grass, and also, of one species, a fine and even elegant matting for houses of the better class, as carpets are not used, and indeed are not desirable in this hot southern climate. For this purpose the grass used is dyed of various colors, and it is then woven into various simple but tasteful patterns. This superior matting has much the same appearance as carpets, but is infinitely preferable in a warm climate both for coolness and for cleanliness. Indeed this Spanish matting is much prettier than the cane matting used in all European houses in the East Indies, though it is not so durable as the

latter.

The atocha plant flourishes at Oran, on the opposite coast of Africa, in latitude 35° 44' N., and, it may be said, generally, in all the southern part of Spain; sparingly, even as far north as Madrid, (latitude 40° 30',) where one of the principal streets, leading to the environs, is called" Calle de Atocha." This would place the geographical zone of this grass from 34° or 35° to about 40° north latitude, according to my present information, for it may possibly extend still further both north and south. But it is important to observe that the most abundant region-that in the provinces of Almeria and Murcia-which now furnishes the chief supply of this article-is situated adjoining to and between the thirty-seventh and thirty-eighth parallels; and that it is here where it appears to grow in the greatest abundance and luxuriance. It is needless to remark that the above zone is, in Europe, chiefly occupied by the Mediterranean Sea, while in the United States it embraces the entire breadth of a vast continent.

Climate.-The climate of the south of Spain is the hottest in Europe, particularly that of the provinces on the Mediterranean coast; nor is heat alone its characteristic, for it is equally remarkable for its extreme dryness and want of rain; so much so that the cultivation of large and fertile tracts depends entirely upon irrigation. In what is called the Secanos, or lands somewhat elevated, and thus dependent entirely on the rains, I have known the crops to be lost for three years in succession, so little rain having fallen. In fact so arid are many tracts in the south of Spain that they present, though on a miniature scale, a sort of parallel to the deserts of Africa and the east. This resemblance often struck me when I first arrived in Spain, after a residence of some years in India and oriental countries.

On and near the coast the temperature during the hot summer months is usually 85° to 90° Fahrenheit, and in the winter months the climate is so mild that the thermometer seldom marks less than 45° to 50° Fahrenheit. A few miles inland among the mountains, however, the climate is much colder. The climate of this part of the Spanish coast can, probably, be best inferred from its vegetable productions. Thus the sugar-cane flourishes here, and there are many and increasing sugar manufactories in this part of Andalusia. In one locality, the plain of Motril, thirty miles west of Adra, the cotton plant has been cultivated with some success, though upon a very small scale, not being found profitable. All along this coast, too, groups of the date palm are occasionally seen. This elegant tree, though now neglected and diminishing in numbers, was, most probably, planted by the Moors during the period of Arab dominion in Spain. Indeed it is well known that the numerous and venerable olives which abound in this neighborhood existed on the confiscated property of the Moors at the time of the conquest of Granada. Among other semi-tropical productions of these provinces may be named the nopaul and the aloe, which are abundant, especially along the coast, though they are not equal in size and luxuriance to what I have been accustomed to see in India and the tropics.

Elevation above the sea level.—The naturally hot and arid climate of the south of Spain is modified in a very remarkable manner by the occurrence of lofty mountain ranges in the interior. In Andalusia especially, we have the Sierra Nevada range, the highest summits of which rise up almost to the curve of perpetual congelation. Thus, from plantations of sugar-cane near the coast may be seen, in the hottest summer months, patches of snow which never melt, and at a distance of not more than thirty to sixty miles. These snowy patches mark the lofty peaks of La Veleta and of Muley Hassan, which rise, respectively, 11,420 and 11,700 English feet above the level of the Mediterranean. Thus, in traveling a few miles inland, and even without losing sight of the sea, a difference of climate may be experienced equivalent to that of many degrees of latitude, while a total change may be observed in all the vegetable productions of the soil.

In considering the natural climate of the atocha, the circumstance of elevation above the sea-level is, therefore, most important, and I have, fortunately, been able to fix the elevation and consequent temperature, which marks its upward limit, with considerable precision.

