

%HE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[jlfLV 1, 1884, 



The Paper Mulberry grows everywhere in Japan, aud is 

 a valuable tree, as furnishing the bast from which a large 

 portion of the Japanese paper is made. The plants are 

 reproduced in quantity by subdividing the roots, and in 

 two or three years are ready to be cut. This work is 

 done in November, and the branches, 7 to 10 feet long, 

 are made up into bundles 3 or 4 feet in length, and steamed, 

 so that the bark is loosened, and can be more readily 

 stripped off. This is washed, dried, and then again soaked 

 in water and scraped with a knife to remove the outer 

 skin, which is used for inferior kinds of paper. The bast, 

 when cleaned, is washed, repeatedly kneaded in clean water 

 and mixed. It is then bleached in the sun until sufficiently 

 white, after which it is boiled in a lye, chiefly of Buck- 

 wheat ashes, to remove all gummy matters. The fibres 

 are now readily separated, and are transformed into pulp 

 by beating with wooden mallets. The pulp is mixed in 

 vats, with the necessary quantity of water, to which is 

 added a milky substance prepared from Bice-flour, and a 

 gummy infusion of the bark of Hydrangea paniculata, or 

 of the root of Hibiscus Manihot. 



The " couches " on which the paper sheets are produced 

 are made of Bamboo, split into very fine sticks, and united 

 in parallel lines by silk or hemp threads, so as to form 

 a kind of mat. This is laid upon a wooden frame, and 

 the apparatus dipped into the vat, raised, and shaken, so 

 as to spread the pulp evenly, after which the cover is 

 first removed, then the Bamboo couch with the sheet of 

 paper, aud in returning the operative lays the sheet upon 

 the others. "When a number of sheets have thus been pre- 

 pared they are pressed, to exclude the water, and after- 

 wards spread out with a brush upon boards and allowed 

 to dry. The sheets are only about 2 feet in length, but 

 sometimes sheets 10 feet long are produced. 



On all sides the question of finding substitutes for rags 

 for paper-making is acknowledged to be one of the most 

 important. In Bavaria, according to a recently issued Gov- 

 ernment report, the paper-makers are directing earnest 

 attention to the discovery of some substitute for rags, 

 " and largely adopting wood, which has not tended to im- 

 prove the paper, and they still desire to see the export 

 duty re-established, as though the duties on paper under 

 the new tariff may give them the home market, they are 

 desirous of improving their paper and exporting to foreign 

 countries." 



Again, in a report from the Consul at Christiania, we 

 read that the produce of wood-pulp increased immensely 

 during 1882, causing prices to fall considerably. Many 

 mills were extended, and several new ones were erected 

 during the year. Some of the mills established in 1881 

 only commenced working in the beginning of 1882, at a 

 time when the sale of wood-pulp is, as a rule, very limited. 

 The manufacturers tried to force the sale of their pro- 

 duce, and thus large quantities were rather suddenly thrown 

 upon the market, causing a considerable fall in prices. 

 While the consumers in 1881 had to pay from £5 to £5 

 7s. 6d. per ton for wood-pulp containing 50 per cent of 

 water, delivered free on rail at [Christiania, the average 

 price at the close of 1SS2 only amounted to £3 10s.; and 

 in the summer the best wood-pulp was sold at even £3 

 5s. per ton. Manufacturers found it. difficult to dispose of 

 their large stocks, and as wet wood-pulp could not be well 

 preserved for a longer tima, considerable quantities were 

 damaged, and sold as inferior goods at prices varying from 

 £3 to £2 15s. per ton. In consequence of this many mills 

 stopped w r orking until their stock of pulp had sufficiently 

 diminished. In November, 1882, a meeting of manufact- 

 urers was held in Christiania, when several subjects con- 

 nected with the wood-pulp industry were liiscussed. 

 Thus it was proposed to restrict the produce, but no practic- 

 al result in that direction was arrived at, except that a 

 committee was elected for a further consideration of the 

 matter. If seems that while in 187."., 8,640,000 tons of 

 wood-pulp were exported, the quantity had risen in 1882 to 

 59,033,000 tons. 



