The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1891-07-07
THE FIBRE EXHIBIT AT THE
WORLDS FAIR.

1llC ClIO1I 10 NllICu O1C US1lIS llldOlC W
increrse the production of vegetable
fibre in this country will receive q
strong stimulus from the display of
fbrOus plants and their products at the
Columbian Exposition.
Group 8 of the official Classification
includes all of the vegetable fibres,
such as cotton, hemp, flax, jute, ramie,
In primitive forms, and in all stages of
preparation for spinning, substitutes
for hemp, cOcOannt fibre and all similar
substances.
This country grows annually about
one million acres of flax, and a very
large acreage of hemp, and these two
are our principle fibre producing plants,
with the exception of cotton.
Our imports of textile grasses and
fbres now amount to about 25S, coo
tons per annum. valued at about four
teen million dollars. There seems to
be no good reasOn why q large part Of
the above sum should not be paid 20
home producers, which would be the
cas- if more attention was paid to the
production Of vegetable fibre in this
country than has been done in the
past. Heretofore fax has been grown
by the farmers Of this country almost
entirely for seed, a part Of the straw
NOliH ~ WV vi pNtkOi nuns ttl-Ns Ia ht'-
ing on an average not more than $3.50
tO&400a ton, the remainder. and much
larger part, being burned or wasted.
To what extent flax may be prOitahiE
grown. both for seed and fibre. Is one
of the veXed problems which ii i hoped
the exhibit at the Exposition viii throw
some light upon. Investigations show
that the average humidity Of the flax
producing sections of this country is
the same as that Of Belgium and other
parts of Europe. where the production
of fax for fibre IS the chief Industry of
the farming population, AMI the exhibit
of fax from those countries viii no
doubt prove very interesting and valu-
able to American farmers.
Flbrclla, Row product from COM
mon flax straw, promises to have an
important bearing on textile interests
in the future. By a process Of manipu-
latiOn the straw Is reduced to q short
staple very closely resembling cotton
or wool, and when mixed with either
is said to add materially to the value
of the product in beauty and strength.
1t is claimed that twenty-five per cent.
of fbTelia mixed with seventy five per
cent. Of wool mace into brOadclOth
gives a product much more valuable
than If made Of wool alone.
The area devoted to the cultivation
of American hemp has Of late years
been extended into States North Of the
Ohio River, and recent experiments
encourage the hope that Sjsal hemp
may be profitably grown in Florida.
AmOngOtherti fibre plantSnOw attract
ing considerable attention. especially
in the temperate sections Of the United
States, where there IS not u great
amount Of rainfall, is ramio, a plant
indigenous to Java and China. and
from which it is exported in large
quantities to France, Germany and
England, and manufactured into linen
and silks. California has appropriated
$4,000 to purchase ramie roots for free
distribution and as a bounty for mer-
charitable ramie. The fibre Of this
plant receives and retains the most
brilliant dyes; IS very repUgnant to
moths, and its tensile strength is forty
per cent. greater than flax. 1t ranks
next to silk as q textile fabric. When
cultivated it grows luXuriantly in the
Southern States and in Southern Cali
fornia, and the only difficulty attend
ing the product is that a machine
which will e~ffectually separate the fibre
from the stalk has not been produced.
although a number Of machines have
been invented for the purpose and will
be exhibited at the Exposition.
The exhibits Of hemp. flax. lutte.
ramie, etc, at the Paris Exposition in
1878, and at the Centennial in 1876
were very interesting and complete.
and it isthepurposeo Of Chief Buchanan,
of the Agricultural Department, to
make this group at the Columbian Ex-
position equally so, and fully illustra-
tive of the OpOCTpCC made in I~atapvnorS
IN the cultivation Of fibre plants and
the methods Of preparing the raw ma
terial for market