124 WOOD PULP FOR PAPER. 
for the purpose of tearing up the raw material and reducing it to pulp, 
the expense, both in point of power and time, is far less than is neces- 
sary for the production of rag paper. 
Count Lippe having put himself in communication with the 
Austrian Government, and imperial manufactory for Indian-corn paper 
(mais-hahn papier, as the inventor calls it) is now in course of construc- 
tion at Pesth, the capital of the greatest Indian-corn-growing country 
in Europe. Another manufactory is already in full operation in Swit- 
zerland ; and preparations are being made on the coast of the Mediter- 
ranean for the production and exportation, on a large scale, of the pulp 
of this new material. 
It is not merely the blades of Indian corn, but the leaves, the tassel, 
the sheathing of the grain, the cob, and the stalk might all, I believe, 
be utilized by the paper-manufacturer. A reference to the list of paper 
materials patented, already given, shows that this substance ha3 often 
been taken into consideration, but never as yet been obtained in 
quantity, or manipulated upon satisfactorily. Let us hope that a great 
traffic will arise in this cheap, and useful material, and that English, 
vessels will, before long, be freighted with ship-loads of books and 
papers in futuro. In Brandenburg, with its indifferent soil, and where 
the temperature is eertainly not higher on the average than that of 
Great Britain, Indian corn, though a novel introduction, may now be 
seen on many a sandy acre rearing up its broad leaf-blades to a height 
of half a dozen feet or upwards. 
Another wild plant which has lately come into general use for paper 
manufacture is one known as Alfa (Siipa tenacissima), esparto, sparto, 
or spartum. Several species of this grass grow wild on both shores of 
the Mediterranean for about five degrees of longitude, and are particu- 
larly abundant in some of the seaboard provinces of Algeria. They are 
found upon arid, rocky soils, having bases of silica and iron. In Spain 
the herbaceous stalks of esparto have been used as a textile for centu- 
ries, for ropes, mats, sandals, baskets, &c. ; also in the manufacture of a 
coarse paper. Lygeum spartum, Stipa gigantea, S. barbata, and other 
species, are also employed. 
The attention of the French Government has for years past been 
directed to this plant as a substitute for rags ; and in the London Exhi- 
bition of 1851, samples of alfa, as well as paper made from it, were 
shown in the Algerian section of French products. In consequence, 
however, of the difficulty of transport, and the imperfect methods then 
employed in its preparation, little progress was made ; but the recent 
legislative enactments in England respecting paper, and the increasing 
prices of rags abroad, have caused the manufacturers here to pay more 
attention to this plant, and experience has proved not only its supe- 
riority to straw, but its perfect adaptability to making paper, either by 
Jtself, or when mixed with straw or rags. 
