14 THREE NEW PLANT INTRODUCTIONS. 



nature of the wood makes it seem an eas3 T matter to crush the stems 

 and separate the wood from the bark after the crushing. The fact 

 that in Japan these, as well as the other processes, are done by hand sig- 

 nifies little as regards the possibility of the application of machinery, 

 when it is remembered that until two years ago such simple operations 

 as tea firing and sifting were done there — and are } 7 et to a large extent — 

 by hand. 



THE MANUFACTURE OF MITSUMATA PAPER. 



Small paper factories are scattered along the banks of the picturesque 

 mountain streams in central Japan, and the broad drying boards cov- 

 ered with sheets of fresh paper are common sights in many of the 

 mountain villages. (See PL III, fig. 2.) 



The freshly stripped hark is macerated in vats of warm water 

 and the thin outer bark is removed by scraping with a dull knife. 

 The purity of the paper depends in large measure upon how thoroughly 

 this dark part is removed, for any small particles that are overlooked in 

 the cleaning make dark flecks in the paper. After cleaning, these soft, 

 spongy strings of bark are thrown into a vat filled with caustic soda, and 

 are left to macerate thoroughly until the fibers can be easily separated 

 from each other. The macerated bark is then pounded, either in a 

 stone mortar with a heavy wooden mallet or by means of a stamping 

 mill run by water power until it is a homogeneous pulp. It is then 

 mixed with water, bleached with chlorid of lime, and put into a large 

 vat, from which small quantities are taken by the hand screens which 

 the operator uses in making the sheets of paper. A mucilage made 

 by macerating the root of a species of hibiscus (71. man that) is added 

 in small quantities to the pulp to make the fibers stick together. The 

 amount of this mucilage used seems to be a matter of experience. 

 One woman can make, by means of her bamboo hand sieve, 600 sheets 

 of paper a day, and, according to the prices given me through an 

 interpreter, this medium quality of paper sells for about 94 cents a 

 hundred sheets. It is very interesting to watch how skillfully the 

 operator lifts from the vat a screen half full of thin pulp, poises it 

 and shakes it for a second or two, allows the water to drain out for a 

 few moments, then quickly lifts the screen and, inverting it, lays it 

 face down on the pile of previously made sheets. She then gently 

 and slowly lifts the sieve and leaves a thin layer of wet pulp upon 

 the continually thickening pile. With a hand press the water is 

 squeezed out of this pile of wet papers, the individual sheets are 

 stripped off one by one, brushed out on smooth boards with brushes 

 just like those used by the paper hanger to spread the paste on wall 

 paper, and are then put out in the sun to dry, after which simple proc- 

 ess the papers are packed in bundles and taken by pony or bull pack 

 animals to the nearest market. In at least one town in Japan paper- 



