ON  PAPYRUS,  BONAPARTEA,  AND  OTHER  PLANTS.  169 
rags  in  caustic  alkali,  the  animal  fibre  is  dissolved,  and  the 
vegetable  fibre  is  available  for  the  manufacture  of  white  paper 
pulp.    Surat,  or  Jute,  the  inner  bark  of  Cochorus  indicus,  pro- 
duces a  paper  pulp  of  inferior  quality  bleached  with  difficulty. 
Agave,  Phormium  tenax,  and  Banana  or  plantain  fibre  (Manilla 
hemp)  are  not  only  expensive,  but  it  is  nearly  impossible  to 
bleach  them.    The  Banana  leaves  contain  forty  per  cent,  of 
fibre.    Flax  would  be  suitable  to  replace  rags  in  paper  manu- 
facture, but  the  high  price  and  scarcity  of  it,  caused  partly  by 
the  war,  and  partly  by  the  injudicious  way  in  which  it  is  culti- 
vated, prevents  that.     Six  tons  of  flax  straw  are  required  to 
produce  one  ton  of  flax  fibre,  and  by  the  present  mode  of  treat- 
ment all  the  woody  part  is  lost.    By  my  process,  the  bulk  of 
flax  straw  is  lessened  by  partial  clearing  before  retting,  whereby 
about  50  to  60  per  cent,  of  shoves  (a  most  valuable  cattle  food) 
are  saved,  and  the  cost  of  the  fibre  reduced.    By  the  foregoing 
it  will  be  seen  that  the  flax  plant  only  produces  from  12  to  15 
per  cent,  of  paper  pulp.    All  that  I  have  said  about  flax  is  ap- 
plicable to  hemp,  which  produces  25  per  cent,  of  paper  pulp. 
Nettles  produce  25  per  cent,  of  a  very  beautiful  and  easily- 
bleached  fibre.    Palm-leaves  contain  30  to  40  per  cent,  fibre, 
but  are  not  easily  bleached.    The  Bromeliacse  contain  from  25 
to  40  per  cent,  fibre.    Bonajpartea  juncoidea  contains  35  per 
cent,  of  the  most  beautiful  vegetable  fibre  known  ;  it  could  not 
only  be  used  for  paper  pulp,  but  for  all  kinds  of  manufactures  in 
which  flax,  cotton,  silk,  or  wool  are  employed.    It  appears  that 
this  plant  exists  in  large  quantities  in  Australia,  and  it  is  most 
desirable  that  some  of  our  large  manufacturers  should  import  a 
quantity  of  it.    The  plant  wants  no  other  preparation  than 
cutting,  drying,  and  compressing  like  hay.    The  bleaching  and 
finishing  it  may  be  done  here.    Ferns  give  20  to  25  per  cent, 
fibre,  not  easily  bleached.    Equisetum  from  15  to  20  per  cent, 
inferior  fibre,  not  easily  bleached.  The  inner  bark  of  the  lime-tree 
(Tilia)  gives  a  fibre  easily  bleached,  but  not  very  strong.  Althea 
and  many  Malvaceae  produce  from  15  to  20  per  cent,  paper  pulp. 
Stalks  of  beans,  peas,  hops,  buckwheat,  potatoes,  heather,  broom, 
and  many  other  plants  contain  from  10  to  20  per  cent,  of  fibre — 
but  their  extraction  and  bleaching  present  difficulties  which  will 
probably  prevent  their  use.    The  straws  of  the  Cereales  cannot 
