STATISTICAL ACCOUNT OF TANNERIES in the United STATES, AS COMPILED FROM THE RETURNS OF THE CENSUS OF 1850. Hides. Skins. raw material. Male. Female. Male. Female. Skins, Sides of leather. 316,334 81,350 $892,343 787 3 17,229 28 81,350 632,668 $1,620,636 New Hampshire 163 441,975 166,579 109,595 543,779 502 11,737 ... 109,595 333,158 900,421 Vermont.... 152 ....... 346,250 125,052 44,330 357,946 397 Massachusetts ...... 246 1,377,725 750,220 293,000 2,311,178 1,510 32 Rhode Island. 10 42,900 10,571 14,861 40,615 38 829 ... 14,861 21,142 75,010 360,500 122,455 67,110 453,854 407 10,027 67,110 244,910 731,000 942 5,025,143 1,707,862 871,894 6,065,221 4,914 31 103,171 293 871,891 3,415,724 9,804,000 133 572,857 101,485 120,731 423,537 405 8,946 120,731 202,970 724,466 1,039 8,540,318 926,450 293,798 3,169,109 2,978 2 54,784 17 293,798 1,852,960 5,275,492 16 99,350 26,050 12,950 99,620 108 2,533 12,950 52,100 163,742 Maryland 116 628,900 169.585 68,810 725,612 479 8,034 68,810 339,170 1,103,139 Virginia.. 341 676,983 189,200 74,573 498,926 900 6 13,643 62 74,573 878,400 894,877 North Carolina... 151 251,055 77,805 24,035 191,237 872 1 5,291 4 24,035 155,610 352,535 South Carolina 91 184,335 55,000 13,830 131,679 264 3,667 ... 13,830 110,000 261,332 Georgia.. 140 262,855 81,484 21,705 185,604 402 7,107 21,705 162,968 861,586 Florida 4 9,400 2,100 1,200 4,300 12 189 1,200 4,200 9,200 Alabama. 149 200,570 79,033 13,922 158,247 457 Mississippi.. 92 145,615 52,315 9,730 111,474 266 Louisiana Texas 22 33,850 9,350 1,750 18,624 63 Arkansas 51 42,100 16,450 3,851 85,230 110 1,814 3,851 82,900 78,774 Tennessee 394 490,320 166,944 43,429 896,159 915 6 14,338 32 43,429 333,888 746,484 Kentucky 275 763,455 196,200 69,380 537,147 877 2 14,417 9 69,380 392,400 985,267 Ohio... 706 1,340,389 844,280 228,493 1,118,080 1,826 35,830 ... 228,493 688,560 1,964,591 Michigan. 60 368,980 Indiana. 858 514,897 141,549 57,070 405,838 836 2 15,199 14 57,070 283,098 714,813 Illinois 96 244,028 Missouri.. 148 228,095 120,667 44,493 247,956 412 8,306 41 44,493 241,334 466,241 Iowa.... 14 Wisconsin. 78,950 29,800 14,900 93,380 75 .. 1,710 14,900 59,600 175,710 New Mexico. 1 500 District of Columbia. 2 25,000 Total. 6,263 18,900,557 60 240 940 4,200 2,658,865 19,613,237 20,909 25,600 10 MANUFACTURE OF LADIES' MUFFS IN LONDON. There are many processes in manufacturing industry which, were they known to the wearers or users of the manufactured article, would create a disgust to it; but perhaps none are so degrading as the process of "tubbing" the skins for ladies' muffs, boas, &c. The workmen are ranged in tubs along the sides of an apartment, or shed, or any kind of out-house, in a yard or some secluded place in London. Every tubber, with the exception of those who may be unwell and who may then wear a loose sort of jacket, which, however, tells against the efficiency and rapidity of his work-is altogether naked! The tub in which the man works reaches up to the waist, and a thick yellowish cloth is thrown over its top, which the workman keeps every now and then gathering about him, and which he can draw around like a bag, so that, while at his labor, the upper part of his person alone is visible. To a stranger, the effect of a visit to such a workshop-to which it is not easy to gain admission-is startling. Pale, brown, and often hirsute men move up and down in their tubs, stamping and alternating their feet with little cessation; sometimes in silence, and in many cases with little or no expression in their faces. Each of these men is " tubbing," that is, he is treading or stamping, first on one foot and then on the other, on the skins which are the complement of his tub. These skins are for the supply of the furriers who employ the master skin-dressers. There is no water or other fluid used in tubbing, but the fleshy part of the skins are all buttered, and with the cheapest butter or scrapings, and in some places rancid butter, when such things are purchasable in sufficient quantity. Sawdust is used, which gives the tubber a firmer tread, and tends to aid, by its friction, in scouring the skins. Upon these tubbed skins, so prepared, the men tread, and the perspiration which sometimes pours from them is considered better and readier for the cure of the skins than any butter or other fatty compound, which are looked upon as merely auxiliary to what oozes from the workman's body. And in this way men's sweat is forced for hours together into the skinny parts of the furs which are to be ladies' muffs, boas, and tippets! The majority of the workmen aro Irish. The wages are very scanty. ITEMS OF GOLD MINING IN CALIFORNIA. The Placer Herald of September 20th, 1852, says the Sub-Marine Company, numbering 13 men, at work on the Middle Fork of the American River, were averaging over $3,000 per day on last accounts, and have reached as high as $4,000 in one day. The Macatee Company numbers three men; and is averaging $3,000 per week. The company at work at Sandy Bar, according to the Caleveras Chronicle, are among the most fortunate on the river. The company is