VEGETABLE FIBERS. 



503 



VI. — Fibrous material and miscellaneous sulstances, not strictly ''fiber," in manufactura 

 only plaited or coarsely ivoven, without maniimlation, into iasJcets, hats, mats, ^c, 

 or jpajyer. 



Arundinaria tecia. Caue fiber, 25, A., 



slightly. 

 Carludovica palmata. (Scre-w pine), 21, A. 

 Chamoirops (species). Palmetto), 20, A. 

 Cladium radula. (The black reed), 24, N. 

 DapMe cannaUna. 13, A., slightly, in 



Asia. 

 Lepidospo'ma claiins. Tall sword grass, 



24, N. 



Lepidosperma flexuoswax. Slender sword 



grass, 24, N. 



Luffa cylindrica. Sponge cucumber, 9, N. 



Stipa tenacissima. Esiiarto, 25, N., A., 

 paper. 



Spartina cynosuroides. Cord grass, A., pa- 

 per. United States. 



Oreodoxia regia. " Palma real," 20, N. 



Fandanus utiliis. Screw pine, 21, A. 



As will be seen by reference to tlie list, many of the fibers enumerated 

 have only been experimentally prepared or are in use only by the 

 natives of the countries in -vrhich the plants abound, and to a limited 

 extent. Many of these are produced from trees of largo size or slo"W 

 growth, and while the fiber may be of fine quality, and perhaps easily 

 obtained, it could only become a commercial product in proportion to 

 the extent of existing sux)ply. 



Many others would in cultivation produce fiber, fine and strong in 

 itself, and useful for many purposes, but which could not compete in the 

 markets with better known fiber for the same purposes. The list, there- 

 fore, of really useful fibers, cultivated as a national industry, is named 

 to an exceedingly small number, and in our own country the list is named 

 still smaller {at present), as the question of economical extraction of the 

 fiber is a vital one. 



Some of the plants in Group II could be grown successfully in -poT' 

 tions of the United States, but the want of an economical and successful 

 means of preparation would prevent the utilization of the product, and 

 hand manipulation is entirely too expensive. "Were we all to grow Ma- 

 nila hemp, which is as yet hand-prepared, our laborers are not poor 

 enough to work for 18 cents a day, which is the utmost a native fiber- 

 cleaner can earn (in a day) on the Philippine Islands. 



The extraction of bast fiber from the woody stems of exogenous plants 

 is attended with difiiculty, and no really satisfactory machines have been 

 produced to i)erform the work. Eamie and jute are stdl prepared in 

 China and India by the laborious methods of hand manipulation, and 

 it is only the want of machinery that has prevented extensive cultiva- 

 tion of those textiles in this country. With endogenous plants, on the 

 contrary, extracting or, rather, cleaning the fiber by mechanical means, 

 seems to be a matter much more easily accompKshed; and among those 

 fibers that are already prepared largely by mechanical means may be 

 mentioned ISfew Zealand flax. Sisal hemp in Yucatan, and. plantain fiber 

 in the West Indies (see body of report). 



Some of the fibers in the above list are only interesting as museum 

 specimens, as showing the various plants producing fibrous substance, 

 or that have been utilized by aborigines in the absence of better ma- 

 terial — mostly grown in a wild state, unworthy of cultivation, yet valued 

 locally in their native countries. A few have been prepared experi- 

 mentally, some with sufficient success to warrant more extended experi- 

 ment. 



The catalogue includes aU the fibers and fibrous substances in the 

 museum at present, with the exception of a few Chinese fibers without 

 names, which have not yet been identified. 



