240' . SCIENTIFIC NOTES. 



is applied in the Iberian peninsula, and Ray, many centuries later, 

 reported that the inhabitants of that country did the same in his time, 

 and it may be added that there has been no change in this respect till 

 our own days. Mats, baskets, ropes, brushes, are manufactured of 

 Esparto by the Spaniards and Portuguese as of yore, and even a coarse 

 kind of paper was made of it in Spain. In Algeria it is known by the 

 name of Alfa, and the attention of the French Government has for 

 years past been directed to it as a substitute for rags : and in the London 

 Exhibition of 1851 samples of Alfa, as well as paper made from it, were 

 shown in the Algerian section of French products, and in 1862 in the 

 British department. In consequence, however, of the difficulty of trans- 

 port and the imperfect methods then employed in its preparation, little 

 progress was made in spreading its fame amongst the commercial com- 

 munities of this country. But the recent legislative enactments in Eng- 

 land respecting paper, and the increasing price of rags abroad, have 

 caused manufacturers to pay more attention to this grass, and not only 

 established its superiority to straw, but its perfect adaptability to making 

 paper, either by itself, or when mixed with straw, rags, or other material. 

 The Rev. H. Tristam, in his book called " The Great Sahara," says 

 that the Esparto is " the principal dependence of both horse and camel 

 tor forage during a j ourney." I should think they find it rather tough, 

 for tough the plant certainly is. Its chemical constituents ' are said to 

 be : yellow colouring matter, 12.0 ; red matter, 6.0 ; gum and resin, 7.0 ; 

 salts forming the ashes, 1.5 ; paper fibres, 73.5. The Esparto grows natu- 

 rally in tufts or clumps, but, to quote a broker's circular, only such 

 leaves and stalks as have come to maturity and are full of sap, ought to 

 be gathered. If collected too green, Esparto produces a transparent fibre 

 which is mere waste ; if on the other hand too ripe, the constituent ele- 

 ments of silica and iron are with difficulty removed. The proper months 

 in Africa are therefore from April to June. It must be gathered by hand, 

 and left to dry for a week or ten days before being removed for packing. 

 From the green to the dry state it loses forty per cent, of its weight, but 

 even in this latter form it is so cumbersome, that when shipped in loose 

 bundles it occupies from four to five tons space to one ton weight. 

 When placed under an hydraulic machine, however, it can be packed 

 into pressed bales with iron hoops, and reduced to half the above volume, 

 as far as space is concerned, each bale weighing about 2J cwt., and ten 

 bales weighing about lj ton. Reduced to this volume, the Esparto fibre 

 can be transported not only with greater facility, but this method of 

 packing (resembling, in fact, bales of pressed hay) keeps the fibre clean, 

 and renders it of easy stowage. Indeed, could such a method have been 

 adopted formerly, Pliny's regret that its great bulk unfortunately pre- 

 vented so valuable a fibre from being carried a greater distance than 

 about thirty leagues, would have been impossible. — Berthold Seeman in 

 Gardener's Chronicle. 



