FIBERS IN GENERAL 223 
worm makes its cocoon, were used very early in certain re- 
gions as materials for fabrics, but in general it is safe to say 
that vegetable fibers have been far more extensively used 
than animal fibers even from prehistoric times. 
As civilization has advanced, and man’s needs have mul- 
tiplied, the uses of vegetable fibers have also multiplied, and 
their importance in daily life has increased enormously. 
To-day as their properties are better understood and their 
wonderful possibilities more fully realized, these fibers are 
coming -to be used more and more in place of animal fibers 
and other animal products. It is true that mineral fibers, 
such as asbestos and spun glass, and metals in the form of 
wire, are replacing vegetable fibers to a limited extent; but 
in spite of this the consumption of fibers from plants is 
steadily increasing. They are now used most extensively as 
materials for fabrics, cordage, plaiting, matting, wickerwork, 
thatch, brushes, stiffening, filling, paper, and various cellulose 
products. 
Fabrics are made of especially flexible fibers spun or twisted into 
yarns, threads, or cords, which are then variously intertwined by 
weaving, braiding, knitting, or netting. According to its texture a 
fabric may serve for wearing apparel, house-furnishing, decoration, 
awnings, sails, tape, belts, girths, webbing, burlap, gunny bagging, 
hammocks, nets, or lace. The finer fabrics are among the greatest 
triumphs of human skill and constitute the most highly developed 
of fiber products. Cordage includes yarn or thread for sewing or 
needlework, twine, fish-lines, cords, ropes, and cables. These 
consist, for the most part, of especially strong fibers, which are 
twisted into strands and then “laid” or twisted again in such a 
manner that they will not freely untwist. Plaiting consists of flat 
fibrous strands sufficiently pliable to be folded into plaits or flat 
braids and used for straw hats, fine basketry, and the like. Matting 
consists of elastic fibrous strands woven or braided into mats or 
screens. Wuickerwork is made of supple twigs, strips of wood or 
similar fibrous strands interlaced to form hampers and other stout 
baskets, or chairs and similar articles of furniture. Thatch consists 
of strips of fibrous material, overlapped and fastened so as to shed 
water, as on aroof. Brushes, including brooms and whisks, require 
fibers of special stiffness and elasticity. Stiffening, which is mixed 
with plaster like cow’s hair to give cohesion, calls for fibers which 
are at once strong and able to resist the softening influence of the 
plaster. Filling, such as the stuffing used in upholstery, calking for 
the seams of water-craft, casks, etc., and packing for objects to be 
