VEGETABLE FIBERS. 559 



of Europe, has been tboug-lit by some to be superior to Kew Zealand 

 flax. The strength oi" its fiber, as tested by the Agri-Horticultural So- 

 ciety of India, was found sufficient for hawsers and cables, while their 

 fineness and tenacity are attested by their being used by jewellers for 

 thread upon which to string pearls. 



S. Roxhurghiana is considered by English authorities as a distinct 

 species, common on the Bengal coast, and larger than the Zeylanica, 

 though Royle does not admit it. 



S. lanagiiiosa is probably a distinct species ; it is called Katii-Kapel, 

 and found on the Malabar coast. This plant, upon exijeriment, has pro- 

 duced fiber as fine and soft as human hair, and possessing extraordinary 

 strength and tenacity. Very superior examples have been likened to raw 

 silk, and the firmness of the fiber "induced the Eev. J. Garrowto have 

 it woven into cloth, which he declared was as fine a piece of cloth as he 

 had ever seen." The fiber takes color readily. Sanseviera fiber was 

 formerly considered a valuable paper stock at Trichinopoly, where the 

 tow was used, while the fiber served as pacldng for steam-engines. 



Considered microscopically, " the fibers are fine, and constitute a white, 

 brilliant filament, possessing a stitfness that does not disappear with 

 friction. The fibers are hollow, straight, and smooth, with walls of uni- 

 form thickness. The central cavity is large. The points are sharp and 

 slender." 



In iS. latifoUa the bundles are large, and are slightly refined by fric- 

 tion. It corresponds in general appearance with the Zeylanica given 

 above. 



Yucca aloifolla, Yucca anf/ustifoUa, Yucca haccata, Yucca fdamentosa, 

 Yucca (jloriosa. — Variously named Adam's Needle, Spanish Bayonet, 

 Bear Grass, Aloe-leaved Adam's Needle, «Src. — The collection contains 

 quite a series of fibers in various stages, manufiictured from one or an- 

 other of these plants. Tlie AloifoUa and Gloriosa are known by tlie com- 

 mon names of Adam's Needle, Spanisli Bayonet, Dwaif Palmetto, &c. 

 The Jilamentosa is sometimes called Bear's Grass, Silk Grass, Eve's 

 Thread, &c. They thrive in nearly all portions of t])e United States, 

 and flourish in the poorest soils. Y. (jlorma.. also called Petre by the 

 Mexican Spaniards, according to Nuttall, "is used for cordage, ropes, 

 &c., as well as for packing cloth, and is extremely durable." Elliott, in 

 his Botany of South Carolina, speaks of it as one of the strongest fibers 

 of the vegetable kingdom. 



Natives of the Avarraer portions of the United States, they thrive in 

 Europe, Africa, India, and Australia. One species finds its way into our 

 gardens, even in more northern sections of the country, and' are con- 

 spicuous in the blooming season for their large, white, lily-like flowers, 

 as well as for their long, sword-shaped leaves, terminating in a sharp 

 point. There is no record to show that their fibers have ever been em- 

 ployed other than experimentally in this country, if we except the lim- 

 ited use made of the fiber by Indians and Mexicans of Arizona or 

 Sonora, in the rude manufacture of cordage. There is one sample of 

 rope in the museum, from New Mexico. It is fully half an inch in diam- 

 eter, very rudely made, the fiber coarse and harsh, but of great strength. 

 'I'liis sample, aa well as fine specimens of the fiber from which it was 

 prepared, was derived from Y. haccata. In Bernardin's list I find Yucca 

 alamentosa is also called Heneqnen (Mexican name of Affnve tSisahma), 

 IVoTii wliich it may be inierred that the Yucca has l3een' regarded to a 

 ixTtain extent a commercial fiber, probably exported with the Sisal fiber 



