390 REPORT ON MATERIALS 
account of its fruit, and of which the fibre-yielding stems are 
applied to no useful purpose. The plant, as every one ac- 
quainted with tropical countries knows, is common near the 
poorest huts and in the largest gardens, and is considered to 
yield by far the largest quantity of nutritious matter. Its 
fruit in many places supplying the place of bread, and in com- 
position and nutritious value approaching most nearly to the 
potato, may, if produced in too large a quantity, be preserved 
in the same way as figs, or the meal may be separated, as it 
resembles rice most nearly in composition. Each rootstock 
throws up from six to eight stems, each of which must be 
yearly cut down, and will yield from three to four pounds of 
the fibre fit for textile fabrics, for rope-making, or for the 
manufacture of paper. As the fruit already pays the expenses 
of the culture, this fibre could be afforded at a cheap rate, as 
from the nature of the plant, consisting almost only of water 
and fibre, the latter might easily be separated. One planter 
calculates that it could be afforded for £9 13s. 4d. per ton. 
Some very useful and tough kinds of paper have been made in 
India from the fibres of the Plantain, and some of finer quality 
from the same material both in France and in this country.’ 
All the plants which have been already mentioned are devoid 
of true bark, and are called Endogenous in structure. Simple 
pressure between rollers, and washing, would appear to be 
sufficient for the separation of the fibres of most of them. But 
the following families of plants are all possessed of true bark 
which requires to be stripped off, usually after the stems have 
been steeped in water, before their respective fibres can be 
separated from the rest of the vegetable matter. 
The Flax plant (p. 133) abounds in fibre, but this is too 
valuable to be converted into paper. India, however, grows 
immense quantities of the plant, on account of its seed 
(linseed) which is both consumed in the country and exported 
in enormous quantities. But nowhere is the fibre turned to any 
account. This is no doubt owing to the climate not favouring 
the formation of soft and flexible fibre; but the short fibre 
which is formed, and might be easily separated, would be valu- 
' Specimens of these and of the other Papers made in India, were sent with the 
original communication, and were afterwards shown at some Scientific Meetings. 
