The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1858-09-11
Select 12lislclIonD.
The Coal we Burn.


about half million tons of coal per year. for
the consumption of dwelling. houses, stores
and manufactures. OF this quantity about
SIX sevcnt.s is anthracite or hard coal, from
Pennsylvania, and the balance is bituminous
coal, chiefly from Nova Scotia. For the our.
pose Of heating apartments the anthracite is
used almost exclusively, on account Off
greater cleanliness and economy /; and where
| pioi "r means are used to prevent the noXiouS
gas from nlinghng with the air of the ROOM
and due supply Of moist ure ensured by ar
i'clal means, the anthia' lite furnishes a very
agreeable and wholesome heat
Or the prominent varieties of this coal,
known as red ash Itd white ash, tho former is
considered the best adapted for open COM
hnstion. it being softer and more inilamnbe,
and the better for burning in close furnaces,
where steady and powerful draft is practi-
cable, and intense heat is desirable. The
white ash does not melt and run together,
forming clinkers, and choking the draft so
readily as the other variety As to the econ
omy Of expense, the red IS held to be prefer
able to the white. Very carefully conducted
experiments of burning the two kinds in open
CRATES show that the red is one sixth more
productive of heat than the white. or in
other words, that thirty pounds of the former
VIII produce as much heat as thirty six
pounds OF the latter. Consequently red ash
IS MS cheap at SIX dollars per ton as white ash
is at five doll.rs.
Az coal, whether hard or soft anthracite or
! bltuminous. is held by mineraogists and geol.
oelsts to have common vegetable origin, and
to present the different appearances which we
notice IN consequence Of having been sui
jectcd to greater or less Subterrancan pressure
and heat. The opinion also now obtains
that the vegetable deposits of which coal has
been formed have been changed into coal in
the localities where they grew, and have not
been previously washed Ivy floods into vast
holIows; contrary to the opinions formerly
held by nauIalS!s, who hcsitatcd to admit
the possibility of such an almost Infinite vcee-
table growth as the former hypothesis would
imply. The enormous eras Of time which
must have been occupied in the growth and
decay OF the mcaSreleSs mass of ycgetal !c
matter necessary to form the coal deposits of
the globe, can scarcely be conceived by man.
and the very attempt is appalling to the hu.
man mind. Is the atheist in view of such
revelations of endless creative power, still
prepared 20 deny tie Supreme Intclli-
gcnce, and resort to the absurd and impious
doctrine of an infinite chance!
Coal is a comparatively recent discovery in
the United States. while it has been in use IN
England ever since the beginning Of the thlr-
teenh century. The first anthracite was
brought TO Philadelphia from pottsvillc, Pa,
in ihe year 1912, but mtrcly for the purpose
Of experiment.. The use of coal as fuel docs
not date back more than thirty five years. The
existence OF biumiuous coal on this continent
was known to the French missionaries Father
llcncpln and Others, who explored The western
country N the seventeenth century The coal
OF Nova Scotia has been an article CT com
mcIcc for only about sixty years. Very
many readers can remember when anthracite
was first introduced amongst us as an article
al fuel. some thirty years ago, and people
looked with increduity upon the apparently
prepoSterons attempt to burn the black, shiny
rocks of Lehigh which were dumped down
bt!oie the doors OF adventurous purchasers.
1t was no uncommon thing in these DAYS to
see heaps of tho halt-burncd coal thrown out
in the waste places, in token that the "wompn
folks could do nothing with the stuff and
had rejected the new fuel in despair. All that
is now changed. The improvements in stoves
Crates, ranges, and furnaces. have been sucn
that the anthracite is burned up all too fast
and cur good housewives would as soon think
Of casting away busle of Shenango potatoes
because they could not boil them, Ms to
throw aside hoo of coal because it would
not burn.
The principal known anthracite coal fields
of the country are in Penns> lvania, on the
eastern slope of the Allegheny mountain
range, and with the exception ofthree or four
detached basins or patches of very limited cX
tent, the hey-Sone-State is the exclusive de-
posltory OF anthracite upon this continent,
This region of the State comprises an area of
about four hundred square miles, or over half
million Of acres. 1t is penetrated in every
direction by Manageable rivers canals and raul
roads, and the amount Of capital invested in
mining works and means of transportation,
exceed fifty millions ofdolars.
The present annual production. of this coal
region is about seven millions of tons, and
| it is increasing at about the rate of fifteen per
cent every year. Since The first working Of
| the mines, it is estimated that the aggregate
| product has been upwards of seventy millions
of tons. The ratio OF increase in annual pro-
ductIon that it has obtained for the last few
wears. would give for the year 1870, the start
ling product of lnrty.ive millions of tons.
worth one hund cd and eighty millions Of
dollars. Thequeston naturally arises wheth-
or the supply woud be equal to such dc.
mand, and the answer is that it would be am
lhc lpI lhal. or even one Ten tlmcS as great.
The quantity Of coal in the anthracite coal
fields Of Pennsylvania is sufficient for all hui
man demands for twenty-five hundred years
to come. In short, it is inexhaustablc.
Immense as the anthracite deposit may ap.
pear, it sinks into absolute lnsignicance
whey contrasted with the bitumnous coal
fields of our country. These extend over
greatly larger area. even in the State of
Pennsy lvania, than :hc anthracite regions
covering ihere a workable area Of ten thous-
and square miles. The great bituminous Goa !
fields Of the United States traverse thirteen
of the principal States of the Union. from
Georgia. on the southeast, to Iowa on the
northwest. and cover workable area of at
least hundred thousand square miles in the
aggregate. This field is already worked to u
great extent in several of the Middle and
Western States. but can never be exhausted
to the end of time. Our readers may there
fore dismiss all apprehensions of the countIy's
running short Of fuel while the sun shines or
water runs.
THE FAIRFAX FAMILY.-The London Athe-
nmum, reviewing Black s Picturesque Guide
to Yorkshire, says -" OF local and family
histories there are few more interesting than
that Of the fair haired Saxon FarfaXcs, of
Yorkshire, who held land in England before
the Conquest, whose territorial possessions
have passed into the hands Of strangers, and
whose present representative in the English
20, ,,oc