298 PAPER IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES. 



classes of millboard and kindred products vary considerably, accord- 

 ing to the quality of the product. In the cheapest class, known as 

 "gray board," there is no bagging or rope. It is made principally 

 of the very coarsest refuse paper, old strawboards, and a special 

 variety of mechanical wood pulp. In millboard proper, either old 

 bagging or condemned rope (generally hemp), or both, is intro- 

 duced. The better the quality the larger the proportion of rope. 

 The best qualities of this class of product are known as "leather 

 board" and "portmanteau board." Very little paper or wood pulp 

 enters into their composition, the stock used being chiefly old rope 

 and bagging. 



The domestic supply of rags is large, but it does not expand; 

 and this is true also of the waste in bookbinderies and printing 

 houses and other establishments. The coarser materials, in great 

 variety, used with mechanical wood pulp in the manufacture of 

 brown papers are plentiful. No wood pulp is made here. Scotland 

 has a scant supply of wood. One of the most important imports at 

 Leith (the port town of Edinburgh) is wood for a score of common 

 uses, such as building and cabinetmaking. A factory for the man- 

 ufacture of wood pulp was- started some years ago at Inverkeithing 

 (about ib miles from Edinburgh, on the northern shore of the Firth 

 of Forth), but it was found that it could not be run on a paying 

 basis and was soon closed. 



The market prices of cotton rags vary considerably, according 

 to color and cleanliness, white rags, of course, being the most valu- 

 able. Prices range all the way from $12.15 to $7 2 -9 P er ton. Old 

 ropes are from $19. 44 to $72. 90 per ton. Old white manila ropes 

 are $31.50 per ton and tarred hemp shakings about $32.50. There 

 are three qualities of linen rags, viz: White linens, $73 per ton ; gray 

 linens, $48.67 per ton; and soiled linens, $24.33 per ton. For com- 

 mon wastes, such as are used in brown papers, the price is about 

 $9.72 per ton. Waste paper is from $20 to $37 per ton, according 

 to quality. These are not the prices at the mills, but in Edinburgh 

 and Leith. The freight rates paid by the mills at Penicuik and 

 Linlithgow on rags and waste from Edinburgh range from 80 cents 

 to $i per ton. The ordinary freight charges for this class of goods 

 between these points are from $1.10 to $1.20 per ton, but the paper 

 mills have special rates. 



The importations of linen rags are comparatively small. They 

 come chiefly from Germany. Cotton rags are imported from Egypt 

 and more extensively from Holland and Belgium, the "Dutch cot- 

 tons " being much preferred to any other of the ordinary grades of rags ; 

 esparto comes from northern Africa (Algeria) and Spain, and wood 

 pulp chiefly from Norway and Sweden. The freight tariff on rags 



