St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1894-02-03

MANUFACTURE OF PAPER.

MANUFACTURE OF PAPER.
Ramls aud Other Fibers Are Fast Sup.
planting Cotton and Linen.
The announcement that . good quail
ity of coarse paper has been made in
Kansas from the stalks of the sun.
flower that have given the state its
nickname is not of very great i'm
portance, but each utilization Of .
waste product or a useless growth is of
interest and marks one step, even
though it be q short one, in the
triumph of man over matter. Pretty
nearly every vegetab BILE substance with
any strength of fiber has now been
utilized in the manufacture of paper,
and in the vegetable, as in the
animal and mineral kingdoms,
the list Of absolutely useless sub
stances is fast diminishing be-
fore the progress of invention and the
perpetual demand for cheaper methods
of production that the labor of day
may exchange for greater number Of
articles needed by man.
While the ingenuity of the paper.
maker in this country has been ap-
piled to the problem of cheaper pro
duction, and one substitute after an
other for cotton rags has found its way
to the paper mill. = portion at least OF
the French ingenuity has been applied
to the production of an exceptionally
durable paper, and ramie, or China
grass, has been found to yield . paper
of remarkab bic pliability and durabili.
ty. From it are made the notes of the
Bank Of France, and this paper is said
to last far longer than any other bank
note paper and to be much more diff1.
cult of imitation. Thus the ramie
finds field of limited but very honor
able usefulness. though it has disap
pointed, with great loss of money,
those who had hoped to see
it displace all other veReta BILE hbers in
the production of textiles. When our
civil war cut OF the supply of cotton
from Europe there were those who saw
in ramie the successor of the innocent
cause of African slavery in America,
and of the secession Of eleven states
from the American Union. Ramie did
not supplsnt cotton. and has since been
offered as substitute for lincn. 1t is
said to wear i've times rs well, and to
retain its gloss. But it is no cheaper:
it is rather more expensive, and Amer.
lean housel<eepers have not yet grown
accustomed to spreading their tables
with its woven tissues 1t is not less
serviceable as a substitute for hemp
but the difficulty of getting the 6ber
free from the rest of the stalk thus far
limits its utility. The French manu-
facturers who use it import it from
China partly decorticated by . primi'
tive process that 10 justified only by the
extreme cheapness Of Chinese labor, Of
which we have heard somewhat In this
country. and the process is completed
with French machinery.
And so, while ramie has not yet de-
throned cotton or linen, it has proved
its very great superiority to silk in the
manufacture of bank-note paper, and
now that the Sherman law has been
repealed and the retirement of silve,
suggests an increased use of notes and
perhaps the creation of banks of issue
by each member of our political Onion.
the superiority Of ramic paper for cur.
rency purposes is worth the careful
consideration of the treasury officials
and of the state bank superintendents.
Were it not too expensive for promis.
cuous use ramie would bring comfort
to the anxious souls that have of late
been sorrowing over much because our
paper was not nearly so durable as the
paper Gutenberg printed on, and our
books are destined to crumble into dust
before they acquire sufficient age to
interest the collector. The fragility
of our paper. however, is a subject
for congratulation rather than regret
When books were produced by scribes
it was well that they should be made
of vellum, for the results should be as
durable as the process was tedioua
With the slow and clumsy printing
from the time of Gutenberg to the
utilization of steam as the motive pow.
err of the press-room it was we'll that
books should be printed on paper made
from pure linen, for the reproduction
of book was a matter of some ex.
pense and time. But with the extraor.
dinary activity of the present day and
the wonderful development of printing
machinery. each seeking to outstrip
the other, and leaving the astonished
beholder wondering whether the writ.
ers or the presses will win. the result
would be disastrous if pages and bind.
ings were as durable as they were
once, and as it was then for the
interest Of mankind that they
should be. Indeed, the material OF
books is not yet sufficiently evenescent
Most of the books and magazines and
papers are designed to be read but
once. and if they would resolve them.
selves back into dust within five years
it would save labor and probably pro
mote the reproduction of the really
durable things in literature. That
which was worth keeping could easily
be reprinted, and that which was not
worth keeping might better be in the
dust heap than encumbering the
shelves. The invention of a paper that
will not last may cause great distress
of mind to those book lovers for whom
. volume is ruined when the leaves are
cut, but it ID the salvation Of an age
when every woman wishes to write .
book and every man desires to write
for the papers, and the too ingenious
pressman has invented machinery cApa.
BILE of printing all that every body can
write.-N. Y. Journal Of Commerce.
Egyptian RopyFk
"A collection of Egyptian pspyri ~.
Gently purchased by subscription for
the Geneva public library il being ex.
amined by NJ. Jules Nieole. He has