84 USES 
Saccharum sara and S. munja. In our own country, the paper- 
making material of gramineous origin most commonly employed is 
the leaves of alfa-grass or csparto, S¢7pa (Macrochloa) tenacissima. 
The preparation of pulp from these raw materials consists essen- 
tially in the separation of the prosenchyma and the disintegration 
of the fibrovascular bundles, since it is the individual fibres which, 
in the process of paper-making, interlace to form a tough felt. 
This disintegration and the resolution of the fatty, resinous, and 
silicious matters is effected by boiling in a 10-20 per cent. solution 
of caustic soda. Straw is largely used for making paper and 
papier maché in many countries because of its cheapness and the 
white pulp it yields. In the United States it is extensively used 
for the manufacture of straw-boards, being first made into stout 
paper, and then successive layers of the latter glued together and 
compressed by hydraulics. Coach panels, railway and tramcar 
wheels, perforated chair seats, etc., are made of strawboards ; they 
are also used for building purposes—sheathing in place of laths 
and plaster and, when waterproofed, for roofing. Esparto is 
superior to straw for paper-making ; the fibrovascular tissue of its 
leaves is much more readily isolated than that of straw, the hard 
nodes of the latter requiring more drastic treatment, which tends 
to diminish the yield of pulp and to weaken the fibre. The yield 
of cellulose from esparto is 45 per cent., and it is used either alone 
or in combination with straw, rags, wood, etc., according to the 
quality of paper desired. Esparto paper is esteemed by printers 
for its smoothness, opacity, and mellowness. Esparto grass grows 
abundantly on the sandy coasts of North Africa (in Algeria, Tunis, 
and Tripoli), and on the Mediterranean coast of Spain; it is 
estimated to cover 15,000,000 acres in the plain of the Shotts at 
the southern foot of the Atlas, growing in and around the marshy 
lakes ; it is the most important article of export from Algeria, but 
is not at all cultivated. The leaves are rigid, involute, and clothed 
with microscopic hairs, some of which survive the pulping process 
and therefore characterize the paper. The fibres are ,'; of an inch 
long, ratio of length to diameter 125; straw fibres have similar 
dimensions. Esparto grass was introduced into England as a 
paper-making material 4o years ago, the Ford Works, near Sun- 
derland, being the first to employ it extensively. The quantity 
annually brought to the United Kingdom is now upwards of 
200,000 tons, valued at about three-quarters of a million sterling ; 
three-fourths of it come from Africa, the remainder from Spain. 
Young bamboo yields an excellent fibre, but the cost of transport 
precludes its importation into England. 
Cordage is made in some countries from the stems and leaves of 
grasses ; in Spain the manufacture of ropes and cables from the 
leaves of esparto-grass is an important industry ; these cables are 
so buoyant as to float on the water, and are used by the Spanish 
navy. In the countries of the East the young stems of bamboo are 
split lengthwise into shreds, which are pounded until soft and 
made into ropes and string; in India the leaves of Saccharum 
