239 



FIBER PLANTS. 



There are many fiber- producing plants in Mexico regarding which 

 very much has already been written. What is now especially needed 

 is some careful botanical research and collecting for the purpose of 

 determining the species of plants which produce certain well-known 

 libers. There is no place where this work is so much needed as among 

 the Mexican agaves. Particularly is the want noticeable in the litera- 

 ture of istle, or Tampico hemp. This fiber has usually been attributed 

 to Agave heteracantha, but it is now known that several very different 

 plants, one at least being a yucca, furnish liber for the Tampico mar- 

 ket; and even the so-called Agave hetemcantha seems to be an aggre- 

 gate of species. Our botanical names for the Sisal hemp plant are very 

 much confused, as several apparently very distinct species pass under 

 the name of Agave rigida. Other cases might be mentioned which are 

 scarcely less confusing. 



I have not attempted here to compile the information available 

 regarding Mexican fibers, but to bring together chietly my own obser- 

 vations upon the few fiber plants met with in my travels through 

 Mexico, and for this reason my notes are largely fragmentary. 



I have also included the information collected by Mr. E. W. Nelson 

 and Dr. E. Palmer in 189<S, both of whom had been requested to gather 

 all data they could regarding fiber plants. 



PALMACEAB. 



The palms are among the most valuable plants of Mexico. Their 

 trunk supplies lumber or material for building houses, fences, etc. The 

 leaves are used in covering houses and huts and made into mats, bas- 

 kets, brushes, hats, etc. Some species furnish fiber, which is used in 

 many ways, as for saddle sweaters, etc. These saddle sweaters, called 

 " suadaderos," are said to be made from the trunk of some palm which 

 is beaten into a fibrous mass. They were seen on sale in the markets 

 of Oolotlan, Guadalajara, etc. 



Several species furnish edible fruits or oil, which is used in the manu- 

 facture of soap, etc. These fruit -producing palms are referred to else- 

 where in this paper. 



The making of hats from palm leaves is a very important industry. 

 A species with fan-shaped leaves furnishes the fiber. At Colotlan, 

 where I saw hats in process of making, the material came from trees 

 growing near Tapesco, a small town near Tequila. The leaves are cut, 

 dried, and bleached before they are brought to the market (see EB 

 No. 31). The various segments of the leaf are cut down to the base, 

 and each of them slit with a pin into narrow threads, 2 mm. (one- 

 sixteenth of an inch) wide and about 4.5 dm. (1£ feet) long. The strips 

 are tied into large bundles, and are then ready for use (see EB No. 

 32). Some eight of these strips are taken and worked into a very close 



