158 POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



its use is more extensive. Notwithstanding its unfitness it is 

 often mixed with hemp for cordage ; it is even mixed with 

 silk in the manufacture of cheap satins, in which it almost 

 defies detection. Its principal use is in making coarse 

 cloth for bagging, and in making the foundation of inferior 

 carpets, mats, etc. The quantity imported in 1851 was 

 over 21,000 tons. 



Sun, Shunum, Taag, or Bengal Hemp. — The fibre of 

 Crotalaria juncea. (Nat. Ord. Leguminosce.) (Plate YII. 

 fig. 36.) 



Another Indian plant, yielding a valuable substitute for 

 hemp, coarser in quality than the last, but capable of with- 

 standing exposure to wet much better. It is an annual, 

 and in growth resembles our common Broom ; its flowers, 

 which are yellow, also resemble those of Broom. It grows 

 from four to eight feet in height. The quantity imported 

 is not very great, being only from 200 to 300 tons annually. 



Manilla Hemp, Plantain Fibre. — The fibres from 

 the stem of Musa textilis. (Nat. Ord. Musaeea.) (Plate 

 VIII. fig. 41.) A finer kind is made from the green 

 petioles of the leaves. 



The stems of plants in this Natural Order are made up of 

 the united petioles of the leaves, and cannot be regarded as 



