858 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. 



(or nettle), the spartium junceum, and scoparium (brooms), epilobium angustifolium, 

 eriophorum polystachion, &c. The asclepias syriaca, Syrian swallow-wort, or Virginian 

 silk, is a creeping-rooted perennial, with strong erect stems from four to six feet high, It 

 is a native of Virginia, and flowers in July. The flowers are succeeded by pods, con- 

 taining a down or cotton, which the poor people in Virginia collect and fill their beds 

 with. In Germany, and especially at Leignitz, attempts were made, in 1790 and 1800, 

 Von Thaer informs us, to cultivate the plant as a substitute for cotton : the plant was- 

 found to grow readily on a poor soil, but the growers could not undersell the importers, 

 nor produce so good an article. The eriophorum polystachion, or cotton grass, grows 

 abundantly in our bogs, and its seeds are furnished with a cottony substance, gathered 

 by the country people to stuff pillows, &c. This substance has been spun and wove into 

 very good cloth. The common nettle affords a flbre which has also been spun and 

 manufactured. The fibre of the spartium junceum, rush-like, or Spanish broom, a 

 native of the south of Europe, but quite hardy in Britain, is made into very good cloth 

 both in the south of France and in Spain. The fibre of the common broom makes an 

 inferior description of cordage in the former country. The epilobium angustifolium, 

 and other species of willow herb, common by the sides of brooks, affords a very good fibre, 

 as do a great variety of plants : and in Sweden a strong cloth is made from the stems of 

 the wild hop [Humulus lujmlus), and the same thing has been done in England, ( Trans. 

 Soc. Arts. 1791.) It might be worth the attention of any one who had leisure to col- 

 lect a few, say only two stalks, of a great number of species from a botanic garden, to 

 immerse them a sufficient time in soft soap and warm water, and prove their absolute and 

 comparative value as fibre plants. 



5391. Of coloring plants, the number that may be, and even are employed, is almost end- 

 less. The reader has only to look into any botanical catalogue, and observe the number 

 of plants whose specific name is formed from the adjective tinctorius ; and still these, 

 though numerous, are only a small part. On looking into Tlie Flora Britannica, or 

 Flora Suecia, he will there find a number of plants, trees, and even mosses and ferns used 

 for dyeing. A number have been tried in this country and given up ; an an instance we 

 mention gallium verum, tried in 1789, (when the price of madder was high,) under the 

 authority of the privy council for trade. 



Sect. II. Plants cultivated for the Brewery and Bistillery. 



5392. Of plants grown expressly for their use in the brewery, the only one of conse- 

 quence is the hop ; the anise and carraway are grown on a very limited scale for the 

 distillery. 



S:UBSECT. 1. The Hop. Humulus lupulus, L. Diccc. Fentan. L. and Urticece, J. 

 Houhlon, Fr. ; Happen, Ger. ; Lujmlo, Span. ; and Lupolo, Ital. (fg. 594,) 



5393. The hop is a perennial rooted plant, 

 with an annual twining stem, which on poles or 

 in hedges will reach the height of from twelve to 

 twenty feet or more. It is a native of Britain, 

 and most parts of Europe in hedges, flowering 

 in June, and ripening its seeds in September. 

 The female blossom is the part used : and as the 

 male and female flowers are on different plants, 

 the female only is cultivated. When the hop 

 was first used for preserving beer, or cultivated 

 for that purpose, is unknown ; but its culture 

 was introduced to this country from Flanders in 

 the reign of Henry VlII. Walter Blith, in his 

 English Improver Improved, 1649, the 3d ed., 

 1653, p. 240, has a chapter upon improvement by 

 plantations of hops, &c. He observes that " hops 

 we^e then grown to be a national commodity : 

 but that it was not many years since the famous 

 city of London petitioned the parliament of 

 England against two anusancies, and these were Newcastle coals, in regard to their 

 stench, &c., and hops, in regard they would spoyl the taste of drink, and endanger the 

 people ; and had the parliament been no wiser than they, we had been in a measure 

 pined, and in a great measure starved, which is just answerable to the principles of those 

 men who cry down all devices or ingenious discoveries, as p-rojects, and thereby stifle and 

 choak improvements." 



5394. The hop has long been cultivated extendvely in many parts of England, but not 

 much in Scotland or Ireland. According to Brown, hops are not advantageous in an 



