56 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES. 



ner similar to those of hemp and flax, but they were 

 found very much more stubborn and harsh than 

 either of those substances. The heckling- was a very 

 troublesome operation ; and carding it in the manner 

 of cotton was found a more advantageous method. 

 A texture was produced, having the warp or longitu- 

 dinal threads heckled, and the woof or cross threads 

 carded, but it had the colour of tanned leather, and 

 great difficulty was experienced in the attempt to 

 bleach it. Specimens of this cloth are to be seen in 

 the repository of the society : they are not such as 

 to induce a hope that the pursuit will ever be con- 

 ducted with any practical utility. 



A coarse but durable cloth has likewise been pro- 

 duced from the stalks of the common nettle. This 

 use of a seemingly insignificant and valueless plant 

 has long been known to the Japanese. Thunberg 

 informs us, that from two species of nettles (the 

 Urtica Japonica and Urtica Nivea), which grow 

 wild on the hills, " they spin threads so fine that 

 even linen is made of them." As materials "for 

 cordage and lines, even of the thicker kind, which 

 may serve on board of vessels," he says, these nettles 

 are still more valuable. He adds, that from the 

 seeds of one of them, the Nivea, so called because 

 its leaves on the under side are as white as snow, the 

 Japanese express oil. Mr. Smith, of Brentwood in 

 Essex, made many experiments to ascertain the rela- 

 tive merits of the fibres of the nettle compared with 

 those of flax and hemp. For his exertions and 

 inquiries on this subject he received a medal from the 

 Society for the Encouragement of Arts, &c. in testi- 

 mony of their approbation. We learn, as the result of 

 this gentleman's observations and experiments, that 

 those stinging nettles which produce the finest, longest 

 fibres, and are obtained with least waste, are com 

 monly found growing in the bottoms of ditches, 



