PROCEEDINGS OP THE POLYTECHNIC ASSOCIATION. 4S3 



ARMY CANDLESTICK. 



Mr. Benjamin W. Hopper, of Astoria, N. Y., exhibited two 

 kinds of improved candlesticks; one of which, in a smd,ll tin 

 box, with a looking glass in the lid, three inches in diameter, 

 comprises two candlesticks, to hang up or set down. It has, 

 also, compartments for matches, spare candle, inkstand, pens and 

 penholder. 



Referred to the Section of Mechanics. 



DRESSING FLAX AND OTHER FIBROUS PLANTS. 



Mr. James E. Mallory read the following paper on flax and 

 other fibrous plants, and the proper mode of preparing them 

 for use : 



The subject of vegetable fibres has received much attention 

 in this country as well as in Europe during the last few years. 



The desire to procure a cheap substitute for rags in the manu- 

 facturing of paper has led to many experiments, having for their 

 object the production of a proper material from the fibres of 

 various kinds of wood. Having been interested in a series of 

 experiments of this character, I became satisfied, after a thorough 

 examination of the subject, that the difficulties in the way of 

 procuring a cheap paper, making fibre from wood, were almost 

 if not quite insuperable. 



Turning my attention to the tropics, I found an inexhaustible 

 supply of fibrous plants, promising, in my judgment, the very 

 best material not only for paper, but for nearly all the fabrics 

 now in use. It was at first a matter of surprise to me, that from 

 sources of such unparalleled supply, the amount of fibre annually 

 yielded for the various wants of community were comparatively 

 so small. Upon further investigation, I found that it was to be 

 attributed entirely to the defective modes adopted in all tropical 

 countries of dressing and preparing the fibre for market— no 

 simple and well-constructed machine for that purpose is in use. 

 The natives produce the fibre by beating the fibrous leaf with 

 a piece of wood upon a stone, afterwards washing it in water; in 

 this manner one person may produce about six pounds of a 

 coarse, badly prepared fibre per day. It is true that machines 

 for the purpose of separating and dressing the fibre have been 

 invented, both in this country and in England, but all of them 

 have been so expensive and cumbrous, and at the same time so 



