creasing.
Accompanying this increase is a corresponding one in the amount of old
waste jute, which can be employed for the manufacture of paper.

Up to the present time, only very little use has been made of jute for
the manufacture of thread and the finer fabrics, because the
difficulty of bleaching the fiber satisfactorily has proved a very
serious hindrance to its improvement by chemical means. All the
methods hitherto proposed for bleaching jute are so costly that they
can scarcely be made to pay; and, moreover, in many cases, the jute is
scarcely bleached, and loses considerably in firmness and weight,
owing to the large quantities of bleaching agents which have to be
applied.

In consequence of this difficulty, the enormous quantities of jute
scraps, which are always available, are utilized in paper making
almost entirely for the production of ordinary wrapping paper, which
is, at the best, of medium quality. In the well known work of Hoffmann
and Muller, the authors refer to the great difficulty of bleaching
jute, and therefore recommend that it be not used for making white
papers.

Messrs. Leykam and Tosefothal have succeeded in bleaching it, and
rendering the fiber perfectly white, by a new process, simple and
cheap (which we describe below), so that their method can be very
advantageously employed in the paper industry.

The jute fiber only loses very little of its original firmness and
weight; but, on the other hand, gains largely in pliability and
elasticity, so that the paper made from it is of great strength, and
not only resists tearing, but especially crumpling and breaking.

The jute may be submitted to the process in any form whatever, either
crude, in scraps, or as thread or tissue.

The material to be bleached is first treated with gaseous chlorine or
chlorine water, in order to attack the jute pigment, which is very
difficult to bleach, until it takes an orange shade. After having
removed the acids, etc., formed by this treatment, the jute is placed
in a weak alkaline bath, cold or hot, of caustic soda, caustic potash,
caustic ammonia, quicklime, sodium or potassium carbonate, etc., or a
mixture of several of these substances, which converts the greatest
part of the jute pigment, already altered by the chlorine, into a form
easily soluble in water, so that the pigment can be readily removed by
a washing with water. After this washing the jute can be bleached as
easily as any other vegetable