of ' Yucca ' or ' Agave.' It is fully as strong as Yucca fibre, an(J 

 Tvould make excellent rope of great tenacity." None of the rest 

 of the Cordylines call for special remark beyond the fact that they 

 produce good fibre easy of extraction by boiling or steaming for 

 five or six hours, that they all more or less possess the character- 

 istics of those mentioned, and that they will all grow readily in 

 Victoria. 



There are various kinds of Yucca fibre. The terms — •" Bears- 

 grass," " Adam's Needle," " Mound Lily," "Dagger-leaf," " Eve's 

 Thread," " Spanish Dagger," and others are applied to several of 

 the species. They inhabit the southern United States, Mexico, 

 and Central America, and many of them thrive admirably in 

 Victoria. Yucca gloriosa (vide Fig. No. XI.) produces the " Petre 

 Hemp" of the Mexican Spaniards, and, according to Nuttall, 

 " is used for cordage, ropes, &c., as well as for packing-cloth, and 

 is extremely durable." Elliott, in his Botany of South Carolina, 

 speaks of it as " one of the strongest fibres of the Vegetable 

 Kingdom." 



There are five species of Dianella or "Australian Flax Lily" 

 {vide Fig. No. IV.J from which fibres of fair quality have been pro- 

 duced, the most important hieing the smooth-leaved and broad-leaved 

 kinds. The former (Dianella liEvis) bears large panicles of pretty 

 blue flowers, followed by large globular blue berries ; the latter 

 (D. Tasmanica) is of more robust habit, has leaves of 3 or 4 feet 

 in length, and, like the former, inhabits the moist and heavily- 

 shaded fern gullies and ravines of the sub-alpine parts of this 

 colony and Tasmania. It gives an excellent fibre, and the refuse 

 or combings contributes good paper stock. Professor Dodge 

 says — " Some of the filaments are white and brilliant, and quite 

 strong, a few twisted together requiring quite an effort to break 

 them." 



Passing over the Dasylirions, Noliua. Beaucarnea, Stypandras, 

 and other members of this important family of the Lilies, all of 

 which yield fibres more or less useful, I will briefly refer to the 

 " Torch Lilies " of the Cape of Good Hope, which are known- 

 botanically as "Kniphofia" or"Tritoma" (oirfe Fig. No. XII.)' 

 As fibre plants they were first brought under notice by me in 

 1875, samples of five kinds having been prepared in the Botanical 

 Gardens, and forwarded to several Exhibitions since. It will be 

 seen that the present specimens are of fair strength and quality, 

 and possibly they are capable of being woven into fine textile fabrics. 

 The plants are all quick-growing perennials, producing a wealth 

 of long leafage, and are readily increased by root division and 

 seeds. With good cultivation they would yield two crops per 

 year, and the fibre can be obtained within a few hours by boiling 



