ON THE CULTIVATION OF RHEEA. 353 



plantain for spinning purposes; making it soft and fine as 

 Flax at 80 to 90 per ton. 



"The Messrs. Morrell, and Col. Abbott, are, however, 

 familiar with the rheea fibre in all its details, and know 

 exactly how it is to be grown and treated. 



" The familiar example of it here is the ' withy-bed' for 

 basket work ; the similarity of the two plants is very great, 

 and the mode of culture. The crop of the rheea, like that of 

 the withy, consists of the young straight shoots which grow 

 up after the rains. 



. " These grow in India about six to eight feet high, and 

 then, unlike the withy, throw out lateral shoots, and so on in 

 succession. 



' ' Of course, in collecting the wild rheea, the natives get 

 hold of what they can, and do not discriminate between old 

 and young shoots. The old shoots are inferior in every way. 

 The bark is tougher and coarser, and the lateral shoots 

 springing out of the knots, interfere with getting a straight 

 long peel of the bark from one end to the other. The proper 

 cultivation consists of watching the growth of the young 

 shoots, and cutting them just as they have reached a certain 

 height, and before the root has expended all its force. By 

 this means the fibre obtained will be found peculiar delicate 

 and fine, more so, probably than has ever been yet introduced 

 to this country, and a double growth is encouraged. 



" Indeed, if it should be found that the shoots of, say five 

 feet long, produce a fibre long enough, when cleaned, etc., 

 for the manufacturer, and if the shoots are cut at that time 

 about a foot from the root, there will be a treble crop of young 

 shoots immediately springing up from the first stem, and three 

 times the quantity of young shoots will be thus obtained. 



"The mode of introducing the cultivation would be by 

 collecting seeds, shoots, and roots ; the plants can be raised 



each way, and the growth is very rapid. 

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