It will be seen that we have here two distinct climates-that of the coast and that of the mountains. In the former, except as a somewhat rare phenomenon of a few hours in duration, snow never falls. But in the latter, snow is abundant for many months in the year, and lies for very long periods, according to the elevation, till, on the summits of the Sierra Nevada, it never disappears. The falls of snow are generally

* That is, the temperature in-doors and in the shade, as usually taken.

limited to a certain zone of altitude, above which, in winter, we usually see all white and spotted, while below, in most cases, nothing falls but rain. This altitude, especi ally near the coast where I reside, I have taken some pains to fix, (for it may not hold good in the interior,) and find it to be, very approximately, about 3,500 feet, that is, near the Mediterranean, and where the warm exhalations of that sea greatly modify the temperature. I should place the usual limits of the snow at 3,500 feet above its level; but in the interior, if only fifteen or twenty miles distant, the snow level is, doubtless, somewhat lower.

Now it is very important to our present purpose to observe, as I have lately done when considering the subject, that it is at about this elevation where the snow usually commences, that the atocha plant ceases to grow.

It will be seen, therefore, that the atocha, though a hardy plant, growing here indif ferently in the plains and on the mountains near the coast, is confined pretty much within certain limits of temperature, and will not bear the cold. In fact it requires a hot and somewhat dry climate, such as I have described as prevailing in the south or Spain. So far as this climate prevails the atocha seems to grow equally on the mountains and in the plains, but its luxuriance is checked in approaching the altitude of the winter snows, and at about that elevation its growth ceases altogether.

Congenial soils and geological structure of country.-Although the growth of the atocha extends over a large expanse of country, it is only in particular situations that this grass attains that degree of luxuriance and abundance which is essential to render it important in a commercial point of view. This indicates that it is eminently a plant that seeks and requires a congenial soil. On this subject, in addition to my own partial observations, I have made many inquiries, and find that there are soils on which the atocha will not grow at all; others on which it grows but sparingly, while on others again it is the prevailing weed or product of the soil, being spontaneously produced by nature in vast abundance.

I have before mentioned the mountainous nature of this country, and, as soils are merely the detritus of the subjacent and neighboring rocks, I consider that the most general and, perhaps, exact idea of those in this district, will be obtained by a brief reference to its geographical structure, which I now proceed to describe.

The Sierra Nevada range, which, under different names, may be said to determine the configuration of the coast of Spain from the straits of Gibraltar, west, to the plains of Murcia, east, consists, in its highest and central portion, of a vast mass of micaceous schists below, approaching to gneiss, while, on its upper surface there reposes an enormous mass of shaly rocks, often soft and decomposing into a stiff blue clay. These shaly rocks, the thickness of which is very considerable, are covered, in places, by a dark sub-crystalline limestone, generally forming the upper part of the mountains, and constituting pre-eminently the metalliferous or lead-producing rock of the south of Spain. These three rocks, mica slates, shales, and limestones, at various elevations, from the towering heights of the Sierra Nevada to minor ranges not more than fifteen hundred to two thousand feet in height, constitute all the elevated portions of the provinces of Granada, Almeria, and Murcia, while the plains along the coast and the inland valleys generally consist of yellowish tertiary marls. These marls are sometimes covered by a thin superficial deposit of detritus of more recent date, which, when of a siliceous nature, or cemented by siliceous matter, form a very sterile soil almost destitute of vegetation. I have never been able to trace any line of demarcation between the micaceous schists and the superincumbent shales, and am inclined to think, therefore, that they all form one great series, the lower part of which has been thoroughly acted upon by metamorphic influence. Nor is there any distinct line between the shales and the superincumbent limestones, for near the line of junction there are frequent alternations of the two rocks, till, as we rise in the series, the limestones prevail. Quartzose rocks and their usual concomitants, siliceous sands, do not, that I am aware of, occur in all this district. Three soils, therefore, prevail in these provinces, argillaceous, calcareous, and argillaceous-calcareous, from the frequent admixture of the two former, and also from the wide occurrence of tertiary marls in the plains and valleys.

This sketch of the geological structure of the country will, I think, give a sufficient idea of the general nature of the soils in the south of Spain, in which

ishes with most luxuriance. It may, therefore, be found

tricts in the territory of the United States, where e

and which are thus best adapted for the in

grass.

