Aug. 1, 1865.1 THE TECHNOLOGIST. 
THE BAMBOO AS A PAPEll MATERIAL. 33 
portion of the voyage, certainly after reaching eighteen degrees south, 
and as one cask per day of iced sea-water would be ample for a box of 
cod and one of herring, it appears to ine that it is well worthy of a 
trial. But whether we introduce cod and herring or not, there is no 
doubt of the fact that, we have fish of such quantity and of such quality, 
that it only requires that capital and labour be applied with ordinary 
prudence and sagacity to make our fisheries one of the great interests of 
the colonies. 
THE BAMBOO AS A PAPEll MATERIAL. 
In a paper by Dr. Williams on the " Uses of the Bamboo " (vol. 3, p. 
120), incidental mention was made of the interior portion of the stem 
being beaten into pulp for paper. Bruised and crushed in water the 
leaves and stems form a good proportion of the common or Chinese 
paper, the finer qualities being improved by a mixture of raw cotton 
and a more careful pounding, and in some places the article is manu- 
factured with such care as even to answer for foreign writing paper. 
In the dearth of" other paper materials, the Americans are now 
turning their attention to the culms of the bamboo from the West 
Indies for this purpose, and a new trade has sprung up for an hitherto 
useless product. 
A late Jamaica paper observes : — " It must strike every person of a 
reflective mind that if there were anything like enterprise in Jamaica y 
there is now presented a splendid opportunity of exercising and dis- 
playing it. There is no simpler and cheaper process than the manufac- 
ture of paper, and therefore no very extraordinary amount of capital 
would be required for machinery, &c. We have here the raw material 
in excessive abundance, and it may be had for next to nothing. Why 
may we not set up a paper manufactory here — why, in fact, may we 
not have a dozen mills in different parts of the country ? If it can pay 
in other countries to manufacture paper from bamboo obtained from 
Jamaica, how much more should it not pay to manufacture the paper 
here 1 We might not only supply our own needs — and we certainly 
consume a large quantity of paper in this island — but we might also 
export paper to other countries. It appears to us that we have a source 
of wealth which we are neglecting — a good opportunity for exerting our 
enterprise which we are allowing to slip through our fingers. Without 
being too sanguine as to the advantages to result, we venture to predict 
that if care is taken and something like enterprise developed, this will 
prove a remunerative source of industry. As yet we know very little 
of the true value of this new staple. It is found in abundance in all 
parts of the country, and especially on the banks of our numerous 
