look as good as new. For this very reason, a trimmer should keep his hands clean, and his work, as far as prac ticable, as he proceeds, covered up. For this very reason, a trimmer The New York Coach-maker's Magazine. Not long since, we saw in a trimming room any quantity of scraps hanging on the floor, and a pile in one corner, of dirt, and leather, and paper, and other material, as the merchants say, "too numerous to mention," a fine place for one to raise his own fleas, and no doubt they find ample feeding ground near at hand-in the sloven's own person! But all are not like our hero. There are some trimmers whose habits are worthy of commendationthey are neatness itself; such we would hold up, to the class we have been describing, as worthy patterns for them to follow. [From the London Field.] HARNESS BLACKING.-The following ingredients make excellent harness blacking :-One pint spirits of turpentine, one ounce Prussian blue, a quarter of a pound of beeswax, one table-spoonful of lamp-black. Slice the wax very thin, put it in a tin vessel, pour on it the turpentine, cover very closely, leave for twenty-four hours, then stir it up, grind the other articles, and mix them in it thoroughly. -N. B. To be kept covered, or it becomes hard.—VAURIA. A correspondent of yours wants a good recipe for harness blacking:-Spirits of turpentine, I pint; add beeswax until as thick as cream; place near the fire; take Prussian blue, one-third part, best ivory black, two-thirds part, mix and rub up with beeswax until a drop placed on the nail cannot be seen through, then add a thick solution of shellac in spirits of wine, with 2 oz. of gum benzoin to the pint, and of soft soap 1 oz., and melt together in a hot water bath; lay on with a black-lead brush (very hard), and polish with a soft brush; use once per month. It will polish at once after washing.-MEDICUS. If C. W. B. tries the following, I think he will not be disappointed:-Beeswax (slice fine) 8 oz., spirits of turpentine, as much as sufficient to cover it; let it stand till dissolved, then well mix with 4 oz. of ivory black, half an ounce of Prussian blue, and 2 oz. of olive oil, previously well rubbed down smooth together.-N. B. If it should get too hard by keeping, add a little turpentine.-T. C. B. If C. W. B. will get carefully compounded by a druggist the following recipe, I think it will save his pounds, shillings, and pence :-Half a pound of beeswax, three quarterns of turpentine, a quarter of a pound of dross black, a quarter of a pound of indigo, and one glass of the oil of thyme. When prepared, keep it in a tin canister, covered. The above recipe I have used for years with good effect. Apply it in the usual way, with a brush rather stiff, first washing the harness well of all other ingredients.-WILL SCARLET. NOVEMBER 1, 1858. E. M. STRATTON, Editor. TO READERS AND CORRESPONDENTS. "T. H. M."-In our haste, we did not finish our answer to your inquiries in the October number. "The enameled process in painting" is performed by spreading three and sometimes four coats of flake-white over the surface of the ground you wish enameled. The color of the varnish, afterwards spread on, imparts to it the enameled appearance and completes the job. "R. M. and others."-With every disposition to accommodate our numerous friends in the country, in their varied inquiries, yet we find it a burthensome task. Correspondents will hereafter bear in mind, that in cases where we receive letters on special business, no ways relating to the Magazine, they must enclose two three-cent stamps, the one to pay the postage, on the return letter, the other to pay the city carrier's chargeswhich we are obliged to pay in all cases-or no attention will be paid to them. "MIDNIGHT MUSINGS" is too sleepy for our columns. The author is advised to try his hand at "sober prose," where no doubt he will succeed better. We give enough of his poem to immortalize the writer, with the remark that we think it is full as good as Miss Virginia Watson's, of the defunct Western Coach Maker's Mag. "Oft, in dreams, wild fancy Has led me, in her wild delight, To those bright scenes of other days- Where oft we've sung the live-long night!" This is not the first instance where "wild fancy" has led man astray. We advise our correspondent to shun_her teachings hereafter, and stay at home, instead of "baying the moon" "the live-long night." We very frequently receive letters so stupidly directed that we cannot possibly tell where the writer hails from. The following is a case in point: Mr. E. M. Stratton: "ROOT, Sept. 10, 1858. SIR, Please send me a copy of your Magazine. Yours, &c., T. P." Our correspondent leaves us to find out his State from the P. O. mark, which, as in this case, is often illegible, and consequently Mr. T. P. could not be attended to. In writing, please name the town, county and State. A little more care will prevent any delay in serving our friends. OURSELF AND ENTERPRISE. BROTHER CRAFTSMEN-This is the sixth number of your NEW YORK COACH-MAKER'S MAGAZINE, and we think that by this time you have become convinced that ours is intended to be something more than a catch-penny undertaking, and that, when we told you of our intention to publish a work worthy of the craft, we meant all we promised. We believe we have thus far performed all that