The subject of soils is, however, so siderations, and to what I have from which the following seem

Two kinds of soil are consi wet or marshy soil and a pe the surface of which pebble Reddish-colored soils, ered favorable.

Calcareous soils are considered to produce good esparto, and of a very strong fiber. Argillaceous soils, whether those produced by the decomposition of shaly rocks or those formed by the wide deposition of tertiary marls, are impregnated with nitrous matter or saltpeter, and are considered favorable to the growth of the atocha, the grass being shorter but the fiber stronger.

The leading facts in the production of esparto may be stated as follows: 1. The atocha grass requires a decidedly hot and a somewhat dry climate. 2. That it grows equally well in the plains of the coast and the interior and in the mountains, but is strictly limited to a certain moderate elevation. 3. That it flourishes equally both in calcareous and in argillaceons soils, and in those soils where both calcareous and argillaceous matters are naturally blended. 4. That besides several soils which may be considered unfavorable, there seem to be others which are decidedly inimical to its growth.

Season of the crop and quantity produced.-The atocha which grows in the plains comes early to maturity, and the grass is, therefore, plucked or gathered in May and June. But in the colder climate of the mountains the crop is much later, the grass not being gathered till July and even August.

The proper time for obtaining the seed is considered to be in June, and, as it falls and perishes rapidly, the operation will present some difficulty, as it must be executed with all possible rapidity, or the critical time for its collection will have past. The best time for gathering is in the month of June and the early part of July.

Although of a dry and wiry nature, the esparto, like all other kinds of grass, requires drying in the sun, by which it loses about one-fourth of its weight. After drying it is tied up in bunches and conveyed to the nearest shipping port, where, from the month of June to the end of the year, numerous vessels, chiefly English, are employed in its shipment.

The quantity of esparto produced from a given extent of land will vary greatly, the grass being, in some places, very luxuriant and abundant, while in others, where the soil is less congenial, it is more thinly dispersed in tufts and patches. People practically acquainted with the business, with whom I have spoken, seem to think, however, that in a good congenial soil from two hundred to three hundred quintals may be obtained from a fanega (5,500 square yards) of ground; while in less congenial soils the product would hardly amount to one hundred quintals-perhaps a great deal less."

This grass seems to last for an unknown number of years, so that, where it has taken possession of the soil, it becomes a perpetual growth. Thus, in any soil congenial to its growth, the atocha is self-propagating, and without further cultivation or attention of any sort it furnishes a never-ending annual crop of esparto.

All persons with whom I have spoken agree that the esparto improves by a regular yearly gathering, and that the plant is found to become stronger in consequence. But the gathering requires some little care. The grass (which readily separates) must be plucked up, but without pulling up or injuring the roots. If the roots be disturbed, as may be the case, by careless or ignorant people, or those who greedily seek to increase their wages by pulling up the entire plant, thus augmenting the apparent weight of esparto gathered, the atocha is destroyed, and no more grass will be gathered on that spot. This contingency, however, does sometimes happen from the rapacity of the laborers employed-their payment being by weight. The necessity of providing against such wanton destruction will be evident enough from what I have stated, and particular caution should be observed in this respect during the early years of the introduction of the atocha into America, and while the propagation of the grass may still be confined to very few localities.

Recently official inquiries concerning its use in Great Britain have met with the following response from the United States consul at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England:

UNITED STATES CONSULATE, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, May 15, 1869. SIR: According to your request I have instituted inquiries relative to the possibility of transplanting the esparto grass for culture to America, and the economy of its use in the manufacture of paper.

I have communicated with Dr. Hooker, director of the royal gardens at Kew, on this subject, and with Daniel Oliver, keeper of the royal herbarium, both of whom have responded most kindly. I have also received communications from Spain and visited of the oldest and most successful paper-mills of England, where the esparto grass lively used. There are important points of information that I have not yet such as the rain-fall, degrees of heat and cold, &c., of the best esparto-producing adanted to its growth is a very sandy soil, and slopes or hillsides (not too You the best, in a warm but not too dry climate.

doubt as to the correctness of this estimate, as the land is never measured. Here is probably an excessive estimate.

