PROCEEDINGS OF THE COTTESWOLD CLUB 219 



Sawdust is a waste product which has manv uses. 

 That from Mahogany, Beech, and Rosewood is used in 

 cleaning and dressing furs ; and box-wood dust for 

 cleaning jewellery. It is employed as a packing material, 

 for use in wine cellars and ice-houses ; sprinkling over 

 floors and riding schools, sometimes instead of straw in 

 stables ; by many manufacturers, such as needle, nail, and 

 screw-makers. Lately by a new process combining the 

 hydraulic press with the application of intense heat, 

 sawdust has been converted into a solid mass capable of 

 being moulded into any shape, presenting a brilliant 

 surface, and very durable. By another ingenious process 

 a Norwegian Professor converts sawdust and wood into 

 excellent flour, which mixed with certain small proportions 

 of wheaten flour makes highly palatable gruel soup, pan- 

 cakes, and bread. The Professor has, I believe, brought 

 up a large family on this diet, and has had no reason to be 

 dissatisfied with the result. 



Until lately, after concentrating the colouring matter 

 from dye woods, only a few shillings per ton could be 

 obtained for the exhausted wood as a combustible 

 material. Now, however, this is all utilized. Paper is 

 made from it ; a certain soda soap adapted for cotton 

 printing, mastics for the joints of pipes, and other 

 things. 



The manufacture which of all others consumes the 

 greatest amount of waste from other sources is Paper. 

 The best materials are cotton and linen rags, and these are 

 in constant demand : used alone they make the highest 

 grade of paper, whilst in combination with varving pro- 

 portions of paper stock they produce the diflierent grades 

 of paper found in the market. 



To give 5^ou some idea of the importance of this 

 industry, I may mention that we collect at home and 

 import together about 120,000 tons weight of rags, that 

 we are the largest paper makers in the world, turning out 