we agreed to do, and, with a little violence to our modesty, would intimate that we have done a little more. Let us see. We promised, in our prospectus, to give three plates monthly. Have we not always given as many as four, and, in two numbers, five each? Have we not invariably given you twenty pages of reading matter, interspersed with numerous and expensive illustrations? Thus far we have no reason to complain. With the effects of the panic still visible-very sensibly so to carriage-makers-yet our patronage from the craft has exceeded our original anticipations. Our respectable number of advertisements and subscribers will insure us against loss during the first year of its publication, and place us in a position to ask confidently for that increase of patronage which alone will remunerate us and place our publication on a paying basis. To this end, we invite our friendswe are happy to find we have many all over the country— now and during the winter months, when the prospects of success in canvassing will not warrant us in employing a traveling agent to call upon you-to use a little exertion to induce those to subscribe who may be within the circle of your influence. There is scarcely a friend to this enterprise who may not, by a little exertion, be the means of adding one or more names to our lists of subscribers, and there are many who, by a little extra effort, might send us clubs of three, six, eight, or ten, and perhaps more, and so help to "grease our wheels," that your COACH-MAKER'S MAGAZINE may be enabled to run along its silent highway smoothly, and profitably to its conductor. Come, friends! please put your "shoulder to the wheel" and give us a lift, will you not? We believe you will. This will stimulate us to greater exertion, and its effects will be seen in the future, as our design is not merely to make money, but we are very ambitious to give the craft a work worthy of them. Remembering that this is now the only Magazine of the kind in existence, let us see what you can do for it, in the way of increasing its circulation. There are some to whom this work has been regularly sent, under the assured impression that they would contribute to its departments. Need we say to such as we name, that, unless they step up to the captain's office and settle, either by MS. or the tin, we shall be under the (to us, painful) necessity of "setting them adrift in an open boat?" We do not see the consistency there may be in any individual's receiving our beautiful work, and yet not returning to its publisher a quid pro quo. However, we do not expect to be compelled to resort to any such extremity; we think our generous friends need only to be reminded of their engagements to fully redeem them. Lastly, there are a few-glad to be able to say only a few -who for three or four months have received this work, who, on sending in their names, promised to "pay on the receipt of your first number," but have neglected to do so until now. To such, we promise, this is the last visit our monthly makes to such veracious patrons, unless they come "right up to the scratch." A word to the wise is, &c. THE FAIR OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE AT THE CRYSTAL PALACE, NEW YORK. AFTER Considerable delay, said to have been caused by the temporary occupancy of "the Atlantic Cable committee," the Thirtieth Annual Fair of the American Institute was finally and formally opened on the 22d Sep tember. After a week's postponement it might have been supposed that exhibitors had had time enough to have come forward and taken up their allotted space, but such was not the case. At the time of opening, the building presented to the public but a sorry show of empty space. In the evening of the day mentioned, the customary inauguration ceremonies were gone through with, the edifice being brilliantly illuminated. Judge MEIGS delivered a short address, in which he stated its objects and aims, commending to his hearers their favorable co-operation in this enterprise, which, if analyzed, would, perhaps, be found quite as much for individual profit as for the public good. On the 4th day of October, in the afternoon, we made a professional visit to this celebrated palace, where we found a few sleighs, buggies and other vehicles, but the show in this line, as compared with former years, was very small, and is attributable to the effects of that "masterly inactivity" which appears to have taken possession of every department of business life. We may state, that Messrs. Stivers & Smith, of this city, had a large stock of sleighs and buggies on exhibition; Mr. Ed. Smith, a very fine notop buggy; Mr. D. Daly, of Brooklyn, a no-perch trotter, weighing only 100 lbs., and a few other manufacturers were making a little show, but very little was found of much interest to our readers. LATER. Within less than twenty-four hours from the time to which the above remarks refer, the Crystal Palace, a fruitful theme for penny-a-liners and newspaper scribblers generally, was a complete heap of smoking ruins. At ten minutes past five o'clock, P. M., October 5th, a fire was discovered at the Forty-second street entrance. From this point the flames spread with such wonderful rapidity to every part of the huge edifice, that it was with great difficulty that the two thousand visitors