Director' s Annual Report. 45 



best, and its preparation is said to be almost exclusively in the 

 hands of women. The husks are there soaked for but a few days 

 and the fibre is separated by gentle beating and scraping. When 

 dry the coir is arranged into a loose roving which is stated by 

 Watt to be twisted by hand in an ingenious waj^ which yields two 

 strands simultaneously. 



The quality of coir fibre depends partly upon the maturity of 

 the nut at the time of gathering and partly upon the care bestowed 

 upon its preparation. It is used commercially in the manufa(5ture 

 of ropes, cables, matting, coarse carpet, brushes and brooms, and 

 is a good substitute for oakum for caulking ships. In strength 

 coir cordage is greatly inferior to Manila hemp, but surpasses it in 

 elasticit}'. It is remarkable that the preparation of such a market- 

 able commodity as coir is neglec5ted in Hawaii. With care a good 

 revenue might be derived from the coco-palm, as besides coir a 

 valuable oil is yielded. The leaf stalk when split and drawn 

 through perforated steel plates yields a clean durable material well 

 suited for basket work. 



COTTON. 



ExoGEN. Surface Fibre. IMalvacccc. Gossypium. 



Cotton fibre consists of fine tubular hair-like appendages which 

 surround the seed of various species of Gossypium . It is of a clear 

 white color and occurs irregularly contorted. Cotton furnishes 

 clothing to millions of people in India, and is the chief fibre manu- 

 fa(5lured for ordinary clothing fabrics. Its cultivation has been 

 established from the earliest times, and its product has always 

 found a place in the markets of the world. Before the conquest of 

 Mexico by Cortez that countrj^ produced upwards of 100,000,000 

 pounds of cotton annually, but its culture was neglected and ulti- 

 mately abandoned under Spanish letharg}-. In the United States 

 the rapidity of the increase of the cultivation of this article is 

 remarkable. At the beginning of last century about 10,000 bales 

 per annum were produced, which at the close of the centur}- had 

 grown to about 8,000,000 bales. The magnitude of the cotton in- 

 dustry may be estimated when it is known that the value of the 

 raw fibre produced in the United States is about $160,000,000, 

 which is converted by manufadlure into material approximating 

 $300,000,000 in value. The quality of cotton consists chiefly in 



