98 
[ Eep. No. 584. ] 
dance even in the poor sandy pine lands; it can be easily transplanted^ 
will bear to be cut once a year, and will in that period attain the former 
size or even greater; being perennial, a plantation once made will last for 
years ; a thousand plants to an acre would produce one pound each, and 
that as it requires but few hands it must afford immense profits to those 
who first engage in its culture/’ As Judge B. is doubtless speaking of 
an indigenous Yucca, accurate trials should be made of the relative value 
of all the indigenous species, and exotic species should also be included. 
The Yucca acaulis of Cumana has so much the aspect and habit of an 
Agave, that it is there called Maguey de Cocuy or Cocuiza, and from its 
leaves are doubtless obtained the celebrated fibres of Colombia, whose 
name is written Coquise by foreigners. Lieutenant Bache says that there 
the name Pita is given to the fibres of a tree called Marichi, that these 
fibres are 10 to 12 feet long, and finer and more silky than those of the 
Agave. Under the head of Palms it will be seen that this fibre is likely 
obtained from the Mauritia flexuosa. Under the names Yucca Boscii vel 
Agave filamentosa, there is now in French gardens a fibrous-leaved plant 
which merits introduction into the United States. 
Should the Committee on Agriculture determine to have lithographed 
the drawings of fibrous-leaved plants which should accompany their re¬ 
port, their appearance for illustration will compensate the brevity of detail 
to which I am forcibly limited. 
It is nevertheless trusted that enough has been said to excite effective 
encouragement to the propagation of fibrous-leaved plants on the poorest 
soils of all the United States, as far north as they will profitably grow. 
BANANA TRIBE. 
Our botanists tell us that the leaves of species of Banana or Plantain 
yield a kind of flax, of which the finest muslins are made. Our commer¬ 
cial and geographical books tell us that the fibres called Manilla hemp are 
obtained from the hark of the same species of wild Banana which fill ex¬ 
tensive forests in the marshy Philippines. A naval officer has asserted 
that the Manilla hemp is obtained from the hark of a species of Palm. If 
due attention has been paid to the introductory facts relative to the Banana 
tribe, and the Palm tribe, it will be seen that these assertions are absurd. 
Palms have not any proper bark ; Bananas have not any proper stem; 
and the structure of the leaves of the Banana will show that they cannot 
yield fibres valuable either for length, strength, or quantity. The petioles 
of the Banana leaves, which compose the column called the Banana stalk, 
do, however, contain parallel and longitudinal fibres ; yet in most species 
of the fruit-maturing species these fibres are not valuable for thread or 
cordage. Even in these cases, nevertheless, the foot-stalks may be ren¬ 
dered valuable for simple manufactures of matting or baling, as exhibited 
in the envelopes of cloves fmm the East Indies. 
I have exhibited to the Committee of Agriculture one petiole of the 
common Banana, which foot-stalk of a leaf measures 10^ feet long, by 4 
inches wide. Hence the importance of the fact that a small' species of 
Banana is now acclimated in Louisiana ;.that it can be spread by seed, as 
well as by suckers, along the marshy borders of the Mississippi. These 
