Volume 31 (1875) (428 pages)

MINING AND SCIENTIFIC PRESS. [July 3, 1875. Mechanical Drawing. In this article I shall take a strictly professional view of the subject. I shsll show the reader that the snrveyor engineer, either civil or mechanical, ought to he a practical draftsman, end teach him how to become one. Drawing is the graphical representation of objects, either real or imegined—imagined in onr cace expressly for the purpose of heing oarried outin nature and hecoming real. The firet practice must be free-hand drawing. All beginpings are difficult, and when you teke yonr pencil in hand and find thet you cannot do with if what you want to, you are apt to feel discouraged, and think that to do it requires special talent. Disabuse your mind of this idea; all that is required is the conviction that real work has begun and must be cerried on with earnest, thoughtful application. Without this application the most exalted talent will produce comparatively little. Look at some work executed for industrial pprposes—for instance, the designs on oalicoes, wall-papers, designs for cerpets, etc.; try to copy them, or invent some new ones, and you will find that it requires a great amount of practice to produce anything as gocd. These designs are mostly produced in the factories by young men and women, Aftera time the girls make excellent draftswomen. They have to work expeditiously, and are certainly not paid as artists. The neceesity of supporting themselves has made them thoughtful and industrious, and their training rarely coueists in more than the first practice I recommend, zealously carried through. After a little intelligent practice you will find that you have more talent than you at first supposed, and the good opinion of yourself will increase your progress, and with it the enjoyment in your work. All of you csn become good prectical draftsmen, getting mere expert in proportion as your profession offers you opportunities to execute drawings. The object of free-hand drawing is to discipline hand and eye, the hand being the more teachable of the two. I will give an instance to prove that the eye mnst be educated to see. In running tbe boundary line between California and Nevada over a very rough and difficult country, I had two flagzmen. The first one had to give sights ahead in a straight line, often distant for a mile or more. He had to grope his way throngh gulches, timber, and over rcoks; but where he set up his fisg he was seldom more than ten or fifteen feet off the line. He had an educated, keen eye. The hind flagmau had to eet up on the station just abandoned by the instrument; he had plenty of time to study the line before him, but still he wonld get lost on his way from one station to the other, and had sometimes to be hunted up by others of the party. When yon look at some piece of machinery, especially if itbe in motion, you will find it very difficult to see everything; whereas, when your eye is educated you will perceive the purpose of theconstrnction and nnderstaud the thoughtfulness of the arrangement of its parts. The education of the eye begins with thst of the hand with your first practice, end therefore I wish to impress upon you that your real work begins therewith. You should begin with copying simple forms —contour lines from gocd drawings. I would prefer the forms of neture—forms of leaves, plants, flowers, going from the most simple to the mostoomplicated ones. These will teach you a good deal besides drawing. Copy these forms, correct your copy patiently, and finally, when true, outline them with an even, deliberate line. Drawings of good architectural ornaments, and for advanced scholars portions of the human frame, and finally fignre drawing, is excellent prectice. With the brush you will have to prectice laying on flat tints in India ink and color, next evenly graduating from deepest shade to light. As soon as you have aconired some experience of hand and eye, yon onght to beginto draw from nature the same leayes and flowers you copy from drawipgs. n shading, tske a cobble stone or shell of nviform color, put it before you and try to reroduce on paper the delicete chading of nature. ou will require all your patience and perseverence to vanquish thatcobhle stone or shell, but when you have succeeded you will haye made great progrees in your career as a draftsman.—AManufacturer and Builder. New Oxxgoon Minrno Company.--The Oregon Sentinel says: From Mr. Jay G. Kelly, the mining expert, who was in town yesterday, we learn that the quartz mill which is to he erected on the Gold Back ledge, near Kirbyville, in Josephine county, had not arrived at itsdesiination yet, but that it was on its way from Crescent City, and that he expected to have it up and in running order in about three weeks. This company, which will hereafter be knowu as the ‘Oregon quartz mil!and mining company,’’ have located and purchased eight or ten different quartz lodges and several placer mines, together with alarge number of ditche:, flumes, eto., with a view to actively engage in developing the mineral resouroea of that scotion. Mr. Kelly has been elected superintendent of the company. Thia would indicate that the right kind of men bave taken hold of the matter at last, and it is earnostly hoped that they will reap a golden reward