MANY VALUABLE FIBRES IN INDIA. 5 
approaches the summer temperature of European countries, 
flax plants could not be grown at all, so as to yield either oil, 
seed, or fibre. But, as it is, we may appropriately consider, 
under the respective heads of Flax and of Hemp, whether it may 
not be possible, by modifications of culture, or by selection of 
suitable sites, to grow both these plants, within the limits of 
India, so as to yield useful fibre. 
On the other hand, it is now well known that India pos- 
sesses, and indeed exports, various fibres which are produced 
by several fast-growing plants. Of these fibres, some, 
though long and fine in texture, are deficient in strength; 
others appear coarse in texture, or are harsh in feel, and yet 
not remarkable for tenacity. It has therefore been inferred 
by some very intelligent men, that the heat and moisture of 
the climates where these grow are favorable to rapid growth, 
which of itself is sufficient to account for the want of strength ; 
and that therefore we caunot expect to find them suited to the 
production of good fibres. But here the conclusion come to 
is equally hasty, for no distinction is made between what is 
due to the nature of the plant itself, and what to its mode of 
cultivation, or to the preparation of its fibre, and what to the 
effects of soil and of climate. We do not in this country 
expect the willow to have the strength of the oak, nor that a 
rope of rushes will have the tenacity of even a cord of hemp. 
Yet all may be seen growing in the vicinity of each other. 
There is as little reason for expecting that the soft and silky 
Jute of India is to have the strength of either flax or of hemp; 
and because it does not have it, for inferring, that there cannot 
be produced in its vicinity other fibres possessed of greater 
strength. But, if we were to judge from the density and 
strength of some of the woods produced in the hottest and 
moistest, as well as in some of the driest climates, we might 
expect to find plants in the same localities which are equally 
conspicuous for tenacity of fibre. Instead, however, of infe- 
rence, I hope to be able to prove to the satisfaction of even the 
most sceptical, that India grows plants in some of its dry and 
barren plains, yielding fibres which are as strong and tough as 
any produced in other parts of the world; but which are equalled 
in such qualities by others growing in some of its moistest and 
hottest valleys. Some of these, while possessed of the greatest 
