1897| NOTES AND COMMENTS 373 
the men at the head of the different divisions of the department, 
who should unite to a great experience of administration profound 
technical knowledge and an incontestable authority in the questions 
with which they have to deal, and whose office should be of a per- 
manent character. Such a director must have the choosing of the 
staff placed under his orders. He must be their master, and be 
able to reward those who show merit and zeal, and to remove or 
punish those who cannot or do not properly discharge their duties. 
“Let the director himself be absolutely responsible for the good 
working of his department, and let him be replaced if he proves 
inefficient.” Finally, M. Tisseraud suggests the appointment of 
scientific counsellors selected from the most distinguished agricul- 
turists and men of science, and technical committees of professiona 
men, specialists, and practical experts, from whom the Minister may 
obtain “ trustworthy advice and indispensable light for rightly 
seeing, and judging, and forming in full security the decisions 
which concern the department over which he presides.” 
CATALOGUE OF FIBRE PLANTS / 
ANOTHER excellent specimen of the work of the United States De- 
partment of Agriculture comes to hand almost while writing the 
above. It is a descriptive list of useful fibre plants of the world by 
C. R. Dodge, special agent in charge of fibre investigations. More 
than a thousand kinds are enumerated under the botanical names of 
the plants producing them, while common and native names are also 
included in the alphabetical arrangement. The book is a large 
octavo of 360 pages; there are more than one hundred figures 
in the text, and thirteen excellent photographic plates showing the 
habits of the various plants. Much information is given about the 
more important kinds, including the structure and properties of the 
actual fibre, the source and method of cultivation of the plant, the 
preparation of the fibre, and references to the literature. The great 
number of native names possessed by some species is evidence of 
their long use. New Zealand flax (Phormium tenax), a liliaceous 
plant, has nearly sixty native names. Captain Cook, who first 
brought it to the notice of Europeans, found it in common use 
among the aboriginal New Zealanders; he speaks of it as “a grass 
plant like flags, the nature of flax or hemp, but superior in quality 
to either, of which the natives make clothing, lines, ete.’ Mr Dodge 
gives in a useful introduction a general account of the history, 
chemistry, and structure of fibres, and suggests also a classification. 
His system of arrangement serves to show what very various parts 
of the plant are used for the purpose; for it includes not only true 
