ANCIENT MINING ON LAKE SUPERIOR. The last Lake Superior News gives a further account of the discovery of evidences of the working of the copper mines of that region by a people now extinct, a notice of which was published some time since. It says that the indication which led to the discovery is a sunken trench upon the line of vein, which, being drifted into, disclosed a mass of native copper lying in this vein estimated to weigh about seven tons. The remains of large timbers were found by which this had evidently been propped, and beneath it were several cart loads of ashes and cinders, showing that the miners had endeavored to reduce the mass by fire. Several of the implements used in the mining operations were found, consisting of stone hammers, a chisel, and a gad of copper. The perfect state of the point of the latter would seem to indicate a process of hardening the metal was known, for the hammer end was most battered. With the copper of this were some large particles of silver. The chisel is ingeniously constructed so as to admit a handle. No iron instrument was discovered. That the mining operations were conducted to a greater extent than is practised by any existing tribe of Indians is apparent from the fact that the trench sunk upon the vein extends more than a mile in length. The accumulation of earth in the trench concealed the depth of the workings, except in the small part re-opened; but here the depth was found to be twenty feet, and the width of eight feet. Similar trenches exist in the neighborhood, which were traced for several miles. Not the least interesting part of the discovery is the evidence of the great antiquity of the workings. Large trees were growing upon the earth that had accumulated in the diggings-one of which, directly over the large mass of copper, proved to be four hundred years old! Beneath it were trunks of trees that had previously decayed or fallen in, and the whole depth of soil that, by the process of time, had accumulated upon this antique furnace was eighteen feet. This mine is about four miles east of the large mass of copper, which was removed from its place some years since, and is now in the National Cabinet at Washington. These mementoes of ancient aboriginal industry are deserving of more than a mere passing notice. They may be considered as adding to the proof that, long before the discovery of America, a race existed on this continent among whom the arts had reached a higher grade than with the wandering tribes that have succeeded. The Indians now living in this region know nothing of the people by whom, or the time when, these operations were undertaken. They evince a concerted effort which does not characterize their present feeble effort in the art. It is somewhat singular that among a people so observant and persevering the use of iron remained so wholly unknown, since some of the ores which exist in vast abundance, and upon the surface in the Carp River region, are found to be easily reduced to a valuable steel by the heat of a common forge. A knowledge of the use of iron might have changed the destiny of that people, as it may be said to have done that race who now triumph, in the pride of art and power over their almost perished memorials. ARTIFICIAL MINERALS AND PRECIOUS STONES. A process has been explained to the Paris Academy of Sciences, and a patent obtained for it, whereby artificial stone of every quality may be produced, from artificial granite to statuary marble. This invention is, it is said, from its cheapness, a great advantage for all the purposes of architectural decoration, and from its plastic nature before it becomes hard, of great service to sculptors in taking casts of statuettes, busts, &c., and even of figures of the size of life. The cost, in all cases where carving is required in stone, in which this composition is substituted, is less by nine-tenths. The invention is founded on the chemical analysis of the natural varieties of stone, and the manufacture is capable of such modifications as are requisite to produce all the varieties-"stones manufactured to order." The artificial stone produced is less absorbent than natural stone, and is superior in compactness of texture, and will resist frost, damp, and the chemical acids. It is made of flints, and siliceous grit, sand, &c., rendered fluid by heat, and poured into moulds, as required, till cool and hardened. Its strength and solidity enable it to resist more blows than real stone. Specimens of the invention have been forwarded to London, and their appearance is pronounced exceedingly curious. They consist of many varieties, some being plain pieces of coping-stones for variegated pavements for halls and rooms, stone ornaments, such as mouldings for friezes, finials, and some more elaborate, having flowers and devices apparently cut with a chisel. A NEW PROCESS FOR PRESERVING BREADSTUFFS. Several notices of this invention have appeared in the eastern papers, all of them speaking highly of the invention. We have deferred any extended notice of it, until its merits should be to some extent