186 TROPICAL AGRICULTURE 



the northern shore of the Mediterranean, particularly in Spain. 

 The grass is known to botanists as Stipa tenacissima. It re- 

 quires about 3 years for the tussocks of this grass to reach a 

 harvesting stage and the fibers obtained from the stems of 

 the grass felt readily and yield an excellent stock for paper 

 making, especially suitable for mixing with rags, straw, or 

 wood pulp. The total production of this fiber is about 200,000 

 tons annually. The fiber is I to 2 feet long, fine, uniform, and 

 strong. It has also been used in cordage, sandals, baskets, 

 and various other utensils. Esparto grass has been grown in 

 the Southern States, but has thus far given no commercial 

 promise in these States. 



PAPYRUS 



Several species of sedge furnish valuable paper and mat- 

 making material. The true papyrus of ancient times (Cy perns 

 papyrus) was formerly cultivated by the Egyptians along the 

 Nile. It is now found in Abyssinia, Palestine, and Sicily. The 

 stems of the papyrus sedge are used in Egypt for making boats, 

 mats, and baskets, but chiefly in the production of a writing 

 paper which is manufactured from the inner bark of the stems. 

 In preparing this material the stems are slit lengthwise, after 

 which the stems are moistened and pressed together. As is 

 generally well known, rolls of papyrus were interred with 

 mummies. 



The Chinese mat rush (C. tegetiformis) also sometimes 

 called seaside grass, is a tall sedge with stems reaching a height 

 of 3 to 6 feet, widely used in the manufacture of mats and hats. 

 This sedge was formerly imported into the United States in 

 bales for use in the manufacture of floor mattings. The leaves 

 require splitting lengthwise into halves, and while many 

 attempts have been made to devise machinery which would 

 satisfactorily accomplish this operation little success has been 

 had. The leaves are therefore split by hand. This work 

 proved to be too expensive for American manufacturers and 



