254 USEFUL FIBER PLANTS OF THE WORLD, 



who brought the museum specimens from Santo Domingo, says the large sheaths of 

 the leaves supply material for thatching and lining the sides of houses. It is also 

 used for lioor matting and coarse baskets. The external ring of hard woody fibers 

 on the main stem is pressed out into thin sheathing boards. The fruit of the species 

 is in common use on the island for feeding hogs and cattle. Dr. Smith, in the Treas- 

 ury of Botany, mentions 0. oleracea, the West Indian cabbage palm, which some- 

 times attains a height of 100 feet. The semicylindrical portion of the leaf stalks are 

 formed into cradles for negro children, and the inside skin peeled off while green 

 produces a kind of vellum, which will take ink. 



Orme d'Amerique (Jam.). See Guazuma. 

 Orthanthera viminea. 



Exogen. Asclepiadacea. A shrub. 

 This plant, belonging to the milk-weed family, grows near the foot of the Hima- 

 layan Mountains, its long, slender, leafless, wand-like steins, 10 feet or more in length, 

 furnishing a bast fiber of remarkable tenacity, suitable for rope making. "In Sind 

 the unsteeped stalks are made into ropes for Persian wheels, a purpose for which 

 they are admirably adapted as they do not rot readily from moisture." (Dr. Watt.) 



Ortie blanch, etc. (see Boehmeria nivea). 

 Oryza sativa. Common Rice. 



Endogen. Gramlnea?. A grass. 



The rice plant of commerce is supposed to be of Asiatic origin, though it is said to 

 have been found, apparently in a wild state, in South America. As is well known, 

 rice is the principal food of the laboring classes of China, India, and the Indian 

 Archipelago, and forms the entire food of many people. As it is a marsh plant, it 

 requires flooding with water, when under cultivation, to produce the best results. 

 In this country it is grown as a food plant, chiefly in the lower pine belt, extending 

 from 80 to 100 miles inland from the coast, from Virginia down along the Atlantic 

 and Gulf coasts. "The plant was probably introduced into the United States about 

 the year 1693, by Thomas Smith. It is said to have been grown successfully in Eng- 

 land, Germany, and even in the colder parts of Siberia." (Prof. Milton Whitney.) 



Fiber. — Its straw is chiefly used as a fiber product in Eastern countries. In the 

 Japan exhibit, W. C. E., 1893, there was a very full series of samples of rice straw, 

 rice-straw pulp and paper, and rice-straw plait, the latter made by inmates of the 

 prison at Yamaguchi. It is worthy of note that this by-product in Japan amounts 

 to not less than 15,270,000 tons annually. It is utilized in various ways, such as in 

 bags for keeping and transporting cereals, root crops, etc., for making various kinds 

 of ropes and cordage, mats, ll Alino" or rain coats, sandals known as "Zori" and 

 "Waraji," thatching roofs, making summer hats and other straw work. It is also 

 largely used both as fodder and litter for horses and cattle. 



"It has recently been chiefly consumed in manufacturing straw pulp, which, 

 mixed with other kinds of fibers, is largely used for manufacturing printing paper. 

 Until a few years ago, nearly all printing paper used for newspapers, journals, etc.. 

 was imported from foreign countries, but at present almost all demands are sup- 

 plied with the homemade article, and there is every hope that in future, it may be 

 exported to foreign countries, on account of its cheapness and the ease of obtaining 

 the materials."' Straw plait is also made in Japan from barley straw see Hordeum . 



Rice straw does not appear to be used in India, and little progress has been made 

 toward its employment for any purpose in that country. Indeed, Dr. Watt states 

 that the straw and roots are too valuable to the cultivators to offer for sale, as they 

 are generally left To enrich the soil for the next crop. 



Osiers (sec Salix). 



