BILLS PAYABLE. 



Namb. j| Dollars. C«. 



of th«t pineapple, because efforts to ! 

 manufacture the fabric had not proved 

 successful! But, pineapple fiber this 

 fabric is. 



The grrag.s-cloth of China, that fine, 

 silky tissue, is the produce of a nettle — 

 tho "Roehnieria (TIrtira) nivea" — which 

 ip mui-h cMltivated, especially in Central 

 Cliina, for textile i>iirposes. For deli- 

 cacy to the toucli, and for strength and 

 beauty, the Ki-Ms.s-cloth of the Chinese 

 competes easily with tlieir best silks. 

 While the prices of it are astonishingly 

 low. 



In these days of research toward th» 

 advancsment of commerce the "Urtl- 

 caeae," or nettle family, appears to have, 

 bi'en overlooked. A'et its variou.s com- 

 mercinl (lunljties iiaxe been ]ong known, 

 and the nettle is Intiniteiy easier to oulti- 

 \ate than flax or cotton. Some sixty 

 years a^o. l>efore the impetus of the 

 ei.ioi-li niakinK show in the Crystal Pal- 

 ace hail frittered out, the Irish Flare 

 Improvement .Society. Belfast, took in 

 liaiid tlie proiKiRation of the "Boeh- 

 mcrla." lUit that a weed such as- the 

 nettle is of account in commerce toul- 

 side Chitia) has yet to he estahllslied. 

 althouKh tiie common nettle h.as ].r n 

 lonu; known to yield from its stem a 

 strong: fiber from whiclt a kind of Itemp 

 is produced lier.e. 



In China the nber-plant yielding the 

 grass-cloth is known as the "Tchou ma" I 

 or Chinese flax. When West Europeans 

 clad themselves in skins and Brltnns i 

 daubed themselves with clay and col- I 

 ors. this fTossamer fabria was in use 

 nnions the Chinese. Directions for 

 growing Jhe nettle, obtaining its fibers, | 

 and wenving them into cloth, are laid ; 

 down explicitly in the nigh pre-hlstorlo 

 "Imperial Treatise of Chinese Agrlcul- 

 ture>' 



