THE NATURE OF VEGETABLE FIBRE. 17 
the demands of the more advanced manufacturers of Europe at 
the average prices of ordinary times. In so doing, though not 
imitating, we are only pursuing the path which has at last 
been taken in this country of forming Trade Museums for the 
exhibition of specimens, and the diffusion of information re- 
specting the raw products of all parts of the world. We might 
go further, and yet have good precedents to adduce—as, for 
instance, the yearly grant of £1000 a year to the Royal Flax 
Improvement Society, for the culture of flax in Ireland, a 
measure which, though unnecessary in England, has certainly 
been most useful in that country. 
THK NATURE OF VEGETABLE FIBRE. 
Before proceeding to take into consideration the different 
kinds of fibre, or the plants which yield them, it is desirable 
to have some definite ideas respecting the nature of fibre, and 
in what kinds or parts of plants we may expect to find it. 
Plants are found to be composed of cELts only, or both cris 
and VESSELS. 
Cells are completely closed vesicles, usually containing fluid, 
of which the sides are formed of excessively thin and pellucid 
membrane. ‘This is their characteristic when young, but as 
they get older their sides become thickened by the deposit in 
their interior of more solid material. Though these cells are 
destitute of visible pores, they are necessarily permeated by 
fluids, which deposit the matters found within their interior ; 
and among others of the secondary cell-membranes, which in 
certain states possess a fibrous structure. These are by some, 
indeed, supposed to be composed of primitive fibres, often 
arranged spirally, which are of extreme fineness and trans- 
parency, but which in time become thickened like the cells. 
Vessels—Cells may be short and varying in form, or oblong; 
sometimes much elongated, as is the case with Cotton. But at 
other times, several cells becoming joined end to end and the 
intervening partitions absorbed, form vessels, which, like the 
cells, become thickened on their sides, and have formed within 
them fibrous matter of different kinds. Neither cells nor 
vessels are fitted for yielding useful fibrous material, either for 
cordage or for textile fabrics; but, as many contain fibre as a 
2 
