CHAPTER XX 

 THE FIBER CROPS 



206. Three Crops yielding Valuable Fibers. — The 

 plants that yield the supply of material from which 

 certain kinds of cloth, thread, rope, twine and similar 

 products are made, are called fiber crops. There are 

 between thirty and forty plants in the world, which yield 

 materials of this kind. Only three such crops, however, 

 are grown extensively in the United States; viz., cotton, 

 flax and hemp. 



In Section 82 we learned that it is a portion of the stem 

 of the flax and of the hemp which is used in the manu- 

 facture of linen, rope, and other important products. In 

 the case of cotton, it is the lint which grows on the seeds 

 that furnishes the material for cloth, thread and twine. 



These vegetable fibers are not only used alone but they 

 are often mixed with animal fibers, such as wool ; or they 

 are sometimes used as a substitute for the latter. It is 

 not difficult to distinguish one from the other, however, as 

 vegetable fibers leave a white ash when burned while animal 

 fibers leave a dark coal. 



206. Valuable Products Other than Fiber. — The value 

 of these crops lies not alone in the cloth and cordage 

 material which they yield but also in the rich oils and 

 protein feeds for animals which come from their seeds. 



Cottonseed meal and oil are staple articles of commerce. 

 Flax seed meal, or linseed meal, as it is usually called, is 

 extensively used in stock feeding while the oil from the 



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