tested. Mr. E. W. Andrews, of the Empire Mills, in this town, has had one of these machines in operation about one year, upon corn meal. _ About fifteen hundred barrels of this meal, manufactured last spring, was shipped for Europe. It not only performed the voyage of the lakes, canals, and rivers of our own country, but, after remaining during some of the hottest months in store, it was sold in Liverpool for from 3s. to 3s. 6d. sterling per barrel more than the current quotations of the inarket for corn meal. The enhanced price is understood to have been realized in consequence of the superiority of this process of expelling the moisture, over all others; meal prepared by this process being devoid of any other taste or smell than that which pertains to the natural meal. Heretofore it has been deemed necessary to destroy the germinating principles of grain, to enable it to withstand the vicissitudes of climate, and hence the parched, ill-flavored meal that is usually sent abroad. Being divested of much of its nutrition, it is rendered unfit for the use of man. Mr. Stafford's theory is, that without the presence of moisture, nothing in nature can change. Upon this theory is his machine made to operate. It is simplicity itself. A cylinder, armed with flanches on the exterior, is made to revolve in a trough-the inclination of the cylinder and trough moves the substance to be dried gradually to the opposite side from which it was received. The interior of the cylinder is heated by steam. By this simple process, Mr. Stafford is enabled to obtain all that is requisite for preserving grain, flour, meal, &c., for an indefinite time. The heat is uniform, the motion of the article drying is constant, and the ventilation perfect. So far as we are able to judge of this invention, from the tests already made of its utility, we are inclined to regard it of very great importance, particularly to the graingrowing regions of the West. The amount saved to the government would be large if they would supply the ships of the navy with flour and meal sufficient for a long voyage, with a perfect assurance that they would remain good for any length of time. So of whale ships, &c. Mr. Stafford richly deserves not only the large pecuniary benefit which is already made sure to him, but also the gratitude of the world. The Cleveland Herald says:-" Flour from Ohio, wheat dried by Mr. Stafford's process, loses 8 per cent of its weight." This fact has been recently tested in Elyria. When, therefore, dried flour is exported, the miller will save transportation upon 16 pounds of water to each barrel, the consumer paying at the same rate for 196 pounds of dried flour that he would for 212 pounds of undried. The consumer, then, has the certainty of purchasing and having flour always sweet and fresh, instead of running the risk of buying flour which is stale, musty, or sour.-Elyria (Chio) Courier. BAMFORD'S IMPROVED STOCKING FRAME. Mr. W. Bamford, of Ipswich, Mass., has recently patented a valuable improvement in the Stocking Frame, consisting in the application and use of a conductor to each of the plain-stitch and rib-stitch needles, in such manner as to enable any one to carry on the process of knitting either plain or ribbed work, without the use of needles with beards or points, and a presser or pressers, such as are generally used in the common plain and ribbed, hand or power looms. His improvement is also applicable to what are denominated Warp Net Machines, whether automatic or moved by hand, and will perform onethird more work than any hand frame worked in the ordinary way with pressers. Mr. B. has expended a large amount in this invention, and performed the constant labor of nearly three years in bringing it to its present state of perfection. The first application of the invention was in connection with a new Warp Frame and afterwards a common hand Plain Stocking Frame. The inventor then applied the "Rib," and succeeded in making ribbed work with the same motions that made plain work. This improvement, with a little expense, can be appended to every kind of stocking and warp frame now in use and save the presser motion, which has always been the most difficult and destructive one to every kind of frame. This machine is capable of making one-third more plain work, and double the quantity of ribbed over one stocking frame that works with pressers. Mr. B.'s ribbed machine can be built at two-thirds the expense of the old Derby rib machine, which in fact is entirely superseded by this improvement, which saves two presser and one heel paddle motion to every bout or course, in which it must come into general use. BRITISH SALES OF COPPER ORE. The sales of copper ore in Cornwall during the last quarter have been 39,206 tons, realizing £175,609 16s. 6d., against 40,018 tons, which realized £187,770 14s. 6d. during the quarter ending June last. At Swansea the sales of copper ore during the same period have been much greater than during the preceding three months. The quantity sold has been 15,143 tons, realizing £161,5-3 16s., averaging £10 133. 