142 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 
cution, the witness’s testimony, or the notary’s documents, 
hence the word protocol, signifying glued. 
According to Pliny, single sheets of papyrus were pre- 
pared from strips of the pith, one strip being laid vertically 
and the second glued horizontally above. The lay of the 
fibers, even up to the present day, is easy to distinguish. The 
adhesive material was made from a paste of flour and hot 
water, and in some cases vinegar. Reference is also made to 
the use of white bread soaked in hot water. After being glued 
the edges were cut smooth and pressed while still wet, the 
strips then beaten with a hammer, and again fastened to- 
gether with an adhesive substance. The piece was then placed 
under a press to free it from unevenness and finally beaten 
or hammered and placed in the sun to dry. After the rough 
or uneven places had been smoothed out with a tooth or shell 
it was considered a finished product. 
The manufacture of the book, or more correctly the roll, 
was accomplished by gluing the prepared leaves together. The 
best. leaves were used first, then those of inferior type, and 
finally the poorest ones. This is explained more fully by Birt: 
‘The best leaves were also the most durable and were placed 
at the end, because, when rolled up, these first leaves came on 
the outside of the roll and were, in consequence, more exposed 
to tearing, dampness, or any other injury.’’ The first re- 
quirements of good paper (charta) are, according to Pliny, 
tenuitas, densitas, candor, levor—that is, thinness, density, 
brillianey and smoothness. 
Some noteworthy fragments of papyrus manuscripts were 
_ discovered in later years when the papier-mache mummy 
cases were taken apart, this Egyptian pasteboard being found 
to consist of numerous layers of papyrus glued together. 
Culture.—Naturally the aquatic plant is a very rank 
grower, establishing itself readily under artificial conditions 
and, like the common umbrella plant, growing either as an 
aquatic or semiaquatic. The seeds should be sowed in early 
spring in sandy soil and sparsely covered with finely sieved 
soil. The pots should then be placed in pans of water to pre- 
vent the soil from drying and the tops of the pots covered 
with glass until the seeds have germinated. Being purely 
tropical in habit, a minimum temperature of 50° F. 
should be maintained. The seedlings should be pricked off 
when convenient size to handle and shifted into small pots, 
later being transplanted to larger pots according to increase 
of growth. During the latter part of May or early June they 
