The people of England, like us at present, until the year 1808, relied entirely for their supply upon continental Europe. Their supply was cut off by the breaking out of the war between Great Britain and France, so that after that date they were compelled to rely upon their own crops, and many associations in England offered large premiums on the best productions of willow.

The late Duke of Bedford, one of the best farmers and horticulturists of that day, gave much attention to the subject, which is rigorously prosecuted by his son, the present Duke, and brother to Lord John Russell. His grace had one specimen which is extensively planted in and about the Park at Wooburn Abbey, Wooburn, Bedfordshire. In England this plant is highly prised for its beauty, rapidity of growth, out-growing all other trees, and giving a fine shade in two or three years. This is the Salix Alba, or Bedford Willow. The bark is held in high estimation for tanning; the wood for shoe-makers' lasts, boot-trees, cutting-boards, gun and pistol stocks, and house timber. The wood being fine-grained and susceptible of as fine a polish as rosewood or mahogany. An acre of this kind of wood, ten years old, has sold in England for £155.

The next species is the Huntingdon Willow, or Salix Capua, which is also a good basket willow, and is used extensively in England for hoop poles and fencing by the farmers. Their manner of planting when for fencing, is by placing the ends of the cuttings in the ground, and then working them into a kind of trelis-work, and passing a willow withe around the tops or ends, so as to keep in shape for the first two years. They then cut the tops off yearly and sell them to the basket-makers; thus having a fence and crop from the same ground.

Another description of fence is also made from the salix capua, known in England by the name of hurdle fences, which may be removed at the pleasure or discretion of the proprietor.

The salix alba is extensively used by retired tradesmen who build in the country, for the purpose of securing shade in a short time, and by the nobility around their fish ponds and mill dams, and along their water courses and avenues. This is the principal wood used in the manufacture of gunpowder in England. It has also been asserted by several English noblemen that their fish succeeded much better in ponds surrounded by willow (salix alba) than in waters where other trees were contiguous. The price of cuttings in England are as follows:-1 year old, £1; years old, £2; 3 years old, £4; 4 years old, £5 10s; 5 years old, £6 10s. For any kind of willow it requires about 12,000 cuttings to plant one acre; cuttings 3 years old will pay an interest the year after planting of about 25 per cent. The second year of at least 50, and by the fourth year the crop ought to yield about 1 tons.

Capitalists are generally contented with an interest of 10 per cent per annum, while here is a business which will pay at least ten times that amount.

There are hundreds of thousands of acres of land at present in this country, not paying 24 per cent per annum, which might be planted with willow, and would yield an immense profit.

The facts stated by me are open to all who may think proper to investigate. We send clocks, corn, flour, shoes and broom corn to England, and I can see no reason why we can't send willow there. I am fully convinced that willow may be grown profitably in this country at $50 per ton weight. It may be asked and wondered why I do not go extensively into this business myself. The question is easily answered. I have not the capital, but am getting into it as fast as my limited means will permit. If I had the means I would purchase lands and plant thousands of acres of willow; and find a ready market for it. In conclusion, I have to say, that I have no cuttings for sale myself, but that I will cheerfully give any reasonable explanation to any inquiries by letter, post paid. I am, dear sir, very respectfully,

GARRISON'S LANDING, Putnam Co. N. Y., Dec. 4, 1851.

ON THE CULTURE OF FLAX.

WILSON G. HAYNES.

A Committee of the Massachusetts Legislature, appointed to procure information concerning the culture of flax and the probability of its substitution for cotton in the manufacture of its cheap fabrics, report that there is no doubt that the plant can be raised abundantly in every State in the Union under proper tillage, without exhausting the soil; and that it is but reasonable to conclude, from recent developments, that flax may soon be adopted to a considerable extent, as a substitute for cotton, in the manufacture of the class of fabrics referred to. It is affirmed that not less than 46,000 acres of land in the State of New York were sown with flax in 1849.

MANUFACTURE OF BEET-ROOT SUGAR IN IRELAND.

