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MATERIALS  FOR  PAPER  MAKING  FROM  INDIA. 
they  might  be  cultivated  with  profit,  and  the  tow  be  useful  to 
the  paper-maker. 
The  Tiliacese  are  likewise  remarkable  for  the  abundance  and 
fine  quality  of  fibre  which  many  of  them  contain.  Tilia  Euro- 
pea  produces  the  enormous  quantities  of  bast  exported  from 
Russia.  Cor  chorus  oUthorius  and  Corehorus  capsularis,  the 
leaves  of  both  of  which  are  used  as  a  vegetable,  yield  the  large 
supply  of  jute  imported  into  this  country,  as  well  as  the  gunny 
cloth  and  bags  exported  even  to  America.  Several  species  of 
G-rewia  yield  fruit,  on  which  account  they  are  cultivated.  Oth- 
ers abound  in  the  jungles,  and  most  would  yield  a  valuable  fibre, 
as  some  of  them  already  do,  for  commercial  purposes.  Some 
paper  is  made  from  gunny  bags.  Some  of  the  Leguminos9e  also 
abound  in  valuable  fibre.  Crotalaria  jwicea  yields  the  common 
sunn  of  India.  Sesbania  Gannabina  yields  the  dhanchi  of  Ben- 
gal ;  while  Bauhinea  racemosa  is  used  in  making  the  rope  bridges 
in  the  Himalayas.  The  fibre  of  Parkin  sonia  aculeata  was  sent 
to  the  exhibition  in  1851,  expressly  as  being  fitted  for  paper- 
making  ;  though  colorless  it  wants  strength. 
Several  plants  produce  large  quantities  of  a  silky,  cotton-like 
substance,  not  applied  to  any  use,  such  as  the  silk-cotton  tree, 
the  mudar  of  India,  and  several  species  of  Saccharum,  which 
might  be  collected  where  labor  is  cheap,  and  would  no  doubt  be 
well  fitted  for  conversion  into  pulp  for  paper. 
Among  the  nettle,  the  mulberry,  and  bread-fruit  tribes  of 
plants,  there  are  many  which  seem  well  calculated  to  yield  ma- 
terial for  paper-making.  The  Chinese,  we  know,  employ  the 
inner  bark  of  morus,  now  Broussonetia  papyri/era.  This,  no 
doubt,  produces  some  of  the  Chinese  paper,  which  is  remarkable 
for  toughness.  I  believe  that  the  refuse  cuttings  of  the  bush 
cultivation  of  the  mulberry  in  Bengal  might  be  turned  to  profi- 
table account.  The  barks  of  many  stinging  ( Urtica)  and  of 
stingless  (BoJiemeria)  nettles  abound  in  fibres  remarkable  for 
strength  ;  the  tow  of  these  might  be  converted  into  paper-stuff 
if  not  required  for  mixing  with  wool. 
The  weeds  of  tropical  countries,  which  grow  in  such  luxuri- 
ance, and  among  which  are  species  of  sida,  of  grewia,  of  cor- 
ehorus, of  triumfetta,  and  of  many  other  genera,  might  all 
yield  an  abundance  of -fibrous  material  if  the  refuse  of  the  above 
cultivated  plants  was  found  not  to  be  sufficient.    Some  simple 
