10 
BULLETIN 309, IT. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
annum. The cost of producing the roots per pound is, roughly, as 
follows : 
Ground rent, or the harvesting privilege. 
Harvesting 
Cleaning and topjnng 
Hauling to primary shipping point 
Freight to New York 
$0. 04 
.OH 
.04 
.00| 
.02 
If the tops can be gotten out economically and reduced to pulp 
without an expensive freight haul, there would seem to be no question 
as to the promise of this material, which at present is purely a waste 
Fig. 8.— A sparse stand of zacaton on the Vulcan de Agua, near Antigua, Guatemala. 
product. It would be unwise to attempt to put a value on the tops 
delivered at a pulp mill, but it can be said that properly harvested 
esparto from Spain, Algeria, and Tripoli brings from SI 7 to S23 per 
ton in the English market. A good zacaton range can be profitably 
gone over for root brush material every third year. 
LABORATORY TESTS OF PULP PRODUCTION. 
An investigation of the paper value of any new fibrous plant can 
be conveniently separated into two distinct divisions, just as the 
manufacture of paper is commercially divided into two distinct 
branches. The first division embraces the separation and purifica- 