The subject of cultivating the Beet-root, with a view to the manufacture of Sugar, is now engrossing a good deal of public attention. Ireland is said, by Mr. Sullivan, the chemist to the Museum of Irish industry in Dublin, to possess great capabilities for the production of Beet root in large quantities, and of very superior qualities-the Irish root possessing at least as much saccharine matter as that of France or Germany. The statistics of beet-root sugar are very curious and instructive. In 1841, the production of this article in Europe was estimated at 55,000 tons; in 1847, it was said to be 100,000 tons, and in 1850, it is calculated to be 190,000 tons. The manufacture is said to be rapidly increasing, and realizing a great profit to those who are engaged in it. We see no reason why it should not be prosecuted as favorably in Ireland as in Russia, Prussia, Belgium and France, the countries at present most largely engaged in its production.

FLAX COTTON.

FREEMAN HUNT, Esq., Editor of the Merchants' Magazine, etc:—

This valuable vegetable fiber is at the present moment attracting much attention on account of many advantages to be derived from its capability of being spun upon cotton, wool and silk, and Chevalier Claussen's patent for converting flax into flaxen cotton, bids fair to create a new era in this branch of domestic industry.

The flax or linen crops offers great advantages to the farmer, who will ere long make a good use of them; the flax or linen fiber, by the new process, may be pulled when quite ripe and yellow, so as to allow the seed to be recovered, which can be employed either for planting again or for obtaining the linseed oil and linseed cake; the straw may, within three hours after being gathered, be converted into the proper material for linen manufactures; its long fiber may then be scutched and adapted for spinning on cotton machinery. Yarn may be spun on cotton machinery either alone or mixed in various proportions with the Southern cotton, whereby it receives the name of Flax Cotton; or it may be mixed with wool in all proportions, and is then called Flax Wool, from which flannels, fine cloth, dyed in various colors, may be obtained. If the flax fibre is mixed with silk, it is called Flax Silk, and a yarn may be obtained from it. All these applications deserve the serious attention of the agriculturist and manufacturer as well as the merchant.

The annual imports into the United States of linen manufactures is about $6,000,000 Flaxseed from Calcutta and Russia,..

Linseed oil, from England and Holland,.

1,000,000 1,500,000

The soil in this country is very apt to grow the flax, and of better quality than in Europe. The manufactured products of the flax are to the farmer and manufacturer equally profitable, and enhance as much the value over the raw material as the raw cotton does to its fabrics; nay, more, linen can be obtained at a much less price from the flax than cotton goods from the raw material. The flax cotton is prepared with but a trifling expense, and made as white, soft and fine as any cotton, in fact of a richer and more glossy silk-like appearance, which can be spun into very fine yarns, as cheaply as cotton; now, if we consider the price, it is decidedly in favor of linen or flax; it does not exceed seven cents per pound when manufactured; white cotton leaves no margin at this price to the planter or manufacturer. It is well known that the seed of the flax is a profitable branch of husbandry; a few years ago I purchased the seed in Cincinnati for 50 cents a bushel; one bushel of seed will yield two gallons of linseed oil; at the present rate of foreign linseed oil, 68 cents per gallon would yield a profit of 32 cents for each bushel, independent of the linseed cake, which is worth nearly 25 cents to the bushel of seed.

The states of New York, Ohio, Illinois, Missouri and Iowa are now making efforts to produce flax, and save the seed, and from all indications flax will become as important a staple to the Northern and Western states as the cotton is to the Southern states; less liable to such fluctuations in price than cotton. Having been present in the new establishment at Stepney Green, London, and passed personally the raw flax through all its stages from the straw to the flax cotton, and brought with me the samples of each process, I can speak advisedly on the subject, and feel satisfied that the process patented by the Chevalier Claussen is the simplest, best and most expeditious, and superior to any other existing; it is called the chemical process, for the reason that a chemical action is required to split the fiber, which is accomplished by the ac

tion of an alkali, and afterwards of a weak acid solution. The old process required at least three days for steeping the flax fiber in hot water at a temperature of 90 degrees, while Claussen's requires but three hours boiling, makes less waste, and even that is as useful as the fiber itself, and suitable for bleaching and producing the flax-cotton, or it may be worked as paper material. I have spoken hitherto of the long flax, which is mostly used as the material for spinning, &c.; but the flax tow which is intended to be converted into the flax cotton, and of which two tons may be prepared and bleached daily, is the most important staple, deserving the attention of the manufacturer, and will no doubt receive it, whenever the superior advantages are generally and properly appreciated. Scotland paid £25,000 for Claussen's patent, and a bounty per ton, and England reserved the patent for an association for a much larger sum.

INDUSTRIAL AND OTHER STATISTICS OF MANCHESTER.

