MATERIALS USED FOR PAPER. 149 



The bark of various trees, of the willow, the beech, 

 the aspin, and the hawthorn, have been succcess- 

 fully formed into paper. That made from the bark 

 of the lime-tree is of a reddish-brown colour, and so 

 extremely smooth as to be peculiarly well calculated 

 for drawing's; the paper produce of this bark is not 

 merely confined to the leaves of a book of specimens, 

 but it is manufactured for useful purposes in some 

 of the northern parts of the Continent. The wood, 

 as well as the inner bark of the mulberry, is likewise 

 capable of being made into this substance. A speci- 

 men of paper made from the down of the catkins 

 of the black poplar is of a very superior quality, 

 being very soft and silky. A paper similar to the 

 last was likewise produced from the silky down of 

 the asclepias with the admixture of a portion of 

 linen rags. 



The tendrils of the vine, after being subjected to 

 putrefactive fermentation, can be converted into a 

 tolerable paper. 



The stalks of the mugwort, or artemisia, formed 

 another material of nearly similar quality. This 

 plant may almost be considered a weed, as it grows 

 spontaneously on banks and on the sides of foot- 

 paths, and its roots spread and propagate very 

 rapidly. The nettle is another weed from which 

 two kinds of paper have been made ; the one from 

 the rind, the other from the ligneous part. The paper 

 manufactured from this plant by M. De Villette was 

 of a dark green colour ; that produced by M. 

 SchafFer is tolerably white. 



The stalks of the common thistle as well as the 

 down which envelopes its seed were both made avail- 

 able to this purpose. In relating the manner of* 

 manufacturing these stalks into paper, it is stated that 

 the first experiment perfectly answered ; a pulpy 

 substance was produced which cohered in thin sheets, 



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