80 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



ruary last, Mr. Roezl visited Cuba with specimens of the re- 

 sults of his 11 years' labor, which, after careful examination, 

 were pronounced of the first importance by the agriculturists of 

 the island, who predict that it will supplant tobacco and coffee as 

 a staple for Cuba. Mr. Roezl takes 5 crops per annum from 

 his plantation; the matured plant, which is perennial, attaining, 

 when well rooted, the height of 20 feet. The statement that 

 its fibre is stronger than hemp, as fine and white and twice as 

 durable as linen, and more productive than cotton, is so far con- 

 firmed, that in 1865 Mr. Roezl exported and sold in England over 

 5,000 pounds of the staple at double the price of the best quality of 

 cotton. 



Another New Fibre. By a late patent, a species of nettle, which 

 grows luxuriantly and spontaneously throughout the Mississippi 

 valley, is employed in the manufacture of cord, rope, cloth, bag- 

 ging, and paper. The stalks, which grow from 4 to 8 feet 

 high, are gathered in the winter, and are ready for the brake 

 without any rotting process. The fibre is said to be exceedingly 

 fine, strong, and susceptible of a high finish by dressing. 



Textile from Hop Vines. Another discovery in the field of tex- 

 tile material is that of a Belgian, who has shown that a second, 

 most valuable, and heretofore useless product can be furnished 

 by the hop vine. After the hop blossoms have been gathered, 

 the stems are steeped like hemp. When this operation has been 

 completed, the stalks are dried, beaten with a wooden beetle, and 

 then the threads come oif easily. After carding and working in 

 the ordinary way, a very strong cloth is obtained. The thickest 

 stalks also yield the material for several kinds of rope 



THE PRESERVATION OF MEAT. 



A new process for the preservation of meat, by means of a solu- 

 tion of bisulphite of calcium, has been lately patented in England 

 by Messrs. Medlock and Bailey. The antiseptic properties of 

 sulphite of calcium have long been recognized. In this patent, 

 however, the more soluble bisulphite is employed. This pos- 

 sesses several advantages over other sulphites, which will strike 

 chemists at once. It is easily obtained free from sulphate, and if 

 any sulphate should be afterwards formed by oxidation, no un- 

 pleasant taste would be noticed by the consumer. These points 

 have probably operated against the extended use of sulphite of 

 sodium. The low equivalent of calcium is also somewhat in its 

 favor. The ordinary preservative solution is made as follows: 

 dissolve about a pint of common salt in 4 gallons of clear cold 

 water, to which add half a gallon of the bisulphite, and mix well. 

 If the meat, etc., to be treated, is required to be preserved for a 

 very long period, a little solution of gelatine or white of egg may 

 be added with advantage. All kinds of meat may be kept per- 

 fectly sweet by simply soaking the joints in the above preserva- 

 tive solution for 10 minutes, and then hanging them up, wetting 

 them again with the solution once a day. 



It is stated that beef, mutton, lobsters* etc., treated by this pro- 