composed of Frenchmen and numbers about ten persons. On Tuesday, September 23d, 1852, they dug out the surprising amount of one hundred and twenty-one pounds of gold! This claims pays richly throughout, averaging $3,000 daily, which, with the produce of these pockets, frequently met with, makes it by far the most desirable on the river. The Gold Hill Quartz Mining Company, as we learn from the Placer Times and Transcript, have two mills-one having a steam-engine of 25 horse power, driving 18 stampers, capable of crushing 30 tons of quartz per day; and the other of 65 horse power, driving 10 stampers, and a saw mill that will cut 8,000 feet of lumber per day. The quartz yields from $45 to $50 per ton. The capital of the company is one million of dollars. PROGRESS OF BRITISH COTTON MANUFACTORIES. The prosperity which has attended the cotton manufactures during the last three or four years has, very naturally, given an impulse to their extension. Mr. Leonard Horner, the inspector of factories, states, in his report of November last, that up to that time 81 new factories had been built or set to work in the course of the year, (that is, up to October 31st, 1851,) in the district of which Manchester is the capital. These establishments employed steam-power equal to 2,240 horses; besides which there had been an enlargement of mills within the same period to the extent of 1,477 horse power. The total increase of steam power within that single year was, therefore, equal to 3,717 horse-power, and calculated to give employment to about 14,000 additional work people. That the profits of factories continued, on the average of years, to be abundantly remunerative," Mr. Horuer thought, these facts of the investment of fresh capital in them abundantly proved." Since then, capital has become still more abundant, whilst the means of otherwise profitably investing it have probably somewhat decreased, and that the building of factories is on the increase will not be a matter of surprise. PRODUCTION OF INDIGO IN SOUTH CAROLINA. The Camden (S. C.) Journal says:-Indigo and silk, previous to the Revolution, were two of the principal productions of the South; these, together with skins, quercitron bark, and various roots, formed the chief articles of export. The introduction of cotton in a few years caused these articles to be laid aside. The only place that we know of where indigo has continued to be cultivated up to the present time, is in the district of Orangeburg, S. C. Several thousand pounds are annually made in this district, and carried to Augusta, Columbia, and Charleston. There are two kinds of indigo-the tame and the wild. The former requires to be sown annnally, the latter once in five or six years; the wild is the most valuable. The season for manufacturing commences in June-the weed is cut several times in the course of the summer, but only in the early part of the day, while the dew is on. The weed is put in a vat, and water poured on it; here it remains until the coloring matter is extracted; the fluid is then drawn off into another vat, and water, strongly impregnated with lime, is mixed with it; the whole being well and frequently stirred or beat up. When properly mixed, and an appearance of graining, it is left to settle. The water being run off, the sediment is taken out and put on frame to drain, and before it becomes hard it is cut into small pieces and placed on boards to dry; when perfectly dried it is broken into small fragments and put into boxes or barrels, when it is ready for market The weed, after the coloring matter is taken from it, is a good manure, for which purpose it is used. RAILROAD, CANAL, AND STEAMBOAT STATISTICS. FLORENCE AND KEYPORT PLANK ROAD. At a meeting of the stockholders of this company, at Keyport, on the 9th of November, an extensive report of its condition and prospects was made by the president. We have extracted such particulars from it as may be of interest to the readers of the Merchants' Magazine : The Florence and Keyport Company has its origin in the fact that New York is the great commercial emporium of America, and requires facilities for ready access from every section of the country. The free competition of steamboats and railroads to the North and East, has reduced the rate of travel and competition in these directions to the lowest paying price, with a corresponding increase in the amount of travel and intercourse. Similar facilities to the South have thus far been prohibited by the laws of New Jersey, which has maintained the travel across the State at more than five times the cost on any of the other roads leading to New York. The exorbitant charge on this most important of all avenues is to the mass of the people a positive prohibition, and totally excludes and shuts out nine-tenths of the business and travel that would flow into New York from that quarter, at a price corresponding with every other channel. The fare between New York and Albany is now less than one-tenth of what it was before the introduction of railroads, and the intercourse more than ten times what it