F. W. Oliver 37 



In spite of this postponement, several additional small samples have 

 been treated, and a great deal of experience gained in methods of 

 harvesting, etc. 



The notes which follow are provisional conclusions based on the 

 experience of 1916 to 1918. 



(1) Harvesting. The proper time to cut the grass is in August when 

 it has reached its full growth, and whilst there still remains probability 

 of several weeks drying weather. It is best cut with a scythe a day or 

 two before the spring tides. The grass should be left in swaythes just 

 as it falls and not carried ashore. The spring tides will float it, and if 

 the area cut be surrounded by corked ropes or spars lashed together 

 the cut will not drift beyond this enclosure which can be towed to some 

 convenient spot at high water. 



The grass will be efficiently cleansed of mud by the scour of 

 the tide as it runs through it so that special cleaning by hand is 

 superfluous. 



In the case of areas not previously cut many old haulms of previous 

 years are mingled in the current growth. These have to be picked out 

 by hand before the grass is spread out to dry, as old rotten fibre spoils 

 the paper pulp. The labour involved in this operation is enormous. If 

 one man can pick a stone of wet grass (i.e. separate the current growth 

 from that of previous years) in an hour it will require 160 man hours 

 to pick over a ton. In other words the picking over of this amount is 

 a week's job for four men of the "casual" order. Trained labourers 

 would of course work much more rapidly. This picking is the limiting 

 factor in harvesting Spartina and accounts for the small output of our 

 Spartina camps. One man can mow in two days more grass than 12 boys 

 can pick over in a week. 



However, should Spartina ever be regularly exploited the need for 

 this operation of picking over will disappear. For when an area has been 

 cut, next year's crop will be free from old stalks and can be harvested 

 in its entirety. Small experimental areas have been cut for three suc- 

 cessive years and we find no appreciable diminution of the yield : at any 

 rate the fluctuations are within the range of purely seasonal factors. So 

 that it comes to this. The cut after the first year can be taken entire 

 and can be freed of mud by letting the tide scour it. No hand labour 

 is required other than that involved in mowing and transporting the cut 

 to the drying grounds. A good yield would be two tons (dry weight) 

 per acre. Whether it may not be desirable to let an occasional year 

 pass without cutting we are unable to say. There is always a danger 



