VEGETABLE FIBERS. 553 



of great streugtli and durability, which are used for tying eleiiliauts. It 

 is both regular and compact, and its manufacture exhibits considerable 

 skill. In Australia, Dr. Guilfoyle says, it is used for making paper. 



The fiber is brownish black, the filaments straight, smooth and glossy. 

 It exhibits considerable tenacity, and will bear twisting, as the fiber is 

 somewhat elastic. Some of the filaments resemble horse-liair very closely, 

 and draviTi between the thumb and nail of the fore-finger curl as readily 

 as coir. 



This palm is most useful to man, however, by yielding palm wine, 

 ■which is obtained from the flower stalks. From this sugar is manufact- 

 ured in large quantities, this and two other species of palm supplying 

 the whole amount of sugar used in Ceylon. 



The central or pithy portion of the stalk yields a farinaceous product 

 equal to the best sago, which the natives use for food in the place 

 of bread, or boiled into thick gruel. The fruits are reddish berries about 

 the size of nutmegs, and have a thin, yellow, acrid rind. 



Chamccrops (species). — Palmetto. — The Palmetto is only represented in 

 the Museum by samples of its fan-like leaves and simple stalks, which 

 are very tough, and are capable of being formed, when s])lit, into bas- 

 kets, coarse cordage, and a variety of objects. There are specimens of 

 X^aper in the collection made from the leaves of a species of Palmetto 

 growing in Florida. The saw-palmetto, Cliamcerops serrulata, which 

 grows on the coast of South Carolina and in Georgia, is sometimes 

 used for stuffing mattresses ; they are split into shreds with a hackle, 

 then boiled, and dried in the sun for a few days, when they are ready 

 for use. The negroes also make hats from them. The leaves of the 

 smaller kinds of cabbage palmetto, Ghamccrops palmetto, are sometimes 

 used as a thatch for barns and outhouses in the Southern States, and 

 are quite durable. Hats are also manufactured from them, the leaves 

 being whitened by brushing with a solution of oxalic acid once i)T twice, 

 after which they are bleached by exposing to fumes of burning sulphur. 

 They are also made into baskets. The spongy portions of the stem fur- 

 nish a good substitute for scrubbing brushes, and the palmetto logs 

 have been used for building purposes, particularly for wharves. From 

 the dwarf palmetto, Sahal palmetto, fans are manufactured. 



Squier states that the fiber of an allied species ( G. hnmilis) is used by 

 the Arabs to mix with camel's hair lor the cloth of their tents, and alsr 

 for cordage. It is also used for sails, and " has been extensively em 

 Xdoyed in France under the name of 'African hair' in the manuiiicture 

 of carpets." It is said that the fiber, divested of its glutinous matter, 

 may be made as fine as flax. " It has been successfully made into sail- 

 cloth, carpets, thread, and paper." 



In the south of Europe palmetto fiber is extensively used in the manu- 

 facture of hats, brooms, baskets, &c., and for thatching houses. The 

 French also manufacture a substance from it, which is used as a substi- 

 tute for horse-hair, which it much resembles. 



Palmetto fiber is also manufactured in this country into a kind of 

 mattress material, a number of machines having been patented in the last 

 five years for its preparation. It goes under the name of " hard twisted 

 3)almetto fiber," the source of supply being the saw x)almetto, which grows 

 abundantly in Florida and other portions of the Southern States. It is 

 manufiictured at about 5 cents a })0und, its use being for the upholster- 

 ing of mattresses. Although produced so abundantly the manufacturers 

 are obliged to compete Avith imported fiber brought from Africa. The 

 American product is held to be superior to the imported fiber, yet the 

 manufacturers desire a little protection in the shape of a heavier duty 



