, 1862-12-24


S1n: 1t is alleged that the present paper
famine is mainly due to the lack OF paper
stcck,n the almost total stoppagc of import
ations Of rags, and the failure Of bagging and
other materials for making paper formerly
obtained from the South. The demand now
price, and even rye straw is advertised for by
mills near Philadelphia, at 6115 cents per h.,
or 4G.50per tln- The want is immediate and
pressing, and we have no time to look abroad
TO t1le numerous kinds Of tropical f1hrcs from
which paper can lie made, nor yet to go into
Nor need we do so. We have an immense
supply Of good paper stock, than which
nothing could be better at home, and
Immediately aruila5ze- Irefer now to the t1lous-
ands of tuns Of flax which lie outside the oil
mills in Ohio, Illinois, ETC., and which have
literally been thrown away, after the extrac-
ton Of the oil from the seed. Of all these re-
jected stalks, onefourth part in weight is first
class paper stock. 1u the two States Of ILL
hos a1a one taxing t esnsns y Ivy rs
Of fax this year raised for seed end oil, and
thrown to waste. Properly broken and
cleanscd, this aggregate would yield about
1900 tons Of the very bestpaper stock in the
world-equal to two-thirds Of the total amount
Of rags hitherto imported annually, and equal
in galuc, at the present price of paper stock,
to nearly G2,0OO,OOO Tie effect Of bringing
this vast supply into the market is too obvi=
Gus to need explanation.
The only difficulty in utilizing this supply 1T
paper stock, realizing the relief which it would
| afford, and preventing further advance in
| books and newspapers, as well as giving Il
| new source Of profit to the farmers Of the
! West, is cheap and proper machinery for clear
| ing the flax fibcrs from the shooye or woody
| part, so that it can be packed and sent to the
| market, ready, or nearly ready, for the paper
maker, without eating itself up in freight
| Now such machinery does exist; simple,
| cheap and portable, and easily managed
| which, believe, is destined to work an en-
| tire revolution in the production and mann-
| facture Of flax. alluue to the newly y-invcnt~
| cd Sanford & Mallory tlax-brake and cleaner,
| room No. 26,} and which ut q single operation
removes fully four-fifths of the shoovc, OF
woody substance, amounting to from sixty to
siSty-1iye per cent. Of the original weight o1
the straw, and leaves the fiber in 4 condition
to be ut once baled and sent to market.
The cost Of this machine land wish it I'M.
| derstood that have no interest Of any kind
III it beyond what share III common with ey.
cry citizen) is about 1856. II may bc worked
by any ordinary horsepower; requires M
skill beyond what any boy may acquire in firt
minutes, and may be SET up by any ordinar,
| mechanic in half !, day
By prompt application Of this machine
(which will easily clean a ton of flax straw pc
day), to the vast piles Of flax in the West, i
seems to me, our paper manufacturers INA,
be supplied with m abundance of paper stoc}
Of the best kind, and at once, without an.
change in existing machinery, and withou
launching out into novel and costly expel
itnents on materials which, ut bcst, can onl
afford IN inferior article Of paper;
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