14 THREE NEW PLANT INTRODUCTIONS. 
nature of the wood makes it seem an easy matter to crush the stems 
and separate the wood from the bark after the crushing. The fact 
that in Japan these, as well as the other processes, are done by hand sig- 
nifies little as regards the possibility of the application of machinery, 
when it is remembered that until two years ago such simple operations 
as tea firing and sifting were done there—and are yet to a large extent— 
by hand. 
THE MANUFACTURE OF MITSUMATA PAPER. 
Small paper factories are scattered along the banks of the picturesque 
mountain streams in central Japan, and the broad drying boards coy- 
ered with sheets of fresh paper are common sights in many of the 
mountain villages. (See Pl. ILI, fig. 2.) | 
. The freshly stripped bark is macerated in vats of warm water 
and the thin outer bark is removed by scraping with a dull knife. 
The purity of the paper depends in large measure upon how thoroughly 
this dark part is removed, for any small particles that are overlooked in 
the cleaning make dark flecks in the paper. After cleaning, these soft, 
spongy strings of bark are thrown into a vat filled with caustic soda, and 
are left to macerate thoroughly until the fibers can be easily separated 
from each other. The macerated bark is then pounded, either ina 
stone mortar with-a heavy wooden mallet or by means of a stamping 
mill run by water power until itis a homogeneous pulp. It is then 
mixed with water, bleached with chlorid of lime, and put into a large 
vat, from which small quantities are taken by the hand screens which 
the operator uses in making the sheets of paper. A mucilage made 
by macerating the root of a species of hibiscus (//7. manzhot) is added 
in small quantities to the pulp to make the fibers stick together. The 
amount of this mucilage used seems to be a matter of experience. 
One woman can make, by means of her bamboo hand sieve, 600 sheets 
of paper a day, and, according to the prices given me through an 
interpreter, this medium quality of paper sells for about 94 cents a 
hundred sheets. It is very interesting to watch how skillfully the 
operator lifts from the vat a screen half full of thin pulp, poises it 
and shakes it for a second or two, allows the water to drain out for a 
few moments, then quickly lifts the screen and, inverting it, lays it 
face down on the pile of previously made sheets. She then gently 
and slowly lifts the sieve and leaves a thin layer of wet pulp upon 
the continually thickening pile. With a hand press the water is 
squeezed out of this pile of wet papers, the individual sheets are 
stripped off one by one, brushed out on smooth boards with brushes 
just like those used by the paper hanger to spread the paste on wall 
paper, and are then put out in the sun to dry, after which simple proc- 
ess the papers are packed in bundles and taken by pony or bull pack 
animals to the nearest market. In at least one town in Japan paper- 
