520 REPORT OP THE COMMISSIONER OP AGRICULTURE. 



^latamfolia is used in Madagascar for the manufacture of roi)es, twine, 

 &c. The i)lants of this genus are cultivated in hot-houses for their 

 beautiful liowers. Like all the species belonging to tliis family, the 

 fiber is brownish in color, though lighter than " Kurra,jong," and, judging 

 j&'om the museum samples, is a little stronger. It is at best, however, 

 a very coarse fiber and is not to be compared with mallow fiber of the 

 commonest description, neither is it as fibrous in texture as Gommersonia. 

 Possibly a better xnepared specimen might show better qualities. 



4.— TiLIACEiE. 



In this family are included the well-known Linden trees, so much cul- 

 tivated for adornment in public parks and gardens, Tilia Americana 

 being the American representative, while T. IJuropaaa abounds in Eu- 

 rope, and furnishes the bast for Eussian mats. The most important 

 fiber plant in the family, however, is the jute of India. The genera 

 Triumfetta, Sparmannia, and Muntingia are also represented. 



Tilia Europcea. — Lime, Linden. — The bast of this tree is much employed 

 in Eussia in the manufacture of an exceedingly coarse kind of rox)e for 

 making the matted shoes worn by the peasantry, and also for the manu- 

 facture of the mats which are used to a considerable extent by furniture 

 dealers for packing. They are also used by gardeners as a covering or 

 protection to glass frames. For the larger and better kinds of mats, trees 

 eight to sixteen years old are used, which are cut when full of sap, and 

 the bark immediately separated from trunk and branches. It is then 

 stretched upon the ground to dry, two or more strips being placed 

 together. When required for use, simj^le soaking in water separates the 

 cortical layers, the best of which are in the interior, and the coarsest being 

 on the outside. As many as 14,000,000 pieces of matting have been pro- 

 duced in Eussia alone in a single year, as these mats are a considerable 

 article of export. Their manufacture is largely confined to Eussia; 

 Sweden, however, furnished a portion of mats exported. The Swedish 

 fishermen use the inner fiber or bast for the manufacture of fishing-nets. 



A Japanese species, T. cordata, is much esteemed in Japan for its fiber 

 or bast, which is used for strings and ropes, and sometimes for making 

 a very coarse cloth. An important branch of industry is the manufac- 

 ture of mosquito nets, the bark of this specis being used for the purpose. 

 The wood of the Linden tree is white and soft grained, and is used for 

 carving, turning, and to some extent for the manufacture of furniture, 

 both in this country and in Europe. In our own country it is known 

 as basswood. In this connection it may be mentioned that many of the 

 SterculiacesB would furnish a bast that would form an excellent substi- 

 tute for tlie "Eussian" in the manufacture of mats. 



GorcJiorus capsularis, Gorchorus oUtorius. — Jute, Jew's Mallow. — This 

 valuable fiber, which of late years is attracting so much attention in our 

 own country, has been cultivated in India fi;om a remote period, though 

 the knowledge of it as an article of commerce dates back not a hundred 

 years ago. Jute is the product of two very distinct plants, both of which 

 are common in almost every part of India. The genus Corchorus in- 

 cludes six species of fiber-producing plants, as capsular is, olitorius,fuscus, 

 fascicidarit^ trilocularis, and decemangularis. The principal point of dif- 

 ference between the two cultivated jute plants is in the seed-pod, that 

 of capsularis being "short, globular, rough, and wrinkled," while that of 

 oUtoriiis "is Elongated (about two inches), almost cylindrical, and of the 

 thickness of a quill." The first-named species is generally cultivated in 

 thecentiai and eastern districts, where the other species are rare. Among 



