March 1, 1864.] THE TECHNOLOGIST. 



SOME ECONOMIC USES OP NUTS AND SEEDS. 339 



into paper, a cwt. of the bark contains. Its bulky size would prevent 

 its being shipped with any advantage to Europe — but another question 

 presents itself — might not the paper with stamping mills and other im- 

 proved machinery be prepared at Siam in a raw state, transhipped, and 

 converted into letter, note, and printing paper, or for any other purpose, 

 by being re-manufactured 1 I think if my memory bears me out, I 

 have read that already now a good deal of paper, printed or otherwise, 

 is again reduced to pulp to make clean sheets of it. 



For the purpose of rendering the sheets of the Samut black, as I 

 have already stated, the shrubby branches of a Cassia, which grows along 

 the canals in abundance, are burnt to charcoal, pounded, and dissolved. 

 The solution is then applied with a piece of rag to the paper. The 

 green paper which is only tinted on one side, is coloured by a mixture of 

 Indigo and Turmeric. 



I must not omit to state that the leaves of the paper tree, which 

 are scabrous on both sides, are employed like those of the Curatella 

 americana by the Indians in Guiana to polish articles of wood, to clean 

 rusty knives, swords, muskets, &c. 



Bangkok, Siam. 



SOME ECONOMIC USES OF NUTS AND SEEDS. 



BY THE EDITOR. 



There are many nuts and seeds which are collected in different 

 countries, and converted into various uses. Our continental neighbours 

 seem to be more ready and clever than we are in applying nuts, seeds, and 

 such small articles to purposes of personal decoration ; and although, 

 from being cheap, many of these ornaments are despised by our belles, 

 yet none can deny their interest and beauty, and the ingenuity and taste 

 with which they are worked up. The field is an exhaustless one, and 

 many well-known ornamental nuts and seeds .of India and South- 

 America have not yet made their appearance in this country. Many 

 wild nuts and seeds are also used for food. 



The spherical and curiously sculptured or corrugated seed of the 

 Elaeocarpus ganitrus and other species cleared of their soft pulp, 

 are used by the Brahmin priests as beads. They are also made 

 into necklaces and bracelets for ladies, which are much admired, espe- 

 cially if gilded or capped with silver mountings. Those of Monocera 

 tuberculata are used for a like purpose in Travancore. The nuts 01 

 Putrangiva Rozburghii, called in Hindostan " Jeeopatra," are strung by 

 the natives and put round the necks of their children, as an amulet, to 

 keep them in health. 



Various modern travellers speak of the import of the turbinth seeds 



