86 HANDBOOK OF MOSSES. 



the necessaries, but also the luxuries of life, that to us the 

 uses of the mosses are few, and might by some be thought 

 contemptible. 



Hypnum triquetrum, from its extreme elasticity and light- 

 ness, is said to be much used for packing brittle wares, 

 and is also sold in shops dyed often a most intense green 

 for decorative purposes. Hypnum purum is used by anglers 

 for the purpose of scouring worms. Hypnum tamaris- 

 cinum is greatly employed for insuring the safe transport of 

 leeches ; they travel with far less injury when protected by 

 the moss, than when in vessels of water only. Fontinalis 

 antipyretica is employed in Sweden to fill up the spaces 

 between the chimneys and the walls, and thus, by excluding 

 the air, it prevents the action of the fire upon them. 

 Hence it derived its specific name, antipyretica, which has 

 led to the erroneous idea that it is incombustible. John- 

 ston, in his " Flora of Berwick," says that, in the north of 

 England, mattresses superior to those of straw are sometimes 

 made with Polytrichum commune, and it is also woven into 

 door mats, and its luxuriant stems are used for making neat 

 brushes. White, in his interesting " Natural History of Sel- 

 borne," Letter XXVL, says : " While on the subject of rural 

 economy it may not be improper to mention a pretty little 

 implement of housewifery that we have seen nowhere else ; 

 that is, little neat besoms which our foresters make from the 

 stalks of the Polytrichum commune, or great golden maiden- 

 hair, which they call silk wood, and find in plenty in the 

 bogs. When this moss is well combed and dressed and 

 divested of its outer skin, it becomes of a beautiful bright 

 chestnut colour, and being soft and pliant, is very proper 

 for dusting of beds, curtains, carpets, hangings, etc. If 

 these besoms were known to the brush-makers in town, it is 

 probable they might come much into use for the purpose 

 above mentioned." 



To the Laplanders the services of this moss are much 

 greater than to us, for it affords them both " bed and bed- 

 ding." They choose the starry-headed plants, out of the 

 tufts of which they cut a surface as large as they please for 

 a bed or bolster, separating it from the earth beneath ; and, 



