THE WISCONSIN FARMER.
               _ _ . _ _ _ _   _ _  _ _~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



  could never have been a great and powerf
  nation, sueh as she is to-day.

             THE MINING OF COAL.
    In this country where many of our best coa
  fields are accessible by lateral or horizonti
  working-the coal being often drawn out froi
  its bed directly by teams, without any labor c
  hoisting and pumping, we have but little ide
  of the business of mining in Great Britain
  where facilities of this sort are very exception
  al-a great majority of the mines requirin
  perpendicular shafts many hundreds of fee
  deep, and a ceaseless working of the most pow
  erful engines to keep thenm ventilated and fre
  from water.
  It is there that mining is done at the peri
  and almost certain sacrifice of the utiner-tha
  families dwell in the night of the mines fron
  generation to generation-that pallor ant
  wretchedness and disease mark their thousandu
  of victims-that often hundreds, by one fear
  ful explosion, or in-flooding of waters, are, in
  a moment, destroyed.
  Science has done much for the race of Eng.
  lish miners, however, within the past few years
  and it is still doing more and more to amelior-
ate their condition.  During our travels we
had the opportunity several times to descend
into the mines, and can testify from what we
have seen. In many of them the system of
ventilation is excellent, the means of exhaust-
ing the water, which would otherwise render
them entirely unworkable, quite adequate, and
the safety-lamps such as to secure almost per-
fect immunity from danger.
MECIIANICAL AND CHtEMICAL PRODUCTS OF COAL.
  The Aberdare Steam Fuel Co. and others had
on exhibition specimens of what was called
"1 Puri ed Block Fuel."  It is manufactured
from the small particles of coal, heated with
coal pitch, or other bituminous substance, over
a furnace, and then compressed by hydraulic
machinery in iron moulds. By this means it
acquires a density even superior to that of
many coals, and a form which greatly increas-
es the facility of transportation and handling.
  "    Mineral Black Paint" has been prepared



from coal for several years, and of late it has
given origin to a large number of the beautiful
colors used in the printing of calico.
    ItIUTISH PEAT AND ITS PREPARATIONS.
  The peat bogs of Ireland are as famous as
the Green Isle itself, and we early sought
among the coals for samples of this interesting
product of nature. We were not disappointed;
not only Ireland but several English localities
being represented.
  The supply of this half-formed coal is quite
inexhaustible, and manufacturers of iron, of
gas, of blacking, of phosphorous, &c., are
turning it to good account.
  Several specimens of prepared peat were on
exhibition. When wet, the peat is moulded by
machinery; it is then dried by artificial heat,
and finally subjected to the carbonizing pro-
cess, by means of which a hard charcoal is
produced, said to stand a greater blast than
ordinary wood charcoal, and to be, on other
accounts, more valuable.
But much the larger portion of peat con-
sumed is used in its crude state as fuel, and on
his account, it naturally suggests the vast
)ogs which furnish it, together with the innu-
nerable shanties and the wretched groups of
half naked, dirty, starving children, where
and in the midst of which, we have often seen
t smouldering. What could poor, distressed,
overty stricken Ireland do without it ?
     BRITISH IRON AND OTHER METALS.
 The specimens of Iron ore were numerous
 nd varied, representing the Red Hematite, of
Volverstone and White Haven; the Brown
lematite from Cornwall, South Wales, Devon-
tire, and numerous other localities; Spathose
're from the Brandon Hills, and other locali-
es; the Argillaceous Carbonates and Clay Iron-
ones from the coal measures generally; Car-
onates of the Protoxide of Iron, from Cleve-
nnd; Hydrated Oxides, from Staffordshire,
xfordshire, Lincolnshire, &c.; and the Black
and Ironstone, from Scotland, and South
'ales.
Many of these ores are of superior quality,
ind the mines whence the- are derived anr



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