of wood are sawn into planks, which are ground by a sort of coarse grindstone into a paste.
This paste is flattened into boards about three feet square by I inch thick. Usually, this operation is done wholesale at saw-mills, and the wood pulp transported by barge, etc., to the paper-mill. When it reaches the paper-mill it is thrown into water and beaten up by a sort of fan, so that it again becomes wood-pulp, but it is still too coarse, and has to be beaten again and again, while being slowly pushed along in a long bath, until all the fibres are separated.
When this is so, china clay is mixed with it, to fill up spaces between the fibres and help hold the paper together.
Then the result, a thin pulpy mess, is squeezed out through a gauge and on to an endless wire netting, which is running at a great speed over rollers, so that a lot of the water drops through the holes in the netting. Nearly at the end of the belt of netting is a vacuum, which sucks out still more water. Here the pulp reaches a rubber belt and is dried still further by rollers which squeeze more water out.
The last stage of drying is by running the paper through two lines of about fifty rollers, one on top of the other, so that the paper goes over the top one, round, and under the bottom one.
Under the rollers, hot air is blown upwards, so that when the product comes out at the end of the line of rollers, it is paper, which is finished, unless a glossy appearance is desired, then it is driven through hot rollers which are close together, thus making it glossy.
P. HINTON.
WISE AND OTHERWISE.
Daddy had placed a new clock in John's bedroom. " Well, sonny, is the clock going? " he enquired next morning.
" No, dad," replied John, " it is just standing still and wagging its tail.
Which is the softest nut to crack?
A dough nut.
K. WILLS.
A beggar approached an elderly gentleman and began in a mild tone of voice, " I say, mister, can yer make any suggestions to a feller who ain't able to raise enough money to get himself a shave with? "
" Yes," answered the other, hastening on, " grow a beard."
First Farmer : " It is a bad season, my corn isn't an inch high."
Second Ditto : " That nothing, the sparrows have to kneel down to eat mine."
G. H. STONE.
A clothes-horse for sale by a washerwoman with iron hinges.
Paint required by a builder all colours.
Why should a British soldier never sit down?
Because he belongs to a standing army.
Why did the match box? Because it saw the garden fence.
J. PIPER.
A grocer bought a pound of meat from a butcher, and on getting home found that it only weighed 14 ounces. He accordingly returned to the butcher with the meat. " Well, that's strange," said the butcher, " I weighed it with a pound packet of tea from your shop."
A footballer was having a hair-cut, and the barber enquired pleasantly, " Right back, sir?" " No," replied the other absent-mindedly, " centre-forward."
Joan : " Mama, I don't feel very well."
Mother: " That's too bad, dear. Where do you feel worse ?''
Joan : " In school, mama."
J. BEALE