16 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



discover new paying crops. Among the possible new rural industries 

 that have attracted the attention of the agricultural class is that of 

 fiber production, though the growth of certain kinds of fibers in past 

 time has been a source of income to the country. Already there is a 

 widespread interest in the subject throughout the West and South, 

 and farmers are only seeking information regarding the particular 

 practice involved in the cultivation of flax, ramie, and other fibers, 

 cost of production, market, etc., but many are asking where the 

 proper seed can be secured with which to make a start. 



The importation of unmanufactured flax, hemp, textile grasses, 

 and other fibers amounts annually to a sum ranging from fifteen mil- 

 lion to twenty million dollars, while the imported manufactures 

 of these fibers amount to almost double this value, or, in round 

 numbers, approximately forty-five million dollars. With the estab- 

 lishment and extension of three or four fiber industries in this 

 country, and with the new manufacturing enterprises that would 

 grow out of such establishment and extension, an immense sum could 

 be readily saved to the country, and the money representing the 

 growth of these fibers would add just so much to the wealth of the 

 farming class. 



There are two ways in which we may arrive at a solution of this 

 problem: by direct Government aid, and through the intelligently 

 directed efforts of private enterprise. 



Government experiments for the development or extension of 

 vegetable fiber industries have been instituted, at different times, in 

 many countries. In some instances these have been confined to test- 

 ing the strength of native fibrous substances for comparison with 

 similar tests of commercial fibers. Such were the almost exhaustive 

 experiments of Roxburgh in India early in the present century. 

 Another direction for Government experimentation has been the test- 

 ing of machines to supersede costly hand labor in the preparation 

 of the raw material for market, or in the development of chemical 

 processes for the further preparation of the fibers for manufacture. 

 The broadest field of experiment, however, has been the growth of 

 the plants under different conditions, either to introduce their culture, 

 or to economically develop the industries growing out of their culture, 

 when such industries need to be fostered. The introduction of ramie 

 culture is an example of the first instance, the fostering of the almost 

 extinct flax industry of our grandfathers' days an illustration of the 

 second. 



The United States has conducted experiments or instituted in- 

 quiries in the fiber interest at various times in the last fifty years, 

 but it is only since 1890 that an office of practical experiment 

 and inquiry has been established by the United States Depart- 



