2. Broussonetia papyrifera.—

The bark of the well-known paper mulberry supplies the material from which the tappa cloth of Polynesia and the bulk of the paper of Japan and China is manufactured. The Japanese cultivate the plant very much in the same way that we grow osiers, and they use only the young shoots for the manufacture of paper. A sample of the bark which came into the hands of Mr. Routledge is stated by him to be nearly, if not quite, the best fibre I have seen." . . "I must admit it is even superior to bamboo." . . "It requires very little chemicals, and gives an excellent yield 62.5 per cent, in the grey, i.e., merely boiled, and 58 per cent bleached."