MERCANTILE MISCELLANIES.

MEDITATIONS ON A RAILROAD BOND.

We transfer to our pages some verses from the Hartford Courant, which may amuse, if not instruct, some of our readers :

It is a very pretty thing,
And charmingly engraved;
As neatly gotten up a cheat
As ever broker shaved.
And I have quite a lot of them
All safe and snug at home,
Enough to make a picture book
As large as Gibbon's Rome.

I know I bought them very cheap,
At only eighty-three-
Indeed, we higgled quite a time
Before we could agree;

"What! eighty-three for ten per cents,
Dear sir, you must be crazed-
Yet I shall have to let them go,
For money must be raised."

Before that very week was out
I thought I smelt a rat;
For I was told that I could buy
For even less than that.
My neighbor bought at seventy-six,
I never asked him how;
But I am very glad to learn
That he has got them now.

Those thousand dollar promises
Are printed by the ream!
And being secured by mortgages,
How very safe they seem.
Moreover, I reserved the right
To change them into shares,
Whose income by-and-by would be
A fortune for my heirs.

The coupons-those delicious things!
How temptingly they look,
As beautifully lithographed
As Olney's Copy-book.

Yes, there they are-not one cut off-
The ranks are perfect yet,
And like to be, for all that I
From them shall ever get.

Ah, well-the dream is over now,
And so I sit and sigh,

And curse the day when oily tongues
Persuaded me to buy;

I spend my time with tearful eyes,
O'er the delusive shams,
In singing sad lugubrious hymns,
And penitential psalms.

OBITUARY OF A NEW YORK MERCHANT.

The commercial community have been called upon, during the past month, to regret the demise of one of its most intelligent merchants and citizens.

John R. Peters, who died at his residence in New York April 23, was one of the prominent men of a generation which is fast passing away. He was the eldest sou of General Absalom Peters, of Hebron, Connecticut, and was born at Wentworth, New Hampshire, in 1783. He commenced his business education in Groton, Massachusetts, in the same establishment with the late Amos and William Lawrence, of Boston; went from there to Troy, New York, (where he carried on a successful business for several years,) and came thence to this city in 1814, where he has resided ever since. As one of our leading merchants for a number of years, he did much by his enterprise in developing the cotton trade of the South, where he had extensive business connections for many years, and sent (in 1816) the first vessel cleared from this port for Mobile, then so little known-although an old settlement-that he could get no reliable information concerning its locality except from Aaron Burr. Possessing a strong and active mind, untiring industry and energy, and taking great interest in the progress of the city, he had retired from business but a short time when he was elected to a seat in the Common Council, in which he continued as a leading Democrat for several years, and was instrumental in projecting and carrying out some of the most important city improvements of the day. After leaving the Common Council, he held the office of "Commissioner of the Almshouse " for several years, and introduced some important changes into the management of that department. We will mention one as an indication of the character of the man'

The children in the almshouse, of whom there were a large number, were attacked with malignant opthalmia, which was spreading so rapidly that the doctor recommended immediate removal of all the children to a roomy and healthy locality, as the only means of saving the eyesight of many. Mr. Peters urged upon the city, as they owned the proper place, the necessity of purchasing the 'Long Island farms," opposite Blackwell's Island, for the purpose. As the project was likely to be defeated by some of the authorities not aware of the necessity of the case, Mr. Peters purchased the property on his own responsibility, and had the children moved immediately. The results justified the wisdom of the proceeding, after proving which he sold the property to the city at the price he gave for it, although, as he informed them, fully aware of its rapidly increasing value, on condition they would retain it for similar purposes. As the offices held by Mr. Peters were at that time purely honorary and the duties very arduous, if properly discharged, and his property and health had become impaired by strict attention to the interests of the city, he retired from office to devote himself to his family growing up around him, and his numerous friends. He was eminently a social man, witty, and possessed of an inexhaustible fund of highly interesting and original anecdote, which he told in an inimitable manner, and no doubt had as extensive a personal acquaintance as any man in the United States. He had been growing infirm for the last four years of his life, but kept up his interest in the events of the day till the last, spending his summers at his country seat at Saratoga Springs, as the most ready means of enjoying the society of his old friends from various parts of the Union, who will miss his familiar face. Confined to his room for several weeks past, he gradually faded away, surrounded by his family and friends, and in the possession of his faculties up to the day of his death, when, after several hours of quiet unconsciousness, his spirit passed away with the setting sun, as gently as an infant sinks to rest.

COTTON IN SAN SALVADOR.