for their enterprise and activity, Collapsing Boats. An interesting series of experiments was lately carried on at Romsey, neer Sonthampton, in the presence of Admiral Sir William Mends, and others interested in saving life at sea, as wellas in naval and military operations, with the comprehensive system of collapsing life hoats invented and patented by the Rev. E, L. Berthon. The party was conducted ronnd the heat building sheds of Mr. HE. P. Berthon, son of the inventor,in which were exhibited a greet variety of these boats of different forms and sizes, from the little Arctic sledge boats, seven feet long, to be carried in the exnedition which is to start on the 29th inst., up to large boats for emigrents and troop ships. The dimensions of the latter are as foltows: Length over all, thirty-seven feet; breadth, twelve feet; and depth, five feet. Along the middle of the hoat, the whole length fore and aft, ie a locker with “convenient hatches, in which is contained half a ton of the best provieions in tins, and a large water tank with a condenser, producing twelve gallons of water daily, in addition to the orij ginal supply. In thebowis the chain looker,and ‘in the stern the binnacle, with compass, sextant and general chart. The whole of the stern sheets is covered in with waterproof canvaes, affording'a snug sheller and privecy for forty women. A boiler for sonp, etc., completesthis pert of the arrangement. The hoat is rigged with two lower masts, topmasts, and five sails, the whole of which, with twelve oars, together with the boat itself and all the ahove named contents, collapses into a space only two feet wide. These hoats will never be placed on deck, but lashed outside the ship, from which position they can be detached, expanded and lowered in a few seconds. Each will carry 150 people with perfect safety in any sea, and being provisioned for that nnmber for at lesst four weeks, there is nothing to hinder its occupants from continuing their voyage, or making for any convenient port. These boats need ship, and they may he cerried in any required numher without danger or inconvenience. Each hoat weighs eighty ponnds, and oan be carried on a man’s shoulder or under his arm, and even these little things would forma bridge for men to cross two abreast. Among other boats of this kind .exhibited on the river, including some very pretty yaohts’ dingies, nine feet by four feet, was one of the Arctio sledge boets. It weighs only thirty-four pounds, and when carried under a man’s arm it is only four inches wide. It is opened in three or four seconds, and then becomes so remarkebly buoyant as to oarry four men, although not intended for more than two. When filled with water it will still carry two men. These experiments are to be ae again on the full scale in boats forty feet by twelve feet by four feet, and when collapsed against the side of one of our splendid troop ships, they will not project more than eighteen inches.—ZJron. A Copper Wonder. There is now on exhibition in St. Louis a maes of native copper thatis attracting much attention, and which will be exhibited at the Centénniel at Philadelphia next year. It was taken from amine on the Isle Royal, Lake Snperior, is heart-shaped, and weighs 6,000 ponnds, exceeding by nearly double the weight of the femous copper bonlder which was trensported many years ago from the same region to the Smithsonian Institute, ata cost to the government of $5,840. The specimen exhibits the pure copper to the eye, and contains ninetyeight per cent. of the metal. It wes taken from an ancient mine about seventeen feet below the surface, and when found had evidently been detached from its bed by the ancient miners. A number of pieces of copper be. sides the mass were fonnd, weighing from an ounce to seventeen pounds, evidently clipped by the old miners. Stone hammers weighing from ten to thirty pounds have also been found by the hundred, either perfect or broken from nse. To what race these ancient miners belonged and at what period they flourished, can only be conjectured. Probably they bel-nsed to the prehistoric mound builders, who worked in metals long anterior to the Indian races. At leest, numerons evidences of their occupancy were discovered by the early Jesuit ex. plorers, while specimens clipped hy them from the copper rocks have heen found soattered over nearly the whole country. Saxon Mines.—Ths following memorandum from the last report of the condition of the mines in Saxony may be interesting: There are in the Freiberg district 98 mines, Of these 16 are psying; 20 are working and prodncing, but not paying; 23 are working, bnt not producing any mineral; the balance are abandoned. The mines employ 5,747 miners and laborers, and 535 occasional lahorers. The value of the silver and lead product, the latter being small, forthe year 1873 was 1,527,847 thalers, or $1,110,050 coin. The average production of each man was 227 thalers, or $167.44, less than 56 centaper day. If from this the profits of the mine eretobe deducted, it leaves about 50 cents per day forlabor. Smallas the production of this well known district is, it would be far less were it not for the very economical working of the mines and the saving of every ounoe of mineral, by every appliance for concentration which experienoe and ingennity