68 



should be directed to visit some of the principal rope, 

 paper, and textile manufacturers in England, 

 Scotland, and Ireland, with a view to getting an 

 insight into the technical and practical treatment in 

 their raw state of the materials to which his future 

 attention will have to be turned. By knowing the 

 requirements of the trade, we are most likely to pro- 

 vide for them with the least chance of failure, while 

 much unnecessary correspondence would be avoided, 

 and time and money saved. My recent visit to Mr. 

 Towgood's paper mill, near Cambridge, forcibly re- 

 minded me of the maxim of Tregold, the great en- 

 gineer, that " one ounce of practice outweighed a ton 

 of theory" No reading-could have supplied me with 

 the vast amount of information I gained during the 

 few hours spent in inspecting the manufacture of 

 paper, from the sorting of the rags to the final stage of 

 its preparation. * 



37. In conclusion, I think it well to give in a 

 jute and caio- form, which will readily catch the eve, a 



tropis gigantea J * 



detaii ast( * comparison between jute and the Calotro- 

 pis, the plant, the cultivation of which I specially 

 advocate. I accordingly contrast them in parallel 

 columns. The information regarding jute is extracted 

 from the Report by Baboo Hem Chunder Kerr, who 

 was specially deputed to enquire into the cultivation 

 of jute, and from Dr. Forbes Watson's Report on 

 Rheea. 



* I take this opportunity of recording my deep sense of gratitude to 

 Mr. Towgood, the owner of the Sawston Paper Mills, Cambridge, and his 

 polite manager, for the painstaking manner in which they practically 

 illustrated to me the art of paper-making from beginning to end. 