This grass is gathered or harvested by pulling, not by the roots, but by a quick jerk of the hand to disjoint it above the roots, so as not to destroy the latter, and also to avoid a mixture of the hard, woody portion of the plant, which would have to be separated from the grass before suited for use at the paper-mill. The hands must be protected by heavy gloves, as the grass is very sharp. Considerable skill is required in pulling the grass without destroying the roots. If properly gathered, there is no woody fiber to be rejected in the process of manufacture.

The grass is dried just as hay would be, and bound in bundles by ropes twisted from the grass itself, and then is ready for the paper-mill. It costs from $20 to $30 per ton in England, in Spain about $5 less per ton. Last year the amount imported into England was 95,000 tons.

The process of manufacturing paper from this grass is no more difficult than from rags, and far more pleasant; no infectious or contagious diseases or poisonous insects are carried by it, and the processes are so similar, except in the amount of chemicals required, that a description is almost needless.

I have been through the works of Messrs. William Hurry and Albert Richardson, at Jarrow-on-Tyne, Durham County, England, and these gentlemen kindly pointed out all the steps in the process, and gave me specimens of the grass and paper. They produce thirty tons of paper per week, using from fifty to sixty tons of esparto grass. No rags are used. The average cost of the esparto is $25 per ton. The machinery is propelled by a one hundred horse-power steam engine. Eighty-three women and girls are employed in sorting and boiling the grass; fourteen men and boys in washing and beating; thirty in finishing; seventeen on machines and cutting; eight mechanics; six engineers and firemen; and ten ordinary laborers-one hundred and sixty-eight in all. This estimate includes the manufacture of all their own chemicals.

The first step is the assorting of the grass, or separating it from roots, weeds, and flowers. Fifty girls are needed for this part of the work. The grass is laid upon tables of wire, so that all small bits of dirt or leaves may fall through as the work of separation goes on. The loss of weight sustained in this process is three to five per cent.

The grass is then put into large sacks and goes below, where it is put into boilers. Formerly the boilers were open, broad, circular vessels, but are now cylindrical and closed, so that a pressure of steam of twenty to twenty-five pounds to the square inch can be given to add to the effect of the chemicals. The boiling is by steam. In these boilers ten per cent. of caustic soda (N. O. A.) is introduced; that is, ten pounds of caustic soda to one hundred pounds of esparto grass, more or less soda according to the fineness or coarseness of the grass and the time given in boiling. The grass is boiled ordinarily five or six hours in the soda, being kept revolving or stirred in the boiler. The water is then run off and pure water supplied, and the grass again boiled for about an hour, to get rid of the resinous soap formed in the first boiling by the gum of the plant uniting with the soda. It is further washed with cold water and then discharged into large oval tubs or vats, and again washed with pure water. Then bleaching powder is added-two to two and a half hundred-weight, containing thirty-five per cent. of chlorine, (chloride of lime,) to a ton of esparto. It is revolved in three bleaching tubs till white, the tubs containing 500 pounds to 1,000 pounds each. Four to eight hours are required for this process; four or five hours will be sufficient unless it is thought desirable to use a smaller quantity of bleaching powder. The fiber, when thus bleached white, is pressed to free it from the bleaching liquor, and then placed in the beating engines, where it is washed for half an hour to free it from the remaining bleaching liquor, and then revolved in the beating engine the same as rags are treated, until it is reduced to a sufficiently fine pulp. The size, alum, and color, (when color or toning is required,) are added, and the pulp is run off into vats or reservoirs ready for use.

In reducing the pulp to paper, my attention was called to but one point of difficulty not encountered in reducing rag pulp. This occurs just after the pulp changes from the liquid state and takes the sheet form. The material at this stage is less tough and tenacious than when made from rags, and the difficulty is in getting it to enter the press-rollers. But a little management and experience overcomes the difficulty, and the paper when finished is even stronger than that made from rags.

The amount of paper produced is fifty to fifty-five per cent. of the weight of the esparto grass as it reaches the mill. The loss of weight is as follows: three to five per cent. roots, weeds, flowers, &c.; twenty-five per cent. extractive matter soluble in the caustic soda, and twenty per cent. destruction of fiber in bleaching, and mechanical loss.

