth and wonders of her soil. But little has been known in regard to these, and that little has been revealed more by accident or casual and superficial examination than by continued and well-directed scientific exploration. Dr. Grant's professional ardor and personal energy are in keeping with his high attainments. The State will be much indebted to him for making her vast resources known to herself and to the world.

Dr. Grant travelled about twenty-five hundred miles over the State, visiting

nearly every county, and carefully examining and exploring each. He says that Virginia possesses every metal and mineral that all the other States possess, and any specific one in as great abundance and of equal quality with an other single State.

Of the metals examined by him may be enumerated gold, silver, iron, lead, tin, zinc, platinum, molybdenum, tellurium, cobal, nickel, bismuth, antimony, arsenic, plumbago, etc.

Of the minerals, coal, marble, kaolin (porcelain clay), potter's clay, fire clay, fuller's earth, hydraulic cement, asbestos, soapstone, slate, red and yellow ochre, mineral paints, manganese, gypsum, salt, marl, white sand, numerous mineral springs, etc.

Dr. GRANT has visited over one hundred gold mines, forty silver mines, twentyfive consecutive mines of copper, lead and zinc, three tin mines, one platinum, two of molydenum, one of tellurium, one of cobalt, one of nickel, one of bismuth, one of antimony, four of arsenic, and twenty of plumbago.

There are about two hundred square miles of coal lands in the Shenandoah Valley, one hundred square miles in Chesterfield County, twenty square miles in the Farmville fields, and two hundred and fifty square miles in Botetourt, Montgom ery, and other counties of Southwestern Virginia.

Of the valuable ores he says: The gold ores of Virginia are more brittle, more easily crushed, and by analysis equally valuable with those of Colorado, and cover fully as great an area.

Silver is found both in simple ore, in argentiferous galena, and with native copper.

There are lead mines in Southwestern Virginia as rich as any in America. They supplied the whole South during the war, and show no signs of exhaustion. The ores are compact blue sulphuret, and are frequently found in solid veins six feet wide.

The coppers are carbonate and sulphuret. Masses of native copper have been found in this State of great size. The mines extend through at least eight counties.

The iron ores are red and brown hematite, ferruginous ochre, specular, magnetic, spathic, black band, sulphuret.

The coals found are adapted to the furnace.

COMMERCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL STATISTICS.

CROPS, LIVE STOCK AND FARMS-ANNUAL REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULture.

The annual report of the Commissioner of Agriculture shows that, with the exception of wheat, the yield of the crops during the past year has been very large. The following tables exhibit the result:

The above tables do not show the exact comparative differences between the years 1863 and 1864, because the latter year embraces the crops of Kentucky, which are not in the year of 1863 Deducting from 1864, the comparison will be as follows:

TABLE OF COMPARISON BETWEEN 1863 AND 1864.

1864.

24,289,609

29,335,225

5,095,616

247,680,855

365,707,074

118,026,219

$955,764,322 $1.504,543,690

$548,779,368

Value of crops......

1863. 888,546,554

959,821,150

22,849,322

.$955,764,322 $1,440,415,435 $484,655,113

The table of comparison between 1863 and 1864 exhibits much that is impor. tant. The increase in the bushels of grain is large and the decrease in the pounds of tobacco raised is also great. The decrease in acres cultivated is 1,185,451, but the increase in the value of the above crops is $484,651,113.

The first increase is from the corn crop, and the last may be attributed to an increase in the currency, or a spirit of speculation.

GENERAL SUMMARY OF THE AMOUNT OF THE OROPS OF 1865, COMPARED WITH THOSE or 1864 AND 1863.

In the Western States the Wheat crop is very deficient in quality. It has been estimated by the department that the deficiency in both quantity and quality is 26.241,698 bushels; in quantity alone, 12,172,944 bushels. The quality of the corn crop is excellent, and that of the remaining crops is believed to be an average. The number of bushels in 1865 exceeds those of 1864 by 215;710,411

LIVE STOCK.

The following table shows the total number of live stock for January, 1864 and 1865, the increase and decrease thereof, the general average price of each kind, the value of each kind, and the total value of all;

NUMBER, AVERAGE PRICE, AND TOTAL VALUE IN JANUARY, 1865.

The Commissioner gives the following account of the farms in the Southern States:

The average size of farms in the United States, in 1860, was 199 acres; almos double the average for Great Britain, which, in 1851, was 102 acres only, notwithstanding the great size of many baronial and aristocratic "holdings "-there being no les than 170,814 farms in the kingdom, or considerably more than one-half of the entire number, having less than 50 acres each. But the average in the Southern States is for greater than the general average for the United States, as the following table will show.