

30 USEFUL FIBER PLANTS OF THE WORLD. 



the Japanese mattings from the mat rush (Juncus effusus), the Russian 

 mattings from the bast of the linden tree, the finely subdivided leaves 

 of Carludovica palmata for Panama hats, and the split stems or straw 

 of wheat, rye, barley, and rice, for braids or straw plait, all of which 

 are structural fibers, save the Russian bast. Examples of "native" 

 or aboriginal manufactures are the sleeping mats bom various sedges 

 or grasses, the East Indian tatties and screens from the fragrant roots 

 of the Kims-Kims; the split leaves of Yucca, used for making sandals, 

 and tlie rain coats of China and Japan. 



The use of fibers or fibrous substances in the coarse weaving or 

 plaiting of basketry is an industry that belongs to all civilized coun- 

 tries and that is practiced by the native tribes of the world, and a cata- 

 logue of the varied forms would be too long for enumeration on these 

 pages. By reason of the similarity of construction and materials used, 

 we must also include in this class a considerable number of articles that 

 resemble baskets, known as willow ware, such as hampers and infants' 

 carriages; and even chairs, that are produced from willow withes; and 

 chair bottoms are also included. While the commercial basket mate- 

 rial is confined chiefly to the osiers, or willows, to certain forms of wood 

 splints, and to a few species of rushes and the grain straws, the native 

 and Indian basket fibers are legion, for they include a range of vegetable 

 substances from the stipes of delicate ferns, and the smaller grasses, 

 through the sedges, reeds, the bamboos, the palms, and liliaceous plants, 

 to the stems and twigs of shrubs, and even the splints from the wood 

 of trees, or their subdivided woody roots. A few examples of this class 

 of manufactures are the sweet-scented grass baskets made by the Xew 

 England Indians from the holy grass; the delicate fern baskets of the 

 Sandwich Islanders, the Yucca coil baskets, and others by the Hopi 

 Indians of Arizona, the sumac and willow trays, and the spruce-root 

 baskets of Northern tribes, palm-leaf baskets, and those from bamboos, 

 sedges, and reeds. Among commercial forms are the Italian straw-plait 

 baskets, the Buscola baskets from certain sedges, the osier manufac- 

 tures from Italy, and the ash and white-oak splint baskets made in our 

 own country, together with chair bottoms plaited in rattan or rushes. 



A sixth form of utility is the employment of fibers or fibrous sub- 

 stances in mass as filling MATERIAL, for stuffing pillows, cushions, 

 mattresses, furniture, etc., or as packing substances. The surface fibers 

 for the most part compose this class, as the bast fibers arc too valu- 

 able, while the structural fibers ate too stiff for such purposes, excep- 

 tions being the shredded leaves of palms, the commercially prepared 

 Spanish moss Tillandsia usneoides), known as vegetable hair, and the 

 familiar corn " shucks." The pseudo-fibers embraced in group 5 are 

 also largely used as packing material, though a notable except ion should 

 be made <»{' certain leaves, as well as species of fungi, and Alaskan sea- 

 weed, the last being twisted into fish lines, the fungi used for making 

 caps, table mats, etc., or employed as tinder. Mycelium has also been 

 employed as a substitute for fabric. 



