Sept, 1, 1899.J 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
155 
AMERICAN FIBRE PLANTS. 
Mr, G. E. Wahh, writing in the Scientific American, 
Bays: — Commercially there are 30 or '10 species of 
libre plants found throughout the worl^, but botani- 
cally there are over 1,000 species the fibre of which 
can be made more or less useful in the i^rts ani 
industries. 
In view of the territorial changes produced by the 
war, the fibre industry is of peculiar interest to the 
farming and manufacturing world. The Islands 
affected by the war are all noted for the fibre plants 
raised on them ; and taken together — that is, Porto 
Rico, Cuba, and the Philippines — they produce a 
large bulk of the best plants, except cotton, nsed in 
a commercial and manufacturing way for their fibre. 
Manilla hemp has long been familiar wherever cul- 
tivation exists ; sisal hemp comes from Cuba, in times 
of peace, as largely as from Yucatan or the Baha- 
mas ; Cuba bast is essential to the millinery trade 
of the world ; and Sunn hemp and cebu hemp are 
but trade varieties that come from the same islands. 
The Philippines, in particular, are rich in fibre 
plants, with possibilities for development and expan- 
sion scarcely conceivable. Throughout the archipelago, 
it is estimated, all the fibre used in the manufactur- 
ing world could hs prodused at a cost that would 
annihilate similar industries anywhere else in the 
East. This is not entirely true, however, for neither 
cotton nor flax could ever find a foothold in the 
Philippines to compete with the United States. Our 
cotton is already seeking Eastern markets in ever 
increasing proportions and great prospects are anti- 
cipated for this trade. But in turn we must secure 
our hemp and jute, and other fibre-mateiral, from 
the lands where they best grow. 
There are over thirty species of fibre plants that 
can be raised in this country, but most of them are 
unimportant in the commercial world, and most of 
the others thrive only very indifferently in the United 
States. Should we, however, extend our colonial 
possessions, so that in time they included Cuba and 
the Phillippine Islands, as well as P 'rto Rico, we 
would be the greatest fibre producing country on 
the globe. 
At present the leading vegetable fibre that is im- 
ported into the United States, according to sati- 
stics of 1897, is sisal grass. Most of this sisal grass 
comes to us from Cuba, Yucatan, and the Bahamas. 
Attempts have been made to introduce its culture 
in Florida, and with some success ; but its superior 
growth in its native islands, and tbeir close proxi- 
mity to the United States, will for ever preclude it 
from becoming an important iadustry here. 
Next to sisal grass c^mes Manilla hemp in com- 
mercial importance. The imports of this amount to 
nearly ^4,000,000 annually. This hemp has also been 
experimented with in this country, and in other 
lands, but the world's trade will always look for its 
main supply to the islands of the East, where it 
flourishes as naturally as cotton does in our Southern 
States. It can be produced and shipped to this 
country cheaper than our farmers can raise it at 
l-Oue . Uebu hemp comes from the Phi ippire 
Islands also, and is merely a trade variety that has 
its useful purpose in the manufactures. 
Jute and ''jute butts" stand third on the list of 
imported fibre plants. Jute comes from a variety 
of countries. Originally India controlled the trade in 
jute, but the West Indies and Cuba have entered 
the market in competition with her, and they are 
lusty rivals that cannot be ignored. The possibilities 
of Cuba in this line are only partly appreciated, 
for rebellions and wars have so long agitated the 
island, that little experiment has been made in 
anything outside of sugar and tofcacoo-growiug. 
Since 1890 the Department of Agriculture has been 
engaged in making experiments with fibre plants in 
various parts of the country, and faimers have been 
encouraged to grow certain fibre plants for manufac- 
turing purpose. Nearly all the commercial fibre 
plants have been tested by the Department experts, 
and some of them have been recommended for general 
culture. This movement, started seven or eight vears 
ago has not exactly proved all that the inaifgurators 
ot It anticipated. Ramie has been raised to some ex- 
tent in Florida; sisal, hemp from Yucatan has been 
established in a limited way in parts of the same 
State, and a little impetus has been given to there 
juvenation of flax culture— one of the olde.st agricul- 
tural products in this country. Great efforts have 
also been made to utilise some of the plants that 
grow naturally here for fibre manufacturing Thus 
the palmetto fibre and vegetable hair of the Spanish 
moss growing on the trees of the Southern States 
have found some use that makes the product of fair 
value Several of the leading varieties of palms in 
iJlorida have been cultivated for the fibre in their 
stalks and leaves, and the palmettoes have been 
utilised for making brushes and brooms. Jute culture 
ha,3 been extended, so that we produce aunuallv a 
fair crop. Yet this weed is natural to this countrv 
and some varieties are the finest and best arown in 
the world, 
It is possible to double the annual production of 
fibre plants in the United States, and thus increase 
the manufactures; but the history of manv of our 
agricultural products hardly warrents one" in pre 
dieting that we can raise successfully most of the 
fibre plants needed in this land. The flax industrv 
was at one time an important industry in New 
England ; but it has steadily declined for half a 
century now, because farmers could put their l uid 
to more profitable use in raising other crops No 
amount of push and energy has ever been able to 
renew this industry, although spasmodic • tforts have 
frequently been attempted. There was plenty of land 
111 the worid where flax throve better than in the 
United States, and it could be cultivated cheaoer 
there than in this counti-y. ^ 
Likewi'^e the hemp industry in the South has been 
declining ever since 1870. It flourished and expanded 
in the early sixties, and just prior to the rebellion 
it was an important industry, promising in time to 
rank second only to cotton. But sisal and Manila 
hemp appeared in the market, and the Southern hemn 
could not compete with them. Our hemp lost its 
position in the manufacturing world, and sisal and 
manila were soon used in its place. No amount of 
study and experiment could rejuvenate the decadent 
industry. 
While there are undoubtedly many native fibre 
plants growing in this country that will be found use- 
ful in many industries, it will be impossible to make 
them compete with the low-priced fibres that come 
from many of the tropical and semi-tropical islands 
Nor shall we ever b3 able to introduce these foreign 
plants into this country, so that their culture will prove 
successful enough to supply us with the raw mate- 
rial for all of our manufactures. The world will 
still look to the Philippines, the West Indies Cuba 
Central America, and China and India for the fibre 
plants that supply material for cheap clothing bag- 
ging, rope, and similar products. ' 
in the islands that have been £0 luired from Spain 
however, we have the soil and climate to produce all 
t'le fibie plants that are lacking in this countrv 
Their resources in this respect are so great that they 
could soon supply the worid with all the raw material 
used for cheap textile goods, cordage, nets, and kindred 
necessities. In Porto Rico alone we oonld raise suc- 
cessfully a dozen of the leading fibre plants, while in 
Cuba and the Philippines there are many' peculiar 
only to those isl&uAs.— Journal of the Society of Arts 
THE EUCALYPTUS GLOBULUS. 
As a good deal has recently been written on this 
tree, perhaps I may be permitted to record mv little 
experience regarding the same. When at Lucknow 
I used to rvceive seeds of various kinds of Eucalvntua 
honi tne late Baron von Mueller. Of course the 
f' ?u fT. '"^^ "'5'°"," ^ ''^'^ed several plants 
oE the latter, and planted a row of them Thev 
made rapid progress, and in a few years gained the 
