278 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



iBfites, fail, when grown hereto have that elasticity and toughness which 

 give value for mechanical purposes. 



This lack of fil)rous cuticle on the annuals, and the brittleness of the 

 stalk, must be attributed to the d)-yncss of the climate during the grow- 

 ing season, as but little rain falls after vegetation starts, and none while 

 it is in process of maturing. Hence, in place of a fibrous bark, which 

 vegetation acquires in countries exposed to periodical rains, the 

 cuticle of the same plants in a dry climate is a glutinous substance. 

 Thus, all species of vegetation are enabled to resist the strong winds 

 which prevail in all arid climates, until this gluten is dissolved by the 

 rains of the wet season, when, as before remarked, it rapidi}' decays, 

 and becomes a vegetable mould to enrich the succeeding generations of 

 vegetable life. 



The earl_7 Spanish colonists discovered among the natives of the 

 country only a single species of vegetable fibre of which they made 

 any use, and this was an indigenous hemp, of which they manufactured 

 no other article than their rude fishina; nets,: and this, too, was sTOwn 

 about the Tulare Lakes, probably the most humid locality in the coun- 

 try. If the climate had been favorable to the growing of vegetable 

 fibres, should we not expect to find among the aborigines textile fabrics 

 manufactured from the same into articles of utility and necessitj^? One 

 of the most attractive features of semi-savage or barbarian life in Cen- 

 tral America, or among the m3-riads of the Oriental tribes, is the 

 domestic thrift occasioned by the ingenuity of the people in working 

 vegetable textiles into clothing and all manner of useful implements. 

 Where this is to be seen, however, there is an accompanying moist cli- 

 mate. To this phenomenon may we not ascribe their success in growing 

 vegetable textiles ? If we look at the character of the climate required 

 for the most successful production of our own great textile fibre — cotton 

 — we find it comprised within the limits of the Gulf of Mexico and Cape 

 Hatteras, a region having a more regular and copious isotherm than any 

 other of equal extent. 



Comparing, then, the climate of the Pacific States with the climates 

 of the countries where cotton, flax, and hemp are produced in greatest 

 perfection and abundance, little encouragement offers for the production 

 of these great staples of commerce in the Pacific States as a successful 

 competition, and it is questionable whether the attempt to grow suffi- 

 cient for the wants of the resident population will be a correct public 

 economy while natural laws are so insuperable an obstacle to success. 



ANIMAL TEXTILE FIBRES IN THE PACIFIC STATES AND TERRITORIES. 



However much the climate of the Pacific may be lacking in the ele- 

 ments which conduce to the successful culture of cotton, flax, and hemp, 

 this vast region is fortunatel}^ blessed with other resources which amply 

 compensate the foregoing deficiencies. 



Its capacity for the grazing of sheep and other fleece-producing ani- 

 mals can hardl_y be estimated. Not only is the herbage abundant, and 

 of a quality suited to the nature and habits of sheep and goats, but the 

 climate is so mild and equable, and the atmosphere so pure, that animals 

 attain here their most perfect development in form and size, while they 

 also retain a remarkable degree of health ; notwithstanding their grega- 

 rious hal)its and the conformation of the country, they are often herded 

 in vast flocks. 



The perfect adaptation of the country to wool growing was long since 



