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PAPER MULBERRY. 
a separate genus by the name of papyrius , of which 
this is the only species. It grows naturally in 
China and Japan, in which last place it is care- 
fully cultivated by the inhabitants upon their hills 
and mountains. The Japanese find this tree of 
singular service to them : when the winter ap- 
proaches they cut the young buds and take off the 
bark, which, after undergoing different preparations, 
is manufactured into paper. 
This plant, according to Kaempfer, is commonly 
known by the name of the paper mulberry of Asia, 
and the manner in which the Japanese proceed to 
extract their paper from it is as follows : Before 
the leaves fall, they cut the shoots of that year, 
and afterwards divide them into slips of about 
three feet each, which are tied in several bundles, 
in order either to be boiled, or spread on hot ashes. 
These bundles are placed upright in a large and 
deep copper closely shut down. The boiling is 
continued till the bark has shrunk from the wood 
and left it naked for the space of half an inch ; then 
they take out the shoots and suffer them to cool, 
making a longitudinal incision in each so as to re- 
move the bark. This, when dry, is carefully laid 
by, to be finally made into paper whenever it may 
be convenient. 
To accomplish this purpose, they cleanse the bark 
in water, where it lies for three or four hours ; after 
which they scrape off its brown skin, to clear it 
from the first green surface of the wood. At the 
same time, the strongest bark of the yeai 4 is sepa- 
