| Show A REMARKABLE PLANT How It Gives lame People Legs BY EMILY WINDSOR Amonz the plants which grow spontaneously spon-taneously on the surface of the moors of Portugal of Spain of Sicily and in all the north of Africa there is found along a-long lived graminae the products of which scarcely known In France except perhaps in the south are on the contrary con-trary greatly appreciated in other countries coun-tries In Spain they give l the name of Spanish Span-ish grass but gve more frequently designated des-ignated by that of ihalfa from the Arabian Ara-bian term Not only is the leaf of tjvis plant trans fore by processes comparatively simple sim-ple into a paste for paper of superior r7 = > quality but it is also employed in a number of uses either in domestic economy econ-omy or in navigation here are made from i cordage net artificial horsehair sacks mails or rusn matung objects of the basket trade and even stuffs and tapestries for room In considering It alone from the point of view of the production of paper this teX Ie plant can be the source of considerable I con-siderable profit for those who undertake t cultivation Rags becoming more and more rare the use ot this paste for paper becomes more extended every day eer In a financial statement made not long ago in the house of commons In En Siand Gladstone spoke of ilt a follows No one can form an idea of the multiple mul-tiple usages to which this paste lends itself uage l so to say under all forms possible With it anatomists make artifiela limbs other artisans use i to make artians telescopes i Its employed In making dolls and combs emp At the universal exposition In 1S7S there were seen door panels in paper of haifa and even carriage wheels Whoa then can place limits to the industry dustry of this cn plant when we see India rubber so supple and variable by nature na-ture becoming after several preparations prepara-tions harder than wood ton the high plateaus of Algeria and in Sicily and Tunis alfa is being cultivated culti-vated after fixed methods Two and a fxe acres produce a ton of leaves wirfch are sold for F22 at the port of embarkment In botany haifa is known by tie name of Hgaeum spartum |
