110 
XXXVIIL—CARAGUATA ‘FIBRE. 
(Bromelia argentina, Baker.) 
[K. B., 1892, pp. 191-195.) 
Under the name of Caraguata the late Mr. Thomas Routledge 
forwarded to Kew, in 1877, for determination, “the leaves of a plant 
“from the Argentine Republic, with the remark, that the ‘fibre when 
“abstracted no doubt will make good ate After some trouble, we 
“arrived at the conclusion that the leaves belonged to one of the 
a saan South American species of Hryngium, which have before 
GP Hi 
jy years later Mr. Edwin H. Egerton, C.B., then Her M, ajesty’ S 
ar d’Affaires at Buenos Ayres, referred to the eens plant in 
a rt forwarded to the Foreign Office, epa: 3lst July L881, as 
eeg :—‘ But by far the best fibre of the country is that of the 
“ Caraguatá Ibera, a Bromeliad which is something like the Pine-apple 
“ plant, and which is very abundant in Paraguay, the Misiones, and the 
“Chaco. It is very long and silky, and has long been used by the 
“Indians, and much money-has already been spent in endeavours to 
“find some practical machine for the economical preparing of this 
“fibre, I am assured that the enn a cyte now at length, after a 
a French mac 
‘from aea the process e a paka one without previous 
“ macera 
= Should this invention prove a success (and I am rae further 
“ particulars from the persons undertaking this work) the caraguatá 
“fibre will become an extremely important article of export, and if half 
“I hear of it be true, should compete with advantage against jute. 
' ed, but I cannot vouch for the assertion, that there’is 
“immense superiority in the quality of the Paraguayan fibre over that 
“ of the Chaco and Misiones caraguatá.” 
In 1884, Mr. F. E. Harman, who had undertaken a mission to the 
Plate River for the Santa Fé Land Company, brought with him 
numerous species of Argentine grasses, which were determined at Kew, 
and also some living plants of what were believed to be Caraguatá from’ 
the Gran Chaco. With these plants, Mr. Harman brought a dried 
specimen of an inflorescence. The plants have grown at Kew, and are 
now in a flourishing condition in the Temperate House. As will be 
shown later, they are not true Caraguata, and they possess no merit > 
fibrous plants. On the other hand, the dried inflorescence, kate: ht 
the same time, belonged to the fibre-producing species. It i robbie 
that the name Cara raguata is used in a generic sense in the aeren 
and neighbouring countries ; and, as already shown, it is applied indis- 
criminately to plants of a very widely ee character. There is, 
i uata Ibera, which yields 
avery valuable fibre. It has been feafacnily noticed in works of travel, 
and its valuable chen sti been highly extolled. The difficulty was 
to obtain authentic spec of the true fibre-yielding plant, and find 
out exactly what it was. Uhde these circumstances a further, and as 
proved, a successful, effort was made to obiain specimens as shown in 
the following correspondence : 
ROYAL GARDENS, pe to tee OFFICE. 
Royal Gardens, Kew. ° 
SIR, November 20, 1889. 
M desired by Mr. Thiselton-D yer to inform you that in the 
year i877 the late Mr. Thomas Routledge forwarded, for sander nea ee 
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