can devise. Inthe mining schoola at Freiberg there are 114 students, of whom 25 are Americans. —Mining Review, not interfere with any of those existing in aRailway Reflections. Has not the railway affected, influenced, altered, yea, directed, the drift—the direction, of hnman thonght? We are all influenced by the circumstances that surround ns. Who is there that is independent of the material or social phenomena of his time? The mode, menner, and style of locomotion used by man influence his heing, mold his character and affect his habits of thonght and action. The fashion of our motor power controls our feelings and affects onr emotions. To mount the horse is to partake of his natnre—to sympathize with his spirit, bound, curvet, or oaper, as his sport-+ ive mood may suggest. When we are seated in the railway carriage do we not mentally snort in accord with the iron steed—take pride in his speed, and glory in the force with which he devours distance? How different is the feeling of a man who is carried in a palanquin, or towed in a canal boat, from that of one who is whirled along in an express train, with a telegraph caution ticking in front, and a way train whistle scresming in the rear! Tho railway has enforced hahits of promptitude, illustrated the value of time, and shown the power of discipline. On the disk of our railway dial no shadow is allowed to linger. Our time tables ere as absolute as the lawa of the Medes and Persians; the locomotive has employed our legislatures to devise new codes of laws for its government, and engaged our judges in interpreting its rights and privileges. Into every grade of modern society the interest of the rsilway has extended. The multitude of engineers, mechanics, workmen, clerks, and conductors who are kept employed in this service would be difficult to estimate; they constitute a large section of the population, a stending army of induetry; and what an enormous supply of iron, timber, coal, oil, and other natural products the railway demands every year! In the manufacture of its necessary supplies, how many new trades have sprung np and are supported ! The property of our reilways domiuates the money market of the country. The capitel cf our time has run 80 largely into railways that every one who owns any ‘surplus may be said to have an interest in railway property. It wonld be interesting to calculate the proportion of capital invested in railroads, as compared with banking, manufactures, insurance, or even agriculture. As the overflow of the Nile enriched the plains of Egyot, so has the flood of railways over the land enhanced the value of the soil. The locomotive has virtually irrigated barren wastes, actuelly tempered the climate of inhospitable regione. Probably no interest has been so largely promoted by the railway as that of real estate, Every farm has felt its influence. It has hrought a market place to the farm of every husbandman, & customer to the workshop of every mechenic. Families are re-united; friend. ships maintained; intercourse esteblished by the facility of railway travel. We eat, drink, sleep, live on the reilway.— The Railway World Owners Visiting Mines. The Tuolumne Independent says: We note the vieit this week of some of the principal owners of several of the gravel and quartz claims in Tuolumne county. Itis mete and proper that those who have aided such enterprises by their time and oapital, should at least onoe a year inspect for themselyes the progress made and for what the money has been expended. A conscientious and thoroughly practical superintendent (and even the hardy delving work. man) feel enconraged when receiving due praise for their solid, telling, steady work—judicious and economical expenditure—when personally expressed on the spot after proper examination. It is idle to say San Francisco men oan glean nothing by a short tour of inspection of the mines in which they are interested, simply becanse they “know nothing of mining.” They ean see with their eyes—hear with their ears much that they never would see or hear unless they did thus visit the neighborhood and the “lecation of works.”’ Among visitors this week were some of the co-owners of the Table Mt. B. G.Co.; the T. M. Alpha; the Marks & Darrow Q. Co., and several others. One of the attaches of our paper waited upon (we don’t profess to nnderetand the modus operandi of ‘‘interviewing’’) the gentlemen npon their return to Sonora and was assured of their perfect satisfaction in all essential respects—as to judgment and eoonomy in the prosecution of the work, and, so far as they heard and could judge—as to the thorongh practical manner in which the present developments have been brought about. They appear to he qnite elated as to the present and future prospects thereof. Their viait having heen unheralded, the superintendenta were taken quite nnawares. Several blasts were put in during the day and they had an opportunity ot picking up the quartz in pieces averaging some twenty ponnds, showing visible gold and rich sulphurets. One or two of the party confess they smelt (giant) powder, (midst thunder, lightniug, anow, hail and rain) for the first time— ooneiderably mnnderground—in ahafts and drifts, Wehope such visita will be oft repeated—with equal satisfaction, English Qak for Spokes vs. Hickory. A