BRUSH AND MAT MATERIALS. 141 



BRUSH AND MAT MATERIALS. 



THESE are chiefly obtained from the vegetable kingdom, but a fair 

 variety have an animal origin. 



"Arenga" is the generic name of a palm found growing in India. 

 It was introduced into England in 1830. The leaves are lance-shaped, 

 with the margins entire or notched. The bases of the leaves are white, 

 and silvery beneath. The spadix of the flowers is branched and contains 

 numerous fibro-vascular bundles. The leaves are first washed, then 

 soaked in an alkaline solution, and the fibres obtained used for brush- 

 making. 



Comparatively few plants have as yet afforded material suitable for 

 making brushes, but the number might be considerably increased if 

 special search were made. 



Brushes of vegetable construction have been used from a very early 

 period. It is stated that in Roman times the best brooms were made of 

 palms. The Butcher's broom, Ruscus aculeatus, has derived its English 

 name from the fact that butchers used to sweep their blocks with the 

 branches of this curious plant, bearing their flattened, leaf-like branches 

 or phylloclades. 



One writer says : " In the way of history, not much is to be gathered 

 about our subject. That brooms for cleaning and sweeping purposes 

 have been known since the very earliest periods and the rudest and 

 most uncivilised people, is certain enough. Amongst the relics belonging 

 to the iron age disentombed from the peat mosses of Sleswick, were found 

 two birch brooms, 1 curious manifestations of ancient tidiness. The 

 remains, amongst which these brooms were found, probably belong to 

 the second or third century, as is evidenced by Roman coins mixed with 

 them. In classical writers from Homer downwards, we find, as might be 

 expected, casual references to these domestic implements. In the animal 

 kingdom the bristles and hair of the goat, squirrel, sable, marten, badger, 

 and hog are utilised, some for the finer kinds, and others for the coarser 

 kinds of brushes." 



In the manufacturing industries brush fibres are largely used. The 

 banister or handle-brush is used in spinning and weaving mills for 

 cleaning the intricate trains of wheels in the self-acting mule head stocks 

 and other working parts of machinery. In the manufacturing depart- 

 ment it is found quite as useful for loom cleaning. Another well-known 

 brush, commonly termed the " Busby," is a circular or conical hand-brush, 

 made by Messrs Shaw according to the Equitable Fire Insurance Company's 



1 Lubbock's Prehistoric Times, p. 9, ed. 1872. 



