GRAPHITE 



2575 



GRASSES 



The grapefruit originated in the Malayan 

 and Polynesian islands. It has been exten- 

 sively cultivated in India, Florida and Califor- 

 nia, and in most tropical and subtropical 

 countries. The round-fruited sorts are called 



California 



Louisiana 

 2. 



Mississippi 



Figures Represent Thousands of Boxes 



PRODUCTION CHART 



Average yield each year, as reported by the 

 United States Census Bureau. 



pomelos, or grapefruit, and are the most valu- 

 able commercially. The pear-shaped fruits are 

 called shaddocks, after Captain Shaddock, who 

 found -them in the East Indies and introduced 

 them into England in 1810. The shaddock is 

 so acid that it is not edible; it is cultivated 

 more as a curiosity and is seldom found in the 

 markets. The natives in the West Indies and 

 other regions use the juice of the shaddock for 

 scrubbing floors, because it drives away in- 

 sects. S.L.A. 



GRAPHITE, graj'ite, the mineral used for 

 the "lead" in lead pencils. It is of an iron black 

 or dark gray color, has a luster, and is found 

 in masses which are composed of minute scales 

 crowded together. It is very soft and brittle 



Austria I Ceylon 

 34 



Italy 



In dia lUnited States I Mexico 



K ' '/ * "2 



Germany 

 II 



Canada 

 2 



Figures Represent Thousands of Tons 



PRODUCTION CHART 



Comparing lead pencils of different .sizes we 

 indicate clearly the annual production of graphite 

 from the principal countries. In addition to the 

 countries named, Chosen (Korea) mines an un- 

 known quantity, of which the United States im- 

 ported 6,327 tons in 1915. 



;in<! i.-i easily reduced to a fine powder, though 

 the grains are very hard. It has a soapy touch, 

 but will leave its mark on almost any sub- 

 stance it touches; this characteristic makes it 

 valuable for pencils. 



Graphite is found in pockets in the older 

 crystalline rocks. It was formed from plants 

 in the same manner as coal, though with the 



graphite the process was carried further. Next 

 to the diamond, graphite is the purest form 

 of carbon. Here we find one of the wonders 

 of nature the brilliant, sparkling diamond, 

 the hardest known substance, and the black, 

 crumbling, greasy graphite, the softest known 

 mineral ore, are merely different forms of the 

 chemical element, carbon. Graphite is mined 

 and prepared for the market by grinding and 

 then purifying in settling tanks. Its chief uses 

 are in the manufacture of lead pencils, for 

 lubricating machinery and for making crucible- 

 For the last purpose it is mixed with clay, 

 which fuses with the graphite and forms a 

 crucible that will not melt under the most 

 intense heat. See PENCIL; CARBON. 



GRASS 'ES, a family of plants remarkable 

 for its wide distribution and variety of forms, 

 and outranking all other families of the vege- 

 table kingdom in point of usefulness to man. 

 In the tropics the grass family is represented 

 by the giant bamboos, that tower one hundred 

 feet or more toward the sky; far to the North, 

 mosslike grasses a few inches high struggle for 

 an existence in the hard bosom of the frozen 

 earth; and in the temperate regions the larger 

 grasses clothe with a beautiful garment of 

 green the meadows, lawns and hillsides. Says 

 a botanical writer: 



Grasses there are, stout and higher than one's 

 head, and grasses so slender that their dyiiiK 

 stems among wayside weeds are like threads of 

 gold ; grasses whose panicles of bloom are more 

 than half a yardjn length, and of a color which 

 only a midsummer sun can burn into August 

 lields ; grasses so stiff that winter's snow leaves 

 them unbroken, and grasses so tiny that their 

 highest flower is raised but a few inches from the 

 soil. 



The great grass family contains about 4.700 

 species, nearly 1,000 of which are found in tin- 

 United States and Canada. The majority m 

 grasses are herbs, but the treelike species, such 

 as the bamboos, have woody stem>. From 

 the standpoint of utility, tin- bamboo (which 

 see) is one of the most remarkable of th<- 

 plants which man has found adapted to Ins 

 needs, and there are many other grasses of 

 great economic value. Esparto, a tough, coarsr 

 grass imported from Spain and North Africa. 

 is used to a considerable extent in paper mak- 

 ing and for stuffing mattresses. Sugar cane, 

 also a member of the grass family, furnishes 

 the world with about one-third of its supply of 

 sugar. 



Then there are the meadow and pasture 

 grasses, valuable as a source of food for farm 



