202 USEFUL FIBER PLANTS OF THE WORLD. 



bearded spike 1 to <> inches long. The rye crop of the United States in 1S!)5 was 

 27,210,070 bushels, nearly hull' of which was produced in the States of Pennsylvania, 

 New York, and Wisconsin. Rye is more largely cultivated in central and northern 

 Europe than in America, and the grain is there very largely used for making bread. 

 Rye straw is little valued for fodder, but when green itis esteemed as a forage plant, 

 and is sometimes sown for this purpose in the Southern States, cattle being allowed 

 to graze it during the fall and winter months. 



Structural Fiber. — Rye straw is used as a straw-plait material, particularly in 

 Italy, where the straw of both wheat and rye are employed in this industry. As the 

 Italian use of the straw is interesting, tho following condensed account, from the 

 work of M. A. Savorgnan, is presented: The stem of tho rye reaches a greater height 

 than that of tho wheat sown in March, and when this plant is cultivated with especial 

 care for its utilization as straw it becomes liner and whiter than that of the wheat, 

 in many cases therefore this is selected, although it may be less durable. This straw 

 is especially suited to tho thatching of cottages, for the making of beehives, of Large 

 baskets for the transportation of dry tigs, beans, and similar products, also various 

 uses about gardens. It is, besides, used in plaiting very fine braids for making hats 

 of superior value. It is to be noted, however, that the stems should be cut before 

 the maturity of tho grain and that the straw of the segale is difficult to manufacture, 

 and that it splits easily. There are still found in the markets some hats, although 

 they have almost gone out of use, said to be made from rice straw ( Paglia di riso), but 

 they are such only in name, for they are made from the fiber of a kind of salce (wil- 

 low) or from exceedingly lino strips of wood in which case they would more justly be 

 called chip-hats, or hats made from shavings. 



Securidaca longepedunculata. 



The genus Securidaca belongs to the Asclepiadacece .and is composed of trailing 

 shrubs, many of which are natives of tropical America. S. longepedunculata is a South 

 African species, which grows in great abundance along the lakes and rivers of Cape 

 Colony, South Africa. 



Last FIBER. — The material employed for making the beautiful fish nets used by 

 tho Makouba tribe on Lake Ngami. ''Two kinds of liber appear to be furnished by 

 the plant; one from tho bark of the twigs is very strong and durable, and would 

 seem to be tho liber from which the nets are made, known in Xanibesiland as Budze 

 liber; the other from the stem, cross sections of which show layers of fibrous bark 

 between layers of wood." Budze fiber seems to have been first introduced to notice 

 by Dr. Livingstone in 1857. In his Missionary Travels and Researches in South 

 Africa, published in that year, he says (p. 645) that he submitted a small quantity of 

 the liber to Messrs. I've Bros, of London, who reported that "The J>it<i:c evidently 

 possesses a very strong and line liber, assimilating to flax in its character, but we 

 believe when treated in quantity by our process it would show both a stronger and 

 liner liber than llax ; but being unable to apply the rolling or pressing processes with 

 efficiency to so very small a quantity, the gums are not yet so perfectly extracted as 

 they would be, nor the liber opened out to so fine a quality as it would then exhibit." 

 The opinion obtained by Messrs I've Bros, from Messrs. Marshall, of Leeds, was 

 as follows: "The Budze liber appears to resemble llax, and as prepared by you will 

 be equal to flax worth £50 or £60 per ton, but we could hardly speak positively to 

 (he value unless we had 1 or 2 hundredweight to try on our machinery. However, 

 wo think the result is promising, and we hope further inquiry will be made as to the 

 probable supply of the material." Dr. Livingstone adds that the plant is stated to 

 grow iii large quantities in the " Maravi count ry, north of the Zambesi , but it is not 

 cult ivated, and that the only known use it has been put to is in making threads ou 



which the natives Btring their beads. Elsewhere the split tendons of animals are 

 employed for this purpose. This seems to be of equal strength, for a firm thread of 

 it feels Like catgui in the hand, and would rather cut the lingers than break." (kew 

 Bull., Sept., 1889.) 