A correspondent of the San Francisco Bulletin furnishes that paper with a letter written by H. G. Foote, H. B. M. Consul at San Salvador, upon the resources of that Republic. Mr. Foote has long resided in the State, and is engaged in raising cotton and coffee, as well as in attending to the interests of Great Britain. We extract that portion of the letter which relates to cotton growing:

I am planting according to my capital, slowly and surely, both coffee and cotton. The cotton of this country is of a beautiful fiber, short staple, and as fine as silk. In no part of the world have I seen such a fine staple as that in a parcel grown near Izalco. My own small crop is not a bad specimen, although grown between my coffee trees. On some of the shrubs I counted ninety to one hundred bolls.

The climate is peculiarly adapted to cotton planting. We plant in August. From the time of planting until the boll is formed and ready to burst, we have warm gentle showers, and only occasionally heavy ones; but having intervals of sun, the rains never drown or injure the plant. This continues until about the end of the month of November, when the rains cease altogether, the boll bursts, and the cotton shows itself, fine, white, and unsullied. Nature has done all for Central America-man, nothing as yet-but it is impossible that a country so blessed in climate and productiveness, can remain much longer unknown to the world.

IMPROVED PRINTING PROCESS.

M. Chevalier, of Paris, is the author of an invention which has for its object to obtain printing surfaces as a substitute for lithography and other similar methods of printing, the use of which, besides being cheaper than lithographic printing, offers this advantage, that a design consisting of a number of different colors can be printed at one and the same time. In carrying out this invention, any suitable permeable substance or fabric is taken-or it may be a reticulated metal surface, or metallic plate or sheet, perforated with minute holes to impart the required degree of permeability, and on this surface are drawn or written the desired characters in an ink composed of lamp black, Indian ink, gum, sugar, and salt. A coat of this ink being applied to the permeable substance in the form of the design required, the permeable substance is next coated with a thin coating or film of gutta percha or of gelatinous material, covering the whole; when this coating is dry, the fabric is washed. The gutta percha or gelatinous material, at that part where it comes in contact with the permeable material, adheres firmly thereto; but at those parts covered by the ink it has no such adhesion, and simply holds to the ink design. The ink, being really soluble in water, is removed in the washing, and carries away the gutta percha covering it; thus the design drawn upon the permeable material becomes the only pervious part remaining in the surface. The back part of the fabric is then coated with the ink or colors required to be printed, and the ink or color having been applied, the impression is taken from the face of the fabric or substance by pressure in a suitable press; the paper or surface to be printed being placed in contact with the face of the fabric, the ink or color passes through the pervious part, and is in this manner applied and printed on the paper or other surface required.

MEANS OF PRESERVING TIMBER.

Oils are preservatives of wood, as is evidenced in the case of whaling ships, which seem to be proof against decay. Hot oil has been experimented with in impregnating wood, but while it rendered it more durable, it injured the tenacity of the fibers. From the well known preservative nature of arsenic, it would be effectual for preserving timber, but its use is attended with much danger. Timber impregnated with a solution of tannin is rendered preservative, by the tannin combining with the albumen, and forming an insoluble compound, in the same manner that leather is produced by the combination of the tannin with the gelatin of skins. Creosote is an excellent preservative of wood, and the efficacy of common tar, for this purpose, is attributed to the creosote it contains. The boiling of timber in wood tar, renders it highly preservative, but it impares its strength. About two gallons of creosote to every one hundred gallons of water, makes a sufficiently strong solution for use. Burnett's process for preserving wood consists in the use of a chloride of zinc solution--one pound to every five gallons of water, and is applied in the same manner as the corrosive sublimate. For ship timber it is much superior to the corrosive sublimate, because the compound it forms with the albumen of the wood is insoluble in salt water, which is not the case with the mercury compound. The chloride of zinc and the sulphate of copper are the most simple considering the cost. Shingles for roofs of houses, boiled in a solution of the sulphate of copper or pure salt, will last many years longer than they otherwise would.

SELF-CONTROL.

A merchant in London had a dispute with a Quaker respecting the settlement of an account. The merchant was determined to bring the account into court, a proceeding which the Quaker earnestly deprecated, using every argument in his power to convince the merchant of his error; but the latter was inflexible. Desirous to make a last effort, the Quaker called at his house one morning, and inquired of the servant if his master was at home. The merchant hearing the inquiry, and knowing the voice, called out from the top of the stairs, "Tell the rascal I am not at home." The Quaker looking up to him calmly said, "Well, friend, God put thee in a better mind." The merchant, struck afterwards with the meekness of the reply, and having more deliberately investigated the matter, became convinced that the Quaker was right, and that he was wrong. He requested to see him, and after acknowledging his error, he said, "I have one question to ask you. How were you able, with such patience, on various occasions, to bear my abuse?" "Friend," replied the Quaker, "I will tell thee. I was naturally as hot and violent as thou art. I knew that to indulge this temper was sinful; and I found it was imprudent. I observed that men in a passion always spoke loud; and I thought if I could control my voice, I should repress my passion. I have, therefore, made it a rule never to let my voice rise above a certain key; and by a careful observance of this rule, I have, by the blessing of God, entirely mastered my natural temper." The Quaker reasoned philosophically, and the merchant, as every one else may do, benefited by his example.

