HAMILTON'S SHIP TIMBER SAW MILL.

Hamilton's ship timber saw mill was invented some years since, and after material improvements, was perfected and introduced three or four years ago, into the gov ernment dockyards at Toulon, and into several of the private yards in Great Britain. In one of the latter no less than four mills have been in constant and successful operation upwards of two years, and each mill, as stated by the ship builders who use them, making a saving over manual labor of nearly $5,000 per annum.

The advantages gained by the use of these saw-mills are four-fold; viz., saving of time, of material, of labor, and the ability to produce more perfect work than can possibly be effected by hand labor; it being a well established fact, that a greater mathematical precision can be attained by machinery, properly adjusted, than by relying upon the eye, the hand, and the judgment.

In this machine, all the varied curves which may be required in a ship's frame are sawed with perfect accuracy, requiring no after labor in trimming; every possible bevel, however varying, being made in the same timber, with the utmost mathematical nicety. And there is no reason why these machines should not be established in all our great ship-timber regions, and the various timbers sawed and adjusted to their places, on the soil upon which it grew, as that our Merchants' Exchange should have been actually constructed in the granite quarries of Massachusetts.

Not only has the price of labor been very greatly enhanced, but the price of nearly every article used in the construction of vessels has been much increased within the past two years. Any improvement, therefore, which will lessen either the cost of labor or material, ought to receive the earnest attention of our builders and ship owners. It can be shown at any time that a single machine of Hamilton's will prepare as much timber for immediate setting up, in a given time, as can be wrought out by the hands of fifteen of our most skillful artisans in the same period. We have seen a log, (in toughness almost equal to lignumvita,) of eleven feet in length, sawed and beveled on both sides, in the incredibly short space of twelve minutes.

This invention has already been thoroughly tested by the principal constructors in the United States Navy, by large numbers of our leading ship builders, and by many of our most considerate and practical merchants. And in these days of progress, it is safe to predict that these invaluable mills, will, ere long, be set up in every ship yard on the Atlantic coast, on the Lakes, and upon our great rivers.

That distinguished man, and truly great naval constructor, the late Foster Rhodes, expressed the following opinion, which, embodying as it does, the sentiments of all the practical men who have seen the operations of the machine, we quote: "It completely supplies those two great wants so long sought in naval architecture; the production of any required curves in timber, by the rapid process of mill sawing, and the following with the saw any natural curve in the fibres, without impairing the strength of the timber by grain-cutting."

MANUFACTURE OF PAPER FROM STRAW AND BAGGING.

We learn from Newton's London Journal (English) that George Stiff, of London, has taken out a patent for manufacturing paper from straw and bagging. The following is a brief description of the process :

In carrying out his invention, the patentee makes use of straw, or grass, “gunney bagging," and "hemp bagging," preferring, however, the employment of straw. When straw, grass, or vegetable fiber of any similar kind is employed, the first process made use of is to cut the straw or fiber into lengths of about half an inch, which may be done in a chaff cutting machine, or any similar apparatus heretofore employed for the purpose; after which, the straw or fiber is winnowed, by any suitable contrivance, in order to separate the knots and other portions of the fibre which could not be readily reduced to the consistency of pulp. The straw or fiber thus treated, or the gunney bagging, or hemp bagging, after having been suitably prepared, is placed in a boiler or vessel, together with a sufficient quantity of clear water to cover the fiber or other material, and boiled for the space of one or two hours. This boiler or vessel is furnished with partition or diaphram, finely perforated, or composed of gauze or similar material, through which the water may be drained off from the fiber or other material, and carried away through a discharge-pipe, which is brought into connection with the lower surface of the boiler or vessel. After this process, the fiber or other material is to be immersed in lime-water, in the proportion of about 1 cwt. of lime-water to every hun

dred weight of material, and to remain so immersed for the space of about 24 hours, the mixture being occasionally stirred. After the expiration of this time the lime water is to be drained off and a fresh solution poured on, which is again drained off as before. When this operation has been continued during about three days, the fiber or other material is to be placed in water, to which alkali has been added in the proportion of 10 lbs. of alkali to every 1 cwt. of water, and boiled for the space of two or three hours; the alkaline solution is then drained off in the manner before described. After the fiber of the material has been thus treated, it is washed and bleached in the same manner as when bleaching rags; that is to say, by running it into tanks or vessels, with a quantity of chlorine or bleaching powder sufficient to bleach it to that degree of whiteness which is required for the quality of paper to be made. After being thus bleached, the straw or other fiber or material may be washed and beaten, and reduced to pulp or half-stuff, in the usual manner; and the pulp or half-stuff may be converted into such paper as shall be required by the process heretofore in use.

