PAPER FROM THE BARK OF COTTON. 223 



at our office for public inspection. "We now learn from the 

 New York Day Book, that specimens of bark have been ex- 

 hibited to paper manufacturers at the North, which is found to 

 be of a fibrous character, and is considered to be well adapted 

 for the manufacture of good paper. 



The best period for preparing this cotton hemp will be as 

 soon as practicable after the picking of cotton has been finished. 

 The plants should then be pulled up and dew-rotted like hemp 

 or flax, and afterwards broken up and the bark separated from 

 the wood of the stalk. The specimens of clean bark exhibited 

 to experienced paper makers was considered equal to good 

 rags worth six cents per pound, or about $120 per ton, and 

 was pronounced the best substitute for rags of any raw vege- 

 table material known to the trade. 



The importance of an abundant and cheap material as a 

 substitute for rags, from which good, cheap paper can be made, 

 may be judged of from the fact that the United States con- 

 sume as much as France and England combined. There is 

 no element in the progress of civilization more important than 

 cheap paper. 



For some years, the consumption of paper has been gaining 

 on the supply of rags, and fears have been felt that the ad- 

 vance in their cost would ultimately be seriously felt in every 

 department of literature, so that should the discovery of 

 cotton hemp realize the anticipations of paper makers, it will 

 not only prove valuable to the South, but also to the civilized 

 world. 



The magnitude of the paper business may be conceived 

 when we take into consideration that there are seven hun- 

 dred and fifty paper mills in the United States, employing 

 three thousand engines, and which produce annually, at ten 

 cents per pound, $27,000,000 worth of paper. To manufac- 

 ture this amount of paper requires 405,000,000 pounds of rags, 



