VEGETABLE FIBERS. 497 



him on the farm. He will plant and hoe, with a little assistance, the 30 acres, and 

 do enongh other -work to nearly or quite pay for his board. We are thus able, on 

 good larming land not worth over $75 per acre, to produce corn at a very small ex- 

 pense. In tiie New England States the fodder, if pro])erly managed, will about pay 

 the whole cost of raising the crop, and leave the corn for a net profit. 



When corn is grown, cut Tip, bound and stooked in the field, it is then raised and 

 ready for feed. Then commences another branch of the business ; that is to say, viar- 

 Iceting. We may waste the whole crop, or feed or dispose of it in such a way as to 

 nearly or quite double its value. From my own experience for fifteen years past, I 

 am satisfied that to husk, bin, shell, carry to mill, pay the miller for grinding, and 

 returu to the barn in meal, costs from 30 to 40 cents per bushel, according to wages, 

 the distance from mills, &c. That being the fact, it is really worth but little at the 

 present prices of 50 or 55 cents per bushel. I have for two years past used a husking 

 machine in the barn, and done the shelling and grinding by horse-power, and yet I 

 am of the opinion that there is more net profit in feeding corn and fodder in the bun- 

 dle, and buying Western corn, than in husking and grinding our own corn in the 

 Eastern States. We have for six years fed much of our com in that way, and used 

 the money it would have cost to harvest and get our own corn into meal, to buy sur- 

 plus meal for our extra feed and manure heap, which has a great tendency to improve 

 the farm. 



VEGETABLE FIBERS IN THE COLLECTION OF 

 THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



liETTEK OF SUBMITTAL. 



New York City, May 22, 1S80. 



Dear Sir : I herewith submit to you my fiber report, which has been prepared as 

 nearly as possible in accordance with your instructions, as a contribution to the fiber 

 literature of the times. The report is in two parts ; the first portion, or report proper, 

 being a descriptive catalogue of the vegetable fibers at present in the museum of the 

 Department of Agriculture, many ot which were collected by myself, through the 

 national museum at the Philadelphia Exhibition of 1876 ; and the second portion, the 

 results of an inquiry into the present status of fiber industries in this country, pursued 

 during the past winter. 



The design of the first part has been to bring together in most condensed form de- 

 scriptions of the principal fibers known to commerce, or of value for textile purposes 

 in our own and other lands, with sufficient technical matter for their determination, 

 in order that their uses, mode of preparation, and commei-cial value, may be brought 

 to public attention. Such a work it is thought will prove of great value to many inter- 

 ested in fiber industries, and especially to manufacturers, who are often at a loss to 

 know the true value, or position, even, in the vegetable kingdom, of fibers submitted 

 to them. 



Many of the species herein enumerated are either indigenous to our soil, or can ha 

 grown in some portion of our vast domain ; they should be better known to agricult- 

 urists as well as manufacturers, as a knowledge of such sources of wealth is the first 

 step towards utilization. 



I would also suggest that, by means of such a work, the usefulness of the museum of the 

 department as an educational institution may be extended to those who are unable to 

 personally examine and study its collections in this particular branch. That it may 

 also serve as a stimulus to the forming of other similar collections, for public instruc- 

 tion in our colleges and natural history museums, I bave no doubt. 



The second portion of the report relates particularly to our flax and hemp industries, 

 the subject having been treated only in its practical bearings as an element of national 

 prosperity. Jute, as intimately connected with the fiber manufacturing interests of 

 the country, has received due consideration, and a closing portion of the report is de- 

 voted particularly to the cultivation and preparation of other fibers which should re- 

 ceive attention in American agriculture. The report has been prepared particularly 



32 Aa 



