Junk j, 1887.J 1'HE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST* 



Bit 



THE PAPEB MAKING INDUSTEY OP INDIA. 



India is very backward in the paper-making indus- 

 try, although it abounds with fibre producing plants 

 of all descriptions ; and there are perhaps few countries 

 in the world richer in these than India. Many of these 

 fibrous plants have been experimented upon by com- 

 petent men and found capable of yielding a very abun- 

 dant and never failing supply of suiEciently cheap and 

 excellent materials for paper-making of all kinds. The 

 following is a list of some of the most important indi- 

 genous plants in India which produce fibres most useful 

 for paper-making : — 

 Venday or Bhendicai (Abelmoscus esculentus) 

 Toothee nar (Abutilon iudicum) 

 Kasini or Pulchi nar (Hibiscus cannabinus) 

 Janapa nar (Crotalaria juncia) 

 Yercum, Mudar (Calotropis gigantica) 

 Ganja plant (Oanuabis sativa) 

 Coconut fibre from leaf stalks, (Cocos nucifera) 

 Palmyra tree fibre from leaf stalks (Borassus flabel- 

 liformis) 



Country date palm (Phcenix sylvestris) 

 Betelnutpalm, fibre covering the nut (Areca Catechu) 

 Screw-pine fibrous leaves (Pondanus Odoratissimus ) 

 Pine-apple leaves (ananas) (Bromelia ananas) 

 Common plantain (Musa paradisiacia) 

 Marool or bowstring hemp (Sansiveera zeylanica) 

 American aloe (Agave Americana) 

 Various kinds of Bamboos, 

 Rattan canes, 

 Sugar cane refuse, 



Arrowroo*-, Turmeric and Ginger stalks and leaves, 

 Rice and other straws. 

 Grasses, various kinds. 



There i» in different parts of the country an abundant 

 supply of certain products known to be well suited for 

 paper-making purposes, such as sugarcane refuse, the 

 common plantain leaf stalks, st'-ms, &c., all which, 

 owing to the fact of there being no demand for the 

 purchase of such materials are allowed either to rot on 

 the ground, or are burnt as fuel or are simply used as 

 manuring substances for the land. Suitable pulp may 

 be manufactured in this country from these or other 

 materials which are at present almost wasl.td and ren. 

 dered useless to the country ; and such manufactured 

 pulp may be used in this country for making paper of 

 various kinds required for consumption in the country, 

 and the surplus of pulp may be exported to European 

 markets and sold there for profit. 



It should be noted that enormous means by which 

 wealth may be increased and the condition of the culti- 

 vators improved is lost, and vast quantities of products 

 are allowed yearly to be wasted and treated as useless 

 and undeveloped substances iy this country. For in- 

 stance, thousands of plantain trees on an average are 

 cut down for the sake of fruit every day through- 

 out the year. Each root-stock throws up from six to 

 eight stems, each of which must be yearly cut down, 

 and will yield from three or four pounds of very good 

 fibre fit for texile fabrics, for rope-making, or for the 

 manufacture of paper. Some very useful and tough 

 kinds of paper have been made in India from the 

 fibres of the plantain and paper of finer (juality from 

 the same material in France and in England. We can 

 easily see that an enormous quantity of valuable 

 produce is annually lost in this country through the 

 mere want of knowledge and attention, and requisite 

 facilities to turn it to utility. 



There is an abundance of some kinds of grasses 

 which readily grow in different parts of the country 

 which yield materials both cheap and well suited for 

 paper-making purposes in this country. The American 

 aloe can be grown to almost any extent and at very 

 .slight expense in this country. It will apparently grow 

 on the roughest and coarsest soil and needs little atten- 

 tion or care after it has once .sprung up. We have the 

 bamboo growing in the greatest uljundauee, which yields 

 material for paper manufacture superior to any other 

 vegetable product which has as yet been discovered. 