then was, while the travel between New York and Philadelphia is but little increased, because the price is now higher than it was when railroads were unknown-a fact without a parallel. A reduction of the fare on this most important of all routes to the same rate as prevails in every other, will be attended with a corresponding increase in the amount of travel and business, contributing to the wealth and prosperity of the metropolis. The time has come for the opening of this route; the trade and business of New York require it, and the millions of people who are now denied all access to the chief city of the Union, will no longer be restrained. The only route for all this additional business is by steamboat through the Narrows in as straight a line as practicable, to a point on the Jersey shore, and thence by railroad in such direction as public necessity may demand. To accommodate this trade will require more than hourly intercourse with New York, and give to the point where these roads terminate, and where this constant intercourse is maintained, a value and importance not exceeded by any location contiguous to New York. An examination of the map of New Jersey and the Coast Survey will show, what practical inquiry has confirmed, that there is but one point on the Raritan Bay capable of adaptation to the purposes as a harbor for a large class of vessels. This point, contiguous to Key port, has been purchased by the Florence and Keyport Company, and is now undergoing the improvements necessary to test its availability. A Dock and Basin are in course of construction, sufficient to accommodate and furnish a safe harbor for the largest class of stean boats; and good roads are being opened, making it accessible to the surrounding country in every direction, as the depot and thoroughfare for all the business and travel from New York to the South. The property of the Company, embracing nearly 3 miles of the shore, consists of about 1.000 acres, part of which has been laid out as a town by the opening and grading of streets, and preparing it for a demand for improvement, beyond the most sanguine expectations of the Company. A similar location on the Delaware has been purchased, but has not yet been conveyed to the Company. Of the capital scock, consisting of 20,000 shares, 10,000 shares have been issued in payment for the property at Keyport. The remainder is applicable to the property on the Delaware, when conveyed. The entire property is divided into 20,000 lots of 25 by 100 feet each. It is subject to no debt, nor has the company power to contract any. Its sole business is to sell and convey lots, at a price fixed by the charter, to wit: one share of stock and $100 in cash for each lot. The stock received in payment for lots will be cancelled. Thus the Company will at all times hold one lot for every share of its outstanding stock, while the whole cash receipt will be applicable to a dividend among the remaining stockholders. The sale of lots at Keyport, now about to be made, is done in consequence of numerous applications for those lying immediately contiguous to the improvements in progress, at the price fixed by the company. It is believed they will command much above that rate. The excess in value properly belongs to the stockholders in com.non, and not to those who may chance to be the first applicants for the lots. Of the value of the stock, $100 has been assigued as its nominal par rate, on the ground that $200 was the minimum cash price for a town lot in any location suitable for improvement, and as being very far below the usual selling price in towns inferior to Keyport, and possessing none of its prospective advantages, which, it is believed, give to each of these lots, and the share of stock which represents it, a value above the low price of $100. The rate of dividend to accrue to the stockholders, it will readily be perceived is a question entirely of time. Should the growth of these towns be as rapid as the sudden introduction of an entire new business of the magnitude of that which must eventually occupy this channel appears to indicate, the sales of lots at this price must be large, and the dividends proportionately great, while in the entire absence of debt or of any expenditure, the whole receipt is applicable to that object, and with even a slow growth can never fail of a semi-annual dividend. For the half year ending January next, it is estimated that the sales of lots will not fall far short of 400. Should this calculation be realized, the cash receipts at the rate fixed by the Company, one hundred dollars per lot, will amount to forty thousand dollars, or a dividend of $4 per share on the 9,600 shares which will then be outstanding. COMPARATIVE TABLE SHOWING THE COST AND EXPENSES OF SEVEN RAILROADS OF MASSACHUSETTS FOR THE YEARS 1850 AND 1851. COMPILED EXPRESSLY FOR THE MERCHANTS' MAGAZINE BY GEORGE A. HAMILTON, ESQ. 4,021,606 59 4,090,452 48 31,418 80 31,708 98 3,688 56 3,933 48 2,375 76 2,582 98 12,173 14,203 These items are combined under one hond, therefore no division can be made. ↑ Ditto. |