4 PREFACE. 



of the World's Columbian Exposition, and the work has been pushed, 

 with only brief interruptions, from that time until the date of its 

 completion. 



The object of the work has been to bring together in one volume, 

 arranged for ready reference, a descriptive list of such useful libers of 

 the world as are known to be or that have been employed commercially, 

 or those prepared by the natives in the countries where they abound, 

 or that have been the subject of experiment, and shown at prominent 

 industrial exhibitions. Xaturally the siurple list of commercial species 

 would make an insignificant showing; the experimental list would be 

 much larger, the greater number of species therefore coming into the 

 category of " native" fibers, of which the Indian hemp (Apocynum c<oi- 

 nabinum), the plant that supplies several North American Indian tribes 

 with material for their cordage, fish lines, and nets, is an example. 



The fiber economists find a most interesting study in these native 

 forms. The native or aboriginal American fibers have never before 

 been brought together in any way approaching a complete list, and in 

 this particular especially it is hoped that the work will prove a valuable 

 contribution to the literature of the economic botany of our country. 



In like manner, with the aid of Mexican and South American botanists 

 and observers, the Central and South American lists have been greatly 

 augmented. The Australian list is very full, and with the list of fibers 

 of India, which have been so carefully worked up by Dr. George Watt 

 in the Dictionary of the Economic Products of India, and the lists of 

 the more commonly known species from other portions of the globe, the 

 work in its entirety presents a more complete catalogue of the world's 

 useful fibers than doubtless has before been brought together. 



The more than 1,000 species of fibers that are enumerated have been 

 described under the names by which they are known to botanists rather 

 than under their common names, the scientific designation more clearly 

 indicating the precise plant that is meant, while showing at the same 

 time its exact position in the vegetable kingdom; The common and 

 native names of the different species, however, as far as known, have 

 been given place in the alphabetical arrangement, with the name of the 

 country making use of such common or native names, and followed by 

 a reference to the botanical species. The descriptive matter, therefore, 

 may be readily referred to under any name by which the species may 

 be known, provided it is known to this work. 



In the scientific nomenclature, the Index Kewensis has been gen- 

 erally followed, exceptions being made in the case of some American 

 species, which are referred to under names that are in most common 

 use by American botanists. 



The common and native names comprise three classes: (1) The com- 

 mon English names or the recognized commercial names, which in 

 some instances have been derived from native appellations; (2) the 

 native names which are universally recognized as the common names 

 of the plants in the countries where grown; (3) the tribal, vernacular, 