The patentee claims the substitution of lime water for other alkaline solutions heretofore employed in the maceration of straw, grass, or other vegetable fiber, or gunney bagging, or hemp bagging, used to form the pulp or half-stuff in the manufacture of such descriptions of paper as are produced from the aforesaid materials.

THE GLASS TRADE AND MANUFACTURE.

At Sunderland, England, Mr. James Hartley, the extensive glass manufacturer, recently, in a lecture on the art and manufacture of glass, stated the following interesting facts in reference to that business:

Previous to the repeal of the glass duty in 1845, there were 14 companies engaged in the manufacture of crown and sheet glass; they were increased during 1846 and 1847 to 24, and now are reduced to 10. In 1844, the last year of the duty, there was made by the 14 companies 6,700 tons of crown and sheet glass, paying £500,000 duty; there are now 10 companies, working 40 furnaces, with 284 pots, making 35,500,000 feet annually, equal to 15,000 tons, value £225,000, being an increase of considerably more than cent per cent, and at a charge to the public of less than one-half of the former duty. In polished plate there are six companies, being the same as existed in 1837, and, consequently, their number has remained stationary since the repeal of the duty, but their production is estimated to have doubled. They now make 3,000,000 feet polished plate annually, equal to 5,500 tons, valued at £450,000. Of Hartley's patent rough plate, which has only been fairly in the market about two years, the quantity now manufactured annually is 2,240,000 feet of 2 lbs. to the foot, valued at £30,000. The produce of the little kingdom of Belgium, the greatest glass producing country in the world, is 50,000,000 feet of sheet glass annually, equal to 22,300 tons, or 25 per cent more than is made in England of both crown and sheet glass. They export of this quantity 85 per cent, of which 6 per cent comes to England, and they retain 15 per cent for home consumption; England retains 85 per cent of its produce for home consumption, and exports 15 per cent, being about double what she imports. In Hartley & Co.'s glass tariff there are 7,329 figures; also 17 descriptions of glass with 51 thicknesses.

MANUFACTURE OF AMERICAN STEEL.

Mr. Thaddeus Selleck, (as we learn from the Tribune,) well known as an ingenious iron-master, informs us that he has just succeeded in making cast steel of the finest quality from the ore of the Franklinite Iron Company, Franklin Town, Sussex Co., New Jersey. Said ore was deoxydized at Sidney Forge, in Sussex Co., and then melted at the Adirondack Steel Works, Jersey City, and the product of this melting is pronounced by the best judges equal to any cast-steel in market. We are not aware that any steel, no matter of what quality, was ever made so easily and cheaply before. We trust that this is the beginning of the emancipation of this country from her long dependence on England for steel. We are assured that fine razors, equal to the best imported, have already been made of this steel, from ore once melted with anthracite alone, at a cost far below the price of steel in any market. If there be no mistake in this, the production of this steel is an event in our national growth of more importance than the battle of New Orleans. It will doubtless draw the attention of metallurgists generally to the possibility of making steel, from fit ores or combinations of ores, at far less expense than the process has hitherto involved.

MERCANTILE MISCELLANIES.

MERCANTILE EDUCATION AT ANTWERP.

It has always afforded us pleasure to note the practical and the useful in the progress of society; and we confess to no little gratification, says the Commercial Bulletin, in perusing a document handed to us a few evenings since by our esteemed friend H. Meugens, Esq., Belgian consul for New Orleans. This document contains a statement and details of a higher grade of commercial institute, formed under the auspices of the Belgian government, than we ever met with before.

The Coburgs bid fair to hold the highest rank in the old world. The favorite project of Prince Albert carried out in the Great Exhibition of 1852 has given an impetus to the arts and to useful inventions which, we trust, as the stone cast into the pool spreads the circling waves over its surface, will carry the impulse outward and onward until the wide world reaps the benefits which its industrial exhibition was well calculated to produce. Another of this family has originated the grand scheme which, when properly matured and established, will give the Belgian merchant a name and rank second to none.

"Practice," as said, "is the soul of Commerce," and this appears to be fully kept in view throughout the whole course pursued in the proposed institute, while at the same time theory goes hand in hand with equal step-still further other and appropriate studies combined, afford the future merchant all the advantages the counting room and the university can give.

The location is Antwerp, and the plan comprehends a vast trading community on the largest scale, divided into sections kept perfectly separate and distinct, and each section representing a designated portion of the commercial world. One supposed to be at Paris, and showing a Parisian banking house with all its routine of business; another at London, and then the office of a large ship owner; a third, that of a commercial house at Hamburgh; a fourth, insurance office at Antwerp; here a New York business house; then another of far-off Australia, at Sydney; others of Rio, Havana, Odessa, Alexandria, etc. Importing and exporting, whether on account or consignment, freight, commission, insurance, etc., are all daily and duly attended to. Books regularly kept, and everything conducted as though real business was actually involved, in all its details and ramifications.

