150 



TEXTILE FIBRES. 



Palmyra fibre was introduced into notice in the eighties. It was 

 at first little thought of, but latterly it has come into demand. 



Besom Stuff or Ling (Calluna vulgaris, Ericaceae). This plant, 

 known as Heath, Ling, or Yearth, grows plentifully in the moorland 

 districts of the North of England, serving as a protection to the grouse 

 in the moorlands, and in the Highlands of Scotland. The rigid woody 

 stems, and branches of the plant are cut in the summer and made into 

 A B c 



Fig. 98. Heaths. 



stable and yard brooms, for which they are very suitable. Formerly 

 a very important trade was done by poor people living in the out- 

 skirts of towns, who gathered the cut twigs of the ling, and made 

 them into brooms in order to sell them in the towns as besoms. In 

 the sixties and seventies besom-making was in a flourishing state. 

 Up to this time the art of brush-making had not made much 

 headway as far as the coarser brooms were concerned, and many of 



