Before we go any further, we must see what becomes of those soft and lop-sided bundles which are going into the mills. These contain chemically prepared wood fiber, a certain percentage of which is used in nearly all the papers made now. It gives the paper a greater body, although its fiber is not so strong as that made of rags. The pulp comes down from Canton in soft brown sheets. These are at once bleached. The brown fiber is placed in a bath of cold water and chlorate of lime. There it quietly rests till a sediment settles at the bottom of the tank. At an opportune moment the workman pours in a copious libation of boiling water. This causes the escape of the chlorine gas, which destroys all the color in the pulp. In half an hour it comes out, a mass of smoking fibers as white as a snow heap. The drainers into which it goes are large pens with perforated tile floors. The pulp remains in the drainers till it so dry it is handled with a pitchfork. We are now ready to look at the beating machines, which have to perform a very important part in paper making. These are large iron tanks with powerful grinders revolving in them. Barrow loads of the brown rags are dumped into them, and clear cold water is poured in. The grinders are then started. They chew the rags into fine bits. They keep the mass of rags and water circulating incessantly in the tanks. Clean water constantly flows in and dirty water as constantly flows out. In the course of six hours the rags are reduced to a perfectly white pulpy mass. There is one mill, as we have said, devoted exclusively to the reduction of rags to this white pulp. It is dried in drainers such as we saw a few moments ago filled with the wood fiber. There are other beating machines just like these, which perform a slightly different service. Their function may be compared to that of an apothecary's mortar or a cook's mixing dish. The white rag stock and the white wood fiber are mixed in these, in the required proportions. At this stage, the pulp is adulterated with China clay, to give it substance and weight; here the sizing (composed of resin and sal soda) is put in; oil of vitriol, bluing, yellow ocher, and other chemicals are added, to whiten or to tint the paper. These beaters are much like so many soup kettles. Upon the kind, number, and proportion of the ingredients depends the nature of the product. The percentages of rag pulp, wood pulp, clay, coloring, etc., used, depend upon the quality of paper ordered.