COTTON FROM BRAZIL.

In searching the world for supplies of cotton to fill the hiatus caused by the Southern blockade, the most hopeful parts have received scarcely any attention. Brazil is a magnificent country for cotton-growing. As long as the year 1856, Great Britain imported from Brazil nearly 22,000,000 pounds of this staple, of which about one-third was sent out from the port of Pernambuco. We are reminded of this fact by the arrival from the same part of the globe, of a considerable quantity of cotton at New York. Cotton culture in Brazil is yet in its infancy, but as the river and coast navigation is extended by the employment of steamers, and the interior is more intimately connected with the seaboard by the completion of lines of railway, we may confidently rely on a rapid increase of production. Among the new railroads wholly finished or in progress, is one from Bahia, one from Pernambuco, and two from Rio de Janeiro. The coastwise trade being now thrown open to foreign shipping, increased facilities will be enjoyed for concentrating at these points the products of the interior, and British and French capitalists will eagerly avail themselves of every new advantage. Brazilian trade, formerly engrossed by the United States to a large extent, is gradually slipping away from us through the efforts of more energetie rivals--Great Britain, supporting two distinct lines of first-class steamships, and France two, beside lines to Genoa, Hamburg, Belgium, and Portugal. From the year 1850, when Great Britain first established steam mail facilities, to 1855, she doubled a large trade of profitable exports, whereas before advantages were thus turned in her favor, the United States defied all competition. Thus we see that though geographically much nearer, and enjoying in a peculiar sense the favor of the Brazilian Government and people, and possessing a large variety of commodities adapted to a profitable exchange, we have allowed a rich trade to be diverted from us, and the Great Republic to be deprived of that commanding influence which it should exercise among the free governments of the Western continent.

Brazil is at the head of South American States. Since the establishment of the empire, in 1822, she has made substantial and unfaltering progress in all the elements of national greatness. The glowing description given by HADFIELD's work on Brazil-published in London a few years ago--is fully deserved. He says:

"If once the tide of emigration begins to set fairly toward that immense agricultural field, watered by the rivers of South America, there is no foreseeing the extension of wealth and prosperity that must assuredly follow; for population is the sole requirement to fit these limitless and teeming regions to work out the destiny which it is impossible to doubt that Providence has designed for that portion of the earth, where the majesty and luxurience of nature invite the presence of man through highways at once the mightiest and most facile in the world."

Americans have not been wholly unmindful of their opportunities. In truth, American energy has been largely infused, directing in the construction of railways, encouraging manufactures, and stimulating trade. At St. Alexis, an American erected a cotton factory, the first in the province of Rio de Janeiro. All this is cause for congratulation. But if in past years the United States Government had engaged more earnestly in efforts for the establishment of steam mail lines, we should now enjoy that pre-eminence claimed by another, and be enabled to appropriate to ourselves the advan

tages arising from the best cotton-growing region of the world beyond the limits of our country. Brazilian cotton is always good, commanding a higher price in the Liverpool market than the average from American plantations, and may yet contribute, in an essential degree, to relieve the embarrassment trade is suffering. Its culture will rapidly extend, should remunerative prices continue. During the past year an English house in Brazil is said to have cleared $1,500,000 in this trade, and still another has profited very largely.

On the return of peace, we may hope our relations with Brazil will receive proper attention.

COTTON-GROWING IN SENEGAL.

Accounts have been received in Paris from the French settlement in Senegal to the 28th of December. Several merchants had commenced cotton plantations on their own account, and others were about to imitate them. Cotton produced from seed sown in February last was gathered in November. The seasons are so regular in Senegal, that cotton growers do not find it necessary to irrigate their plantations. A number of farmers from Alsace had likewise arrived at Senegal to cultivate cotton, and had commenced operations. The French Government, in order to encourage the cultivation of cotton among the natives, had determined to place at the disposal of the chiefs of villages such instruments and machines as are best calculated for the cultivation and dressing of the cotton plant. The government has sent to Senegal an American ginning machine, with cylindrical saws and keys like those of a piano. This machine was sent out by the Minister of Marine, and a press is likewise expected at St. Louis. The ginning machine is hired out to the public for a trifling remuneration. It is stated that the cost of the carriage of raw cotton is diminished three-fourths by the use of this machine. The cultivation of cotton in Senegal is practised as it is in the Brazils-that is, by the cotton tree, which lasts from eight to ten years -while in the United States the cotton is sown every year, and is gathered from the month of July until the plant is killed by the frost. As it never freezes in Senegal, the cotton tree lives. Nevertheless, according as the tree grows old, the quality becomes deteriorated. On the other hand, the cultivation is less expensive and demands less care than the cotton cultivated in the United States. An objection was raised against the cultivation of cotton in Senegal on the ground that the negroes, accustomed to the cultivation of oil nuts (ground,) would not give up the cultivation of that crop with which they are acquainted for that of cotton, which is new to them. It is now ascertained, however, that the two crops, far from being injurious to each other, may be grown in the same plantation. In fact, while preparing the ground for the ground nut, which does not rise higher than trefoil, that cultivation prepares the ground for the cotton tree, which does no injury to the arachide. Rows of cotton plants may be sown in a field with ground nuts.