great deel of the mistrust which is often to be found in the minds of workmen, respecting the information to be derived from booka and papers, npon their own trades, is not withou some foundation. If thia mistrust be traced to its source, it will be found that the writers in question are oftentimes not acquainted with the practical parts of their subjecta as practiced in the workshop; and therefore errors creep in, as almost every day's reading unfortunately proves. These, when observed by workmen as being directly opposed to experience gained by years of practice, are the first things laid hold of, and prodnce an nnfavorable impression reparding all kinds of book learning, very difficult to eradicate. The subject of timher is one that has often been handled by scientific writers, and msny extraordinary statements have heen made respecting the various properties of the different kinds, whioh statements are entirely at veriance with the teachings of every-day life. Numerous instances might be given, but my present intention is to give facts respecting British timher, gathered from praotical observation, rather than a collection of errors. Out of the many difftrent species of wood nsedin British carriage bnilding, the oak and ash are usually taken as the representstives, and, together with a slight spice of elm, form the principal woods nsed for the more importent parts of carriage frame work. In England, no tree is held in such esteem as the oak, and there is none more deserving, for in whatever light oek may be considered, it appears to advantage. In carriuge building, the parts to which English oak is most adapted are the spokes, and no country has as yet oroduced a material to equal it in this respect. Hickory may excel in some respects, hut for generel good qualities nothing equals the oak. The way the oak ig converted into timher at present is not such as to produce the most valuable wood, but to secure the most profit to the owner. If the tree were to be cut down in winter, as it onght to be, the bark would adhere so firmly as to become almost part of the wood itself, but when the value of the bark is about a third or more of the timber, it makes it worth while to sacrifice some of the value of the timber to secure the bark, A cross-section of an oak tree shows, in addition to the growth, two distinct kinds of wood. Nesrest the center the wood has a red aspect, and is known as ‘heart of oak;’’ the outer part is called the sap, and as the tree is cut down in spring, when the sap is up or running, the heart and sap are as widely different in their natures as if they belonged to two distinct species. With the exception of oak and laroh, soercely any trees are here cut down in spring or snmmer for timber purposes, as these two trees are the principle if not the only ones whose bark ie made nseof. The berkof oak isof sufficient valne to make it worth while peeling all parts, from the trunk down to almost the smallest sticks, end the wood or plantation where barkpeeling is going on is a scene of lively animation, from the number of young persons of both sexes employed, The best method of preparing the oak wood for spokes is a subject whereof many various Opinions are expressed by old experienced “‘spoke-haggers.”’ Some recommend thet the timber ought to be buried in dry soil for a short time, while others hold that it ought to he soaked in fresh water; but the object in view is simply to get rid of the natural juices as expeditiously as possible, without injury to the wood in the shape of cracks or shakes. The simplest, and perhaps best way, is to cross-cut the tree into the required spoke lengths, and afterwards split up the pieces by wedges into sizes, which, after rough dressing and the shrinkage of drying, are large enough for ordinary spokes. The Jine of cleavage is very important, and to secure the best epokes it must not be taken at random, bnt mnst be throngh the medullary reys, or those easily discerned growths, which, in oak particulerly, are found radiating from the pith like the spokes of a whvel. While the spokes are still green, they are ronghly dressed up with an ex, and are ready for storing by to dry. The above is not ev economical a mcthod as sswing out the spokes, but it is without doubt the best; for with the medullary rays running from back to front of spokes, the fiber is considered to be in the beet position for strength. Sawn spokes have not this advantage; and, moreover, they have 2 bed name, through wood heing often cut into spokes that is quite unfit, through crossness, for that purpose.—Carriage Maker. Tae Eoxyrrian Buur.—It ‘seems, as might reasonably be expected, that modern chemists are qnite certain to rediscover the famona Tyrian purple and Egyptian blue of the ancients—colora which have stood the test of thousauda of years of time, without any apparent diminution in their beauty. The probable production of the former has already been announced, and now it appears that M. Peligot, a French chemiat, claims to have rediscovered the latter, a shade of blue which ia conspicuous in many of the aucicnt ornaments found in Egypt. He has analyzed some of the enamel, then by synthetical experiments has succeeded in ascertaining the proportions of silica, oxide of copper, lime and aoda that will produce the marveloua compound,

