MIXED FIBERS 



231 



coarse fabrics. Tarred ravelings of hemp rope are exten- 

 sively used under the name of oakum for calking the seams 

 of wooden vessels and also the joints of iron pipes, and the 

 like. The plant has been grown and its fiber used for many 

 centuries in the Old World, At present the largest supply 

 comes from Northern Europe, and the best quality from 

 Italy. The method of treatment is much the same as for 

 flax. 



Fig. 217, II. — Flax. Flower, cut vertically. Pistil and calyx. Stamens 

 and pistil. Floral diagram. Pod open for discharge of seeds. Seed, 

 cut vertically. (Baillon.) 



69. Mixed fibers consist of slender strands including both 

 bast and wood so intimately united that it is difficult to 

 separate one from the other. Such compound strands form 

 the framework or skeleton of leaves, of many stems, and of 

 certain fruits. The extraction of mixed fibers is commonly 

 an easy matter from the fact that they are for the most part 

 surrounded only by material so soft as to he readily remov- 

 able. In other cases there is so little material beside the 