COTTON-GROWING IN THE RIVER PLATE PROVINCES.

:

On the subject of cotton cultivation the Buenos Ayres Standard says "The cotton seed which we were so anxiously expecting has at last arrived, and it affords us sincere gratification to assure our friends in Manchester that the national government has at last determined to help us in the matter, and to afford us every assistance possible in the enterprise. We have been visited by several large property holders in Cordova, Catamares, Corrientes, Entre Rios, and Santa Fé, all of whom speak in the most confident terms as to the ultimate success of our efforts. In no country in the world does the cotton plant thrive so well as in this, but, owing to the low price of the raw material and the enormously heavy freights, the natives preferred sowing maize, which has a home consumption, to cotton, which nobody knew the use of."

COTTON FROM TURKEY.

The Smyrna Mail of the 31st of December last, after alluding to the interest attaching to the opening of the Smyrna and Aidin Railway Com pany, by means of which Ephesus is brought within ten days' journey of England, says: "But this is not the only advantage which has accrued from the opening of this railway so far; it has laid open a fertile tract of land capable of every cultivation, and adaptable more especially to that of cotton. The 12,000 bales of last year have augmented to above 60,000 this season, and will next season increase to above 100,000 bales, which shows not a small item for the capabilities of Asia Minor to supply cotton, considering the rude mode of cultivation hitherto adopted."

COTTON FROM JAMAICA.

Mr. STEPHEN BOURNE, of the Jamaica Cotton Company's Office, states that there is now mountain land enough in Jamaica lying waste to give cotton to the extent of a million bales annually of far better quality than East Indian or American cotton. He 66 says: Why wait for government interference, or go 15,000 miles for that which may be procured within a month's sail or three weeks' steam of Liverpool?" It appears that strong efforts are being made to encourage the cultivation of cotton in Jamaica.

JOURNAL OF MINING, MANUFACTURES, AND ART.

LAKE SUPERIOR IRON.

We have made up the following from a report in a late number of the Lake Superior Journal:

The shipments for 1861 were small compared with the previous year, or the present, which grew out of the common derangement which existed in consequence of the attempted secession of a number of the States, and the civil war which it brought and is still upon us. If, however, double the amount had been put in the market, it would have sold, as business assumed its wonted vigor the last part of the year of 1861, and the demand for this staple was equal to that of any former period. The shipments the year just closed, would have been at least 50,000 more gross tons if the tonnage could have been had to move it. But with the Mississippi River closed, its demand to move the Western produce to the sea board via the lakes, occupied so much of it at such high rates, that it was impossible to obtain sufficient, at reasonable rates, to satisfy the popular demand. As it was, almost fabulous rates were paid-as high as five dollars per ton-to get a portion of this amount into market. Had the popular demand been fully supplied, it would have required an amount but little less than 200,000

tons.

The furnaces have also exceeded the product of last year. Until now, the manufacture of pig iron has had many difficulties to encounter. Facilities had to be created, experiments made, and the reputation of the iron established. All these have been in a good measure accomplished, the business reduced to a most thorough system, and, with the large demand for this metal, and the remunerative price it now brings, the furnaces will give a good account of themselves in the future. With the facilities they now enjoy, their product in 1863 will reach 12,000 gross tons.

Both the ore and the pig iron business were never in a better condition than at this time. The mines are all-those which are worked-well opened, so that any desired amount can be mined; the demand is very large, so that with the ways and means to place it in the market, the amount will increase each year at the rate of from 50,000 to 100,000 tons.

The following tables show the shipments of iron ore and pig iron from 1850 to 1863:

At a meeting some months since of the Archæological Society of London, Capt. Windus, of the Navy, read an account of a remarkable carrack or war galley, equipped by the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, and described by Bosio, the historian of the Order, which had been plated with sheet lead as a defense against bullets. This vessel was built at Nice, in A. D. 1530, and made one of the great squadron sent by the Emperor Charles V., against Tunis, to assist the dethroned Muley Hassan against Barbarossa. The celebrated Andrew Dorias commanded the expedition, and after a few days Tunis was taken by storm. This metallic clad galley was called the Santa Anna, and aided greatly in taking the city. She had six decks, consequently was larger than the Merrimac. Her crew consisted of 500 men.

A NOVELTY IN QUARRYING.

An instrument for boring into hard rock, made out of a tube furnished with a circular cutter of rough diamonds, is now being employed in France. It is caused to revolve, and, as it enters the stone, the cutter scoops out a cylinder, which is afterwards easily taken out of the tube. Holes in hard granite, for blasting purposes, two inches diameter and four feet deep, are thereby bored in one hour. This would require two days' work in the ordinary way. The diamonds, when examined through a magnifying glass, do not look at all injured.