s 
Pine Apple. , 329 
WASHING APPARATUS.—-To wash the rags before boil- 
ing, we may use with advantage a large wooden vat analo- 
gous to the bleaching cisterns, furnished with a washing 
drum and a large sand trap. The light parts, such as 
feathers, &c., are carried along witha current of water which 
is poured out through a strainer covered with-wire gauze, 
and placed at the upper part of the vat. The water, running 
in at the lower part, produces by its pressure a constant 
agitation of the rags in the liquid. 
With asingle vat of this kind we can easily cleanse from 
2,000 to 2,400 kilog. (1,968 to 2,362 tons) of rags in twenty- 
four hours. 3 
For the same purpose a sort of duster or washing drum 
is used, revolving in a trough filled with water. In all cases 
it is well to conduct all the water after washing, into cis- 
terns where the filamentous parts which have been carried 
off may be recovered. 
In the United States thare are 750 paper mills in active 
operation. They produce 270,000,000 pounds of paper 
which, at an average of ten cents. per pound, would be 
worth 27,000,000 dols. As it requires about a pound anda 
half of rags to make one pound of paper, there are con- 
sumed by these mills above 400,000,000 lbs. of rags in a 
single year. If we estimate the rags to cost four cents. per 
pound, there would be a profit of 11,000,000 dols. in this 
branch of manufacturing. 
Pine APPLE (ANANASSA SATIVA) 
fc INE-APPLE, a penny a-slice!” is a sound familiar 
to Cockney ears, whilst the variationindulged in by 
the more learned itinerant vendor, of “Here’s yer fine 
West Injun pines!” localises the product, and contributes 
a trifle to street science. It must not be taken for granted, 
however, that the West Indies is the only great centre of 
pine-apple growth, or that “ Pine-apple Rum” is the dis- 
tilled spirit from the juice of this fruit. That “ partickler 
wanity” of Mr. Stiggins, as immortalized by “Boz,” does 
not absorb our Christmas thoughts, and we have ever been 
innocent of any hankerings after the “Genuine Pine-apple 
EK. E 2 
