PITA. 



PORCELAIN. 



639 



Mexican drink, pulque, and, when distilled, the 

 pleasant but deceptive vino mezcal. The fiber, 

 which is the most valuable and wonderful 

 quality of the pita-plant, has been extensively 

 used by the natives for shoe-strings, hammocks, 

 and cordage. It extends the entire length of 



PITA PLANT (AGAVE AMERICANA). 



the leaf, and has been extracted by first pound- 

 ing the leaf on a rock, then exposing it to the 

 rays of the sun, whereby the bark of the leaf 

 became crumbled, and a second pounding, fol- 

 lowed by combing, produced the clean fiber. 

 This process is necessarily slow and expensive, 

 which accounts for the fact that the use made 

 of this fiber has been entirely confined to the 

 tropical countries producing it. 



The pita- plant of Central America seems to 

 yield a finer fiber than that of Mexico ; but 

 there is a marked difference, in this particular, 

 in localities on the same parallel. In the low- 

 lands of Honduras and Nicaragua, where pita 

 grows most luxuriantly, the leaf is straight, 

 from three to four inches in width, having no 

 middle stalk, and from a few feet to eighteen 

 feet in length. In its growth there, it monopo- 

 lizes the soil, taking exclusive possession ex- 

 cepting, of course, the tropical forest-trees. 

 From the fact that this plant has, as yet, re- 

 ceived no systematic cultivation or cutting, it 

 is impossible to determine the exact annual 

 yield ; but, from the best sources which pre- 

 sent themselves, this yield (by cutting the 

 leaves three or four times a year, so as to 

 bring up an average of six feet in length) will 

 be from three to five tons of clean fiber per 

 acre. The territory occupied by this plant is 

 exceedingly extensive. Along some of the 

 water-courses, and extending back from them, 

 single tracts of 1,000 acres can be found. 



The crude fiber is equal in value to Manila 

 hemp, when applied to like uses; but in fine- 

 ness, strength, and durability, it is superior. 

 The ultimate fiber is even finer than that of 



the threads of silk spun by the silk-worm. 

 The writer of this was shown the two under 

 a powerful microscope at Lyons, France, and 

 heardv many exclamations of surprise by manu- 

 facturers at the unexpected result; and in dis- 

 covering also that pita-fiber did not lose its 

 strength when reduced to the floss state. Ex- 

 periments have been made in weaving this 

 fiber when flossed, with cotton, wool, or silk ; 

 and it has been found that this can be done 

 advantageously with each of them. As the 

 pita-fiber possesses a silky gloss of its own, it 

 has been thought by manufacturers that it 

 would be found valuable to mix with silk, es- 

 pecially in the manufacture of heavy fabrics 

 where weight, strength, durability, and finish 

 are required. It is the strongest vegetable 

 fiber known. Companies have been organized 

 in New York recently to reduce this pita-plant 

 into fiber, and to introduce machinery to this 

 end. One company has put up a factory dur- 

 ing the past year on Black river, Honduras, a 

 short distance from the port of lliriona. Near 

 this point and along this river are extensive 

 fields of pita. The company's works comprise 

 a saw-mill, shops, other buildings, steam-power, 

 and a small steam-tug on the river to tow pita 

 to the factory, and it is now testing various 

 machines, recently invented. A wide field 

 seems here to open itself to the inventor. 

 Years of patient work of inventive brains were 

 required before proper machinery was per- 

 fected to produce rami-fiber from the stalk; 

 and some waiting may still be necessary before 

 a practical machine shall be completed, capable 

 of reducing the green leaf of the pita- plant to 

 a marketable product. 



PORCELAIN. This name is said to have been 

 given by Europeans to the finest wares of 

 China, from the resemblance of their fine pol- 

 ished surfaces to that of the univalve-shell 

 which bears the name of porcellana ; and the 

 shell itself derived its appellation from the 

 curved or gibbous shape of its upper surface, 

 which was thought to resemble the raised back 

 of a porcella, or little hog as we should say, 

 pig. Other explanations of the origin of the 

 name have been given, as, for example, from 

 Count Portcellani, the French embassador, 

 who was so much interested in ceramics; or 

 by a corruption of pour cent an ( u for a hun- 

 dred years "), the Chinese claiming that the 

 dough or paste was suffered to ferment for a 

 hundred years before it was molded. But the 

 first seems the most probable derivation. 



We shall confine ourselves in this article to 

 that class of ceramic wares known under the 

 general name of porcelain, and to these mainly 

 as produced in the United States. 



The best writers on ceramics divide porcelain 

 into two classes, " hard " and-" soft " ; or per- 

 haps, more exactly, "natural " and " artificial." 

 Both kinds are spoken of as translucent, though 

 the translucence in the thicker wares is not 

 very obvious, except as distinguishing it from 

 the dull opacity of the wares having an earth- 



