L. TECHNOLOGY. 483 



where this plant can be raised to advantage is perhaps lim- 

 ited ; but within its natural area it is thought that it can be 

 produced with greater profit than almost any other species 

 of fibrous plant. The drawback to this flattering picture lies 

 in the difficulty of separating the fibre from the bark, and 

 the bark from the stalk; but this the editor of the New York 

 Shipping List thinks will be eventually overcome, as it is 

 not often that any practical problem of this kind long resists 

 the pertinacious attentions of modern inventors. As we have 

 already informed' our readers, the East Indian government 

 has proposed a prize of $25,000 for a machine or process that 

 will accomplish this object. The award has not yet been 

 made, the period having lately been extended, owing to the 

 unsatisfactory nature of the competing machines. The offer, 

 however, still holds good, and the prize will, we presume, be 

 assigned in due course of time. Shipping List, May 6, 1871. 



A NEW FIBRE (APOCYNUM). 



Nettings and cordage were to some extent, at one time, 

 made in Virginia and other states of North America of the 

 fibre of the bark of Apocynum cannabinum, especially by 

 the Indians, who, indeed, still use this plant for the purpose 

 to some extent. In the report of the Russian Exhibition in 

 St. Petersburg in 1870, various articles were there shown as 

 made of a similar plant which are well worthy of attention. 

 Woven fabrics of snowy whiteness and silken gloss, brown- 

 ish-yellow fishing nettings, hunting-pouches, shoes, etc., from 

 Southern Siberia, were strikingly beautiful. They were all 

 made from fibres of Apocynum venetum and Apocynum si- 

 biricimi, the use of which, for such purposes, is quite common 

 in Southern Siberia, along the Caspian Sea, the steppes of 

 Southern Russia, etc. The plant grows to the height of 

 from two to eight feet, is easily stripped of its bark after 

 roasting, is readily separated into its fibres, and, by bleach- 

 ing, becomes of a beautifully white and clear lustre. G 1 % 

 1871,264. 



NEW ZEALAND FLAX. 



Among the substances used in the arts as -fibres, the New 

 Zealand flax at one time promised to be of great prominence, 

 but, owing to its high price, and the difficulty and expense 