Thorough instructions are given in political economy, statistics, exchange and custom-house regulations of all countries, inaritime and commercial law, general history of Commerce and industry, commercial and industrial geography, history of staple products and manufactures, etc. English, German, French, Spanish, and Italian are to be taught, both as to correspondence in these languages and to speaking them fluently. At the completion of the course, judges, appointed by the government, will deliver to each of the students whose merit entitles him to it, a diploma of capacity, and he who obtains the first place receives a traveling purse from the Belgian government, and authority and perinission to travel for several years at its expense.

The programme of the courses, and all the regulations, are approved annually by the government and by the city administration.

The institution is under the direction and control of seven commissioners, two of whom are chosen by the government, two by the Chamber of Commerce, and two by the Common Council of Antwerp, the Burgomaster of that city acting as President.

We have been thus particular in describing this institution, because we feel an interest in all that tends to advance the commercial community as a body, and we think there are merchants in this country who, if the matter was once properly brought before their minds, would feel pleasure in endowing and establishing something of the same kind, adapted to the wants and characteristics of our people. How much better for a young man intended for Commerce to commence his career thoroughly drilled and ready to take his place in active life, prepared to decide correctly and advisedly, on the questions appertaining to his business, whether foreign or domestic, brought before him in his daily intercourse with the world. We have a military and a naval school equal to any, certainly not surpassed by any in the world. We still need a commercial and an agricultural one, in which a uniform and perfect system of a like grade and thorough instruction in all that pertains to Commerce and agriculture should be given to those who will likely be engaged in after life in those pursuits.

COMMERCIAL VIEW OF TEMPERANCE.

The Philadelphia Merchant says: We shall not here enter into any defense of the distinction between moderate drinkers and temperance people; nor shall we affirm either that all the intemperate folks deserve to be in prison. or that all teetotalers receive their just deserts by managing to keep out. We shall merely call attention, briefly, to a common-sense commercial view of temperance.

The money expended annually in intoxicating beverages defies calculation; and it cannot be doubted that millions of dollars are thus diverted from honorable, because useful, trade. In the ratio that the bar-room prospers, the merchant suffers loss. Every dollar spent in liquor by the laboring man or the mechanic, deducts one dollar's worth of necessaries or comforts from the just expectations of his family. Shoes, clothing, provisions, sugar, furniture, and all other useful or essential things, are either wholly cut off from the list of the husband's expenditures, or greatly diminished in their quality or quantity, for the use of his household.

We here speak in a general way. There may be exceptions, as in cases of a competency not yet squandered in wine, strong drink, or other destructive beverages. The masses of mankind seldom accumulate property. Usually they spend as they go, and are glad if they can make both ends meet at the end of the year. Surely it is best that they should do this by contributing as much as possible to the happiness and comfort of their families; and it is an easy question for all philanthropists to decide, whether the avails of labor shall be devoted to the purchase of whisky or flour, brandy or beef, gin or shoes, wine or sugar, beer or potatoes, grog or clothes.

The merchant has also his own interest at stake, and there can be no impropriety in considering his own advantage when it coincides with the well-being of his neighbor. The liquor seller is directly pitted against the dealer in all wholesome and useful articles of consumption, and we submit that all merchants-by which we mean all traders in the comforts and conveniences of social life-should array themselves promptly and decidedly on the side of temperance and against all forms of alcohol as a beverage. We will not now insist that they should take ground in favor of the Maine Law, though it is clear that the nearer the community is brought to total abstinence from intoxicating drinks, the more largely and certainly will the interest of the merchant be promoted.

GROWTH OF COMMERCE.

All that any one has to do, says the Philadelphia Merchant, to find a specimen of the extension of Commerce is to take up the history of some article which has come into general use within a few years. Take, for instance, gutta-percha. In 1841 only 200 lbs. of this gum were exported from Singapore for an experiment, and so speedily did this article get into use, that in 1849 over two million of pounds were exported from that same place. How much from elsewhere we know not; but think of the growth of Commerce in this one article, from one port in five years, from two hundred to two millions of pounds!

