to flow on a horizontal wire-surface of fine mesh, which revolves and carries the paper along on to an endless felt. The machines have been brought to such perfection that paper can be made in one continuous web of any length; and before leaving the machine the paper is sized, dried, calendered, and, if desired, cut into sheets.

Pulp manufactured from straw made its appearance in this country in 1857, and the first wood-pulp paper-mill began operations in 1870. The pulp logs are for the most part floated from the forest down a river to the mill in four foot lengths, and the mill's first task is to get rid of the bark. Revolving cams of a barking machine rub the logs against each other, and remove the bark, which, with all the dirt, is washed away by constant streams of water. Next the logs are sawed into shorter lengths and fed to the chipping machines. From these the chips go to huge upright steel cylinders known as "digesters" to be cooked in a preparation of bisulphate of lime. This process eliminates the woody elements not useful in the pulp and leaves only the long, tough, flexible fibers of cellulose. Afterward the pulp is washed, screened, and bleached. Then the moisture is squeezed out by huge hydraulic presses, and the pulp is folded into laps and shipped. Methods differ to some degree, but the above description fairly represents the process for making a high-grade product.

Rags, however, are the chief ingredient of all fine writing papers. They are fragments from mills and shops, and discarded wearing materials from every part of the world, and they are of every color and every quality. Gathering them from among the homes, either in the big towns or in the country villages and farmlands, involves much that is