240 BIOLOGICAL PROBLEMS 



ever, machinery is creeping into the land, and this 

 may revolutionize all standards. 



Triticum repens^ the couch-grass, the familiar noxious 

 weed of arable land, is a plant with a running under- 

 ground stolon which is reported to provide a fibre 

 of great tenacity. The alleged drawbacks of couch- 

 grass are the expense of collection and the very large 

 amount of dirt which accompanies it. And, no doubt, 

 if the collection of couch-grass be regarded as an in- 

 dependent industry, the cost of production is high. 

 If, however, the farmer views it as his bounden duty 

 to rid his fields of this pest, its collection is then 

 but a part of the farm routine, and any reasonable 

 price which the paper-maker can afford to pay will be 

 of the nature of a subsidy to assist the farmer in the 

 cleaning of his land. 



But even if we assume these difficulties to be solved, 

 the further question arises whether, if it be periodi- 

 cally and industriously removed from the land, the 

 supply may not shrink away to almost nothing in a 

 certain number of years. That, no doubt, is a possi- 

 bility. 



A more serious proposal is the use of the marram 

 grass of the sand-dunes (Psamma arenaria). Small 

 samples have been favourably reported on, and larger 

 trials are being undertaken. The crop is a very clean 

 one, and the yield of fibre about 33 per cent on the 

 dry weight of the grass. As it grows on virgin sand- 

 dunes the grass is unsuitable for paper, because the 

 cut includes not only the growth of the current year, 

 but also the dead and useless remains of former years. 

 Consequently the first mowing has only the value of 

 a preparatory measure to secure a yearly cut of useful 

 grass. In some localities (e.g. Newborough dunes, 

 Anglesey), marram is cut for mat-making, and it 

 would appear that in such cases a certain amount 



