FIBRES. 133 



deal of attention on account of its mode of growth and its 

 abundant fruit-bearing. It was described as sending off 

 branches regularly from the bottom of the main stems up- 

 wards, but bearing close to the ground two, three, or more 

 branches, and then rising to a height of eight or ten feet 

 without a branch. This erect growth was considered an 

 advantage, inasmuch as a much larger number of plants 

 could be grown within a given area than is possible with 

 ordinary cotton. The plant was also described as a prolific 

 f I'uit-bearer, so that the yield was estimated at a considerably 

 higher rate than any other known variety. In consequence 

 of these very strong recommendations the seeds were dis- 

 tributed as widely as possible from Kew with very varied 

 results. The quality of the cotton was reported as not to 

 be materially different from .that of ordinaiy Egyptian 

 cotton, of which, indeed, it was found to be a fastigiate 

 variety. Bamia cotton is now seldom or never heard of. 



A textile fibre of undoubted quality which still awaits 

 development is the so-called China Grass. This fibre 

 seems to have made its first appearance in this country, 

 in the form of finely-woven handkerchiefs, not long 

 before 1849, for it was about this time that a specimen 

 of the fabric was received at Kew together with other 

 materials, from which it was found that the plant fur- 

 nishing it, though called China Grass, was in reality a 

 bushy-growing nettle — ^the Boehmeria nivea or Urtica nivea 

 of botanists. Prom this time the fibre began to attract 

 much attention, and a patent was obtained in the same year 

 (1849) in connection with its preparation. At the Great 

 Exhibition in 1851 three prize medals were awarded for 

 China Grass fibre. It was then proved that from the fibre, 

 properly cleaned and prepared, fabrics could be woven equal 

 in every respect to the finest French cambric. Notwith- 

 standing this, the interest in. China Grass dwindled down 

 and remained in abeyance for some time, till in 1865 a 



