AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 457 



ral state of the plants to be evolved by degrees, or slowly, and as 

 it is carried oft' at the top of the plants, the moisture of the earth 

 rises up and through the plants, and destroys the glutinous par- 

 ticles thereof, and causes the fibre to separate from the woody 

 substance, preserving its strength and elasticity, and changing 

 the color to a light yellow. After I have prepared my pit, or 

 stack, whicli may be of any size that the quantity to preserve may 

 indicate. I let it remain in this state from eight to fifteen days, 

 when generally the process will be sufficient. This may be 

 known by taking from the stack at different points and trying it. 

 If the bark will separate easily from the woody substance, and a 

 light, mouldy appeai-ance is visible, then it is time to break up 

 the pit and spread it on the ground to dry. 



When the plant is dry, which will be in from five to ten days, 

 the woody portion is separated by passing the plants through any 

 ordinary rollers, or beaters, or by horses treading on them. By 

 this process I get the fibre from the wood, and have all its strength 

 and elasticity preserved, and am now able to manage it without 

 having such great quantities to handle. Several of the fibres of 

 the finest qualities will be perfectly prepared by this process for 

 manufacturing. The coarser fibres can be water-rotted for a few 

 days, say six to eight, when they can be fitted for market or manu- 

 facturing by the common process of breaking, scutching and 

 hackling flax or hemp. 



I do not claim burying the plant in dirt, sand, or mud, as de- 

 scribed in the " India process,'' found in the Agricultural Report 

 of the Patent Office for 1854, page 174, nor do I claim simply 

 setting the plants on the end with the buts down, as described in 

 the Southern Cultivator." 



Specimens of these plants were shown in different stages of 

 manufacture, some of them having parts of the whole plant at one 

 end, and the beautiful flax at the other. Among others were the 

 following plants : Cotton stalk, wild indigo asclepias, (milkweed) 

 hollyhock, mallow, marsh-mallow, nettle, wild sainfoin or lu- 

 cern, althea, black mulberry, white mulberry, morus multicau- 

 lis, Otaheitan mulberry, yellow willow, manilla, okra, passion- 

 flower stalks, Kentucky, or ordinary hemp, flax, sugar cane, grape 

 vine, and eight or ten others, including several of the most com- 

 mon weeds, and such as are, in many parts of the country, con- 

 sidered a nuisance. 



The half prepared specimens showed conclusively that a good 

 and strong fibre can be made from all these plants. How fine 



