WOOD PULP FOR PAPER. 131 
lesson for him ; while ocean and river, by their action on vegetable 
substances, show him the adaptability of certain plants to felt and 
cohere into paper material. A. hundred substances are ready for trial 
round anyone's country residence, some of which would succeed. Much 
of the great pressure might be relieved as to material, if coarse and 
coloured papers were more generally used. In America many substances 
are used that paper-makers in England never dream of ; such as marsh- 
hay, oat and barley straw, cane-brake, Indian corn stalks, and woollen 
refuse. These are mixed up with a little strong fibre, and every pound 
of such substance releases a pound of materials fit to purify and bleach 
for fine papers. 
Varieties of fibres adapted to replace rags in the manufacture of 
paper could be had in great abundance in Trinidad. The coarser 
qualities are obtainable in enormous quantities from the palms and 
other indigenous plants. A systematical botanical examination of the 
colony would allow its natural products to be favourably contrasted in 
quality and quantity with those of a similar nature from the Baltic, 
with whose shores communication, at all times uncertain, is occasionally 
liable to interruption from natural or political causes. 
The uses of paper in Japan are innumerable, of which the large 
collection sent home by the Japanese Government, through Sir Ruther- 
ford Alcock, to the International Exhibition of 1862, affords a striking 
example. 
The Japanese paper handkerchiefs will be coming into use here 
soon ; at least, paper neck-kerchiefs, scarfs, or neck-ties, " in almost 
every colour and pattern," are among the latest of those inventions for 
which Mr. Gladstone and his removal of the tax on paper must be held 
responsible. It is not paper neck-ties alone, however, that are now 
advertised as the latest novelty in the paper-drapery line, but " paper 
bands for clergymen and members of the bar," — especially those 
<f members of the bar" we dare say, who have plenty of room in their 
empty brief -bags for a stock of paper-drapery. There are also " paper- 
shirt-fronts," " paper waistcoats," "paper hats, waterproof," and "paper 
bonnets of the latest fashion, trimmed with paper lace and paper 
flowers ;" besides " paper lace," and " paper lace collars, cuffs, and 
stomachers for ladies," and various other forms of paper-drapery, 
millinery, and mantua-making. 
Of the paper neck-ties the 'Critic' says: — "They are printed in 
imitation of silk and gingham, with such exactness as to defy detection, 
save on close inspection ! " The same paper states that, at a recent 
meeting of the paper-manufacturers, u some extraordinary samples of 
newly-imported Japanese paper were exhibited, one of which was of 
such prodigious strength that the material of which it is composed 
might be manufactured into ropes ; and another which is fit for bed- 
hangings and wearing apparel, so much resembles stuffs of wool and 
silk that it is often taken for them." Thus, like so many others of our 
