_Paper-making_.--The manufacture of paper has of late rapidly
increased in the United States. According to an estimate in 1829, the
whole quantity made in this country amounted to about five to seven
millions a year, and employed from ten to eleven thousand persons.
Rags are not imported from Italy and Germany to the same amount as
formerly, because people here save them more carefully; and the value
of the rags, junk, etc., saved annually in the United States, is
believed to amount to two millions of dollars. Machines for making
paper of any length are much employed in the United States. The
quality of American paper has also improved; but, as paper becomes
much better by keeping, it is difficult to have it of the best quality
in this country, the interest of capital being too high. The paper
used here for printing compares very disadvantageously with that of
England. Much wrapping paper is now made of straw, and paper for
tracing through is prepared in Germany from the poplar tree. A letter
of Mr. Brand, formerly a civil officer in Upper Provence, in France
(which contains many pine forests), dated Feb.
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