160 COMMERCIAL BOTANT. 



window-boxes, rockeries, orchid-growing, etc., it was a waste 

 product, as, owing to its irregular growth and porous nature, 

 it is quite useless for stoppers. Another use, however, has 

 since been found for it — namely, for grinding into powder, 

 and mixing with linseed oil and rubber, in the manufacture 

 of the floor-covering known as linoleum. In view of the still 

 further extended use of the cork-tree, plants have been intro- 

 duced into India, where they seem to have made healthy and 

 vigorous growth. 



Vegetable Ivory. — The seeds of Phytelephas macro- 

 carpa, a low-growing or almost stemless palm, found on the 

 banks of the river Magdalena, and producing large globular 

 bunches of fruits about the size of a man's head, containing 

 numerous white seeds, which become very hard as they 

 ripen, are extensively used as a substitute for real ivory, 

 chiefly for inlaying, for knobs for drawers, and very largely 

 for coat buttons. Vegetable ivory is said to have been 

 introduced into Europe about the year 1826, but when 

 it first came into commerce in this country is not accurately 

 known. 



During the summer of 1878 London, and indeed the 

 whole of the United Kingdom, was deluged with an enor- 

 mous importation of hats plaited from a kind of sedge. 

 Though they were known to come from China, they soon 

 obtained the name of Zulu Hats, and they found their 

 way even into the remotest villages of the kingdom, being 

 sold at the remarkably low price of one penny each. So 

 abundant were they indeed that the market became glutted, 

 and the hats were sold for use as strawberry guards in 

 gardens by cutting out the crowns. The Consul at Ningpo 

 reported that no less than 15,000,000 of tliese hats, all 

 made by hand, had been exported in one year. The plant 

 from which they are made, which proved to be Cyperus 

 tegetiformis, is cultivated especially for this manufacture in 

 rice grounds, and the hats are made by women and children 



