The record-union., 1891-07-01
FIBROUS PLANTS.
An Interesting Exhibit to be MADE
at the Worlds Fair,
Ramie VIII Cut a Prominent Figure in
the Coliection-Mnchin fo"
It's Manufacture.

The efforts which are being made TO in
crease the production Of vegetable fiber
in this country will receive a strong
stimulus from the display Of farouS
plants and their products at the Column
bian Exposition.
Group Nine OF the official classification
includes all Of the vegetable tibers. such
as cotton, hemp, flax, jate, ramie, in
primitive forms, and in ali stages OF prep
aTatiOn for spinning, substitutes for
hemp, cocoanut fiber and ali similar sub
stances.
This country grows annually about one
acreage OF hemp, and these two are our
principal fiber-producing plants, with
the exception of cotton.
Our imports Of textile grasses and
fibers now amount to about 25S, 600 tons
per annum, valued at about fourteen
million dollars. There seems to be Ito
good reason why large part Of the above
sum should not be paid 10 home pToduc-
ers, which would be the ease il more at
tention was paid 10 tne production Of veg
ctabIe ii Der in this country than has been
done in Tie past. Heretofore MaX has
been grown by the farmers Of lliis COIN
try almost entirely for seed, part OF the
straw going to tow or paper mills and
bringing on an average not more than
81 30 TO 81 a ton, the remainder-anC.
much larger part-being burned or
wasted.
To what extent flax may be profitably
grown, both for seed and fiber, is one OF
the vexed problems which it is hoped the
exhibit at the exposition Will 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 flax
for fiber is the chief industry OF the farm
ing population, and the exhibit of flax
from those countries will no doubt prove
very interesting and valuable TO Ameri-
can farmers.
Fibrelia, new product from common
flax straw, promises to have an impor-
tant bearing on textile interests i'll the
future. By process Of manipulation the
straw is reduced TO a short staple very
closely resembling cotton or wool, and
when mixed with either is said to add
materially to the value Of the product III
beauty and strength. 1t is claimed that
twenty-five per cent. of fbrelia mixed
with seVenty-five per cent. Of wool made
into broadciOth gives product much
more valuable than if made of wool
alone.
The area devoted to the cultivation of
American hemp has of late wears been
extended into States north of the Ohio
River, ana recent experiments encourage
the hope that sisal hemp may be profita-
bly, grown in Florida.
Among other fiber plants now attract
ing considerable attention, especially in
the temperate sections of the United
States, where there is not a great amount
of rainfall, Is ramie, q plant indigenous to
Java and China, and from which it is eX-
ported in largo quantities to France.
Germany and England, and manuiact-
ured into linen and silks. California has
appropriated 5000 to purchase ramie
roots for free distribution and as bounty
for merchantabie ramie.
The fiber of this plant receives and re-
tains the most brilliant dyes; is very re-
pugnant TO moths, and its tensile strength
is 40 per cent. greater than flax. 1t ranks
next to silk as a textile fabric. When
cultivated it grows luXuriantly in the
Southern States and in California, and
the only difficulty attending the product
is that n machine which will etfectuallv
separate the fiber from the stalk has not
been produced, although a number OF
machines have been invented for the
purpose and will be exhibited at the ex-
position.
The exhibits of hemp, flax, iute, ramie.
etc., at the Paris Exposition in 1878, and
at the Centennial in 1876, were very in
teresting and complete, and it is the pur-
pose of Chief Buchanan, of the Agricult-
ural Department, to make this group at
the Columbian Exposition equally so, and
fully illustrative of the progress made in
later years in the cultivation Of fiber
plants and the methods of preparing the
raw material for market