THE SPANISH MOSS. 53 



downward and obliquely, on all sides, long pendent 

 branches, which divide and subdivide themselves ad 

 infinitum. It is common to find the spaces betwixt 

 the limbs of large trees almost occupied by this 

 plant ; it also hangs waving in the wind, like stream- 

 ers, from the lower limbs, to the length of fifteen or 

 twenty feet, and of bulk and weight, more than sev- 

 eral men together could carry; and in some places, 

 cart loads of it are lying on the ground, torn off by 

 the violence of the wind. Any part of the living 

 plant, torn off and caught in the limb of a tree, will 

 presently take root, grow and increase, in the same 

 degree of perfection, as if it had sprung up from the 

 seed. When fresh, cattle and deer will eat it in the 

 winter season. It seems particularly adapted to the 

 purpose of stuffing mattresses, chairs, saddles, collars, 

 etc. ; and for these purposes nothing yet known equals 

 it." 



That the use of this moss in upholstery has become 

 a prominent industry is shown by the following ex- 

 tract from a recent Government publication: "The 

 long moss, when gathered by men known as 'swamp- 

 ers/ is piled up and allowed to rot for ten or twelve 

 months. It loses in this process about ninety per 

 cent, of its weight, and is then shipped to the fac- 

 tories, where it is cleaned, dried and ginned, the final 

 product being a hard, black elastic filament, greatly 

 resembling horse hair. This is used in upholstering, 

 either alone or mixed with hair. Six moss factories 



