It may be carried longer, as the spar supports the sail like a band, especially an old sail.

This method does not interfere with the use of the so called midship-tack, but change of putting on bands, from the leech of the sail at the reef to the center tack would be necessary.

The weight of the spar may be considered by some as objectionable, (an old argument against double-topsail yards).  The spar used for the reef may be about one-half the diameter of the yard on which it is to be used.

Such critics do not consider that a crew of men aloft on the yard are several times heavier than such a spar.

L.K.  MORSE.

Rockport, Me., Oct. 28, 1891.

* * * * *

A NEW PROCESS FOR THE BLEACHING OF JUTE.

By Messrs. LEYKAM and TOSEFOTHAL.

Jute is well known as a very cheap fiber, and its employment in textile industry is consequently both extensive and always increasing.  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.