MINING AND SCIENTIFIC PRESS. [July 3, 1875. Mechanical Drawing. In this article I shall take a strictly professional view of the subject. I shsll show the reader that the snrveyor engineer, either civil or mechanical, ought to he a practical draftsman, end teach him how to become one. Drawing is the graphical representation of objects, either real or imegined—imagined in onr cace expressly for the purpose of heing oarried outin nature and hecoming real. The firet practice must be free-hand drawing. All beginpings are difficult, and when you teke yonr pencil in hand and find thet you cannot do with if what you want to, you are apt to feel discouraged, and think that to do it requires special talent. Disabuse your mind of this idea; all that is required is the conviction that real work has begun and must be cerried on with earnest, thoughtful application. Without this application the most exalted talent will produce comparatively little. Look at some work executed for industrial pprposes—for instance, the designs on oalicoes, wall-papers, designs for cerpets, etc.; try to copy them, or invent some new ones, and you will find that it requires a great amount of practice to produce anything as gocd. These designs are mostly produced in the factories by young men and women, Aftera time the girls make excellent draftswomen. They have to work expeditiously, and are certainly not paid as artists. The neceesity of supporting themselves has made them thoughtful and industrious, and their training rarely coueists in more than the first practice I recommend, zealously carried through. After a little intelligent practice you will find that you have more talent than you at first supposed, and the good opinion of yourself will increase your progress, and with it the enjoyment in your work. All of you csn become good prectical draftsmen, getting mere expert in proportion as your profession offers you opportunities to execute drawings. The object of free-hand drawing is to discipline hand and eye, the hand being the more teachable of the two. I will give an instance to prove that the eye mnst be educated to see. In running tbe boundary line between California and Nevada over a very rough and difficult country, I had two flagzmen. The first one had to give sights ahead in a straight line, often distant for a mile or more. He had to grope his way throngh gulches, timber, and over rcoks; but where he set up his fisg he was seldom more than ten or fifteen feet off the line. He had an educated, keen eye. The hind flagmau had to eet up on the station just abandoned by the instrument; he had plenty of time to study the line before him, but still he wonld get lost on his way from one station to the other, and had sometimes to be hunted up by others of the party. When yon look at some piece of machinery, especially if itbe in motion, you will find it very difficult to see everything; whereas, when your eye is educated you will perceive the purpose of theconstrnction and nnderstaud the thoughtfulness of the arrangement of its parts. The education of the eye begins with thst of the hand with your first practice, end therefore I wish to impress upon you that your real work begins therewith. You should begin with copying simple forms —contour lines from gocd drawings. I would prefer the forms of neture—forms of leaves, plants, flowers, going from the most simple to the mostoomplicated ones. These will teach you a good deal besides drawing. Copy these forms, correct your copy patiently, and finally, when true, outline them with an even, deliberate line. Drawings of good architectural ornaments, and for advanced scholars portions of the human frame, and finally fignre drawing, is excellent prectice. With the brush you will have to prectice laying on flat tints in India ink and color, next evenly graduating from deepest shade to light. As soon as you have aconired some experience of hand and eye, yon onght to beginto draw from nature the same leayes and flowers you copy from drawipgs. n shading, tske a cobble stone or shell of nviform color, put it before you and try to reroduce on paper the delicete chading of nature. ou will require all your patience and perseverence to vanquish thatcobhle stone or shell, but when you have succeeded you will haye made great progrees in your career as a draftsman.—AManufacturer and Builder. New Oxxgoon Minrno Company.--The Oregon Sentinel says: From Mr. Jay G. Kelly, the mining expert, who was in town yesterday, we learn that the quartz mill which is to he erected on the Gold Back ledge, near Kirbyville, in Josephine county, had not arrived at itsdesiination yet, but that it was on its way from Crescent City, and that he expected to have it up and in running order in about three weeks. This company, which will hereafter be knowu as the ‘Oregon quartz mil!and mining company,’’ have located and purchased eight or ten different quartz lodges and several placer mines, together with alarge number of ditche:, flumes, eto., with a view to actively engage in developing the mineral resouroea of that scotion. Mr. Kelly has been elected superintendent of the company. Thia would indicate that the right kind of men bave taken hold of the matter at last, and it is earnostly hoped that they will reap a golden reward for their enterprise