4d. per ton, against 9,895 tons and £84,454 7s., average £8 10s. 8d. The great increase in the sales at Swansea during the period mentioned is attributed to the extended imports of foreign ores, principally from Australia and Cuba. The subjoined table of the respective quantities sold of each description, with the amount of purchase money, during the two last quarters, will doubtless be found interesting: Australian... Cobre.... Cuba.. Chili. Santiago... New Zealand.... Total......... QUARTER ENDED JUNE 24. QUARTER ENDED SEPT. 29. Amount. Amount. Tons. £41,3-7 19 6 60,081 1 6 20,200 14 0 23,628 12 6 The produce of the mines in Ireland has been on a diminished scale during the last quarter. The return is Against 3,540 tons and £19,304 1s. 6d. during the quarter ending June last. EXPERIMENTS WITH GALVANIZED WIRE AND HEMP ROPES. An experiment was recently tried in Woolwich Dockyard, to ascertain the comparative strength of wire and hemp ropes. A wire rope, three inches round, and a hemp rope of three strands, hawser laid, common make, seven inches round, were spliced together and placed in the testing machine, and on the hydraulic power being applied, the hemp rope broke in the middle on the strain reaching 11 tons, the wire rope remaining apparently as strong as when the experiment commenced. A wire rope, 31 inches round, was then spliced with an eight inch hemp shroud rope, and on the power being applied, the hemp rope broke in the middle with a strain of 10 tons, the wire rope continuing apparently uninjured. ELECTRIC DECOMPOSITIONS OF METALS. The magnetic process of the late Mr. Woolrich, says the London Mechanics' Magazine, which was patented about five years ago, is, we believe, now universally allowed to be superior to every other. Mr. J. S. Woolrich, the son of the patentee, carries on an extensive business in plating for the trade at St. James-street, St. Paul's, Birmingham. The advantages of the magnecto plating are briefly these:-The metal deposited is perfectly smooth, and the adhesion between it and its base so firm as to be capable of standing a red heat without any injury. The silver may be deposited of any required degree of softness or hardness. And so also the quantity of silver put on the goods may be ascertained to the greatest nicety. RASPBERRY VINEGAR OR SYRUP. Put one quart of best white wine vinegar to two quarts of raspberries, not over ripe. Let them steep in the vinegar twenty-four hours; then strain them through a sieve, with out pressing the fruit, and pour the liquor so strained on two quarts more of raspberries. In twenty-four hours more strain it off again, and to a pint of juice put one pound and a half of very fine loaf sugar. Put the above into a jar, and the jar into a pan of warm water, and let it stand till all the sugar is melted, taking off the scum as it rises; then take the jar from the warm water, and, when cold, bottle off for use. These directions are given from a correspondent of the Gardener's Chronicle. QUICKSILVER MINES IN CALIFORNIA. A gentleman, whose letter we have seen, and from which we are permitted to make an extract, says the American Mining Journal, dating from" Rancho de la Prussima Conception," in California, thus writes to a friend of his in Connecticut, of a quicksilver mine, owned by Alexander Forbes, Esq., British Consul at Tepsic. "Mr. Forbes is the owner of, perhaps, the richest quicksilver mine in the world, situated about 13 miles from this place. The mine has been worked but a few months, but the ore is extremely rich, and very abundant. The bed of ore is 42 feet thick, and of extent unknown. The only apparatus at present used for extracting the metal consists of three or four old potash kettles -very imperfect-yet, with these, over a thousand pounds, or $2,000 worth are obtained weekly. With suitable apparatus, it could clear easily half a million a year. Several other mines of quicksilver have been found in the neighborhood, of more or less promise, but none of them apparently so rich as this. They are mostly, with the exception of that of Mr. Forbes, in the hands of Americans. Mines of silver and gold have also been discovered; but what they will amount to remains to be seen. Mr. Forbes owns a tract pertaining to his mine of fourteen square miles." THE BRITISH IRON AND STEEL TRADE. IMPORTS AND EXPORTS OF IRON AND UNWROUGHT STEEL.-The total quantity of foreign iron ore imported in the year ending April 5, 1848, was 21 tons; chromate of iron, 1,797 tons; pig iron, 473 tons; iron bars unwrought, 33,371 tons; bloom iron, 904 tons; rod iron, 3 tons; broken iron, 310 tons; iron hoops, 12 tons; cast iron, 41 tons; unwrought steel, 654 tons; and steel scraps, 36 tons. The declared value of wrought iron and steel imported amounted to £23,510. The total quantity of foreign bar iron exported was 5,053 tons; unwrought steel, 667 tons. The total quantity of British pig iron exported within the same period was 176,086 tons; bar iron, 214,874 tons; bolt and rod iron, 13,419 tons; cast iron, 26,321 tons; wire, 1,972 tons; anchors, grapnels, &c., 4,561 tons; hoops, 17,163 tons; nails, 5,735 tons; other