112 ANNUAL OP SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



place of bread, and in composition and nutritious value approaching next 

 nearly to the potato, may, if produced in too large a quantity, be preserved 

 in the same way as figs, or the meal may be separated, as it resembles rice 

 most nearly in composition. Each root-stock throws up from six to eight 

 stems, each of which must be yearly cut down, and will yield from three 

 to four pounds of the fibre fit for textile fabrics, for rope making, or for 

 the manufacture of paper. As the fruit already pays the expenses of the 

 culture, this fibre could be afforded at a cheap rate, as from the nature of 

 the plant, consisting almost only of water and fibre, the latter might easily 

 be separated. One planter calculates that it could be afforded for 19 13s. 

 cL per ton. Some very useful and tough kinds of paper have been made 

 from the plantain, and some of finer quality from the same material in 

 France. 



All the plants which have been already mentioned are devoid of true 

 bark, and are called endogenous in structure. Simple pressure between 

 rollers and washing would appear to be sufficient for the separation of 

 the fibres of most of them. But the following families of plants are all 

 possessed of true bark, which requires to be stripped off, usually after 

 the stems have been steeped in water, before their respective fibres can be 

 separated from the rest of the vegetable matter. 



The flax plant abounds in fibre, but this is too valuable to be converted 

 into paper. India, however, grows immense quantities of the plant on 

 account of its seed, (linseed,) which is both consumed in the country and 

 exported in enormous quantities ; but nowhere is the fibre turned to any 

 account. This i?, no doubt, owing to the climate not favoring the forma- 

 tion of soft and flexible fibre ; but the short fibre which is formed, and 

 might be easily separated, would be valuable for paper making, and might 

 add to the agriculturist's profits without much additional outlay. 



So some malvaceous plants are cultivated on account of their fruits being 

 used as articles of diet, as okhra (hibiscus esculentus) of the West Indies 

 and of the United States. The ram-turai of India is closely allied to it, 

 and is cultivated for the same purposes. Both plants abound in fine 

 flexible fibre, which is not, but might be, easily separated, and afford a 

 considerable supply, especially if the cultivation was extended in the 

 neighborhood of towns. Paper is made from a species of hibiscus in 

 Japan, and hibiscus sabdariffa is cultivated in India on account of its jelly 

 yielding calyxes. Numerous other species of hibiscus, of lida, and of 

 other genera of this family, abound in warm climates ; several are culti- 

 vated in different countries, as hibiscus camabinius in India, and lida 

 titia-folia in China ; more might be so. They grow quickly, and to a large 

 size, and abound in fibrous material of a fine, soft, flexible quality, on 

 which account they might be cultivated with profit, and the tow be useful 

 to the paper maker. 



The filiacese are likewise remarkable for the abundance and fine quality 

 of fibre which many of them contain. Filia Europa produces the enor- 

 mous quantities of bass exported from Russia. Corchorus olitorius and 