All qualities of paper are produced except the very thin writing paper, which may be produced with a little more mechanical skill. I inclose samples of the paper from Messrs. Richardson & Co's. mills. No. 1 is an excellent quality of white printing or book paper; No. 2, toned printing or book paper; No. 3, account-book paper; No. 4, a specimen of the best paper that could be made from esparto grass in 1860, which was manufactured by Routhedge, at Eynsham, Oxfordshire. Messrs. Richardson used a mixture of rags at first, which can be done in any proportion, but for the last three years they have used only esparto grass. They procure the grass from the east coast of Spain, from

Cartagena to Almeria; the best comes from Almeria. They have used a little from Morocco and Algiers, but it required more soda and bleaching powder, and never became so white as that from Spain. The esparto grows not only in Spain and North Africa,but in various localities along the Mediterranean, in Italy, Sicily, Sardinia, &c., and Portugal.

But the question which most of all interests Americans is its propagation in the United States. Dr. Hooker has written me that he has no doubt but that the esparto grass would thrive in the United States, and he strongly advises that the introduction be made by seed, not roots, and says it should be started in the nursery and the young plants set out afterwards. Mr. Oliver, who is also one of the best botanists in this country, thinks one of the two species, Lygcum spartum, (soft.) being a creeping rhizomatous grass, might be transplanted by being sent over in Wardian cases well rolled in sand, or in cases filled with sandy soil and buried in nearly pure sand. The other species, Macrochloa tenacissima, is supposed to be cæspitose, and he thinks this mode of packing might not suit it so well. He also recommends trying seed.

If the Lygeum spartum is a creeping rhizomatous grass it would be likely to spread very rapidly, and once rooted, a few plants would soon cover a large tract of country I send you some samples of both species of the grass. No. 1, best quality of grass, clean, ready for use; No. 2, specimen taken where the previous crop had not been gathered, so that the dead grass is mixed with it, but the latter decomposes and disappears in the process of manufacture, and only lessens the per cent. of paper per ton; No. 3, specimen contains butts of the grass and roots that should not be gathered with the grass, also some heads; No. 4, the same of the other species; No. 5, wild sage, often found growing with the esparto.

I remain your obedient servant,

Hon. HORACE CAPRON, Commissioner.

IMPORTS INTO THIS COUNTRY.

J. W. McCHESNEY.

Small quantities of esparto have been brought to this country. It has been found that the import duties are practically prohibitory, otherwise large quantities would probably be used.

In 1864 thirty-three tons were shipped to the United States from the port of Malaga. The following extract of a letter from the firm of Loring & Co., of Boston, will give an idea of the value of this fiber to the country, if it could be acclimated here:

During the years 1863 and 1864 we were induced to make the experiment of introducing the esparto grass as a material for making paper, and imported between three hundred and four hundred tons. We found it admirably suited for the purpose, but the heavy duty imposed on it, $5 per ton, because a fiber, and ten per cent. ad valorem, and the increased duties on the chemicals required for its conversion into pulp, were greater burdens than the article could bear, and we were compelled to abandon the business. The consumption in Great Britain has, in the mean time, run up to over seventy-five thousand tons per annum, and it is not only used extensively in all the white paper made, but likewise largely in the manufacture of papier mâché articles. Belgiuin and France also consume it extensively.

IMPORTATION OF SEED.

Attempts to obtain seed for experiment by this Department, both from Spain and the seedsmen of Paris, have several times proved abortive. At last a small quantity has been obtained, and will be tested, with the hope of propagating the plant successfully, and introducing it among the light hill lands and on the mountain slopes of the South. It was obtained of Messrs. Vilmorin, Andreux & Co., of Paris, who thus refer to the difficulty of obtaining it:

As we told you in our former letter, seed of this plant is not in commerce. Many times we tried to procure it both in Spain and in Algeria, but always were informed that it does not yield fertile seed, and was propagated only by division of the old plant, some way similar to the propagation of sugar-cane, and it is by a mere chance that we have got the seed we have forwarded to you. A friend of ours, when in Spain some ten or twelve years ago, cut some of the flower-stems of the esparto grass, and on his return to France tried to sow the seeds he found in these specimens, and a very few did grow. He cultivated carefully the young plants, but all the seed he could collect remained sterile; he at last tried artificial fecundation, and succeeded this year to a certain extent. In continuing the experiment, he has been able to collect the seeds we have got this year.