To make the paper pulp the rags are first boiled with soda and lime, to rid them of dirt and grease.  They are then macerated in a vat, through which fresh water continually flows.  When thoroughly ground the pulp is treated with a bleaching fluid which removes all color.  It is then pressed and is ready for use.  When about to be used the pulp is mixed with water and color is added if desired.  When the paper is to be made by machinery the pulp is allowed to flow slowly from the vat upon a wide, endless band, usually made of fine wire gauze but occasionally of canvas or other form of cloth.  This band is stretched upon rollers and travels slowly forward while, at the same time, it is shaken from side to side to distribute the pulp.  Two narrow bands of India rubber are stretched lengthwise of the gauze band and resting upon it.  They serve to confine the pulp and regulate the width of the paper.  These bands are also called deckles and produce the same edge as the frame used in making hand-made paper.

As the pulp moves along with the gauze band it passes under a roller called the “dandy roll.”  The covering of this roll determines the character of the paper.  When the paper is to be wove, it is covered with wire gauze.  If it is to be watermarked the designs are attached to the surface of the roll and duly pressed into the paper.  To make laid paper the surface of the roll is covered with longitudinal wires, with spaces the width of a wire between them.  Rings of wire pass around the roll at regular intervals and hold the longitudinal wires in place.  For batonne paper, there are thick longitudinal wires at intervals and between them either smaller wires or gauze, as the paper is to be laid batonne or wove batonne.  After passing the dandy roll the paper goes over a number of rollers covered with felt and cylinders heated by steam, until it is dry.  It is then sized, dried again, pressed between heavy rollers, to give it a surface, and the edges trimmed by revolving cutters.  It is then wound up in a roll or cut into sheets, as may be required.

Having duly considered the design, printing and paper of stamps, the next thing to attract our attention is the gum.  Most gums are prepared from potato starch, dextrin or gum arabic.  Gelatin is sometimes added to supply body and glycerine to give smoothness.  Gum varies much in thickness and color.  The first three cent stamp of the Danish West Indies furnishes an instance of this.  The stamps were sent from Denmark without gum, as is frequently done with stamps for tropical countries.  When they reached the islands the stamps were given to two druggists to be gummed.  One used gum of good quality and, light color, while the other used poor material and of so dark color as to stain the paper and even darken the ink of the stamps.  In Hanover rose-colored gum was used for a number of issues.  Some of the earliest local prints of the South African Republic were made upon paper sent out ready gummed from Germany.  The paper was much wrinkled by the gum and the effect may be seen in the wavy and broken lines of the ink.