16 



USEFUL FIBER PLANTS OF THE WORLD. 



States, and now. if at all, only in trifling quantities. Broom root is a 

 Mexican product, the root of a tall, wiry grass. The two palmetto 

 fibers are produced from uncultivated species of Florida palms, while 

 the (rin yegetal is derivedfrom an allied palm, growing in Algeria. The 

 vegetable hair from Spanish moss is prepared in South Carolina and 

 other Gulf State's, while cocoanut fiber comes from the East Indies. 

 Esparto grass is produced in Algeria, Spain, and Portugal, and vege- 

 table sponge comes largely from Japan. 



Other commercial species that might be enumerated are imported in 

 a partially prepared state or as manufactures. Such fibrous substances 

 appear in the form of straw plait from Italy, Japan, and ( hina, chiefly, 

 the eastern floor mattings, and basketry from various substances. In 

 this account, however, only the raw fibers are noted. 



The fibers produced in this country in commercial quantity are cot- 

 ton, hemp, flax, palmetto fiber, and vegetable hair from Spanish moss. 

 Hemp and flax production should be largely extended: jute produc- 

 tion and the growth of sisal hem}), pineapple, and bowstring hemp are 

 possible. Cane fiber can be produced in large quantities, and there 

 are doubtless other kinds that might form the basis of local fiber 

 industries. 



The paper materials other than Esparto are not considered in this 

 category. The native fibrous substances that might be employed in 

 lieu of cellulose from our forest trees, for paper pulp, would make a long- 

 list, at the head of which might be placed the waste fiber from a million 

 acres of flax produced only for seed. A day is surely coming when the 

 question of securing new pulp materials will present itself, and it is to 

 be hoped that from the long list of native species of fibrous plants 

 enumerated in this work something will be found that will supply at 

 low cost a better paper material for common use than wood pulp, 

 which has nothing to recommend it but availability of raw material 

 and cheapness. 



The following table of quantities and values of vegetable fibers 

 imported into the United States for the year ended June 30, 1S9(>, has 

 been made up from figures supplied by the Bureau of Statistics of the 

 Treasury Department. 



Import* of vegetable fibers into the United States for year ending June SO, 1S9G. 



Fiber. 



Quantity. Value. Va i 



T»ns. 



Broom root 



China grass, or ramie 



Cocoanut fiber 1 



( tattoo • 



Crin vegetal 



Cuba bast 1 



Dollars. 

 39 384 



27, 075 

 1,348 



0.578.212 

 213,818 



Dolhin. 



Esparto grass ] 



Flax Btraw | 



Flax, not hackled 



Flax, dressed lin<- ' 



Flax, low of 



' Included in all other. 



32 



1,322 

 1.711 



926 



28 

 240 

 483 



152 