in the palace at the time could be got out without danger to life. This, however, was done, and in about twelve minutes after the fire was first discovered, the lofty dome fell in with a dreadful crash of glass and iron, and in less than one-half hour the structure-the cynosure of all eyes, which, since its erection in 1852, has been a prominent object to strangers in visiting the city, by the Harlem and New Haven Rail Road— was among the palaces of the past-annihilated. It would be a difficult matter to estimate correctly the value of the property; but it is said that when, some time since, the American Institute essayed to buy it, they valued it at $125,000. The statuary and goods, valued at $225,000, would make the sum total $350,000. This, probably, is a very low estimate. Its original construction and decorations cost about $635,000. The losses to the Institute, in decorations and prospective profits from the season's exhibition, which had scarcely got under way, coupled with the heavy losses to some of the exhibitors, make it a serious matter all around. It is thought that the exhibitors, alone, lost about $158,000. The building was, probably, the most magnificent structure ever erected on this Continent-the principal dimensions of which we add for future reference: From the ground to the gallery floor, 24 feet; to top of second tier of girders, 44 feet 4 inches; to top of the third tier of girders, 59 feet 10 inches; to ridge of nave, 67 feet 4 inches; to top of bed-plate, 69 feet 11 inches; to the top of the upper ring of the dome, 123 feet 6 inches; from the curbstone, on the Sixth avenue, to the top of the lantern, 151 feet; to the top of the towers, 769 feet. The area of floor and galleries was 249,691 feet, or about 5 acres. The original stockholders-just as we predicted at the time of building this palace-lost all they invested in the undertaking, some three or four years ago, and the building was, in June last, taken out of the receiver's hands, in whose possession it then was, for the benefit of some bondholders, by the city authorities, who claimed possession of the property by the terms of the original lease to Edward Riddle, in 1852, for the purpose of erecting the edifice for the Great Exhibition of the Industry of all Nations. How the fire originated appears to be a mystery, although, with the readiness of ignorance, it is, for lack of a better reason, attributed to an incendiary. There is no question about the property-holders, in the neighborhood, wishing it was out of the way for a long time, and this event is but the consummation of their desires, and the end of its vicissitudes and troubles. Sic transit gloria mundi. All the above gentlemen are true as steel to the interests of carriage-makers-the sash-maker included-and which they have manifested by telling where our friends can find. the best articles in their line, and particularly in contributing material aid to the Magazine enterprise, without which our wheels might clog. However, be that as it may, the above, together with another "crowd" counted out in our July number, are the most generous, fair-dealing and correct business men we have seen since "the Panic" set in; and as they have been true to us, we trust our friends will be true to them, by letting them know, when they want anything in their line, that they are not forgotten. There is one thing we wish to enjoin on the reader-don't charge the Editor with selfishness in writing this article! It is plainly intended to benefit the craft in general, and our advertisers in particular. AGENTS WANTED. WE are anxious to obtain a few good agents, local and traveling, for this Magazine, in different portions of the United States and the Canadas. We would be willing to give the sole agency for Maine, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, &c., to different individuals, who could present respectable and approved credentials, as to good character and moral worth. We should expect that whoever might be engaged would canvass their allotted territory with spirit and energy, and make fortnightly reports of names to this office, at the same time remitting us all moneys, less the per centage allowed to agents in our agreement. Those who have a taste and the qualifications for engaging in this enterprise, will learn our terms, and, if mutually satisfied, be furnished with the necessary authority-papers, on application by letter to the publisher. This call, be it understood, only applies to such as are willing to travel at a per centage, paying their own expenses. Agents who belong to the craft preferred. WHO WANTS BUSINESS? If there are any persons who want a little more business than they can attend to, and do not exactly know how to reach such a condition, let them read the following letter to the editor, and go and do likewise. 66 -Price, Bond & Co., -S. P. Smith & Co., 66 66 66 MR. E. M. SRATTON : CARRIAGE SPRINGS-W. Wright & Co., HUBS, ALL KINDS-Wm. Miles & Co., NEW HAVEN, Sept. 22d, 1858. Dear Sir-Enclosed I hand you my check, No. 480, for twenty-five dollars, in full for advertising one-quarter of a column in the NEW YORK COACH-MAKER'S MAGA ZINE, for twelve months. You will please not insert the advertisement again, as my business has so rapidly increased that I find it impossible to fill my orders. You have only got out four numbers, but I have paid you for the whole year, and I assure you that I am well satisfied. Wishing you and your enterprise much success, I remain your friend, G. F. KIMBAll. P. S.