MIXED FIBERS 231 
coarse fabrics. Tarred ravelings of hemp rope are exten- 
sively used under the name of oakum for calking the seams 
of wooden vessels and also the joints of iron pipes, and the 
like. The plant has been grown and its fiber used for many 
centuries in the Old World. At present the largest supply 
comes from Northern Europe, and the best quality from 
Italy. The method of treatment is much the same as for 
flax. 
Fic. 217, I1.—Flax. Flower, cut vertically. Pistil and calyx. Stamens 
and pistil. Floral diagram. Pod open for diseharge of seeds. Seed, 
cut vertically. (Baillon.) 
69. Mixed fibers consist of slender strands including both 
bast and wood so intimately united that it is difficult to 
separate one from the other. Such compound strands form 
the framework or skeleton of leaves, of many stems, and of 
certain fruits. The extraction of mixed fibers is commonly 
an easy matter from the fact that they are for the most part 
surrounded only by material so soft as to be readily remov- 
able. In other cases there is so little material beside the 
