For very obvious reasons, the manufacture of paper has been localized on the banks of streams that afford an abundant supply of for washing and pulping. Kent is celebrated for its paper-mills and for the tine quality of its paper, and is, the chief county in this respect. Next follow Hertfordshire (where it was first commenced in England in 1490 by John Tate of Stevenage, of whom it is said in a book printed by Caxton, .
Which late hathe in England doo make thya paper thynne, That now in our Englyssh thys booke is printed inne; • and the same John Tate is mentioned in Henry VII.'s household book, under dates May 25, 1498 and 1499, "for a rewarde geven at the paper-mylne," and " geven in rewarde to Tate of the mylne, 6s: 8d." ), Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, and Lancashire. It was introduced into Scotland in the year 1695, when a company was formed for carrying it on under "articles" signed at a general meeting held in Edinburgh, which articles are now in the library of the British museum. It has become a very important branch of manufacture; only is•paper of a very fine quality made from rags and the new material, esparto, alfa, or Spanish grass (the lygeum sparteum of botanists), but also the manufacture of paper-machines is carried on most successfully both for foreign and home use. Both of these manufactures are carried on in the immediate neighborhood of Edinburgh. Since the introduction of the penny postage, penny papers, and other economical measures, especially the.abolition of the excise-duty, an enormous impetus has been given to this branch of our home-manufacture, and considerable difficulty has been found in supplying the makers with raw material: this difficulty has been much increased by the export duties laid by other countries upon the export of rags. The greatest relief has been experienced by improved methods for preparing paper pulp from straw, and from the introduction of the esparto, which yields half its weight of paper. Of this material our imports have risen to 140,000 tons per annum, which repre sents 75,000 tons of paper. The imports of rags, notwithstanding the foreign impedi ments, are also very large. During the five years ending in 1875, they were as follows: 1871, 26,868 tons; 1872, 23,254 tons; 1873, 16,151 tons; 1874, 17,232 tons; 1875, 16,379 tons. In 1877 the 17,130 tons imported were valued at £256,489. Judging from good
data, this manufacture has more than trebled since the abolition of the paper-duty, at which time it was very nearly 100,000 tons, a quantity so vast,.that it will remove all surprise at the difficulty of supplying the raw materials.
The following are the principal varieties of ordinary paper, and the sizes of the sheets given in inches: 1. Writing and Printing Papers.—Pot (so named from its original water-mark, a tank ard), 12+ by 15; double pot, 16 by 25. • Foolscap, 16+ by 13+; sheet-and-third do., 22+ by 13+; sheet-and-half do., 22+ by 131; double do., 27 by 17. Post (so called from its use in letter-writing; one of its original water-marks was a postman's horn), 181 by 15+; large do., 20i by 10+; medium do., 18 by 22+; double do., 30+ by 19. ' Copy, 20 by 16+. Double crown, 20 by 30. Demy, 20•19y- 15; printing do., 22+ by 171; medium do., 22 by 17+; medium printing do., 23 by 18+. Royal, 24 by 19; printing do., 25 by 20; super-royal, 27 by 19; super-royal printing, 21 by 27. Imperial, 30 by 22. Atlas, 34 by 26. Columbier, 341- by 23+. Elephant, 28 by 23; double do., 26* by 40. Antiqua rian, 53 by 31: this is generally, if not always, hand-made.
These sizes are somewhat lessened by plowing and finishing off the edges previous to sale.
2. Coarse Papers for scrapping and other purposes.—Kent cap, 21 by 18: bag-cap, 19+ by 24; havon-cap, 21 by 16; imperial cap, 22+ by 29. Double 2-lb., 17 by 24; double 4-lb., 21 by 31; double 6-lb., 19 by 23. Cartridge, casing, and middle-hand, etc., 21 by 16. Lumber-hand, 19+ by 22+; royal-hand, 20 by 25; double small-hand, 19 by 29.
Purple papers of a soft texture, unsized, are used in very large quantities by sugar refiners, of the following sizes: Copy-loaf, 164 by 211.; powder-loaf, 18 by 26; double loaf, 16i by 23; single-loaf, 21+ by 27; lump, 23 by 33; hambro', 16+ by 23; titler, 29by 35; Prussian, or double-lump, 32 by 42.
Blotting and Filtering Paper.—This is unsized paper, made of good quality, and usually colored pink or red, and of the same size as decoy.