-If the twenty-five dollars do not cover the whole amount, please inform me by return mail and I will remit. Yours, with respect, G. F. K. Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper is one of those interesting and independent weeklies we are glad to receive among our exchanges. Its influence is very great upon the community, which has recently been shown, in its complete upsetting of the swill milk imposition, as practiced upon the better class of our city population. Published at 13 Frankfort street, at $3 a year. Editorial Shavings. THE CAB-DRIVERs' Grievances.-The hackmen, numbering some eight hundred in this city, who have so long. imposed upon the public, begin, by their whinings, to impress the minds of the suffering with the fact that their rascality-heretofore-has made their business anything but profitable, at the present time. Smarting under the effects of their own conduct, they recently sent a deputation of twenty-five carriage-drivers and hackmen, to wait upon the Mayor, in reference to the restrictions placed upon them, in view of suppressing the extortions of ticket-swindlers and others, to whose vile practices these "hackmen" are ever ready to lend assistance, and in whose gains from dishonesty they are ever ready to share. They say that every needful caution would be secured, if the owners of carriages were compelled to take out one license for each carriage, and that the driver wear and exhibit a corresponding badge. If as the city "Fathers" propose, in deference to their wishes these drivers are compelled (!) to take out licenses, and wear a badge, what more security against trickery shall we gain, than for years past? But read the Aldermanic propositions: "Such drivers will be allowed to solicit for fares, the protection to the public being the badge, name and number exhibited and registered, as the guarantee of their instant liability to arrest, upon the proof of any fraudulent use of the accorded privilege. Each steamboat and railroad landing will have a place set apart for these men to stand and solicit, as in Baltimore, Boston and other cities, so as to prevent unnecessary intrusion upon foot-passengers in the street. It is understood that a meeting will be held of licensed hack-drivers on Wednesday evening, to form a 'Protective Association,' and none will be allowed to belong to it but citizens of good character, 21 years of age. Any imposition upon the public is to be followed by instant dismission from this Association." THE TELEKI, A TURKISH CONVEYANCE.-The authoress of "In and Around Stamboul" says: 66 'Imagine a very dirty, tawdry, diminutive Lord Mayor's coach, or a half-penny edition of Cinderella's pumpkin, with two most wretched white horses tied to it by a strange entanglement of leather thongs and rope. A charm of blue and red beads, against the evil eye, hung around the neck of each of these poor animals, whose appearance was far more likely to inspire feelings of pity than of envy. Are we to carry the horses, or are they to carry us?' said I to Vassili, as I stood with the magnificent Espinu in the gate. The Greek driver laughed heartily on this being translated to him, but declared that his cattle would do the journey well. Having got the vehicle, the next difficulty to be overcome was how to get into it. No step, no door! I saw, with dismay, that Espinu and I (neither of us at all in the fairy style) must inevitably take a flying leap through the window, which was obligingly opened for us. I must say that my heart rather misgave me for a moment, especially as I saw the Armenian bishop's eyes gleaming through the opposite lattice; but presently taking shame to myself that an Englishwoman should quail at anything, and invoking the spirit of the clown I had seen so cheerfully risk his neck in the last pantomime, I tucked up my petticoats as high as consideration for the Armenian bishop would permit, and one spring from the loose stone at our door settled me comfortably on all-fours at the bottom of the teleki, with no other injury than a slight knock on the head." A CARRIAGE ROAD IN TURKEY.-A route for a carriage road has just been surveyed by the French from Damascus to Beyrout, which they have indicated by stones bearing numbers. It is supposed that it will require three years in which to complete it, and that it will cost from 3,000,000 to 4,000,000 francs. เ A QUEER VEHICLE.-The correspondent of a cotemporary, writing from the Adirondack, says: "I noticed an extraordinary vehicle that I had not seen before. It was mounted on four wheels about the size and shape of four good-sized pumpkins. They had been cut off from the end of a gnarled log, and holes knocked through them, into which axletrees had been put, strong enough to bear a small house. A pair of immense shafts were attached, near which was lying a single yoke, which looked as if it were a good load for one man to carry. After puzzling my brain awhile in vain conjectures as to what sort of monster this extraordinary structure belonged to, I turned to the settler and inquired of him. He gave a low chuckle, as if enjoying hugely some pleasant recollection, then replied, Why, you see, that's for my bull. I was passing Johnson's clearing one day, who had a big, savage bull. Now, this bull had, a few days before, come near killing him, and he wanted to get rid of the brute, for he was afeared of him. So he hollered to me and asked me if I didn't want to buy his bull. I told him yes. 