tts. I, my.] fHE TOPICAL AGRICULTUKlSf. 



55^- 



the former stands immeasurably inferior. In bales 

 imported from British India, good and bad kapok is 

 intermixed, and as if tbi> is not enough, all sorts 

 of foreign substances, such as sand and othtr heavy 

 mhteri»l8, are added to increase the weight, so that 

 the bales require to be opened as a stcurity ugaiost 

 fraud. Mori over the packing leaves much to be desired. 

 The kapok packed by means ot hjdraulic presses 

 loses that peculiar elasticity which lenders it so va u- 

 able. Moreover, by hard packing uucleantd stuff, a 

 dark coloured oil la expressed trom the seeds which 

 is suffused over the kapok and consequently sistinsit. 

 From these disadvantages, Java kapok is free, it is 

 always well packed, brilliantly white in coloir, and 

 ■pringy. Judging from the particulars available so far, 

 there is every prospect of kapok having a briglit 

 future before it, and there is litte doubt that, with 

 ihc invention of proper carding and spinning machinery, 

 it will be used in the fabricatioii of articles of 

 clothing, and pruve a formidable rival to its allied 

 substances. It has already tieen used for making 

 gun-cotton, a substitute for beaver fur, converted into 

 half stuff for paper-mak ng, making silk buttons and 

 fringes, and by the Indians, who make beautitul 

 fabrics of it. In Bombay, the fibre at the bark is 

 used as a substitute for flax, and in Bengal the natives 

 collect the milkj juice «B a substitute for shellac and 

 gutta-percha. Tlie seeds have almost the same value 

 as cotton seeds, being exported to Jbiuiope to extract 

 the oil and fetch from £3 to £5 per ton. 



Such is the opinion i>f experts Should their 'anti- 

 cipations be Foon realised, a new and remunerative 

 industry will be called into being which cannot but be 

 welcome in these hard times. Kapok being an in- 

 digenous article, plantation enterpri.-<e may be better 

 directed to its cultivation than to that of foreign pro- 

 ducts requiring acclimatisation before they can thrive. 

 — Straits 'Times. 



♦ 



PAPEE. 

 The following inter estng article has been forwarded 

 to us by a corri spon lent : — We livi' in an age ut paper. 

 There is not p' rhaps any manufactured article laat 

 is in more universal u.se ; trai'e, finance, art«, 

 literature, science — everywhere paper occupies the 

 fiist rank. For us, journalists, it is a must vaiu<ib]e 

 servant; we cor fide to it our impre^8lOlle, »h>ch tUeu 

 pass, in the f'Tm of newsi^aper, reviews, pamphle>, 

 book.", etc., from the hands or the priuier imo tbai 

 of the pubic. Never has the paper tade rect^ived 

 such an impetus, ami mad'- such progress, as in the 

 la^t few yi ars. It is a common thii.g uov \o >peak 

 of paper hottlps, paper collars, culfa and 8Uiri trojjt.-, 

 paper napkins ano towel.-^ ; paper wheels, rai.s, < arriages, 

 roofs ; paper soles, hais ; paper chiu.tiey &t<ick-, and 

 innumerable other objecis and C'-mmo.litie> mane of 

 paper. Have we not seen, within the last few years 

 a paper-buat gaily cruising over the wattrs of mauy 

 European ciuntries? Have we not now lumii.ous waU 

 papers? The United States are now org.;n.z.. jr fesive 

 cekbralions in remembraiice of the iutiuJucl on of 

 printing in America ; this seems to us a fit opportu- 

 nity to glance at the manuiaciure of paper — this all 

 importai t fbctor in printing — and at somcot tha mo^t 

 important l<-8tures in ci'nnectiou therewiMi. Leaving 

 asidi:- the continents of Asia, Africa PUd Oceanica, 

 in regard of which our information is extremely im- 

 perfect, we >-hall cursorily look at the imporiauce of 

 the paper trade in En ope and the United States. 

 Europe produces a million tons of paper per annuin. 

 In France alone, the animal productiou is 178. t85 

 tons, representing a value of £4,83:2,400 and employing 

 in her 516 f-iciories no less 'S'6,'67l bauds, of which 

 17,816 fire men, 11,596 women, and 3,5S0 children. 