When Webster made his great plea in the India-rubber Case, many thought it ludicrous to find him so eloquent on the uses to which that article would yet be put. But that eminent lawyer always looked into the facts of every case he undertook, and he was greatly surprised to see what was doing, and would be doing, by india-rubber, One of the latest uses is its application as flexible gas pipes - one of the handiest arrangements for a chamber, sitting-room, or study. By it gas can be brought to a movable stand on a table, where it will burn like an astral lamp. But a still later use is that of the “Great Coat Umbrella," a Parisian invention, intended to serve as a great coat and an umbrella. It is made of any impervious material, and has, running along the lower edge, an air-proof tube. Under the collar is a little blow-hole communicating with this tube. The wearer applies his mouth to this hole, and with a few vigorous exhalations he inflates it with air. The tube takes the consistency of a hoop, the great coat takes the form of a diving-bell, and the drops fall a long way outside the wearer's feet.

Some of our ingenious mechanics must take this idea and invent something which will serve as a lady's fan, and yet capable of expanding into a parasol or umbrella. What a sensation might be caused in Chesnut-street some spring day, when the fair ladies are fanning themselves because of the heat caused by shopping, and a little shower coming up, lo! fans become umbrellas, and the flying ribbons and feathers are protected. May we be there to see!

MERCANTILE LIBRARY ASSOCIATION OF SAN FRANCISCO.

FROM THE ALTA CALIFORNIAN.

The Mercantile Library Association of San Francisco has had its library open nearly a year. It began with about 1,500 volumes of the library of Gen. Hitchcock, and about 1,100 volumes have since been added, so that the stock of books now numbers about 2,600. Among these are some very curious volumes; one is a manuscript book about 600 years old, and it is so neatly written that a close inspection is necessary to do away with the first impression that the book is printed. There is a full file of the "Gentleman's Magazine" since 1731, and there is a complete file of the "Edinboro' Magazine" since its foundation. The library, though not very large, contains a large proportion of standard works, and is particularly well provided with American authors. The original stock were all exceedingly valuable books, for Gen. Hitchcock is not less a thorough scholar than an able soldier.

The association is called the Mercantile Library, but there is no distinction in regard to membership between merchants and men of any other occupation. At the late election, however, there was quite an anxiety that the officers of the institution should be all merchants. This demand was at first looked upon as rather unjust to some members not merchants who had done a great deal for the association, which would have failed entirely if left to the support of merchants only. The result, however, has been that the new officers have entered zealously into the performance of their duty, and the merchants, as a class, take more interest in the library, and the association is now in a more flourishing condition than ever, and promises to become, at no distant day, such a library association as the merchants of the third commercial city of the Union should support. There are about 250 members, though there should not be less than a thousand. The reading room contains a very extensive collection of the latest papers and periodicals from all portions of the State and Union, including all the daily city papers, which the librarian preserves upon file for future reference. There have been as yet but five large donations. The principal donors, so far, have been Gen. Hitchcock, who gave the original collection, at a very low sum for California; Mr. Haskell, of Adams & Co., who gave a collection worth about $500; Mayor Garrison, who gave $500 in cash; and Col. Crockett, and the present President, D. S. Turner, both of whom have spent much money and labored zealously to place the library in successful operation.

ADULTERATION OF LIQUORS.

Eminent chemists assert, says the Albany Evening Journal, that nine-tenths, at least, of all the liquors consumed in the United States are more or less drugged. To say that half of all that pretends to come across the Atlantic is wholly manufactured on this side of it, would be to fall short of the truth.

There are numbers who live and thrive by such nefarious trade. Long practice in the use of sugar of lead, capsicum, acids, aloes, juniper berries, verdigris, logwood, &c., &c., in varying and nicely graduated proportions, has enabled them to bring the art to a degree of perfection that seems almost fabulous. Cheap Monongahela whisky brought into their vaults by the hogshead, comes out bottled and ready for sale as Madeira, Cognac, Champagne, Pale Brandy, Cream of the Valley, and Old Port. In these, the color, flavor, and smell of the originals will be so closely imitated, that experienced taste is deceived by them. So complete and minute are their operations, that not only are foreign brands forged, and the shape of bottles, the devices of seals and corks imitated, but even artificial dust and cobwebs are fabricated to give them an air of respectable antiquity.

If other proof of this were needed, besides the results of chemical analysis, it might be found in the facts that more Port is drank in the United States in one year than passes through the custom-house in ten; that more Champagne is consumed in America alone than the whole Champagne district produces; that Cognac brandy costs four times as much in France, where it is made, as it is sold for in our corner groggeries; and that the failure of the whole grape crop in Madeira produced no appar ent diminution in the quantity, nor at all corresponding increase in the price, of the

wine.

It is these compounds that madden and destroy such multitudes in our towns and cities. In vine growing countries, where wine is cheap and plentiful and its use almost universal, there are none of these horrors of intemperance that shock and alarm