48 



reasonable success with the pigs be at the top at the outset. 

 Whereas, if only fair sows or gilts are bought it will take years 

 of improvement to be where one would be at the end of the first 

 year. I feel that even in Colorado one can sell the best, and 

 usually at a pretty fair figure, but there are always plenty of the 

 inferior kind going begging. If, however, the pigs do not sell 

 readily for breeders one can always sell to the butcher, and at 

 the top of the market, too. For the beginner I think it a good 

 plan to save only a few of the very best for sale as breeders until 

 one has established a reputation, and later on there will always 

 be a market for surplus stock. I know I have sent hundreds of 

 better pigs to the packers than many breeders sold in the East 

 for high prices, as breeding stock. In fact, if any Eastern 

 breeder has ever sent out here an outstanding individual, regard- 

 less of price, unless the buyer has been there and picked it out, I 

 would like to hear of it. I never have seen one. 



ESPARTO GRASS FOR PAPER MAKING. 



(From Daily Consular and Trade Reports.) 

 [Consular Assistant Ripley Wilson, Almeria, Spain.] 



Esparto grass ranks third among the exports from Almeria. 

 and this city is the center of the industry in Spain. There are 

 three firms engaged in preparing the grass for shipment, and 

 these buy direct from the villagers who do the gathering and who 

 bring the esparto in from the surrounding country. 



At present esparto can be purchased as it comes in from the 

 country for about 67 cents per 46 kilos ( 101^/2 pounds) ; but this 

 grass can not be baled and shipped for paper-making purposes 

 without first being carefully inspected and cleaned of roots and 

 bits of earth and other foreign matter that the natives include in 

 the rough bundles they make. This cleaning in the factories of 

 Almeria is done entirely by women, who are paid according to 

 the amount they look over. One rarely earns more than Z"? cents 

 a day. While cleaning the grass these women also sort the 

 esparto into two grades, the first consisting of the full, heavy 

 grass, and the second of the lighter and discolored stock. The 

 first grade seldom yields under 55 per cent. pulp. 



The facilities that are offered by the local railway make it very 

 difficult at times to bring the grass in from the outlying districts. 

 and the trouble encountered during certain seasons of the year 

 in getting ships for transj)ort make the business an uncertain 

 one. The fact, as stated in other consular reports, that the es- 

 parto root is often picked with the grass is true in this district 

 also, and much damage is being done each year. 



At various times the construction of a pulp factory in .Mnieria 



