The Florida agriculturist. [volume] (DeLand, Fla.) 1878-1911, 1880-08-04

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work, cordage, etc.-species which
are distributed over the whole earth,
and of which nearly every country
has some which may be cultivated
with profit.
DR.. Grothe divides the textile
tibers into seed, bark, stalk and leaf
tibers. Those of the first class, the
seed hbers, are derived principally
from the species of cotton, concern.
ing all OF which we have as vet no
comprehensive treatise. Several other
families OF very diversified characters
afford seed fibers, for which no
method Of application has yet been
found which would permit them to
be compared with the cotton. The
plants affording valuable bark, or
bark fibre, are far more numerous.
DIR. Grothe enumerates thirty.one
families, Of which seventeen are di-
cotyledonous, twelve monocoteyldo-
nous, one is a gymnosperm and one
Is fern. Among the dicotyledo.
nous plants are species of fax, linden,
birch, mallows, sterculiacee Tor silk
cottons), thymelacea Dapne, leather.
woody, asclepiads, apocynact;e dog
banes),' nettle plants, leguminous
plants, mimose, spurge, willow,
myrtle, breadtruit, composite and
byttneriacea. The cultivation of the
flax plant has extended to the anti.
podes. Near to it in importance are
the plants OF the linden family, which
afford numerous species suitable for
basket work and tor woven fabrics.
AT their head stands the chocorus
mot the so-called Chorchorus Jopon.
acats, or japan rose o. the gardens,
which is spirea), Of which the
species olitorous and capsularis are
the plants of the jute fibre, and have
recently attained an extraordinary
value. The cultivation OF these
plants, which was formerly carried
on only in India and the Sunda Is
lands, has spread to the Sou thern
United States, Brazil, Australia, New
Caledonia, Mauritius, Guiana, and
Algeria, and the production of the
fiber, according to Dr. Grothe,
already equals half that OF cotton.
Other lindens worthy of notice for
Their te4Iils yaEns aEs
petoumo, of Guiana, and several
species OF triumphetta. The mallow
family, to which the cotton plant be-
longs, affords a great many textile
plants of the genera abutilon, hibis-
Gus, sida, lavatera, melva, althea,
abelmoschus, etc.
Passing by the hemp, the value of
which is generally recognized, we
come to the nettle family, to some of
the members of which an increasing
degree of attention has been directed
at all the great exhibitions since
1851. The common singing nettle
has been used in Europe for a long
time in making the nettle cloth the
fibers of other species have recently
been made into handsome hair for
dolls heads, and might be put to
more practical uses. Some twenty
tour species of urtica, bohmeria, puva,
and wood-nettle are enumerated as
more or less valuable, besides the
Nerandjo naelastoneOetolia, which is
used in the Sandwich Islands. OF
the whole number Utica nived
stands in the highest estimation as
the plant from which the well
known China-grass or grass-cloth Is
made. 1t is cultivated extensively
in the provinces OF China south of
the Yang-tse- kiang, the export from
which mad reached about $500 tons
in 1872, and is now estimated at
about II, 900 tons. The fibre is used
in Japan for the finest threads and
cloths, and an active manufacture has
been carried or since 1860, hemp
and jute having been used before
that time The puya and the neilg.
berry nettle { U'tica heterophylla) are
also highly valued for their fibers.
Another family, allied to the nettle,
the antidesmee, is represented in the
Malabar flax (Antidesma 0leci.
teri,tn), which is employed tor spin
ming and in ropes. Among the mon
ocotyledonous families that afford
useful fibers are the lilies. irises,
amaryllises, bromeliace@ Tor pine
apple family, palms, pandanus Tor
screw-pine) rushes, grasses, reeds,
and sedges. OF the plants Of these
orders most famous tor their tibers
are several species of agave and
tourcroya, which afford the strong
pito hemp, several species OF anana
(bromeliacea), and the bananas, one