regular periods, contribute articles. In the United States, few papers
have more than one editor, who generally writes upon almost all
subjects himself. This circumstance necessarily makes the papers less
spirited and able than some of the foreign journals, but is attended
with this advantage, that no particular set of men is enabled to
exercise a predominant influence by means of these periodicals. Their
abundance neutralizes their effects. Declamation and sophistry are
made comparatively harmless by running in a thousand conflicting
currents.

_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. 12, 1830, has been
published in the French papers, containing an account of his
successful experiments to make coarse paper of the pine tree. The
experiments of others have led to the same results. Any of our