MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 



107 



price of Italian rags only exceeded one-third of the amount by a trifle. 

 That is the only year in the four that Prussia and Denmark furnished 

 any rags. Holland, British East Indies, France on the Atlantic, Mexico, 

 are only in the receipts of 1850. Gibraltar and France, on the Mediter- 

 ranean, only appear in 1852. 



The point most worthy of note is the regular falling off in the receipts 

 from Italy from 1850 to '53. Thus we have ten million?;, nine millions, 

 seven millions, four millions of pounds per annum. It is this that has driv- 

 en dealers to scour all other countries likely to afford the necessary supply. 

 In this they succeeded in 185 1, gaining a little over five millions of pounds 

 upon the year previous ; but the next year they fell back seA r en and three- 

 quarter millions of pounds ; and, notwithstanding the very largely 

 increased demand for paper within four years, the imports of 1853 are 

 only a trifle over two millions of pounds more than 1850. One thing in 

 the above table strikes us as somewhat curious : that is, that we import 

 rags largely from England ; and we see by her Custom-House returns, 

 that the imports into that country last year were 9,687 tons 21,098,880 

 pounds and her exports 2,462 tons 5,414,880 pounds. Our imports 

 from England the same year were 2,866,005 pounds. 



The cost per pound, of our imported rags, has been as follows : 1850, 

 3 61-lOOc. ; 1851, 3 46-100c. ; 1852, 3 42-100c. ; 1853, 3 46-100. 



The following table shows the amount of our exports and imports of 

 paper, and imports of rags, from 1838 to 1850 : 



* Duty began to be enforced oil rags, 1843. 



In 1853, there were 304 paper-mills at work in England, 48 in Scotland, 

 and 28 in Ireland. The duty (three half pence per pound) amoxinted to 

 upwards of 925,000, so that the annual value of paper manufactured in 

 those countries could not be less than 3,700,000, the average value of 

 paper being estimated at sixpence per pound. 



France, with a population of 36,000,000, turns annually into paper 

 105,000 tons of rags. Of these, 6,000 tons are imported. In that country 

 the exportation of rags has been prohibited by law since 1850. 