The annual report of Captain Willis, the Chief Constable of Manchester (England) has just been published, containing, as usual, some elaborate and useful tables, which, besides showing the activity of the police, give a good idea of the progress of the borough in population, in material wealth and resources. By this return it appears that the population has risen from 235,507 in 1841 to 303,358 in 1851; and the gross number of habitable houses has increased from 44,462 to 53,697. One happy feature of this part of the return is that the inhabitants living in cellars have diminished from 22,924 in 1841 to 20,399 in 1851. The total annual value of the property has increased in the same period from £841,664 to £1,204,241. The gross number of all buildings is now 58,385, of which 103 are cotton mills, 7 silk mills, 3 worsted mills, 18 smallware mills, 7 print works, 35 dye works, 15 hat manufactories, 49 machinists, 38 foundries, 4 lead works, 3 paper works, 27 saw mills, 11 corn mills, 775 workshops. 1619 warehouses, 6262 shops, 109 places of worship, 413 public and private schools, 12 banks, 10 markets, 2 theatres, 7 railway stations, 3 public washhouses, 8 infirmaries and hospitals, 14 public institutions, 33 public buildings, 53 livery stables, 176 breweries, 121 slaughter houses, and 511 buildings used as offices. The total new buildings within the last year were 1556-comprising two cotton mills, 4 saw mills, 21 workshops, 11 warehouses, 1358 dwellings, 118 shops, 8 churches and chapels, 1 bath and washhouse, 3 breweries, and 2 schools. The total number of reputed thieves residing in the borough within the knowledge of the police is 305, and 267 persons known occasionally to steal. Houses where thieves resort 234; houses for the reception of stolen property, 141.

A LOCOMOTIVE ESTABLISHMENT IN VIRGINIA.

Messrs. Smith and Perkins, of Alexandria, Virginia, have, as we learn from the American Railroad Journal, commenced the manufacture of locomotives upon a pretty extended scale. They now employ about one hundred and fifty hands, and are now manufacturing at the rate of about twenty locomotives a year. Mr. Perkins was for many years superintendent of machinery and repairs upon the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad; and has long enjoyed the reputation of being one of the most skillful and practical mechanics in the country. There is probably no person among us better capable of constructing a good engine, or a better judge of work. The above establishment is now engaged in filling orders for the Orange and Alexandria and the Manasses Gap Railroads, terminating in Alexandria.

The above establishment is one of the beneficial results of the railroad movement in Virginia. But for railroads in that State, it never would have existed. The railroad is the pioneer, and where they are constructed a thousand branches of industry follow in their train. They create a demand for labor to construct and maintain them, and, by opening up a market to every article of use or consumption, stimulate every kind of industry. As the South is behind the North in the manufacturing establishments, we hope to see them give a liberal patronage to their own works, a course which will be of mutual benefit to all parties.

CULTIVATION OF FLAX IN THE SOUTH OF IRELAND.

The annual flax sowing of Ulster averages 50,000 acres. For the rest of Ireland it is but 4,000. Supposing each of the other provinces to cultivate flax as extensively as Ulster, the value of the crop for Ireland, would, it is estimated, be £4,500,000.

NEW CLOTH MEASURING MACHINE.

At a recent meeting of the English Institution of Civil Engineers, Mr. Joseph Whitworth, of Manchester, exhibited a new measuring machine, for determining minute differences of length. The accuracy of the machine was demonstrated by placing in it a standard yard measure, made of a bar of steel, about three-quarters of an inch square, having both the ends rendered perfectly true. One end of the bar was then placed in contact with the face of the machine, and at the other end, between it and the other face of the machine, was interposed a small flat piece of steel, termed by the experimenter, "the contact piece," whose sides were also rendered perfectly true and parallel. Each division on the micrometer represented the one millionth part of an inch, and each time the micrometer was moved only one division forward, the experimenter raised the contact piece, allowing it to descend across the end of the bar by its own gravity only. This was repeated until the closer approximation of the surfaces prevented the contact piece from descending, when the measure was completed, and the number on the micrometer represented the dead length of the standard bar to one-millionth part of an inch. Eight repetitions of the experiment, in a quarter of an hour produced identical results, there not being in any case a variation of onemillionth of an inch.

THE USES OF INDIA RUBBER.

