REPORT ON BROWN HEMP OF BOMBAY. 285 
—in running water—and the fibre is afterwards separated by 
the fingers. 
It is used by the natives for articles requiring much strength, 
as fishing nets, &c. (Agric. and Hortic. Soc. of Western India, 
1842.) 
Some specimens of the fibre of the taag, or Crotalaria juncea, ~ 
having been sent to England to be reported on, were spoken 
of in the following terms, though the name of the reporter at 
Hull is not given (1840): 
“This sample, No. 2 (Crotalaria juncea or tag), appears to 
me of the same quality as the Baltic. I return a part of it, 
made ready for spinning. You will see the great similarity of 
the two. My twine-spinner assures me that by taking it 
sooner, and by using more care in the steeping and exposure, 
it will he fully equal to the Baltic. Surely, by attention, this 
may be accomplished. It may require Englishmen to direct, 
and our implements (which are truly simple) to be used—when 
I have no doubt of the successful result, alike to the grower, 
the merchant, and our country. Your Hemp is very clean— 
a material point,—but it wants more beating and dressing ; 
and I think the natives have not proper implements to do it 
with. You cannot improve in your mode of packing; it is 
decidedly superior to the Baltic. I do not despair of seeing 
the produce of the Baltic supplanted by that of India; as the 
defect appears to me solely to arise in the management of it : 
it stands too long before it is pulled or cut, or is too much 
steeped or exposed, to get the fibre to separate from the stalk.” 
(Agric. and Hortic. Soc. of Western India, 1842.) 
Wuockoo naz (or fibre), or 7Zravancore Flax, as it has been 
proposed to be called, is another instance of the effects of 
locality and of climate, combined with variations in the mode 
of preparation, in making it impossible, from the appearance 
of fibres, to know the plants producing them. To the Exhibi- 
tion of 1851, some specimens of strong canvas were sent from 
Travancore, which have been much approved of by competent 
judges, from the compactness and strength of the manufacture. 
On trial, it was found that a piece of this canvas, containing 
eleven threads, was equal in strength to canvas containing 
fourteen threads of Polish rein. Along with the canvas, afew small 
