bookings' garden manual. 



171 



more uniform than any other except silk ; it is stronger 

 and more elastic than either hemp or flax ; takes color 

 as well as a good quality of silk ; and, when properly 

 prepared from the raw material, may be spun into fine 

 yarn, suitable for mixing with wool in the manufacture 

 of delaines, worsteds, and other light fabrics. With- 

 out admixture it can be woven into fabrics, which, it is 

 said, will surpass the finest linens in beauty, strength, 

 and durability. The ramie fibre has also the felting 

 quality superior to either fur or wool." 



Large , tracts of land in the south of France and 

 Algeria have been planted with China-grass ; but the 

 demand is so great for the fabrics manufactured from it 

 that the markets cannot be supplied. The stalks must 

 be stripped in their green state, as this plant is not 

 steeped like hemp aud flax. The exquisitely fine and 

 silk -like muslins and cambrics made of this fibre are 

 familiar in France and Algiers, though their present 

 costliness places them only within the reach of the rich. 



MUSA TEXTILUS, or MANILA BANANA. 



It is from the leaf stems of this plant that the 

 Manila hemp is made. The fibre is in great demand 

 for a variety of purposes, and is generally sold at £50 

 to £60 per ton. The machinery by which the fibre is 

 prepared in Manila is of the cheapest} and most primi- 

 tive description : full particulars, accompanied with 

 tracings, were received from there some years ago. 

 The removal of the cellular tissue was the great diffi- 

 culty experienced here in the preparation of the fibre, 

 some of which was sent to the Great Exhibition. This 

 sort of banana is grown in Brisbane, and may be 

 distinguised by the red skin of the fruit. Several of 

 the bananas yield fibre, and that prepared from the 

 Musa Dacca (pear banana), and Musa Maculata (the 



