128 COMMERCIAL BOTANY. 



Ischcemum angustifolium. This is the BABAU or BABOI 

 Grass of India, and grows abundantly in many parts of the 

 country. It has long been used in India for making into 

 ropes and cordage, and has latterly become one of the 

 principal paper materials, being largely used in the Bally 

 Paper Mills near Calcutta. It was introduced to notice in 

 England in 1878, and Mr. Routledge reported upon it as 

 follows : " A small quantity of bleach brings it up to a 

 good colour. The ultimate fibre is very fine and delicate, 

 rather more so than Esparto, and of about the same 

 strength ; the yield, however, is 42 per cent., somewhat 

 less. I think I may venture to say it will make a quality 

 of paper equal to Esparto." 



The great drawback to the general utilisation of the fibre 

 in this country is that the plant has to be collected in India 

 over wide and distant areas, and its bulky nature increases 

 the cost of freight. It might, however, be converted into 

 paper stock in India, and exported in that form. That the 

 plant is capable of extended cultivation in India if a de- 

 mand for it should spring up in this country, has been 

 recently shown in an account of its culture published in the 

 Proceedings of the Agricultural and Horticultural Society of 

 India for October, 1887. The plant is, perhaps, equally 

 well known under the names of Eriop/iorum comosum and 

 Pollinia eriopoda, under both of which it has been de- 

 scribed. 



Molinia ccerulea. This well-known British Grass wa? 

 brought to notice as a probable source of paper material in 

 1878, and in the Kew Export for 1879 it is stated : " Mr. 

 N. G. Richardson, of Tyaquin, county Galway, has actively 

 promoted its experimental cultivation in the West of 

 Ireland. At a private meeting held at Athenry, a com- 

 mittee was formed to raise subscriptions to plant ten Irish 

 acres of bog with it at Tyaquin. Mr. W. Smith, of Golden 

 Bridge Mills, had manufactured paper from this grass with 



