is squeezed to remove the excess of size, and the sheets are separated to prevent the paper from becoming a solid block.
The second visit to the drying loft prepares the paper for the last stages of manufacture. The drying is conducted at a moderately low temperature (for papermakers), not exceeding 80° Fahr., and when dry the paper has its bulk reduced and its surface improved by plate rolling, unless it is a drawing paper with a "not," that is, a rough surface. Plate rolling necessitates building a pile of paper, alternated with zinc plates a little larger than the paper, unbuilding and building of piles proceeding simultaneously as in the case of taking out set-off sheets and interleaving newly printed work. One girl takes the glazed paper, a second removes the plates, a third feeds the unglazed paper to the plates. When the pile is high enough it is lifted to the pressing rolls by a man who feeds it between the rollers, where great pressure is given, and the pile automatically returns to the front of the machine, and it is turned and placed for pressing the other way of the sheet. From two to a dozen pressings will be given according to the degree of finish required, and also to the hardness of the material.
Sorting, counting, and packing will complete the cycle of operations included in finishing, unless cutting to size is also necessary. Girls stand at long benches lighted with large windows, and have piles of paper before them for sorting into three classes—good, middling, bad—according to the degree or absence of defects. The middling paper showing slight defects is known as "retree," the reams are marked ╳ ╳ , and the paper is sold at 10 per cent, reduction on the price for good paper. Bad paper, showing glaring defects, is called "broke," the reams are marked ╳ ╳ ╳ , and it is
