10 



BULLETIN 309, U. S. DEPARTMENT OP AGEICULTUEE. 



annum. The cost of producing the roots per pound is, roughly, as 

 follows : 



Ground rent, or the harvesting privilege. 



Harvesting 



Cleaning and topping 



Hauling to primary snipping point 



Freight to New York 



$0.04 



• Oli 

 .04 



• 00f 

 .02 



If the tops can be gotten out economically and reduced to pulp 

 without an expensive freight haul, there would seem to be no question 

 as to the promise of this material, which at present is purely a waste 



Fig. 8.— A sparse stand of zacaton on the Vulcan de Agua, near Antigua, Guatemala. 



product. It would be unwise to attempt to put a value on the tops 

 delivered at a pulp mill, but it can be said that properly harvested 

 esparto from Spain, Algeria, and Tripoli brings from $17 to $23 per 

 ton in the English market. A good zacaton range can be profitably 

 gone over for root brush material every third year. 



LABORATORY TESTS OF PULP PRODUCTION. 



An investigation of the paper value of any new fibrous plant can 

 be conveniently separated into two distinct divisions, just as the 

 manufacture of paper is commercially divided into two distinct 

 branches. The first division embraces the separation and purifica- 



