March.] THE NURSERY. gS 1 ? 



being removed, each sheet is taken up by itself, and the operation 

 is finished." 



The preceding is the process employed by the Japanese, and 

 whether we regard the expedition or labour, 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 grind- 

 ing it, in the way practised with rags. 



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

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

 muriatic acid, afterwards in a solution of alkali, and finally, wash- 

 ing it in pure water. By these means it is probable that the por- 

 tions 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 Calabriun 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 Fraximis ornus, or flowering ash, which is the principal 

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

 petioled; flowers with petals. 



2. The Fraximis 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 in page 271, 

 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 extelsior, 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 these 

 exudations he thinks are "very little, if any, different." The prin- 

 cipal 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 

 Merdin and Diarbccker, and also in Persia near Khounsar. 



In Sicily the three species above mentioned, with the view of ob- 

 taining manna from them, but more particularly the first, are planted 

 on the declivities of hills, having eastern aspects. After ten years 

 growth the trees first begin to yield manna, but they require to be 

 much older before they afford it in any considerable quantity. Al- 

 though the manna exudes spontaneously from the trunks and 