 Great Britain, whicn in 1688 oaiy mjiuufactured a 

 coarsH wrapping paper, and purchased all her better 

 papers in France, produces more than 200,000 to s, 

 ■ of paper per annum. The first American paper mill 

 was established in 1690 ii PliiUdelphia, and the United 

 Sta*es, which at the be^inuing ot this century scarc' !y 

 produced sny paper at all, nowmik-s over 500.000 

 tons per an. um. The paper trade consumes 8ji-',OlO 

 tone of lags per annum. Water paper, straw, wooUj 



old rope, etc., are employed for making paper to at 

 least the same extent. The money valu--, of these in- 

 gredients may be estimated as follow a: — 



£ 



Rags 15.200,000 



St: aw and Wood ... 8' 0,000 



Waste Paper, Esparto, etc., 4,000,000 



Total ... 20,0j0,0n0 p'r annum. 

 These materials produce about 1,500,000 >o"» of 

 paper, costijg forty millioms sterlint, or at out the 

 s.me figure as the amount of capita! inv- sfei i.. paper 

 m«kiug paufc, m.-ichinery and works iu Eijr0|>e and tho 

 United St.ites. Of these one-and-a-halr midions of 

 tuns of paper, 120,000 ions are used as .vritiui's, valued 

 about B x-aud-a-lialf millious steriing; 300,000 tons 

 serve for news, peiiodicals, «tc. , 80,000 t.,n-> for books 

 120 000 tons for a-minisTative, official and tr»de 

 purp ses. Including ink and labour, three above 

 categories of printii;g reach a total value of rixty- 

 niue-a-aiid-a-half millions ste ling. Card anil mill- 

 board roaches approximately 6! 1,000 tons per annum, 

 wall pape s 60,000 tons, and another 60,000 tons for 

 other description^, such as biottings, silk paper, 

 filtering p-per, . tc, of a total value of twent>-four 

 millions sterling. To blacken so much paper we use 

 anuu^y £80i),(i00 worth of ste' 1 pens, costing on an 

 av.-iage at the works about sixpence pe'-g-oss, about 

 the same value in printing type; 8,000,000 lead pen- 

 cils, costing at ttie works about three shillings and 

 four pence per gross. For every hundredweight of 

 p^per ic takes one pound of printing ink: and more 

 th-m 3,000,000 blocks and engraved p ates are used 

 aiinuailv for illustrations. If we take into consid»ration 

 all the various brai ches of commerce depending 

 from and consequent upon the paper trade we arrive 

 at an amazing noml.er of people to whom it affords 

 a means of livehhooil an.1 entitles paper to the rank 

 of a " uoiver>al provider." Nor is it only for the 

 requirements of tiade, writing, printing, packing, 

 wall covering, tobicco, etc., that p<per is employed 

 for, we have now paper chimneys which we were 

 wont to build of bricks and of a height of as much 

 as tbrity vards and upwards. We here refer to such 

 a chimney erecte i at Breslau and made from paper 

 blocks comprissed under high pressure and inter- 

 ceinented by mrans of a silicious mortar. It has 

 been observed that p<per pulp compressed resistj fire, 

 and as a result we find paper doors recommeuded 

 wh'-re there is danger of fire. Tho tests made at 

 B es au on the aoove named paper chimney have 

 given higlily satisfactory resu ts in respect of solidity, 

 elasticity and iiicjmbustibility, whilf in point of cost 

 it compares most fava'-ab!y with brick constructions. 

 Even gas retorts are being made of pap>ir, but gas 

 itself may some day find itself encroached upon by- 

 paper. We will in conclusion and apropos of gas^ 

 S' y a few words on the su.'jeut of lum'nou.t papfft', 

 which is, unquestionably one of the most striking in- 

 ventions of tne age. Tuere is no particular novelty 

 in its manufacture; it is made in the usual mannerj 

 and no mystery whatever exists iu the after procesg. 

 It is composed or. — 



Water ... ... .. 10 partj. 



Pulp 40 



Phosphorescent powder ... 10 



Gelatine ... ... ... 1 



Bichromate of potash.,. ... 1 „ 



Thanks to this bichromate of potash it becomes 

 w.iterproof ; the phosphorescent po-vder, consisting of 

 sulphates of l>me, baryuin and stro itium furnishes 

 luminous properties lasting for mon'hs ia succession, 

 and we have only to bang our walls with this lumi- 

 rous paper to strike a severe blow at gas, candles, 

 lamps, etc. — I'apcr Makers' Circular. 



^ 



BOMBAY MANGOS AND OTHEES. 



BY DE. E. BONAVIA. 



A short timo ago I was given som'i real Bombay 

 mangos- which had just come fr-'m that pUcp. I wag 

 ftsked wh ther I had ever tast d a reol Bombay 

 mi' go. They were yellow with a red cheek. Of 

 cuiusel do.oot kucw ffhetber tbej were (be best; qs 



» 



