16 THREE NEW PLANT INTRODUCTIONS. 



stick being stuck through a hole in the lever and the other lodged in a 

 hole through the floor. The workman then sits on the long end of the 

 lever and teeters until the roll of papers, which was originally about 18 

 inches long, is reduced to not more than 12 inches. He then removes 

 the roll, undoes it, spreads out the papers, again arranges his dry sheets, 

 and prepares another roll for the lever, inserting the same papers in a 

 different position. Eight times he subjects the papers to this wrinkling 

 process, and each time they become smaller, thicker, and more pliable 

 until, after the last wrinkling, the cardboard is as soft and limp as a 

 bit of muslin. 



Once through the wrinkler. the paper is given a coating of oil made 

 from the seed of a labiate {Perilla ocy moides) and hung out to dry. 

 For over a hundred days it is hung in the open air to allow the oil to 

 harden, and even two hundred days are sometimes required to finish 

 this part of the process. After being once dried out the piece of 

 wrinkled oil paper can be treated in almost any way — shaved or scraped 

 with a sharp knife, stamped or beaten with dies or patterns, or given a 

 coat of lacquer varnish. If colored papers are required, the pigments 

 are applied before the oiling process. 



Although these remarkable papers are used now almost exclusively 

 for tobacco and other pouches, there are other uses to which the 

 inventive American mind can put them, such as book covers, port- 

 folios, table covers, etc.. and the writer is of opinion that, should they 

 once be available to the common people, many new and important 

 applications for them would be found. 



A similar form of these leather papers is the Japanese handmade 

 wall paper, which is already becoming fashionable in America. Large 

 factories arc running near Tokyo which turn out the most beautiful 

 designs for wall and ceiling decoration. These wall papers are 

 wrinkled in the way previously described, though evidently not so 

 finely, and are then stamped and modeled by hand into the most 

 artistic designs imaginable. 



The extent of the leather-paper industry is not great, but, as it is, 

 over 200,000 paper pouches are made annually by one firm alone in 

 Yamada and about $15,000 worth of business yearly is claimed to be 

 done by the same firm. 



Any plant from which can be produced a set of papers widely dif- 

 ferent from those we already have is worthy of consideration by the 

 cultivators of the country, and if the processes of manufacture can 

 make out of it better, stronger envelopes, finer and lighter wrapping- 

 paper, more suitable toilet papers, or a cheap and useful substitute 

 for leather, the cultivation of the plant in America may prove de- 

 cidedly profitable. 



As the species of mitsumata is not one which will withstand much 

 cold, it is useless to try to grow it in any regions where the 



