CHAPTER, VI 

 INDUSTRIAL PLANTS 



65. Uses of industrial plants. By iiitlustrial plants we 

 mean those which yield raw materials or products used in 

 the industrial arts; that is to say, in such inilustries as spin- 

 ning, weaving, building, paper-making, tanning, dyeing, and 

 painting. Industrial plants cannot l)e separated entirely 

 from edible and medicinal ])lants any more than those econo- 

 mic groups can be distinguished sharply one from the other; 

 for, as we shall see, there are industrial plants which also 

 yield food or mcHlicine or both. 



As with the economic plants already studied, so with these, 

 we shall find it convenient to classify them according to 

 the useful products which they yield. Out of the immense 

 numlier of industrial plants more or less useful to mankind, 

 we can here consider only a few of the most important which 

 yield ^6er.s, woods, cork, clastic giniis, resins, coloring matters, 

 tannins, oils, and fuels. 



66. Fibers in general. Next to food-plants those produc- 

 ing fibers have proved the most useful of all the vegetable 

 kingdom, and ha^'C contributed most to the advancement of 

 civilization. 



Mankind while yet in the stage of savagery needed some 

 sort of cordage easier to procure than sinews or strips of 

 hide, and more suitable for bowstrings, snares, fish-lines, 

 nets, baskets, and the lik(\ He needed also some form of 

 clothing less cumbersome and ctioler than that afforded by 

 the skins of animals. These needs were atlmirably met by 

 twisting, ]:)laiting, or weaving the flexible strands which he 

 found stn ngthening roots, stems, and leaves, or by sjiinning 

 the woolly cn\'ei'ing of seeds. We know that sheep's wool 

 ami othei' animal fibers, including the silk of which the silk- 