From Drammen the Vice-Oousul also reported that the 

 exportation of wood-paper pulp showed a considerable in- 

 crease. As only a very few mills, however, gave a reason- 

 able profit, the owners were compelled to avoid all poss- 

 ible expense, and therefore a large proportion of the pulp 

 was exported from Drammen direct, instead of via Christ- 

 iania, in order to save the cost ol railway carriage between 1 



those two places. Since all the paper-pulp mills are situated 

 along the railway line from Drammen up to Kouigsberg 

 aud Baudsfjord, the only reason for exporting the pulp 

 by way of Christiania, and paying heavy railway charges 

 is the convenience which the regular lines of steamers 

 from Christiania to the great places of import afford to 

 shippers. A regular line of steamers from Drammen to 

 a convenient port on the east coast of England ought to 

 pay, especially if a reasonable return freight could be re- 

 lied on. 



In a report from Borne dated at the close of the past 

 year, under the head of paper, it is stated that " this 

 industry, for which considerable hydraulic force is necess- 

 ary, meets in the province of Borne, with the most favour- 

 able auspices, yet there are surprisingly few manufactories ; 

 indeed, there are only eighteen moved by a 510 hydraulic 

 horse-power, and employing 347 men, 157 women, aud 103 

 children. The production of paper is a little over 16,000 

 quintals (31,520 cwt.), though it might be at least 25,000 

 quintals (49,000 cwt.). The materials used for making it 

 are rags of vegetable texture and straw. A manufactory 

 in Tivoli makes use of asbetos for the production of card- 

 board. At present the manufacture of paper in Italy ex- 

 ceeds the demand as to quantity, but not as to quality. 

 The newspapers of Rome are printed on paper obtained 

 from manufactories on the river Livi, distance about 

 seventy-five English miles from Borne." 



Among the most recent materials applied to paper-mak- 

 ing is the fibrous stems of the sugar cane after they have 

 been passed through the mill and the saccharine juice ex- 

 pressed ; this, which is known as bayusse, has hitherto, in 

 most cases, been used as fuel. In America, however, fuel 

 of all kinds is cheap, so that in Louisiana, for instance, 

 bagasse is seldom or never used for burning, and it is a 

 worthless product, some planters indeed not knowing what 

 to do with it. Becent experiments have shown that the 

 hitherto useless bagasse contains a fibre that may be utilised 

 for paper-making. A ton of the material will yield about 

 650 lb. of fibre, while every ton of the latter can be con- 

 verted into 1,500 lb. of pulp. It has been estimated that 

 each planter who makes 400 hogsheads of sugar might 

 realise no small portion of his yearly expenses by work- 

 ing his bagasse and extracting its fibre. A company was 

 formed in New Orleans about a year ago to make paper 

 out of cane fibre. Then* numerous experiments have satis- 

 factorily ascertained that paper of an excellent quality can 

 be made from this substance, and that the material is so 

 inexpensive that it can be profitably worked. Certain 

 planters have offered the company all the bagasse on then- 

 places for from five to ten years gratis. They hope to 

 see this new industry started, so that they will be able 

 to sell their bagasse to the factories. Others propose to 

 extract the fibre themselves, for, if once paper factories 

 are established, it will become a marketable product. — 

 John B. Jackson, Museum, Kew. — Gardeners' Chronicle. 



LUBBICANT.S* 



Lubricants, as is well known, are used for reducing the 

 friction of the moving parts of machinery to the lowest possi- 

 ble degree, thereby preventing undue wear and tear, and, at 

 at the same time, obtaining the greatest possible amount, 

 of work from the machinery. Owing to the extensive intro- 

 duction of mechanical power duiing the last thirty years, 

 the consumption of lubricants has grown in proportion, 

 until now it is enormous. Lubricants are supplied to us by 

 all the three kingdoms of nature. AYe derive tallow and 

 train-oil from the animal kingdom; olive oil, lapeseed oil, 

 palm oil, aud coco-nut oil from the vegetable kingdoms; 

 resin oil and intermediary oil, so to say, between the veget- 

 able and mineral kingdom. 



Tallow is prepared from the fat of cattle and sheep by 



being heated with water, sometimes with the additi 1 



diluted sulphuric acid or caustic soda, either by the direct 

 application of heat or by hot steam. By this treatment the 

 cellular tissues are destroyed, aud the pure fat is separated, 

 which theu settles as a layer on the surface. Tallow thus 

 piepared forms, at an ordinary temperature, a yellowish 

 white, pretty hard mass, which melts at a temperature of 



* From a paper read by Herr Lux before the Society 

 pf German Engineers. 



