The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1885-03-27
CLOTH FROM NETTLES.
A RAW MATERIAL CHEAPER AND
TOUGHER THAN ANY.
A Yankee Substitute for Chinese Seer
suckers Suits Made of Rami-Enu-
meratioa Of the Virtues
Of Nett1e Fiber.
fPhiladelphia Press.l

Mr. Felix Fremery, a well known Prus-
sian savant and inventor, is stopping in this
city. He has mission. IL Is to revolu-
tionize the textile industry in the United
States
II am a native Of Aix-la- Chapelle," said
Mr.. Fremery, "and have devoted my life
principally to the study Of botany. I am
not unknown in this country, since took q
prize at the Centennial exposition for an oil
to lubricate vegetable woods in course OF
preparation for the spinning process
You know the seersucker cloth so popu.
lar for summer wear In your country. How
light and strong it Is, and what pretty ma.
terial too. You know, / suppose, that it is
made from the hbers of the Chinese nettle
The process Is n very peculiar one. The
Chinese until 1851 alone possessed the secret
of freeing the fbers Of the plant from the
resinous gum holding them together. These
fibers are then, not spun, but cut into long,
narrow strips, and glued together at the
ends with species of glue unknown to us.
IL Is in all probability animal glue, mixed
with q certain per cent of hard wax This
process preserves the peculiar gloss of the
fiber, which causes some people to mistake II
for silk. IL the cloth were spun it would lose
its ulster.
ain Rhode Island seersucker cloth is imi
tated In cotton. There is no doubt that II
could be manufactured here in large uuan.
titles out Of the 6ber Of the American nettle
The rami or rhea of China or India grows all
through the southern states and portions OF
California. The material is known In Eng.
land as China grass.
"A gentleman sent me from Altoona, Pa,
few years ago for some cuttings of the
American wild nettle. Urtica postulata Is
its Latin name. 1t grows in great abundance
all through the Allegheny mountains l ex.
perimented with it, and became convinced
that here was cheap and common substi.
tute for fax. / have q nursery garden OF
these cuttings now at Aix-la- Chapells.
"ln the course Of my experiments noticed
that the thread produced from the fiber was
was similar to that Of fax, but glossier and
more like silk in appearance. 1t can be pro
duced very cheaply, the plant being q
perennial one-that is to say it does moi
have to DO replanted every year. These
cuttings came to me ten or twelve years ago.
found that the fiber of the American nettle
was finer and stronger than that of Euro
pean growth-Urtica dioica.
AT this moment there are ten or twelve
manufactures In Germany where the fabric
is prepared to be made into clothing, hand,
kerchiefs. stockings, shirts, toweling, lace
curtains, and many hundred species of tex.
tile articles. 1t completes with wool on &C
count OF its greater strength and cheapness.'
"This material takes every fast color, just
as wool does, and its introduction would moi
require any change to be made in machinery.
These discoveries Of mine are covered bJ
several patents in the United States.
Another use to which it may be applied is
for sail-cloth, ropes, or cordage. There are
numerous varieties of the wild nettle in
this country. One Of the commonest kinds
in the South, where it grows side by side
with the rami, Is the Bacheria urtica, of
which there are more than 10 varieties.
IAN Hungarian named Neumann has al
St Nicholas, near Antwerp, a mandatory
of this material. The daily production aver
ages about 5000 pounds. Neumann started
another mandatory near Dusseldorf, In
Rhenish Prussia, but had to fly the country
on account Of some trouble be got into with
government official He was convicted OF
SANDER and sentenced to one years imprison
ment. But for this trouble he would be
doing well, as the government had, up to
this time, helped him by every means in
their power, supplying him gratuitously
with large quantities Of nettles from East
Prussia.
"Do you see this piece OF red wooli Well,
1t doesn't happen to be wool at all, though
anybody who didn't know it might be will
ing TO swear it was. II is nettle fiber from
place l know near Newark, ~ J. Thi.
piece of gray cloth you see was made Of the
same stuff; SO were these handkerchiefs, and
these stockings, too They are almost indie
structible i wore pair Of trousers made
Of the cloth several years; wore them at
work in my garden, but they seem practic-
ally indestructible, and have been washed q
dozen times Most of these articles were
manufactured for me at Passaic, n J. The
gray cloth came from the Germania mills in
Holyoke. This cheviot cloth can be washed
twenty times without injuring the material.
1t would BE- splendid for workingmen's
clothes.
Though possessing SO great power Of re.
sistance 10 the action of water, lint can be
manufactured Of American nettle fiber su.
perior to the best cotton as an absorbent
See, drop this piece of nettle-grass lint in
this tumbler OF water. In an instant 1t has
become saturated with the fluid and sinks to
the bottom.
~TheSe nettles grow in prodigious quantity
all through the Jersey swamps This year
the yield ON my place near Newark was 30 tc
IS per cent OF pure fiber from this dried stock.
The nettles must be cut about the end of Sep
tenber, when the sap begins to ripen In accord
ance with the laws Of your climate here. OF
course, as one goes further south the nettles
will ripen earlier. There is no market for
the American nettle fiber. but it could be
made a profitable article Of export