BOTANY AND PLANT ECONOMICS 
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Case 27. — Left half. The utilization of the husks of maize 
ears as a textile base, and Klickitat Indian bag made from them. 
Note the use of the pith of cornstalks, compressed into bri- 
quettes, as an obtunder for naval vessels. Note also the full 
series of products and by-products in the manufacture of corn 
sugar (glucose); oil, rubber, starch, syrup, glucose, “sugar,” 
dextrine, amyline, etc. 
The Sedge Family (Cyperacece). 
Case 27. — Right half. The utilization of these common 
“ditch grasses” in the manufacture of mats, matting, and 
baskets 
The Palm Family {Palmece). 
Case 28. — The creeping palms. Note the full plant of 
Rattan {Calamus rotang) 125 feet long. These rattans often 
grow to a length of from 200 to 400 feet, spreading over trees 
and twining in every direction. Note the various grades of 
rattans used for cane work. Note the great fruit of the Ivory 
Nut Palm {Phytelephas macrocarpa) ; its nuts and their use in 
simulating bone buttons. 
Case 29. — The natives of Oceanica claim that there are as 
many uses of the Coco as there are days in the year. Some 
of these are illustrated in this case and in Cases 30, 31, and 33. 
Various utilizations of the wood, the leaf and the midrib of the 
Coconut Palm {Cocos nucifera). Note the broad board, the 
house rafter, and eave spout fashioned from this wood; and the 
brooms, baskets, and ekels from the leaf. 
Case 30. — Coir, the fiber surrounding the nut of the Coco 
Palm and its utilization for the manufacture of ropes. Note 
the rope 300 feet long tapering from four inches in diameter to 
little over a half inch. Coir rope makes the best of all cables 
for anchoring ship craft, as it is very elastic, acting like a spring, 
as well as very durable in sea water. 
Case 31. — Sections of a cocoanut tree showing the charac- 
ter of the growth: note the fibrous bundles of the interior and 
the dense tissue of the exterior. Note further uses of coir in 
the weaving of mats and bagging, and the cocoanut leaf skirt 
of a Sandwich Islander. 
Case 32. — A very large cocoanut trunk from Trinidad: 
note the thinness of bark in proportion to the diameter of the 
tree. 