THE MCDONOUGH'S ESTATE.

The commissioners of this estate have made a full and final report of their administration, from which it appears that the law expenses, ordinary and extraordinary, and the regular salaries of the management, (about $23,000.) amounted to more than $45,000 during the last year. Two sums of $12,534 09 each have been paid to the Orphan Boys' Society and the American Colonization Society, as legatees under McDonough's will. There is appended to the report an inventory of the real estate of McDonough, as it stood on the 31st of December last. The aggregate is as follows:-City of New Orleans, $1,199,565; county parishes, $890,859 59; total, $2,090,424 59. The slave property is stated at $30,000; the properties of the Orleans Theater at $16,000, which, with book debts and small claims, and the cash, make further assets to the amount of about $150,000.

IRISH ENCUMBERED ESTATES COURT.

The business in the Encumbered Estates Court of late has been considerable. There are ten conditional, and eight absolute orders, and among the petitions is one in the matter of William Rathbone for an estate in the city and county of Dublin, £1,237 per annum. The following is an extract from Mr. Ormsby's statistical account, showing the sales in each year since the court commenced, in each case up to 1st August :-

THE FORTUNES OF THE ANCIENTS.

Croesus possessed in landed property a fortune equal to £1,700,000, besides a large amount of money, slaves, and furniture, which amounted to an equal sum. He used to say that a citizen who had not a sufficient sum to support an army or a legion, did not deserve the title of a rich man. The philosopher Seneca had a fortune of £3,500,000. Tiberias, at his death, left £29,624,000, which Caligula spent in twelve months. Vespasian, on ascending the throne, estimated all the expenses of the State at £35,000,000. The debts of Milo amounted to £600,000. Cæsar, before he entered upon any office, owed £2,995,000. He had purchased the friendship of Corio for £500, and that of Lucius Paulus for £300,000. At the time of the assassination of Julius Cæsar, Anthony was in debt to the amount of £3,000,000; he owed this sum on the ides of March, and it was paid by the kalends of April; he squandered £147,000,000. Appius squandered in debauchery £500,000, and finding, on the examination of the state of his affairs, that he had only £80,000, poisoned himself because he considered that sum insufficient for his maintenance. Cæsar gave Satulla, the mother of Brutus, a pearl of the value of £10,000. Cleopatra, at an entertainment she gave to Anthony, dissolved in vinegar a pearl worth £80, and he swallowed it.

THE AMERICAN MERCHANT.

The American merchant is a type of a restless, adventurous, onward-going race of people. He sends his merchandise all over the earth; stocks every market; makes wants that he may supply them; covers the New Zealander with southern cotton woven in northern looms; builds blocks of stores in the Sandwich Islands; swaps with the Feejee cannibal; sends the whale-ship among the icebergs of the poles, or to wander in solitary seas, till the log-book tells the tedious sameness of years, and boys become men; gives the ice of the northern winter to the torrid zone; piles up Fresh Pond on the banks of the Hooghly; gladdens the sunny savannahs of the dreamy South; and makes life tolerable in the bungalow of an India jungle. The lakes of New England awake to life by the rivers of the sultry east, and the antipodes of the earth come in contact at this" meeting of the waters." The white canvas of the American ship glances in every nook of every ocean. Scarcely has the slightest intimation come of some unknown, obscure corner of a remote sea, when the captain is consulting his charts, in full career for the terra incognita.

BRUSSELS LACE.

The spinning of the fine thread used for lace-making in the Netherlands is an operation demanding so high a degree of exquisite skill, minute manipulation, and vigilant attention, that it appears impossible that it can ever be taken from human hands by machinery. None but Belgian fingers are skilled in this art. The very finest sort of this thread is made in Brussels, in damp underground cellars, for it is so extremely delicate that it is liable to break by contact with the dry air above ground; and it is obtained in good condition only when made and kept in a humid, subterraneous atmosphere. There are numbers of old Belgian thread-makers who, like spiders, have passed the best part of their lives spinning in cellars. This sort of occupation naturally has an injurious effect on the health, and the eye-sight of the operatives is impaired at an early age.