and activity, Collapsing Boats. An interesting series of experiments was lately carried on at Romsey, neer Sonthampton, in the presence of Admiral Sir William Mends, and others interested in saving life at sea, as wellas in naval and military operations, with the comprehensive system of collapsing life hoats invented and patented by the Rev. E, L. Berthon. The party was conducted ronnd the heat building sheds of Mr. HE. P. Berthon, son of the inventor,in which were exhibited a greet variety of these boats of different forms and sizes, from the little Arctic sledge boats, seven feet long, to be carried in the exnedition which is to start on the 29th inst., up to large boats for emigrents and troop ships. The dimensions of the latter are as foltows: Length over all, thirty-seven feet; breadth, twelve feet; and depth, five feet. Along the middle of the hoat, the whole length fore and aft, ie a locker with “convenient hatches, in which is contained half a ton of the best provieions in tins, and a large water tank with a condenser, producing twelve gallons of water daily, in addition to the orij ginal supply. In thebowis the chain looker,and ‘in the stern the binnacle, with compass, sextant and general chart. The whole of the stern sheets is covered in with waterproof canvaes, affording'a snug sheller and privecy for forty women. A boiler for sonp, etc., completesthis pert of the arrangement. The hoat is rigged with two lower masts, topmasts, and five sails, the whole of which, with twelve oars, together with the boat itself and all the ahove named contents, collapses into a space only two feet wide. These hoats will never be placed on deck, but lashed outside the ship, from which position they can be detached, expanded and lowered in a few seconds. Each will carry 150 people with perfect safety in any sea, and being provisioned for that nnmber for at lesst four weeks, there is nothing to hinder its occupants from continuing their voyage, or making for any convenient port. These boats need ship, and they may he cerried in any required numher without danger or inconvenience. Each hoat weighs eighty ponnds, and oan be carried on a man’s shoulder or under his arm, and even these little things would forma bridge for men to cross two abreast. Among other boats of this kind .exhibited on the river, including some very pretty yaohts’ dingies, nine feet by four feet, was one of the Arctio sledge boets. It weighs only thirty-four pounds, and when carried under a man’s arm it is only four inches wide. It is opened in three or four seconds, and then becomes so remarkebly buoyant as to oarry four men, although not intended for more than two. When filled with water it will still carry two men. These experiments are to be ae again on the full scale in boats forty feet by twelve feet by four feet, and when collapsed against the side of one of our splendid troop ships, they will not project more than eighteen inches.—ZJron. A Copper Wonder. There is now on exhibition in St. Louis a maes of native copper thatis attracting much attention, and which will be exhibited at the Centénniel at Philadelphia next year. It was taken from amine on the Isle Royal, Lake Snperior, is heart-shaped, and weighs 6,000 ponnds, exceeding by nearly double the weight of the femous copper bonlder which was trensported many years ago from the same region to the Smithsonian Institute, ata cost to the government of $5,840. The specimen exhibits the pure copper to the eye, and contains ninetyeight per cent. of the metal. It wes taken from an ancient mine about seventeen feet below the surface, and when found had evidently been detached from its bed by the ancient miners. A number of pieces of copper be. sides the mass were fonnd, weighing from an ounce to seventeen pounds, evidently clipped by the old miners. Stone hammers weighing from ten to thirty pounds have also been found by the hundred, either perfect or broken from nse. To what race these ancient miners belonged and at what period they flourished, can only be conjectured. Probably they bel-nsed to the prehistoric mound builders, who worked in metals long anterior to the Indian races. At leest, numerons evidences of their occupancy were discovered by the early Jesuit ex. plorers, while specimens clipped hy them from the copper rocks have heen found soattered over nearly the whole country. Saxon Mines.—Ths following memorandum from the last report of the condition of the mines in Saxony may be interesting: There are in the Freiberg district 98 mines, Of these 16 are psying; 20 are working and prodncing, but not paying; 23 are working, bnt not producing any mineral; the balance are abandoned. The mines employ 5,747 miners and laborers, and 535 occasional lahorers. The value of the silver and lead product, the latter being small, forthe year 1873 was 1,527,847 thalers, or $1,110,050 coin. The average production of each man was 227 thalers, or $167.44, less than 56 centaper day. If from this the profits of the mine eretobe deducted, it leaves about 50 cents per day forlabor. Smallas the production of this well known district is, it would be far less were it not for the very economical working of the mines and the saving of every ounoe of mineral, by every appliance for concentration which experienoe and ingennity can devise. Inthe mining schoola at Freiberg there are 114 students, of whom 25 are Americans. —Mining Review,