sorts of wrought iron, 74,036 tons; old iron, 5,751 tons; unwrought steel, 9,776 tons. Our principal customers for British iron and steel are Prussia, Holland, France, and the United States of America, the latter more especially. The total quantity of British hardwares and cutlery exported from the United Kingdom in the year 1847 amounted to 20,614 tons, the declared value of which was £2,341,980 11s. Id. The British machinery and mill work exported within the same period amounted in value to £1,263,015 10s. 4d.; of this amount Russia paid £226,635 19s.; the Hanseatic Towns, £151,665 2s.; Spain, £97,527; Italy, £108,888 19s. 2d.; British territories in the East Indies, £148,645 15s.; the British West Indies, £52,290 4s 6d. DAVID'S IMPROVED RAZOR. Mr. David, cutler, of Leadenhall-street, London, has recently registered under the Utility Designs Act, a razor of highly improved configuration, which consists in giving a curvilinear form, lengthwise, to the edge of the blade, and leaving more room for obtaining a good purchase on it when shaving. The handle also is bevelled within-side, to allow more space for the entry of the blade when shutting to-thus preventing the injury to its edge, that frequently occurs from catching on the sides of the handle. These improvements, combined with the improved principle adopted in grinding the blade, produce an instrument having every advantage over those hitherto made. CULTIVATION OF COTTON IN INDIA. The experiments which have been making in Manchester by the Commercial Association, recently, under the superintendence of Dr. Royle, to test the small cottage gin proposed to be sent out among the small cultivators of cotton in India, show the following results as contrasted with the large hand gin and the churka, at present used there. The cottage gin, made of iron, is found to clean 20 lb. per man per hour; made of wood, it turns out 17 lb. per man per hour. The average quantity cleaned by the large hand gins of India per man per hour is only 10 lb. and a fraction, and the churka cleans only 3 lb. This result is decidedly more favorable than that detailed by the chairman at the late meeting, a fact which, we are informed, is owing to a further improvement in the machine The saving in cost would be in proportion. JOURNAL OF BANKING, CURRENCY AND FINANCE. THE REVENUE OF FRANCE IN 1847 AND 1848. THE return just made by the French Minister of Finances of the amount of the receipts received by the Treasury, under the head of "Imposts and Indirect Revenues," during the first nine months of 1848, as compared with the receipts for the same period of 1846 and 1847, presents some curious though not very gratifying results. They show a fearful diminution since February in the aggregate trade of the country, and, unfortunately, they also show very clearly, notwithstanding the rumors industriously spread of a gradual resumption in the trade and manufactures of France, that there is not the slightest ground for that statement. By the receipts for July, August, and September, 1848, as compared with the same months of 1847, it appears that in July there is a diminution in the receipts of 12,796,000 francs; in August a diminution of 13,807,000 francs; and in September a diminution of 13,761,000 francs. On the whole three months there is an aggregate falling off of 37,203,000 francs as compared with 1846, and of 40,544,000 francs as compared with 1847. It also appears that while the falling off for the quarter just past of the present year is upwards of forty millions and a half, the falling off for the two previous quarters was under sixty-two millions. This surely shows no symptoms of a resumption of trade. The following is a detailed table of the receipts of indirect taxes, for the first nine months of 1848, as compared with 1847: This shows an aggregate falling off on the present year of 102,362,000 francs. There is a diminution under every head excepting three, and these are significant. The export duties have increased to the amount of 45,000 francs, in consequence of the vast quantity of property removed from France. The post-office revenue has increased 651,000 francs, in consequence of the enormous quantity of newspapers and correspondence occasioned by the revolution of February; and the produce of places in the packet-boats has increased, in consequence of the vast number of persons who have fled from France. This species of improvement will hardly be a matter of congratulation to the Minister of Finances. On the other hand, it will be seen that the import duties have fallen off to a frightful extent. Take, for instance, the duties on French colonial sugars, which have diminished from 31,836,000 francs to 15,909,000, or rather more than one-half; and the custom-house duties on miscellaneous merchandise, which have diminished one-third. The only article producing a large revenue, upon which there is not a heavy falling off, is tobacco. It still returns nearly as much as it did in the flourishing times of the monarchy. Even the misery produced by a revolution does not affect the consumption of that |