308 EAST AND WEST INDIAN FIBRES. [OcfobeV, 



The above is a charitable attempt to supply some of " the 

 deficiencies" of which the author says that he "is well aware," 

 Something more on the same subject is in hand, and will be 

 offered another time. Ne quid nimis. 



EAST AND WEST INDIAN FIBRES. 



A pamphlet was lately sent by a friend on the subject of vege- 

 table fibres ; it is a privately circulated tract, named, ' Vegetable 

 Silk and Wool is now being produced from East and West Indian 

 Fibres, namely, Rheea, Plantain, Aloe, Pineapple, Neilgherry 

 Nettle, Pita Yercum, and similar plants, by J. Hill Dickson's 

 patents, at the East and West Indian Fibre, Flax, and Hemp 

 Works, Lower Tooting, London.' 



It appears that, from a small capital of less than £4000 

 (£3490) and a weekly payment of <£29 for working the machi- 

 nery, a net weekly profit of nearly £600 may be realized (£595) , 

 see page 9. Our moneyed classes, who are looking ahead for safe 

 investments in Turkey, Russia, and Egyptian bonds or stocks, 

 who patronize underground railways and other undertakings 

 which barely pay one or two pounds per cent., — it is fondly anti- 

 cipated, will be obliged to us for this information. The sceptical 

 will say it is too good to be true. A revenue of above £30,000 

 per annum yielded by an investment of less than £4000, does at 

 the first glimpse appear incredible. 



The botanical name of Rheea-fibre, which heads the list, we 

 have ascertained to be Boehmeria nivea, or Urtica nivea, or U. 

 tenacissiina ; for these are synonyms, distinct names for the 

 same plant. It is not in INIajor Drury's ' Useful Plants of India,' 

 and probably it is not an Indian plant. It is delineated among 

 Jacquin's ^Figures of Rare Plants,' and also in Rumpf's ' Plants 

 of Amboyna,' Herb. Amboinense. 



This new material for spiiming and textile purposes, which the 

 patentee professes to have introduced, and, what is still more im- 

 portant, has invented machinery for separating the fibre from the 

 stalk without retting (steeping), — is also named China-grass (be- 

 cause it grows in China?) — appears to be of national importance. 



Even Jute, the fibre of a species of Corchorus, would be much 

 more valuable if it could be separated from the bark without its 



