362 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



CULTIVATION OF ESPARTO GRASS. 



Considerable attention is now being paid in Europe and 

 Algiers to the cultivation of a fibrous plant, which is called 

 alfa in Africa, atocha in Spain, but in commerce is usually 

 known as the esparto grass (Macrochloa tenacissima). This 

 plant thrives throughout the entire coast of the Mediterra- 

 nean, both in Europe and in Africa, and its cultivation is ex- 

 tending very rapidly, in consequence of the demand for it as 

 a material for paper-making. It grows in very sterile re- 

 gions, even in the sands of the Sahara, and thrives under ex- 

 cessive heat, and in a dry, arid soil. It is peculiarly valuable 

 on account of its great tenacity and its resistance to fermen- 

 tation, for which reason it is used for sail-ropes and the rig- 

 ging of vessels. The demand for this substance may be es- 

 timated from the fact that it was first brought into notice in 

 1862, when a cargo was transported from Oran to England, 

 and that the amount sent out has risen from 10,000 quintals 

 in 1863 to 370,000 in 1870. The value of this export from the 

 Province of Oran, in Algiers, alone amounted to $1,500,000. 

 Bull. Soc. (VAcclimatation,YlI\., 1871, 488. 



SPECIFIC-GRAVITY TEST FOR POTATOES. 



A simple test adopted in Germany for determining the 

 comparative value of" different samples of potatoes as food 

 consists in the use of a saline solution of a certain strength, 

 in which the potatoes are placed, and observing the depth to 

 which they sink. Those which sink the deeper, and especial- 

 ly those that settle to the bottom, are the more valuable va- 

 rieties, while the poorer qualities float at the top. As this 

 method depends for its principle upon the fact that the 

 amount of the starch in the potato is in the ratio of its spe- 

 cific gravity, a much simpler method of getting i the absolute 

 value consists in subjecting the potato directly to the ordi- 

 nary specific-gravity test, and making the comparisons ac- 

 cordingly. 



PROPER METHOD OF STORING POTATOES. 



According to the English Mechanic, potatoes should al- 

 ways be stored in as dry a state as possible, and should any 

 disease be discovered among them, small quantities only 



