RECKKATIVE NATURAL HISTORY. 



401 



RECREATIVE NATURAL HISTORY. 



i:DS, AND RUSHES (<xmtwu*d). 



WB have now to notice a rush or sedge which, in a commercial 

 of view, is far more important than any member of it* 

 described by UH in our preceding article*. Eiparto 

 (Stipa tenacifrima), or esparto gross, an it U not uncommonly, 

 though incorrectly, called, in a true sedge, although, unlike 

 most of its congeners, it possesses the power of supporting 

 life and forming vegetable tissues in situations of extremely dry 

 Lui.l arid character. It in indigenous to the soils of Spain, 

 il. 'Uily, Algeria, and some parts of Egypt. Like many 

 kinds <>f the miiull round rushes we have before described, the 

 esparto grows in tufts or bunches. It in of perennial growth, 

 tains, according to the situation in which it is fonnd, a 

 height of from sixteen to thirty-two inches from its attachment 

 to the root to the point of the ninh, as for (simplicity's sake it 

 may be called. The great bulk of this plant brought to this 

 country is obtained 

 from Algeria and 

 Spain. By the French 

 it is called " alfa," 

 but the Spanish nam 

 is that which we 

 make use of in de- 

 scribing it here. Most 

 of our readers will 

 be aware, that owing 

 to the groat scarcity 

 of linen rags, which 

 has been for some 

 time so severely felt 

 by the manufacturers 

 of paper, unceasing 

 efforts have been 

 made by the scientific 

 world to discover 

 some material, which 

 could be made use 

 of as a substitute 

 for rag - pulp. Re- 

 search and experi- 

 ment have shown 

 that the esparto rush 

 dry, wire-like, and 

 unpromising as it is 

 yields, by skilful 

 treatment, seventy- 

 three per cent, of 

 fibrous substance ad- 

 mirably adapted for 

 the paper-maker's 

 use. Many stages 

 of preparation, how- 

 ever, have to bo 

 passed through be- 

 fore the withered stems are converted into the broad white 

 sheets we see vended by the stationer. It may not, therefore, 

 prove uninteresting to the reader, if we follow the fortunes of 

 a tuft of esparto rush, and note the treatment it meets with 

 from the various labourers and workers into whose hands it falls. 

 The traveller who visits the province of Oran, in Algeria, during 

 the months of April, May, and June, will not fail to observe 

 the tracks of tuft-clothed land where the esparto, the asphodel, 

 and the stunted, scrubby dwarf-palm alternate with each other. 

 Here, then, is the scene of tho labours of the esparto-gatherer, 

 who is obliged to exorcise some little judgment in conducting 

 his operations. In the first place, in order that the highest 

 qualities of the rush should be husbanded, it is necessary that 

 it should retain its greon freshness whilst approaching ripe 

 maturity. The inexperienced gatherer, who gleans his rush 

 crop when too little developed, and in tho full greon stage, will 

 find that both quantity and quality of fibre will be sadly defi- 

 cient. Let him, on the other hand, allow tho action of sun and 

 time to fully ripen his crop, and tho earth's chemistry will have 

 communicated to the tissues of tho plant so large a supply of 

 both iron and silicious elements, that the chemistry of the arts 

 Las a difficult task to get rid of them again. Now comes 



130 * 



another peculiarity which has to be borne in mind by the nub. 

 gatherer. The productiveness, and even the life, of the esparto 

 plant i endangered by cutting with a sharp instrument the long, 

 slender stems or rashes it throws out from it bead or erown. 

 It is therefore necessary that tho crop should be picked, and 

 not oat. The gatherer, therefore, provides himself with a stiff, 

 stoat staff or stick ; round this be dextroosly twists a goodly 

 lock of rashes ; then, with a sort of under-torn and an upward 

 wrench with both hands, the bunch of rashes is torn from it* 

 attachment to the parent crown or root. Kach stem or rash is 

 united to the body of the plant by a sort of elbow, or carved form 

 of articulation, as shown at Fig. 1 in the annexed illustration. 

 This condition of parts greatly assists the operation of fatbsriaf , 

 as nearly every rush given way at the extreme lower end. Armed 

 with his twisting-stick, the labourer marches onward, gathering 

 as he goes ; and as each tuft is forced from its attachments, ft 

 is, with others previously secured, tacked in a mass under tb* 

 left arm until no more can be conveniently placed there. He 



f 1 ,.;. , ,- . ;.,. li-lfl'-ri 



thus formed on tbe 

 earth, where it rests 

 antQ an assistant or 

 follower binds it up 

 into a sheaf or bun- 

 dle, called by esparto, 

 pickers a " munada." 

 Travelling onwards, 

 another and another 

 munada is formed 

 until the work of 

 gathering is ended. 

 These mnnadas are 

 then placed line after 

 line in the open air 

 to dry, and in about 

 seven or eight days 

 between thirty-five 

 and forty per cent. 

 of their weight win 

 have been lost by 

 evaporation. Bales 

 or packages of con- 

 venient size are then 

 formed from the col- 

 lected mnnadas, and 

 these are transported 

 to the water-side, 

 where the ship is 

 waiting to receive 

 thorn. On reaching 

 the establishment of 

 the manufacturer in 

 this country, the 

 bales of esparto are 

 opened, and all the 

 mnnadas are so ar- 

 ranged, that all tho loose root-fibres or frayed-out and broken 

 tops may be removed. The whole mass is then well shaken 

 asunder, and the rushes are cast into a boiler charged with a 

 i solution of caustic alkali. After being well boiled, the rushes 

 1 lose much of their wire-like strength, and can be twisted asunder 

 very easily, even when in bundles of considerable size ; they 

 will also have lost much of the colouring matter which they origi- 

 nally possessed. After the superfluous solution has drained 

 away, the rushes pass to a washing-engine, which, aided by a 

 peculiar trough and partition arrangement, keeps the material 

 flowing onward and round the machine. Such tints as the pulp 

 still retains are removed by chloride of lime. Bleaching, sizing, 

 etc., follow before the pulp passes into the paper-making engines. 

 We have in this country a representative of the true esparto 

 in a plant known as the Garden Feather Gross (Stipa yennata). 

 Some very fine specimens of it have been fonnd growing wild 

 on the rocks in a locality known as Long Tendale, near Kendal. 

 It is somewhat remarkable, that although the introduction of 

 esparto pulp in the manufacture of paper is of comparatively 

 recent origin, the ancients were thoroughly conversant with 

 the plant yielding it. Pliny says that the spartum, as he 

 calls it, should be gathered between the ides of May ard 



