318 
growth. The pent were planted 8} yards apart, or 72 trees to 
the acre. The area planted was 72} acres, containing 5,200 stems. 
The trees were fir d tapped when the plantation was eid years old, 
and the yield for that and the six following years was :— 
| Year. lbs. Average oz. per stem. Value. 
ETE: 
| - 
| si 
imd | 5519 17 600 
po HESTo | £00 15 540 
1888] 1,54 4 165 
1890: | 3,307 10 360 
L. or | BIS 18 387 
1892 | 5,992 18 256 
1895 3,197 10 411 
p 
| one Average per year per 
| Total. <2 | 30,589 stem, 6 ozs. £2,719 
724 acres thus, it is said, yielded in seven years a surplus of 
£2,712, or per acre per annum, £5 8s. The yield was 711bs. per 
acre per annum during this period. During the 23 years from 
the establishment of the plantation in 1872 till 1875 the net yield 
per acre per annum amounted to £1 12s. 10d 
A. H. BERKHOUT. 
Late Conservator of Java Forests. 
‘Wageningen, Holland, 
6th January, 1898. 
_ Esparto (Stipa tenacissima, L.).—Mr, T. S. Jago, Consul-General 
n Tripoli, gives the fo ollowing account [F. O. Annual, No. 2125, 
pp. 11 and 12] of the commerce in this material :— 
* Happily, in times of great iere an article growing wild 
= the country rescues the native b from starvation. 1 refer 
o halfa, or esparto fibre The year 1368 saw the first exportation of 
all goes to England for paper-making purposes. That near the 
oe has long been eradicated by over-plucking in the early days, 
en the fibre fetched £12 per ton in the English market, now 
ri o e In ee hand-presses gave way to hydraulic 
37, 200 tons, valued at £74,400, were exported, showing the 
decreasing Bes of the article, consequent on the large use of 
wood-pulp in the manufacture of paper 
“ The "a attains maturity after three years' growth, under 
which age it is useless to the paper-maker, through lack of the 
-necessary strength. No discrimination is exercised by the Arab 
