2S0 



VEGETABLE FIBRES. 



3d. That the sooner the plant is cominitfed to the water, 

 after being cut, the better: probably, because during the rains 

 it is very difficult to dry it, and on that account the strength of 

 the fibre will be weakened and the colour injured. Besides, 

 in cleaning or dressing the Sun by the usual modes practised in 

 Europe for hemp, I found, on an average, that the original 

 quantity was reduced only one third, when the plant was 

 steeped immediately, and nearly one half, if kept with the view 

 of drying it before it is put into water. 



4th. I found the practice of drying the plant, after macera- 

 tion, and previously to the removal of the bark, as followed in 

 Europe with hemp and flax, by no means advantageous, but 

 prejudicial. 



For ai; account of the plant Crotalaria Juncea, which pro- 

 duces the Sun, anj for the method of cultivating it on the coast - 

 of Coromandel, which is different from that in Bengal, consult 

 the Coromandel Plants, Vol.11. ?>^0. 193. 



No. 11, 12, 13. As a substitute for flax, these seem to de- 

 serve attention, on account of the length, stren^rih; and fine- 

 ness of the fibre, and from the durability and strenglh of it, 

 after 116 days maceration. The seed of No. 12 was brought 

 from Canton in China, under the name of China Hemp, and 

 grows as freely in Bengal as the sorts in general cultivation 

 there. But while the produce was fully as great, the quality 

 was better, which induced me to distribute the seed among 

 the natives, and recommend the cultivation of this sort in pre- 

 ference to No 11 and 13. 

 Abioma Au- No. 15 and 16. Abroma Augusta, of the Hortus Kewensis, 

 gusia. called by the younger Linnaeus Theobroma Augusta, in his 



Supplementum Plantarum; and Wooliet Comal of the Ben- 

 galese, My remarks of the 31st of January, 1801, closed with 

 an account of this plant. The Biggah there mentioned, or ra- 

 ther halt Biggah ^for by measurement it proved to be no more) 

 yielded two luxuriant cuttings during the hot and rainy sea* 

 sons; and a third of a more limited growth by the end of the 

 cold season. For while the cool northerly wind prevails, du- 

 ring November, December and January, the plant grows but 

 little. The quantity of clean fibre obtained from the two first 

 cuttings, weighed 2+5ib. avo.rdupois; ai.d from the third, 

 26lb. m.king together 2711b. which is a produce three times 

 greater than the average produce of Sun from the same quan- 

 tity 



