"WOOD," both chemically and mechanically prepared, has been, and indeed is now, used to a very considerable extent; but the latter, produced by grinding down "billets" from the tree as cut down, on a grindstone to a pulp, with water, or without water, to the condition of flour, contains but little fibre, and that fibre with very little "felting" property (an essential for a good sheet of paper); thus it can only be used as a "filler-up" for "cheap News" and common papers, like "clay" (facetiously called in the trade Devonshire linen), or any other adulterant which the necessities of the Paper-maker, to meet the market, (_or in other words deficient supply of good and cheap suitable material_) compel him to use. "WOOD," chemically prepared, is costly in production, as it is only possible to reduce it into _Pulp_, by boiling under very high pressure, with strong caustic alkali; several mills established both in England and Scotland, to carry out this manufacture, have abandoned it, and such _Pulp_ as is now used in the Trade is derived exclusively from the countries where the wood is grown. The _Pulp_ thus produced, although somewhat hard and harsh, if the wood is carefully selected, and properly prepared, will, blended with other material, produce a fair quality of paper. The use of "STRAW," from the "_Cereals_," WHEAT, OATS, and RYE, has of late years greatly extended, both in this country and throughout the continent of Europe, as well as in the United States of America, either alone or as an admixture with rags and other material, for all classes of paper, as these countries equally with England suffer from a deficient supply of _Raw Material_; but in England, owing to the increased consumption for agricultural and feeding purposes, and influenced also by the scarcity and high prices lately ruling for "ESPARTO" in many districts, "STRAW" has become very difficult to obtain, and considerable quantities have in consequence been imported from Holland and Belgium, both raw, and as bleached _Pulp_. I may here mention two other fibrous substances, which have from time to time attracted considerable attention, viz. "MAIZE LEAVES" and "RICE STRAW," both of them _raw materials_, from which a fair quality of paper is produced in the countries where these plants are cultivated; but, as in their natural condition after being harvested they are far too bulky to permit of transport to this country, they would have to be reduced to a portable form where they grow, and even then, owing to the small yield of "_true fibre_," their economical conversion is somewhat doubtful, unless under favourable conditions. The daily increasing demand for PAPER being recognized, and the impending if not immediate scarcity of _Raw Material_ available for its manufacture, up to the present time, having been shown, to what quarter must the Trade look for an extended supply?