'What'll you give?' said he. I put down a low figure. 'Take him,' says he. I drove him hum, and he was as ugly a devil as you'd want to see. Wall, I got this consarn made for him, and put him in it, and worked him right down, and I keep him worked down, so that he is now tame as a cow.' 'But what do you draw with him?' I asked; that heavy thing with those four round billets of wood for wheels must be a load of itself over these rocks and stumps and uneven ground.' 'Oh, no,' said he, he does all my work; he thinks nothing of a ton of hay and a saw log two feet through; he makes along slick as can be.' I should honestly judge that an animal, that could drag a ton of hay on such wheels as those over his rough clearings, could carry, in a wagon constructed on the ordinary model, ten tons easily." PUBLIC OMNIBUSES.-The Board of Aldermen has adopted a resolution directing omnibuses to be driven at a uniform speed. While our authorities have this matter in hand, they would do well to take some steps in regard to the overcrowding of public vehicles of all kinds. The City Railroads have always taken in as many persons as could obtain standing room inside or a foothold on the platforms, and, since the adoption of the plan requiring payment on entering, the omnibuses do the same thing. Nothing is more common now than for stages to crowd 14, 15 or 16 into room designed for 12. If our City Government keeps up the sham of pretending to regulate the public conveyances, it should give some attention to this matter. A MONSTROUS OMNIBUS.-They have a mammoth omnibus in France, at the small town of Cavaillon (Vaucluse), whose origin is rather singular. The proprietor of an extensive silk-spinning mill in that place has about eighty women and young girls in his employ, most of whom belong to the villages surrounding, and are accustomed to spend the Sabbath at home. Heretofore, that they might do so, they were obliged to start on Saturday evening and walk from three to twelve miles, and return on Sunday evening more fatigued than by a hard day's work. In order to remedy this inconvenience, their employer had this ponderous vehicle constructed, with two rows of seats, one over the other, capable of carrying about sixty passengers. When the mill is closed on Saturday evening, four strong horses are harnessed to it, in which the females are conveyed to their respective villages, and on Sunday evening the same omnibus calls for and conveys the operatives back again to Cavaillon. WITH the understanding that you have practiced sufficiently with the pen to enable you to commence inking your pencil sketch, we will now proceed by mixing our ink as described in Lesson I., then with your small compass pen describe the hubs of the wheels as represented in the diagram. In all cases of carriage drafting, ink the wheels first, as they are outside of all and nearest the vision. Now you have the hubs inked, get your large compass pen and describe the circumference of the wheels, leaving the outside line the heaviest. Having done that, you can divide the circumference of the wheel into any number of spokes desired. Then, with a straight edge, draw two fine lines, to represent the spokes, from the points in the circumference of the wheel to the hub, keeping the centre of the hub for your guide. Having the wheels done, you can now commence inking your body lines, and be sure and don't cross any of the double lines you have made for the wheels. When you have inked all the lines necessary to complete your draft, with a piece of india-rubber rub out all traces of the lead pencil, and commence shading, which is done by dipping your hair pencil in the ink, and adding water until it comes at the shade required. In miniature drafting, I think it best to shade all parts deep that are to be painted black, and shade lightly all colored parts. It looks far better than too deep a shading all through. Ornamental work is better done by the lead pencil than with the pen. To make ornamental work done with the pencil as durable as with ink, get a clean camel-hair pencil and a drop of milk, and give it a light brush over, and when dry it cannot be erased. INVENTIONS APPERTAINING TO COACH-MAKING AT HOME AND ABROAD. AMERICAN PATENTED INVENTIONS. September 14. MODE OF PREVENTING NUTS FROM UNSCREWING.-S. Noblet, of Halifax, Pa.: I claim preventing bolt-heads or nuts from turning, by inserting below them a flexible metallic washer, one end of which is turned against the head or nut, and the other held immovable in place, substantially as described and represented. September 21. SELF-ACTING WAGON BRAKE.-A. Larrowe, of Cohocton, N. Y.: I am aware that self-acting brakes, having a wedge-shaped rubber for self-tightening on the forward motion of the wagon, and self-releasing on the backward motion, are not new; such, therefore, I do not claim. But I claim constructing the rubbers, with the flanges on each side, operating loosely in grooves in bar, B, and resting on |