A GOOD WORD FOR THE NETTLE 127 



other of several foreign varieties of the nettle. In 

 China and Japan, a genus of the nettle tribe, called 

 boehmeria, gives a fibre that is known to trade as 

 rhea or China grass. It is used in the Far East for 

 cloth and paper, ropes and cords. Manufacturers tell 

 us that it is stronger than jute, and quite as strong 

 and fine as flax, and of superior lustre. This is the 

 likeliest use of the nettle tribe, awaiting perhaps 

 a rich development in the future. The one difficulty 

 140 is the invention of a cheap machine to prepare the 

 fibre. For dyeing purposes the root of the nettle 

 yields a beautiful yellow, and the leaves and stems 

 give a fast and not less beautiful green. One other 

 use of the nettle may be mentioned its employment 

 as a substitute for rennet in making milk into curd. 

 This coagulating property of the juice of the plant is 

 also effectual in stopping leakages in casks and pails : 

 it is enough to rub the juicy nettle branch at the leak 

 for a minute or two. 



EDITOR. 



NOTES 



LINE 38. Hotspur in the play. Shakespeare's King Henry the 

 Fourth, Part I, Act n, sc. iii. 



44. economy of nature. In which everything is supposed or 

 known to serve a purpose. 



56. mllatic fowl. The expression is Milton's Samson 

 Agonistes, 1695. (Lat. villa, a farm-house.) 



67. Wordsworth found it. The Excursion, i, 11. 942 seqq. 



EXERCISES 



1. To what various uses may the common nettle be applied ? 



2. Describe the sting of the nettle. How is the dock-leaf 

 a remedy for a nettle wound ? 



3. Compare and contrast the dead-nettle with the common 

 nettle. 



