286 THE NURSERY. [March. 
between the sheets at the edge, and projecting a little, so that they 
may be taken up singly when wanted; the heaps are covered with 
a plank of wood the size of the paper, upon which stones are put, 
at first of a light weight, but afterwards heavier, that all the wet 
may be pressed out by degrees. The following day, the weights 
being removed, each sheet is taken up by itself, and the operation 
is finished." 
The preceding is the process employed by the Japanese, and 
whether we regard the expedition or labour, or the quantity and 
quality of the product, it seems to admit of much improvement. 
Instead of reducing the subject to a.fiulfi } by battons, in the man- 
ner above described, that might be done more effectually by grind- 
ing it, in the way practised with rags. 
The colour might be rendered as elegantly white, as that of any 
other substance, by means of an immersion, first in oxygenated mu- 
riatic acid, afterwards in a solution of alkali, and finally, washing it 
in pure water. By these means it is probable, that the portions 
thrown aside for paper of inferior qualities, might be wrought into 
that of prime excellence. 
The decoction of rice and of the root of Manihot,can have no pos- 
sible advantage over the size, commonly used, for giving to the 
paper the necessary firmness and texture. * 
The Calabrian or Manna Ash. 
There are two particular species of ash, from which that useful 
drug called manna is collected in the kingdom of Naples, kc. and 
which might be cultivated in the southern states, to advantage; 
therefore, I am induced to give some account of them. 
t. The Fraxinus Ornus, or flowering ash, which is the principal 
kind cultivated for manna. The leaflets are ovate-oblong, serrate, 
petioled; flowers with petals. 
2. The Fraxinus roiundifolia, or round leaved ash, which also 
produces it, but not in as great quantities as the former. Leaflets 
roundish, acutish, doubly serrate, subsessile; flowers with petals. 
Both these kinds may be raised from seeds as directed in page 272 
or by grafting or budding them on any other species of ash. They 
are natives of Italy, Sicily, and the southern parts of Europe. 
They also cultivate in Sicily, the Fraxinus excelsior or common 
European ash, for that purpose; which induces me to think, that if 
the above kinds were grafted low, on any of our American species, 
it would not prevent their yielding as good manna, as if established 
on their own roots. Doctor Cullen supposes " Manna to be a part 
of the sugar so universally present in vegetables, and which exudes 
on the surface of a great number of them." The qualities of these 
exudations he^ thinks are " very little, if any, different." The 
principal trees known to produce these mannas, in different climates 
and seasons, are the larch, orange, walnut, willow, mulberry, and 
some different kinds of oak; which latter, are found growing be- 
tween Merdin and Diarbecker, and also in Persia near Khounsar. 
