38 



dance, in all the southern provinces of Spain.* It is also said 

 to be plentiful in some parts of the opposite coast of Africa, 

 and shipments were made from Oran to England. 



Prior to the discovery of its being available for the manu- 

 facture of paper, the Esparto has been used in Spain as fuel, 

 in the manufacture of ropes for mining and rigging, and for 

 making baskets and matting. But the discovery of the valu- 

 able properties of the grass has made a complete revolution 

 in the districts where it grows. Fortunes have been realised 

 by individuals who were the proprietors of the land which 

 produce it. The price has more than doubled, and is now 

 estimated by Mr. Mark at =£4 2s. per English ton on board. 

 The greater part of the exports have as yet been directed to 

 England, where in the brief space of three or four years the 

 article has become a requisite of the highest importance, 

 160,000 tons having been, as it is said, imported into Eng- 

 land in that period; and Mr. Mark estimates the present 

 rate of annual export at 50,000 tons. 



Mr. Mark estimates that, even at its present enhanced 

 price, the Spanish grass will take a place with cotton, hemp, 

 and wool as one of the staple and essential bases of manufac- 

 turing industry : and if this anticipation should be realised, in 

 addition to the valuable resource which it seems likely to 

 prove to our paper manufacturers, it will form an important 

 element in trade between England and Spain ; indeed, our 

 shipowners have already largely profited by a discovery which 

 has enabled them to find freights for their vessels employed 

 in conveying coals and machinery to the mining districts in 

 Spain, and which had hitherto, in the majority of cases, been 

 under the necessity of returning to England in ballast. 



From the Quarterly Beview for April, 1868, are derived the 

 following important particulars of this useful article. In 

 1852 a patent was taken out for Esparto as a substance for 

 the manufacture of paper by Jean Antoin Farina, and again 

 in 1854 and 1856 by James Murdoch and Thomas Routledge. 

 Specimens of paper made from its fibre had previously been 

 seen in the Algerine section of French products in the Exhibi- 

 tion of 1851. The Ahkhar, daily paper, has been printed in 

 Algiers for years upon it ; and it was introduced to the whole 

 world in the " Exposition" of 1867, the catalogue of which 

 is printed upon paper made from Esparto alone. The grass 

 known to botanists by the name Stipa, or Machrochloa tena- 



* Seeing that there is a difference of several degrees of latitude between the proviaces 

 of Spain where this grass flourishes and the colony of Tasmania, I confess that I am not 

 sanguine as to whether this grass could be successfully acclimatised here ; but, as its 

 geographical range may be wider than supposed, a trial might at all events be made in 

 certain localities most favorable for the experiment. Should it fail, it might doubtless 

 prove a success in the adjoining colonies of Australasia. 



