Rensselaer Union, Volume 8, Number 1, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 September 1875 — Japanese Paper. [ARTICLE]

Japanese Paper.

The Revue Orientate Mensuellegives some curious details concerning the manufacture of paper in Japan. Most of this article is prepared from the bark of Broussonetia papyrifera, the paper mulberry cultivated in our gardens. The other materials that contribute a share are the bark of Passerina gampi and some species ot Edgeworthia, which generally yield a sort not unlike our straw paper. But the first-named plant gives all kinds, from the coarsest packing to the finest note paper, and even that which is used for filtering the well-known Japan varnish. The most remarkable property of this bark is the tenacity it imparts to the paper made of it, which is owing to its fibers being preserved throughout all the manipulations it undergoes, whereas in our European sorts they are reduced to a pulp, both by chemical processes and the effects of machinery. Certain it is "Itbat our papers, dating -from two or three centuries back, are infinitely stronger, though less pleasing to the eye, than our modern ones, which, when once folded, are sure to tear in a very short time along the fold. Japanese paper, on the contrary, like our old kinds, does not tear easily in any direction, and this is why it can be employed in many ways unknown to us in Europe. They make umbrellas, parasols, bags, and even carpels, window-panes and ropes, of it; it is woven into stuffs with silk or cotton. If dipped into the oil of PeriUa yegoma it becomes excellent packing paper; and the sort called “crape” has a wonderful elasticity, superior to that of our textile fabrics. Our paper has lost the qualities we find in that oi old books; first, because rags are seldom used alone on account of their high price; then because also they have lost much of their tenacity by being woven by machinery; also, becauseithey are bleached by means of chlorine. It weuld be well if our pa-per-manufacturers were to borrow a few hints from their predecessors of at least a century ago. —A Milwaukee man made three unsuccessful attempts to blow his brains out, and then his wife told him: “ Don’t try it again, John, you haven’t got any.” He goes about now saying that he owes his life to the* woman* —Brooklyn Argue.