133 

 CHAPTER X. 



PAPER MATERIALS. 



The enormous demand for paper that has sprung up of 

 late years has, like the demand for so many other products, 

 caused those most interested to divert their attention to new 

 sources of material. Notwithstanding that so long ago as 

 1801 Matthias Koops obtained a patent for manufacturing 

 paper from hay, straw, thistles, waste, and refuse of hemp 

 and flax, and different kinds of wood and bark, linen and 

 cottonrags remainedalmost the exclusive material from which 

 paper was made until about forty years ago. Then, as the 

 penny daily paper appeared and became general, old ropes, 

 sacking, jute, and a host of other substances were pressed 

 into the service. The most important introduction, however, 

 was Esparto {Stipa tetiacissima). It was in 1856 that the 

 late Mr. Thomas Routledge, so well known in connection 

 with the paper trade, obtained a patent for manufacturing 

 paper from Esparto grass. Some of the first paper made 

 from this grass was used for printing the Report of Dr. 

 Forbes Royles' paper on Indian Fibres, and formed the 

 number of the Journal of the Society of Arts for Novem- 

 ber 28, 1856. In that year the total imports of Esparto 

 amounted to only 50 tons, the whole of which was worked 

 up at Mr. Routledge's mill at Eynsham, near Oxford. In 

 1864 the quantity imported rose to 50,000 tons, and in 1886 

 the return was over 200,000 tons, which continues to be the 

 average quantity impoi'ted at the present time. This enor- 

 mous demand for Esparto, coupled with the destructive 

 manner of collecting it — namely, by tearing it from the 

 roots — has considerably diminished the sources of supply, 

 so that at present paper-makers are as much alive as ever 

 to new materials. Another substance to the utilisation of 



