Waterbury evening Democrat., 1908-02-14
DESERT GRASS TEST.
Affa Variety to Be Grown In
 Southern California.
USEFUL FOR PAPERMAKING.
Los Angeles Man Has Two Sacks of Seed From Faraway Africa-Suc- cess of Experiments May Mean Creation of Big Industry.

SsSo SpSSiSS Noii itoS WV SdSNS VT
 Seed From Faraway Africa-Suc-
 cess of Experiments May Mean
 Creation of Big Industry.
 Carefully protected in the safe of one of the business houses of Los An geles repose two small sacks of grass seed upon which are based hopes of great things, says the Los Angeles Times. The sacks contain alfa seed from the great Sahara desert They may be the forerunner of an important papermaking industry in southern Cal ifornia
 The alfa seeds were sent by Profess or David Fairchild of the bureau of plant industry, United States depart ' ~meh of agriculture, to J. c. Conrad of Los Angeles, who had become inter est4d in the possibilities of raising this grass on the desert lands of southern California and Arizona for papermak Ing. It was necessary to send to Af- rich for the seeds, and the small con signment recently received will be cafefully planted for experiment work.
 lone portion of the seed will go to Ipaggett, in the heart of the desert, on the Santa Fe railway. There it will De planted on the ranch of T. S. Van Dyke, one of the pioneer desert ranch drs, who has attained much success in lropagating various growths suited to arid districts.
 Another portion will be planted at Mecca, on lands owned by Frank k. Strong, and the third allotment goes to Thermal, in the heart of Coachella valley, where MT. Conrad believes con- ditions of the higher levels are very similar to those to be found in the na- tive soil of the alfa grass.
 On account of the constantly dimin- fishing supply of material for paper making, MT. Conrad became interested in the possibilities of growing alfa grass on California's arid lands. His attention was attracted by brief statement made in one of Frank G. Carpenters letters to the Times.
 Mir Carpenter, writing from Beni Oumif, in the Sahara desert, 400 miles south of the Port of Gran, says of the alfa:
 T have been passing through a great plain of yellow, sandy soil, GOV cred here and there with stones and spotted everywhere with punches of tie dry alfa grass.
 sgrI,a o1fo ,.irr f,, fha sands. It is long, wiry grass, which is gathered by the thousands of tons and shipped to Europe for the making of paper. It is cut by the Arabs, and there are companies with immense capital which handle it. It grows to the height of my waist, in punches, some of which are not bigger than ones fist, while others sprout out of mounds which would fill a half bushel measure. It looks tough and dry, but nevertheless large flocks of sheep, goats and camels feed upon it."
 It is possible, if the experiments in the growth of the alfa grass in the Coachella and Imperial valleys and on the Mohave desert, in San Bernardino county, prove a success. that paper mills will be erected in southern Cali fornia to handle the product, as it is claimed that the material makes pa- per of superior quality which will command top prices. The material is especially suitable for high grade book papers.
 The leaves of the alfa grass are from eighteen inches to two feet in length. They have the peculiarity of breaking off at the base, so that they are gath cred by the exertion of q steady pull, after which they are sorted according to their color and length and tied in bundles for exportation. About S1,- 100000 worth of the grass is exported annually from Algeria, and the con stantly increasing shortage of raw ma terial for the manufacture of paper makes a permanent field for the crop
 MT. Conrad is certain that on the higher lands of the Coachella and Im- perial valleys. at present nonirrigable, the alfa grass will prove a profitable crop. He believes that the cost of gathering the grass. which is plucked by hand in the African desert, will be greatly leSsened if it proves a good desert crop in California by the inven- tion of labor saving machinery.