DR. J. V. E. SMITH, the editor of the Boston Medical Journal, who has just returned from an extensive journey in the East, states that in those tropical regions where it was necessary to transport water, he found that river water placed in an India rubber bag, and securely corked, remained at the end of six weeks, perfectly sweet and good, while water carried in the whole skin of an animal, as is the custom in that country, became excessively offensive in the desert in a few days, besides assuming the color of a pale decoction of coffee. In wooden casks, another method adopted by travelers, the changes wrought on the water are analogous to those observed in water tanks at sea. The writer does not decide whether the preservation of the water is due to the utter exclusion of air, or to the influence exerted upon it by the material itself. The fact is one of much importance to travelers in tropical countries, where the supply of this important element it is frequently necessary to transport through great distances.

MANUFACTURE OF GLASS PEARLS.

Glass pearls, though among the most beautiful, inexpensive, and common ornaments for women now made, are produced by a very singular process. In 1656, about 200 years ago, a Venetian, named Jaquin, discovered that the scales of a species of fish, called the bleak-fish, possessed the property of communicating a pearly hue to water. He found, by experiment, that beads dipped in this water, assumed, when dried, the appearance of pearls. It proved, however, that the pearly coating, when placed outside, was easily rubbed off, and the next improvement was to make the beads hollow. The making of these beads is carried on even to this day in Venice. The beads are all blown separately. By means of a small tube, the insides are delicately coated with the pearly liquid, and a wax coating is placed over that. It requires the scales of four thousand fishes to produce half a pint of the liquid, to which small quantities of sal ammonia and isinglass are afterwards added.

ECONOMY OF TOBACCO SMOKING.

Mr. Robert Ellis, surgeon, the principal editor of the official catalogue of the Exhibition, has the following remark, (vol. 1, page 180,) which must gladden the hearts of our smoke-raising brethren :-The total quantity of tobacco retained for home consumption, in 1848, amounted to nearly 17,000,000 lbs. North America alone produces annually upwards of 200,000,000 lbs. The combustion of this mass of vegetable material would yield about 340,000,000 lbs. of carbonic acid gas; so that the yearly increase of carbonic acid gas from tobacco-smoking alone cannot be less than 1,000,000,000 lbs., a large contribution to the annnal demand for this gas made upon the atmosphere, for the vegetation of the world. Henceforth let no one twit the smoker with idleness and unimportance. Every pipe is an agricultural furnace-every smoker a manufacturer of vegetation, the consumer of a weed that he may rear more largely his own provisions.

PROGRESS OF BRITISH MANUFACTURES.

The increase of manufacturing industry in Great Britain in sixty years, is shown by the following table of the raw materials (in pounds) used in that kingdom:

STATISTICS OF THE MANUFACTURES OF THE UNITED STATES.

The subjoined summary of the manufacturing industry of the United States is derived from the report of Mr. Kennedy, the Superintendent of the Census, at Washington. The statistics of population will be found under their appropriate department, in another part of the present number of the Merchants' Magazine :—

The period which has elapsed since the receipt of the returns has been so short as to enable the office to make but a general report of the facts relating to a few of the most important manufactures.

If in some instances the amount of "capital invested" in any branch of manufacture should seem too small, it must be borne in mind, that when the pruduct is of several kinds, the capital invested, not being divisible, is connected with the product of greatest consequence. This, to some extent, reduces the capital invested in the manufacture of bar iron in such establishments where some other article of wrought iron predominates-sheet iron, for example.

The aggregate, however, of the capital invested in the various branches of wrought iron will, it is confidently believed, be found correct.

The entire capital invested in the various manufactures in the United States on the 1st of June, 1850, not to include any establishments producing less than the annual value of $500, amounted, in round numbers, to

Value of raw material..

$530,000,000

550,000,000

The capital invested in the manufacture of cotton goods amounted to.

74,501,031

Value of raw material.....

34,835,056

The capital invested in the manufacture of woolen goods amounted to

28,118,650

Value of raw material...

25,755,988

The capital invested in the manufacture of pig iron amounted to.......

17,346,425

Value of raw material...

7,005,289

In making these estimates, the Assistant Marshals did not include any return of works which had not produced metal within the year, or those which had not commenced operations. The same is applicable to all manufactures enumerated.

The capital invested in the manufacture of castings amounted to....

Value of raw material......

The capital invested in the manufacture of wrought iron amounted to

$17,416,361

10,346,355

7,078,920

25,108,155

23,589

13,995,220

9,518,109

4,196,628

16,387,074

13,057