SUITABLE -MATERIALS FOR PAPER-MAKING. 289 



power it would be desirable, otherwise the mill should be erected 

 where fuel is plentiful at some convenient centre. 



In India a superior chemical paper made from local raw 

 material has, owing to its cheapness, ousted the foreign inferior 

 article out of the market. With the abundant supply of excellent 

 material at its disposal. South Africa should not stand behind 

 India in this respect, but should retain at least half of the large 

 sum of over £400,000 annually spent in the import of paper into 

 the Union. 



The Audropogon nardus will produce close on 50 per cent. 

 of pulp. Pulp requires the addition of about 10 per cent, of 

 extra stuff, clay, size, etc., to mak-e it into paper. 



I have dealt with but a few of the species of grasses and 

 other plants which might be utilized for the purpose of paper 

 production, but doubtless these are many other plants that will 

 prove of value for this purpose, especially among the Alonocotyle- 

 dons, and with such a plentiful supply of raw material it remains 

 to be seen whether South Africa will utilize its resources and 

 supply an industry which would be beneficial to commerce a? well 

 as a valuable asset to the country. 



Read, July 3, 1917.) 



Potash from Kelp in America. — It is stated that 

 kelp is now being harvested by one concern near San Diego in 

 California in quantity sufficient to supply three times the amount 

 of potash annually imported from Ciermany before the war. A 

 second plant of equal capacity has been established in the same 

 vicinity, and a smaller j)lant lias also been installed by the Govern- 

 ment. Every working day 1,500 tons of cut kelp are conveyed by 

 ship to a crushing mill. A sticky, gelatinous mass results, contain- 

 ing about 80 per cent, of water, and can be pumped through a 

 six-inch pipe to barges and thence to digestive tanks, of 50,000 

 capacity each. The material is subsequently put through pro- 

 cesses of evaporation. 



Fixation of Atmospheric Nitrogen in New 



Zealand. — The Journal of the Royal Society of Arts (65, 

 /S^), states that at the instance of the National Efficiency 

 Board, New Zealand Government, a project for preparing ni- 

 trates from the air by the agency of some of the large falls in 

 the south-western soiuids of New Zealand is imder consideration. 

 One of the simplest propositions is the utilisation of the Bowen 

 Falls, from which, it is estimated, energy could 'be produced at 

 the rate of one-fiftieth of a penny per unit. The Chief Electrical 

 Engineer to the New Zealand Post and Telegraph Dei^artment 

 doubts whether there is a more favoured spot in the w^rld than 

 Bowen Falls, and considers that nowhere in German}', Norway 

 and Italy can electricity be generated more cheaply. 



