140 



THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



as soft as smoke, but taken in the hand it is harsh and wiry. 

 The new growth, lengthening the moss, floats Hghtly on the 

 air, lovely to behold. Season by season, it increases in bulk 

 and length, and a tree supporting its first colony of Hght, thin 

 moss one year, will the next year be densely covered. Yet 

 the trees do not suffer. They do not part with sustenance. 

 The air and moisture support the moss. 



Time was when the Spanish moss had no commercial 

 value, but now the demand for what is known as vegetable hair 

 is extensive and is yearly increasing. It is used in mattresses, 

 saddles, upholstery, horse collars and other manufactures. 

 The gray epidermis is removed by a sweating process in vats, 

 located in the forest where the moss is pulled from the trees. 

 When removed from the vats and dried, the black inner fibre, 

 a vegetable hair, is strong, wiry and clean. The shipmients 

 from the South to all parts of the United States are immense 

 while the local consumption is considerable. 



The moss is called the lazy man's crop. It has neither to 

 be sown nor worked ; simply harvested and, in the local phrase, 

 ''cured" for commerce. Notwithstanding its annual con- 

 sumption, there is no perceptible diminution in the supply. 



