Sept. 1, 1899.] Supplement to the '^Tropical Agricultiirist" 
217 
assimilation in a leaf which ha? been exposfid to 
sunlight, we sIkiII tincl that the volunie of oxygen 
evolved equals that of the carboniiic acid decom- 
Jiosed. 'Ihe plant utilises the carbon, but the 
proportion of oxj'gen which it contains remains 
unchanged. This is not true, howeTer, when we 
determine tlie changes in composition which the 
iiirin which ii plant is living undergoes. 
Schloesing found that under such conditions the 
volume of oxj-gen evolved was larger than the 
volume of carbon dioxide absorbed. This indi- 
cates that tlie evolution of oxygen is not due 
simply to decomposition of carbon dioxide. 
Doubtless the greater part of this excess of 
oxygen is due to reduction of nitrates v;hich the 
plants talre up from the soil, but, as is shown 
below, a study of plant respiration reveals another 
source of o-xygen. 
« . 
FIBRES. 
(Continued). 
[By Db. Chas. Eichakds Dodge]. 
Turning to the Western World and to the abori- 
ginal civilization of the Inkns, we find the ancient 
Peruvinns, with their simple handlooras, were en- 
abled to produce fabrics that were marvels of de- 
sign and exquifite in color and fitiish. Both cotton 
and wool were used in the different articles of dress 
of these people with other fibres. The Aztecs, or 
ancient Mexicans, were familiar with cotton, as 
well as several other vegetable llbres. V/ith cotton 
and feather.y we are told they produced a soft and 
beautiful fabric, which was used tor mantles and 
blankets, and examples of their plain cotton fabrics 
ore said to have been as fine as some of the im- 
ported linen of the present age. Eegarding ihe 
early use of cotton on this Continent, there are 
abundant records to show that it has been culti- 
vated more or less generally for four or five cen- 
turies. How long it has been known to the early 
ancestors of some of the native Indian tribes of 
our own country will never be known, all-hough 
from the fact that its use is required in religious 
ceremonials, as in the Hopi Indian ( ribe, for f>x- 
ample, we may be sure that such use is no modern 
innovation. Among the ancient fibre-, of India, 
we have early allusions, in the Institutes of Menu, 
to several promiiient fibres, particularly where the 
material of the sacrificial thread is prescribed. 
Cotton, Sana, and woollen thread are mentioned. 
Sana has been supposed to refer to Sunn' hemp, 
one of the commercial fibres of the present time 
(Crotalaria juncea). Dr. Watt says the possible 
Sana fibres of the Sanscrit authors were Sunn, 
above mentioned, Saupat, or Hibiscus camiabinus 
and common hemp (Cannabis sativa). On the 
whole, the evidence is in favor of Sunn, Hemp 
grows wild throughout India, just as it is found in 
a wild state in many parts of our own country, 
but is regarded as the source of the drug known 
ns bhang, or hasheesh, rather than as a libre plant. 
We know that the use of liemp among the 
ancients was very limited. It has no mention in 
the Scriptures, and it is rarely referred to by the 
heathen writers of antiquity. It was used by the 
Scythians at least five hundred years before the 
Chriatiau era, and some writers attribute to its 
cultivation au antiquity more remote by a thousand 
years; audit was known to the Chinese at a period 
quite as remote. The Eomnns were familiar with 
the Use of hemp for sails and cordage, though not 
until after the dawn of the Christian era. The 
China grass fibre, more popularly known as ramie, 
has beeu grown in the Orient from time immemo- 
rial, and modern writers have attempted to prove 
that it was contemporaneous with flax several 
thousand years ago in Egypt, if indeed it was not 
used for mummy cloth. Ih-. Waft also advances 
a suggestion regarding ramie which would give it a 
great an'ij[aity in India.. He states that frequent 
reference is made in the Raniagann t ) a garment 
called th.' k-hauma, and goes on to say that while 
ksluuima, generally regarded as a name for linen, 
the word strongly resembles the Chinese name of 
the grass-cloth plant, or ramie, which is Chuma, 
Schou-ma or as now most commonly written, 
Tehou-mn. The use of ramie fibre is undoubtedly 
old, but how ancient, history does not inform us. 
The date palm, as we know, afforded a valuable 
material for cordage in Egypt in very early times, 
as the modern excavatio'is have revealed to us, and 
the fibre is valued quite as highly by the present; 
inhabitants of the country ; and the ancient Chal- 
deans, or Babylonianr,, are said to have used this 
palm for everything— food, clothing, wine, and the 
timber for their habitations. There is plenty of 
evidence that palm .Ibre was employed throughout 
this entire region of the ancient world. Pliny tells 
us that even the papyrus (Cyprus pajjynis) was 
used for cordage in Kgypt, as well as for matting, 
curtains, aiid sails, and Warden says that small 
boats were sometimes made from the plant. An- 
ciei!t vessels of bulrushes are mentioned by Isaiuh, 
and Lucan alludes to the manner of binding and 
sawing them with papyrus. The use of pH'i)yru8 
for paper is even more interesting. 
In the realm of rank aquatic vegetation we may 
note a reed known as Aruadodona.x, which haa 
been regarded as the " reed " of the Scriptures : " A 
bruised rted shall he not break, and the smoking 
flax shall he not quench.'' (The Hebrews employed 
flux for their lamp wicks.) Dr. Moore tells" us 
that the heroes of Homer made their arrows of the 
Arnndo (Iliad XL), and that the tent of Achilles 
was thatched witii its leaves. A coarse grass 
{Spartiunijuncemn) has been used in Italy aa a 
fibre jdant from ancient times, its Italian name 
being Ginestra de Spagna. It is mentiond by 
Pliny. It was also largely used by the Greeks 
and Eomans for many purposes. Another ancient 
Eyptian fibre grass is known as Teff {Poa abys- 
sinica), said to have been the " straw " that was 
used by the ancient Egyptians in brick-making. 
The ancients were also familiar with the use of 
fiexible twigs for tying material, the name viburna 
being used for such substances. Twigs of vibir- 
uum c-issinoides are used for such purposes in 
the present age. In the Western Hemisphere the 
fibre of two species at least of agave were 
employed by the ancient Mexicans or Aztecs to- 
gether withpalm fibre and very ciarse cotton, as 
clothing for the poorer cksses. Cloth from the 
agave was called nequen, and today the Yucatan 
name of the commercial sisal hemp, or ag-ave 
rigida, is henequen. This may have been one of 
the ancient Mexican species, but as the history of 
