24 USEFUL FIBER PLANTS OF THE WORLD. 



well as the seed hairs, or other hairs, from certain species of both divi- 

 sions of the vegetable kingdom. In general terms, therefore, fiber is 

 composed of bundles of bast or fibro- vascular tissue in the form of long, 

 flexible filaments, such as flax, hemp, or manila, or of hairs, such as 

 cotton, capable of being twisted or spun into threads or yarns, to be 

 subsequently manufactured into cordage or fabrics. 



In the economic employment of fibrous vegetable material it is often 

 the case that the fiber bundles are not separated or subdivided into 

 such delicate filaments as compose the cleaned fibers of flax and hemp, 

 but are used in a conglomerated mass, or even in a more primary form, 

 as the whole stems of reeds or grasses, as in matting manufacture, 

 where both fibrous substance and the cellular tissue and woody waste 

 is used without further preparation than drying. Or, a still broader 

 differentiation is found in the employment of palm leaves torn into 

 strips or the woody stems of such plants as the willow and sumac, 

 which are coarsely woven or plaited into baskets and similar objects. 



These fibrous substances, however, are not always utilized by sub- 

 jecting them to the operations of twisting, spinning, plaiting, or weav- 

 ing, but are employed in a mass, as upholstery material for the stuffing 

 of cushions, mattresses, and the like. Beginning with true fibrous ma- 

 terial, such as tow or the waste from scutching flax, hemp, etc., and 

 the seed hairs of the many plants known as cotton and silk cotton, 

 and coming down through the list we discover the use of mosses, 

 leaves, and even finely subdivided wood shavings, or " excelsior," as 

 forms of stuffing or packing material. The last named are not fiber, 

 though on account of their economic employment they are regarded as 

 the substitutes of fibrous substances. 



Therefore, in considering the many species of plants which are em- 

 ployed for so many different uses in the industrial economy, one species 

 ofttimes being utilized as a cheaper substitute for another, in order to 

 show their relations, both botanically and economically, a division into 

 classes is necessary, that the place and value of each form of fiber may 

 be readily recognized. Several classifications will be found in the 

 works relating to this subject, but after reviewing the 1,000 or more 

 species of vegetable fibers aud fibrous substances comprised in this 

 catalogue a new scheme of classification, considered chiefly from the 

 economic standpoint, has been devised, and is presented as both 

 simple and natural. 



In this arrangement I have separated the fibrous substances derived 

 from plants into five groups, according to their use in the plant econ- 

 ony, as well as in relation to part of the plant employed. The first 

 and third groups follow the natural division of the two great vegetable 

 kingdoms into exogenous and endogenous plants; the second group 

 confined wholly to the first division, but only fibrous in a sense; the 

 fourth group pertaining to both, but more largely confined to the first 

 division, while the filth group is comprised of low orders of plants 



