S24 



VEGETABLE FIBRES. 





Average weight at which each sort of cord broke. | 



Materials, or Names of the Plants 



Vv 







After 116 days 



niacera- 



which yielded them. 





h. 

 Tarred. 





tion. 







White. 



Tanned 



White. 



Tanned. 



Tarred. 



1 Hemp from England . . . 



2 Ditto growth of India . . 



105 















Rotten 







74 



139 



45 



A 



Rotten 



— 



3 Coir 



87 

 96 

 88 



101 



84 



94 

 40 



56 



65 



4 Ejoo 



5 Robinia cannabina, ripe . 



6 The same cut whi e 7 

 blossoming j 



46 



61 



48 



Rotten 



68 



45 



7 Crotalaria juncea . . . . 



68 



69 



60 



Rotten 



51 



65 



8 Corchorus olitorius . . . 



























9 Corchorus capsularis . . 



67 



— 



— 



50 



— 



— 



10 Flax, growth of India . . 



39 



— 



— 



Rotten 



— 



— 



1 1 Agave Americana . . . . 



110 



79 



-, 78 



Rotten 



Rotten 



151 



12 Aletris nervosus 



120 



73 



48 



30 



26 



34 



13 Theobroma Augusta Linn. 



74 



58 



44 



38 



54 



50 



14 Theobroma guazuma, ) 

 Hort. Cliff I 



52 



47 



45 



30 



39 



— 



15 Hibiscus liliaceus . . . , 



41 



62 



61 



40 



55 



70 



16 Hibiscus Manihot . . . . 



61 



— 



— 



26 



— 



— ■ 



17 Hibiscus mutabilis . . . , 



45 



53 



— 



Rotten 



45 







18 Hibiscus, from Cape of) 

 Good Hope .... | 



22 



— 



— 



17 



— 



— 



1 9 Bauhina, a scandent spe- \ 

 cies > • 'S 



69 



— 



_ 



Rotten 





— 



20 The same, but diffe-1 

 rently prepared . . . j 



56 



— 



— 



Rotten 





— 



21 Sterculia villosa 



53 



— 



— 



30 



— 



— 



East India Stagnant fresh water, in a rather putrid state, during the 



faWesmtle^'s ^°^ i^onths of March, April, May, and June, in Bengal, 

 thaja European, i^^st be as severe a trial for vegetable fibres, as can be well 

 found in any country. I am exceedingly glad to find that, in 

 general, the fibres of our East India plants stood the test infi- 

 nitely better than hemp from England, or of hemp or flax the 

 growth of Bengal. 



Tar appears in general to be a better preservative than tan 

 during the immesrion, though I was formerly inclined to think 

 otherwise. The powers of No. 4, to resist decay, correspond 

 with what the Dutch historian Rumphius says of it in his Her- 



bariuna 



Tar preserves 

 them. 



