Page:Willich, A. F. M. - The Domestic Encyclopædia (Vol. 3, 1802).djvu/357

335&#93; PAP jppsition of the former j yet, at the same time, it imparts a yeUowish cast to the paper : such 4i»celora- tiou, however^ tiiay in a great mea- sate be obviated by long-continued washing" of the materials in the en- gine, during their conversion into a pulpy mass. Plants of tender fibres, which are naturally soft and pliant, require no lime-water, espe- cially when they are to be reduced in a fresh state ; but, for those that are dry, h^rd, and of a w oudy consistence, lime will be indispen- sably necessary ; as otherwlse the paper manufactured of (hem, al- ways remains brittle, and unlike that obtained tron) rags. Amoi;g the diffc rent produftlons of the ^egetable kingdom, wluch have been employed in the mahu- fafture of paper (before any at- tempts to that efft-et were made in Britain), we shall enumerate chiefly the following; 1. Cotion, when treated in a niijnner similar to that practised with Ymtn rags, affords an excel- lent pa[x;r,. which is incomparably more durable, and better calculated for writings on account of its un- common whiteness, great strength, and tine grain : it was lirst invent- ed in Greece ; and at present forn;is a very extensive branch of the Le- vant tr:ule. 2. The pilh. of the various spe- cies of Thliit/e have been employed with .success by ScHAEFrER, who tii'st decorticated the stalks of this plant, bruised them, extraded, the inner s^iongy substance, and sent it in a fresh and sappy .state to die mill : after ' being vorked three Lours, it afforded, without rags, a tolerably white paper. Dr. B5k- ' MKR, however, obserygpS, ^tliat il)e wliite(/o«7? growing on'the" Cci//o«- " 'iJnslL''^OjioJ^prdon Acanthium, L ) PAP

might be more easily colle6ted and usefully employed for this purpose. 3. The Jfithc^n, or Sal/oiv fSal'ix caprcata, L.). — In die year 1/88^ the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, &c. conferred their silver medal on Mr. Gkeavtls, of Mill Bank, near Warrington, for prepar- ing 20 quires of paper from the bark of this tree. The quantity of the material employed, was about sLx. cwt. which had been stripped off the -wigs in the month of Sep- tember ; and two-thirds of which were heckled and dried, in a man- ner similar to hemp, so that it was reduced to one cwr. : the remainder was dried in its natural green state, by which it lost one half of it> original weight., I'he heckled bark was then chopped small ; worked in the usual maniier, and produced eight quires of a ^;ner kind of pa- per: from the other, Mr.GREAVES obtained 24 lialf quires of coarsej: paper ;^ which, though not in aD respects equal to that manufactured of linen rags, nevertheless " seems likely to answer some valuable pur- poses hereafter, when the mode of 'working raw vegetable materials, shall be better understood." — Mr. G.is of opinion, that. paper may thus be obtained at one half of the ex- pence usually incurred in the cora- riion mode of preparing it from "ropes or rags ; and that it will be more serviceable, when made of the bark and leaves in a green statL 4. Hemp, is one of the most proper plants for being converted into paper, provided it could be procured at a reasonable jjrice. — • Du H.'VLDE informs us, that the inhabitants of Nangha, in Japan, ' nlacerate this plant m lime-water^ beat it, and then immediately pncp pare.their paper. — Guettard as- scfEs,' that.j.jii^"jVery'- ^/i^uy, ,^r>^ " " ' other