PLANT CONSTITUENTS — CARBOHYDRATES 263 



important chemical derivatives such as cellulose explosives^ 

 collodion^ celluloid, mercerized cotton and artificial silk. The 

 chemical nature of these derivatives has been discussed in 

 Section I (p. 127). 



Cellulose in the form of flax fiber or old linen cloth is also 

 used to make the best grades of paper. Cotton fiber or cotton 

 cloth are used for poorer grades of paper, and a large amount 

 of paper used, especially for newspapers, is made from wood 

 cellulose. 



As an agricultural crop cotton is grown most abundantly in 

 the United States, but also to a greater or less extent in South 

 America, India, Egypt and Australia. The chief production 

 of flax and hemp is in Russia. Jute comes mostly from India, 

 where its cultivation is replacing that of indigo, which is now 

 made largely by synthetic processes. Considerable flax and 

 some jute come from the United States. 



Analysis of cotton fiber by Bowman, as cited by Haas and 

 Hill, shows it to have the following composition : 



Cellulose 91.00 per cent 



Wax, Oil, Fat 35 per cent 



Protoplasm 53 per cent 



Mineral Matter 12 per cent 



Water 8.00 per cent 



Konig's investigations ^ give the following amounts of pure 

 cellulose in some plants : 



Cotton ^^.T, per cent 



Flax and Hemp 72-73 per cent 



Jute 54 per cent 



Beech and Oak Wood . . . 35-38 per cent 



Hemicelluloses. — In the young plant cell, as previously 

 stated, the wall is probably pure cellulose. Such cellulose 

 would be more easily soluble than the normal cellulose, and 



iHuhn, "Chemie der Zellmembran" ; Z. Nahr. Genuss., XXVII, 21 (1914)- 



