60 



musty. If any. other kind of leaves or sand or dirt are found among it, 

 it will injure it as a commercial commodity. No portion of the stalk or 

 any berries should be left in it. The leaf is what is wanted, but, to facili- 

 tate the gathering, the little twigs should be cut off upon which the 

 leases grow, all of which will be marketable when cured according to the 

 above directions. Stripping off the leaves is apt to kill the stalk, there- 

 fore, in order to insure a better crop the next season, it is best to cut down 

 the old stalk, and the roots will spring up better than ever. 



PAPER FROM WOOD. 



The idea of utilizing wood for the manufacture of paper was first sug- 

 gested to Reaumer in 1719 from his noticing the fact that the fabric of 

 wasps' nests was formed out of wood reduced to pulp. This industry has 

 of late years acquired great importance, and is rapidly increasing, as the 

 supply of rags on which paper-makers formerly depended for their stock 

 is inadequate to the demand for the manufactured material. Were it 

 not for this factor in paper-making, paper would now be one-half as 

 much more, if not double, the price it is to-day. 



The woods most suitable for pulp making are Spruce, Balsam, Poplar 

 and Basswood, the two former being more refractory to reduce than the 

 latter. Birch and Beech are also used, but not to nearly such an extent 

 as the other woods mentioned. There are two processes by which wood 

 fibre is reduced to pulp, the mechanical and the chemical, and for the 

 description of these I am indebted to William Angus, Esq., of Montreal, 

 who is largely interested in pulp manufacture. 



The mechanical process consists in grinding the wood which is cut into 

 pieces about twelve inches long by four inches square, and placed in small 

 boxes on a machine where, by means of screws and hydraulic pressure, 

 the wood is kept against the edge of a broad grindstone rapidly revolving. 

 Water is supplied freely to facilitate the grinding and to wash away the 

 pulp into receiving vessels, whence it is taken to be dried and if necessary 

 bleached. 



The same work is accomplished also by grinding with emery wheels. 

 After the wood pulp leaves the grinding machine it is manipulated BO as 

 to get rid of the coarse fibres of wood or slivers that may be in it. After 

 which it is run over what is called in the trade a "wet machine" into 

 thick sheets, which are then bundled up and shipped to the paper- 

 makers. 



Considerable wood pulp in sheets is dried on cylinders as it leaves the 

 wet machine, when it is used as pulp-board for making paper-boxes and 

 band-boxes without any other admixture. 



The chemical process requires a large investment of capital and great 

 skill and experience to make a good article, whilst the mechanical pro- 

 cess only requires small outlay and but little experience, hence the large 

 number of mills of the latter kind now in operation. The wood is cut 

 into chips diagonally about three-eighths of an inch thick, thus preserving 

 the fibre. These are placed in a boiler with strong caustic liquor, closed 



