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The World's Commercial Products 



the sea-coast. There are four chief varieties, 

 viz., Spanish, usually regarded as the best, 

 Algerian, Tunisian, and Tripoli, the last three 

 being in order of excellence. The paper 

 manufactured from this grass is pliant, 

 strong, transparent, and of great purity, 

 but cannot compete in price with the cheap 

 qualities made from wood pulp. A grass 

 very similar to esparto in its paper-making 

 qualities is the Bhabur grass of India. The 

 straw of numerous cereal grasses is also used 

 where obtainable, wheat, oats, and barley 

 being employed in Europe, and rice in Asia, 

 but the papers are of a low grade, and much 

 inferior to esparto paper. 



The fibrous inner bark of the Baobab 

 tree (Adansonia digitata) was also at one 

 time used to a fair extent for paper, but its 

 use has now declined. 



The paper used so largely by the Japanese 

 for lanterns, umbrellas, and books of all 

 kinds, is made from the young shoots of 

 Broussonetia papyri/era, the paper mulberry, 

 which is widely distributed throughout 

 Eastern Asia and Polynesia. The plant is 

 also interesting as the source of the famous 

 Tapa cloth of the South Sea Islanders. 



Chinese rice paper is prepared from the 

 pith of Fatsia papyrifera, a plant common 

 in Formosa. 



A paper, common in India, and known as 

 "Nepal" and "Daphne" paper, is made by 

 the hill tribes of Nepal from the bast fibres 

 of Daphne cannabina (D. papyrifera) , and one 

 or two other closely allied plants. The paper 

 is remarkably tough and smooth and has 

 received high commendation from English 

 experts. 



The " Papyrus " of the ancient Egyptians 

 was obtained from the pith of Cyperus Papyrus, a sedge formerly largely cultivated on the 

 banks of the Nile in Lower Egypt. The plant is. now found on the river banks of Abyssinia, 

 Sicily, and Palestine, and is one of the principal constituents of the "sudd" or masses of 

 floating vegetation found in the Upper Nile. The papyrus was prepared by pressing together 

 strips of the pith previously soaked in water. 



The " Ola leaves " largely used as a writing material by the natives of Ceylon in former 

 times, was prepared from strips of the young leaves of the beautiful Taliput Palm. 



SILKS AND FLOSSES 



These fibres are found attached to the seeds or the walls of the seed pods of various 

 plants, and, biologically speaking, are intended to aid in the dispersal of the seeds by the 

 wind. They are, therefore, very similar to cotton from a botanical point of view, but, unlike 



GIANT ALOE, BARBADOES 