 Thus wc have the most valuable fibre-yielding plants 

 euch as the plantain, aloe, and baml)oo in sufficient 



quantities to produce abundant materials for the papa 

 trade. It is hoped that this subject will soon engage"* 

 the attention of those interested in such matters, and 

 result in the creation of new industries and the develop- 

 ment of a large new trade which will add materially 

 to the wealth and prosperity of the country. 



Paper pulp is at present not only used for paper 

 making purposes, but it is put to innumerable other 

 and abundant uses in various arts and manufactures. 

 It is employed in the construction of even such things 

 as railway carriage wheels. 



It was therefore justly remarked that the real wealth 

 of this country had yet to be found " in its fibrous 

 plants and many valuable vegetable products, as com- 

 pared to which in value the grain produce of the 

 country will in time be nothing." India abounds in 

 innumerable kinds of fibres most valuable and best 

 suited for paper-making, and as these fibres are pro- 

 curable at a comparatively very small cost, there ought 

 to be no reason, physical or economical, wh)^ paper 

 should not, with suitjble machinery, be made at a 

 much cheapsr rate than it can be imported from Eu- 

 rope where the raw materials are daily becoming more 

 and more costly. One Mr. Henley, who was evidently 

 in search for materials for paper manufacture in his 

 country, observed that " the east coast of the Bay of 

 Bengal, as well as Malabar on tfee West coast of India, 

 are the places where the growth of suitable materials 

 from the warmth and moisture of the climate, is most 

 abundant, and the conveyance by sea is ab the same 

 time most ea^y. It is to India we must look for exten- 

 sive and cheap supplies, for it is there alone we find 

 the necessary conditions of very low priced and intel- 

 ligent labour, with an abundance of elementary suitable 

 materials. " — Friendly Visitor. 



VARNISH RESINS. 



BY P. LUND SIMIIONDS. 



The number of substances suitable for coarse varn- 

 ishes has lately become very numerous in Europe, 

 Common resin is now purified by a patent process con- 

 sisting of distillation with superheated steam, by which 

 it is obtained nearly transparent and colourless as 

 glass. R.'sius suited, however, for the preparation of 

 the finer descriptions of varnish are still very limited. 

 All plants produce, indeed, resins in a greater or less 

 degree, but the trees which produce them in sufficient 

 quantities to be of commercial value are to be found 

 principally in South America, India, Africa, and New 

 Zealand. These belong principally to the pine tribe, 

 the Dijiteraceae (only found in India and the Eastern 

 Archipelago) and the Legaminoaae. 



Of the latter, the Hxjmenaech seem to be the trees 

 from which the resins most nearly akin to the true 

 hard, or fossil copals, are mostly derived. The copal 

 of Africa and the dammar of New Zealand (known 

 in commerce as kowrie gum), are the best known and 

 most esteemed. 



The word Varnish covers a very wide field, as the 

 term in its fullest sense, can embrace all the thou- 

 sand and one preparations compounded for as many 

 different purposes. An essential quality of varnish is 

 that it must harden without losing its transparency, 

 as it must not change the colours it is intended to 

 preserve. It must exclude the action of air, because 

 wood and metals are varnished to protect them from 

 rust and decay. It must also be waterproof, else the 

 effect of the varnish would not be permanent. And 

 a point of primary importance is that it must po.ssess 

 durability. New uses an; constantly being found for 

 varnish, by which it embellishes the article to which 

 it is applied, affording satisfaction to the buyer and 

 profit to the manufacturer. A few notes on the chief 

 varnish resins may therefore be acceptable. 



East Indian !!'dammar is the name applied b\' varnish 

 makers to the resin of Dammara orientalis, imported 

 chiefly from Singapore, which is strawcoloured, or, like 

 I)ale amber, very clear or transparent.. It is easily and 

 entirel}' soluble in ben/ole, ether, or chloroform, le.ss 

 rapidly ho in turpentine, forming a clear, nearly colour- 



