MARCH] THE NURSERF. 299 



one by one, and placed in heaps upon a table, covered with a double 

 mat; a small thread of reed being placed between the sheets at the 

 edge, and projecting a little, so that they may be taken up singly 

 when wanted; the heaps are covered with a plank of wood the size 

 of the paper, upon which stones are put, at first of a light weight, 

 but afterwards heavier, that all the wet may be pressed out by de- 

 grees. The following day, the weights being removed, each sheet is 

 taken up by itself, and the operation is finished/' 



The preceding is the process employed by the Japanese, and whe- 

 ther we regard the expedition or labor, or the quantity and quality 

 of the product, it seems to admit of much improvement. 



Instead of reducing the subject to a pulp by battons, in the man- 

 ner above described, that might be done more effectually by grinding 

 it, in the way practised with rags. 



The color might be rendered as elegantly white as that of any 

 other substance, by means of an immersion, first in oxygenated muri- 

 atic acid, afterwards in a solution of alkali, and finally, washing it in 

 pure water. By these means it is probable that the portions thrown 

 aside for paper of inferior qualities, might be wrought into that of 

 prime excellence. 



The decoction of rice and of the root of Manihot, can have no 

 possible advantage over the size commonly used for giving to the 

 paper the necessary firmness and texture. 



THE CALABRIAN OR MANNA ASH. 



There are two particular species of ash, from which that useful 

 drug called manna is collected, in the kingdom of Naples, &c., and 

 which might be cultivated in the southern States to advantage ; 

 therefore I am induced to give some account of them. 



1. The Fraxinus ornus, or flowering ash, which is the principal 

 kind cultivated for manna. The leaflets are ovate-oblong, serrate, 

 petioled ; flowers with petals. 



2. The Fraxinus rotundifolia, or round-leaved ash, which also 

 produces it, but not in as great quantities as the former. Leaflets 

 roundish, acutish, doubly serrate, subsessile; flowers with petals. 

 Both these kinds may be raised from seeds as directed on page 283, 

 or by grafting or budding them on any other species of ash. They 

 are natives of Italy, Sicily, and the southern parts of Europe. 



They also cultivate in Sicily the Fraxinus excelsior, or common 

 European ash, for that purpose ; which induces me to think, that if 

 the above kinds were grafted low, on any of our American species, 

 it would not prevent their yielding as good manna as if established 

 on their own roots. Doctor Cullen supposes " manna to be a part of 

 the sugar so universally present in vegetables, and which exudes on 

 the surface of a great number of them." The qualities of th.ese ex- 

 udations he thinks are " very little, if any, different." The princi- 

 pal trees known to produce these mannas, in different climates and 

 seasons, are the larch, orange, walnut, willow mulberry, and some 

 different kinds of oak ; which latter are found growing between Mer- 

 din and Diarbecker, and also in Persia near Khounsar. 



