THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 
55 
in such a way that the fibres retain as much as possible their origi- 
nal length, and this, O'f course, is the reason for the excellent 
strength of their paper. The bast is placed on a flat and level 
granite stone, moistened with water and beaten with wooden ham- 
mers until thoroughly fine. The paper is, of course, made by 
hand, and by shaking the sieve only in one direction, which is al- 
most the rule in Japan, the fibres place themselves nearly parallel. 
This accounts for the fact, that the Japanese paper can only be 
torn straight in one direction, at the same time possessing a re- 
markable strength in this direction. 
In China and Japan paper is a far more important and far more 
generally used article than with us, owing to its superior quality 
and strength. The Japanese always has a supply of paper sheets 
in his sleeve pocket. If he wants a bit of string he twists a strip 
of paper together. I have had an opportunity in the railway car- 
riage of seeing a Japanese do almost the impossible with a bit of 
paper string, such as tying up his trunk with the remains of a let- 
ter. In Japan, paper not only takes the place of our window glass, 
but even of our doors and walls. 
If the Japanese or Chinese paper is impregnated with Ye-no- 
abura, the oil from Per ilia ocymoides, the Japanese substitute for 
boiled linseed oil, it becomes perfectly waterproof. It is used for 
making umbrellas and macintoshes. Perhaps it will interest you 
to know that during my stay in Japan I never had an umbrella or 
a macintosh. If it happened that I was caught by a sudden 
shower, and this happened very frequently indeed, I went into 
the next paper shop and bought a macintosh of oil paper for 2d. 
(4 cents). The same w^ith umbrellas. If the paper is oiled and 
varnished, then it takes the place of leather; the roofing of the 
jinrickshas, the little hand-carriages, is often made of paper, even 
the Japanese ''tab" for rainy weather, the equivalent for our water 
boots, is made of paper. 
FERMENT ACTION IN PLANTS. 
Besides our British insectivorous plants, there are other families 
abroad which include such fly-catching genera as Sarracenia, of 