not interfere with any of those existing in aRailway Reflections. Has not the railway affected, influenced, altered, yea, directed, the drift—the direction, of hnman thonght? We are all influenced by the circumstances that surround ns. Who is there that is independent of the material or social phenomena of his time? The mode, menner, and style of locomotion used by man influence his heing, mold his character and affect his habits of thonght and action. The fashion of our motor power controls our feelings and affects onr emotions. To mount the horse is to partake of his natnre—to sympathize with his spirit, bound, curvet, or oaper, as his sport-+ ive mood may suggest. When we are seated in the railway carriage do we not mentally snort in accord with the iron steed—take pride in his speed, and glory in the force with which he devours distance? How different is the feeling of a man who is carried in a palanquin, or towed in a canal boat, from that of one who is whirled along in an express train, with a telegraph caution ticking in front, and a way train whistle scresming in the rear! Tho railway has enforced hahits of promptitude, illustrated the value of time, and shown the power of discipline. On the disk of our railway dial no shadow is allowed to linger. Our time tables ere as absolute as the lawa of the Medes and Persians; the locomotive has employed our legislatures to devise new codes of laws for its government, and engaged our judges in interpreting its rights and privileges. Into every grade of modern society the interest of the rsilway has extended. The multitude of engineers, mechanics, workmen, clerks, and conductors who are kept employed in this service would be difficult to estimate; they constitute a large section of the population, a stending army of induetry; and what an enormous supply of iron, timber, coal, oil, and other natural products the railway demands every year! In the manufacture of its necessary supplies, how many new trades have sprung np and are supported ! The property of our reilways domiuates the money market of the country. The capitel cf our time has run 80 largely into railways that every one who owns any ‘surplus may be said to have an interest in railway property. It wonld be interesting to calculate the proportion of capital invested in railroads, as compared with banking, manufactures, insurance, or even agriculture. As the overflow of the Nile enriched the plains of Egyot, so has the flood of railways over the land enhanced the value of the soil. The locomotive has virtually irrigated barren wastes, actuelly tempered the climate of inhospitable regione. Probably no interest has been so largely promoted by the railway as that of real estate, Every farm has felt its influence. It has hrought a market place to the farm of every husbandman, & customer to the workshop of every mechenic. Families are re-united; friend. ships maintained; intercourse esteblished by the facility of railway travel. We eat, drink, sleep, live on the reilway.— The Railway World Owners Visiting Mines. The Tuolumne Independent says: We note the vieit this week of some of the principal owners of several of the gravel and quartz claims in Tuolumne county. Itis mete and proper that those who have aided such enterprises by their time and oapital, should at least onoe a year inspect for themselyes the progress made and for what the money has been expended. A conscientious and thoroughly practical superintendent (and even the hardy delving work. man) feel enconraged when receiving due praise for their solid, telling, steady work—judicious and economical expenditure—when personally expressed on the spot after proper examination. It is idle to say San Francisco men oan glean nothing by a short tour of inspection of the mines in which they are interested, simply becanse they “know nothing of mining.” They ean see with their eyes—hear with their ears much that they never would see or hear unless they did thus visit the neighborhood and the “lecation of works.”’ Among visitors this week were some of the co-owners of the Table Mt. B. G.Co.; the T. M. Alpha; the Marks & Darrow Q. Co., and several others. One of the attaches of our paper waited upon (we don’t profess to nnderetand the modus operandi of ‘‘interviewing’’) the gentlemen npon their return to Sonora and was assured of their perfect satisfaction in all essential respects—as to judgment and eoonomy in the prosecution of the work, and, so far as they heard and could judge—as to the thorongh practical manner in which the present developments have been brought about. They appear to he qnite elated as to the present and future prospects thereof. Their viait having heen unheralded, the superintendenta were taken quite nnawares. Several blasts were put in during the day and they had an opportunity ot picking up the quartz in pieces averaging some twenty ponnds, showing visible gold and rich sulphurets. One or two of the party confess they smelt (giant) powder, (midst thunder, lightniug, anow, hail and rain) for the first time— ooneiderably mnnderground—in ahafts and drifts, Wehope such visita will be oft repeated—with equal satisfaction, English Qak for Spokes vs. Hickory. A great deel of