Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1891-08-08
VEGETABLE FIBRE.
The Fibre Exhibit at the F,n,.,.


The efforts which are being made 10 irc..
ase the production of vegetable fibre in ,'' ~
country will receive a strong stimnlns fr .--i
the display of tbrous plants and their IN n,l
ducts at the Columbian exposition F'V
Crop of the official Classification :.
cl -des all of the vegetable 6bers suob =,
cotton, hemp, fax, Jute, ramie. in NM.
tive forms, and IL all stages Of nrens,l
ton for spinning substitutes for hem
cocoanut fiber and all similar spb.taph
ces.
This country grows annually abont nm.
million acres of lax, and very large scra
age of hemp, and these to are our pTinelnsl
fibre producing plants, with the exceptifoD
of cotton.
Our imports of textile grasses and sbra,
now amount to about 258,00 tons me-,
annum. valued at about fourteen million
dollars. There seems to be no good raos.
on why large part of the above sum
should be paid to home producers. which
would be the case if more attention wa,
paid to the production Of vegetable Rbre
in this country than has been done in Inc
past. Heretofore fax has been crown
by the farmers of this country almost
entirely for seed, part of the straw 90.
ing to tow or paper mills and bringing
on an average not more than 81 so to Si6
a ton, the remainder, and much larger
part, being bdrned or wasted. To what
extent flax may be probably grown both
for seed and fibre, is one Of the yeyed
problems which it is hoped the exhibit al
at the exposition will throw some Ggbt
upon. Investigations show that the ave-
rage humidityof the fax producing SEQ
tons OF this country Is the same as that Of
Belgium and other parts Of Europe, where
the production Of fax for fibreis the chief
industry of the farming population, and
the exhibit of fax from those countries
will no doubt prove interesting and val.
liable TO American farmers.
Fibrella a new product from common
fax straw, promises to have an important
bearing on textile interests in the future.
BY process Of manipulation the straw
is reduced to short staple very closely
resembling Gotten 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 fbrella mixed with seventy five
per cent OF WOO made into broadcoth
gives product much more valuable thau
wool alone
The area devoted to the cultivation Of
American hemp has of late years been eI.
tended into states north of the Ohio river,
and recent experiments encourage the hope
that Sisal hemp may be prohtaoly grown
in Florida
Among other fibre plants now attract
ing considerable attention especially in
the temperate sections of the United
States, where there is not plant indlgen-
Gus to Java or China, and from which it
is exported in large quantities to France,
Germany and England, and manufactured
into linen and silks. California has APP
propriated $1,000 to purchase ramie roots
for free distribution and as a bounty
for understandable ramie. The fibre Of
this plant receives and retaines the most
brilliant dyes, is very repugnant TO moths
and its tensile strength is forty per cent
greater than fax. 1t ranks next to silk
as textile fabric. When cultivated
it grows luxuriantly in the southern states
and in southern California, and the only
difficulty attending he product is that a
machine which will effectually separate
the fibre from the stalk has not been pro-
duced, although a number of machines
have been invented for the purpose and
will be exhibited at the exposition.
The exhibits OF hemp, fax, jute. ramle,
ETC., at the Paris exposition in 1873, and
at the Centennial in 1876 we're very inter
esting and complete, aud it is the purpose
of Chief Buchanan, of the agricultural De-
partment, to make this groop at the Coz
nmbian exposition equally so, and tuIiy
illustrative of the progress made IN later
years in the cultivation of fibre plants and
the methods Of preparing the raw material
for market.