News and Notes 575 



tops of zacaton grass — previously waste material — a satisfactory 

 paper-making material may be developed. This grass is com- 

 monly known as broom-root grass, wire grass and rice-root grass 

 because its roots are made into brushes of various sorts. 



The plant is a perennial one, the growth being almost entirely 

 from self-sown seed. Its range extends from California and 

 Texas southward to the Argentine Andes. It is not uncommon 

 to find many square miles densely covered with the growth, an 

 acre of which is said to yield at least 3 tons of tops. 



Laboratory tests show that this grass can be chemically reduced 

 to paper stock by the soda process more easily and with less 

 expense than is necessary to reduce poplar wood. The same 

 processes and methods which are employed for the manufacture 

 of pulp from poplar wood are quite suitable for the treatment of 

 zacaton, but in place of the wood-sawing, chipping, and screening 

 machinery, a grass duster is necessary. 



The paper manufactured from the stock has proved as satis- 

 factory in physical tests as a first-grade, machine-finished print- 

 ing paper. It has, moreover, a very satisfactory appearance and 

 feel but requires more bleaching powder than poplar stock. 



The percentage of air-dry fiber obtained from this grass 

 appears to be slightly less than that from poplar wood, but practi- 

 cally equal to that of esparto. 



No estimate of the cost of manufacture is mentioned in the 

 government publication dealing with the experiments. 



An interesting development brought to light by the exigencies 

 of the European war is that of the manufacture of explosives 

 from woodpulp as a substitute for cotton. The new process is 

 said to differ from that for ordinary woodpulp only in that in 

 the later stages it must be more carefully and thoroughly cleansed 

 until nothing but absolutely pure wood fiber remains. This mate- 

 rial is rolled into sheets and nitrified into explosives of tremen- 

 dous power. 



In this connection, we would call attention to Forestry QtrAR- 

 TERI.Y, vol. Ill (1905), p. 319, to the note that German scientists 

 in Bavaria were then making experiments along this line. 



A Swedish paper expert has, by experimentation, confirmed 

 his opinion that Araucaria imbricata produces woodpulp for 