the mistrust which is often to be found in the minds of workmen, respecting the information to be derived from booka and papers, npon their own trades, is not withou some foundation. If thia mistrust be traced to its source, it will be found that the writers in question are oftentimes not acquainted with the practical parts of their subjecta as practiced in the workshop; and therefore errors creep in, as almost every day's reading unfortunately proves. These, when observed by workmen as being directly opposed to experience gained by years of practice, are the first things laid hold of, and prodnce an nnfavorable impression reparding all kinds of book learning, very difficult to eradicate. The subject of timher is one that has often been handled by scientific writers, and msny extraordinary statements have heen made respecting the various properties of the different kinds, whioh statements are entirely at veriance with the teachings of every-day life. Numerous instances might be given, but my present intention is to give facts respecting British timher, gathered from praotical observation, rather than a collection of errors. Out of the many difftrent species of wood nsedin British carriage bnilding, the oak and ash are usually taken as the representstives, and, together with a slight spice of elm, form the principal woods nsed for the more importent parts of carriage frame work. In England, no tree is held in such esteem as the oak, and there is none more deserving, for in whatever light oek may be considered, it appears to advantage. In carriuge building, the parts to which English oak is most adapted are the spokes, and no country has as yet oroduced a material to equal it in this respect. Hickory may excel in some respects, hut for generel good qualities nothing equals the oak. The way the oak ig converted into timher at present is not such as to produce the most valuable wood, but to secure the most profit to the owner. If the tree were to be cut down in winter, as it onght to be, the bark would adhere so firmly as to become almost part of the wood itself, but when the value of the bark is about a third or more of the timber, it makes it worth while to sacrifice some of the value of the timber to secure the bark, A cross-section of an oak tree shows, in addition to the growth, two distinct kinds of wood. Nesrest the center the wood has a red aspect, and is known as ‘heart of oak;’’ the outer part is called the sap, and as the tree is cut down in spring, when the sap is up or running, the heart and sap are as widely different in their natures as if they belonged to two distinct species. With the exception of oak and laroh, soercely any trees are here cut down in spring or snmmer for timber purposes, as these two trees are the principle if not the only ones whose bark ie made nseof. The berkof oak isof sufficient valne to make it worth while peeling all parts, from the trunk down to almost the smallest sticks, end the wood or plantation where barkpeeling is going on is a scene of lively animation, from the number of young persons of both sexes employed, The best method of preparing the oak wood for spokes is a subject whereof many various Opinions are expressed by old experienced “‘spoke-haggers.”’ Some recommend thet the timber ought to be buried in dry soil for a short time, while others hold that it ought to he soaked in fresh water; but the object in view is simply to get rid of the natural juices as expeditiously as possible, without injury to the wood in the shape of cracks or shakes. The simplest, and perhaps best way, is to cross-cut the tree into the required spoke lengths, and afterwards split up the pieces by wedges into sizes, which, after rough dressing and the shrinkage of drying, are large enough for ordinary spokes. The Jine of cleavage is very important, and to secure the best epokes it must not be taken at random, bnt mnst be throngh the medullary reys, or those easily discerned growths, which, in oak particulerly, are found radiating from the pith like the spokes of a whvel. While the spokes are still green, they are ronghly dressed up with an ex, and are ready for storing by to dry. The above is not ev economical a mcthod as sswing out the spokes, but it is without doubt the best; for with the medullary rays running from back to front of spokes, the fiber is considered to be in the beet position for strength. Sawn spokes have not this advantage; and, moreover, they have 2 bed name, through wood heing often cut into spokes that is quite unfit, through crossness, for that purpose.—Carriage Maker. Tae Eoxyrrian Buur.—It ‘seems, as might reasonably be expected, that modern chemists are qnite certain to rediscover the famona Tyrian purple and Egyptian blue of the ancients—colora which have stood the test of thousauda of years of time, without any apparent diminution in their beauty. The probable production of the former has already been announced, and now it appears that M. Peligot, a French chemiat, claims to have rediscovered the latter, a shade of blue which ia conspicuous in many of the aucicnt ornaments found in Egypt. He has analyzed some of the enamel, then by synthetical experiments has succeeded in ascertaining the proportions of silica, oxide of copper, lime and aoda that will produce the marveloua compound,