The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1894-02-28
THE USE OF ODD FlBERS.
MATERIAL FOR TEXTILE FABRICS
RECOMMENDED BY UNCLE SAM.
Production of Pineapple Fiber-Cul-
tivation of Sisal Hemp-The Re
markable Ramic.

great eHorts TO create pop
ular interest in American
fbers. OF such materials in
the raw the United States imports
$50, 900, 900 worth annually, though it
is reckoned that one-half of that
quantity could be produced in this
country Just as well. The other half
is derived from vegetable species
which could not be cultivated profit
ably here, climate and soil being un-
suitable. Seeing immense profits
ahead, inventors and capitalists are
turning their attention to the making
of machinery for obtaining fibers from
various plants which the farmers will
supply as soon as manufacturers de-
mand them. Meanwhile Uncle Sam
is circulating information far and wide
on the subject, telling what kinds of
leaves and stalks will yield the most
suitable stuff for cordage, twine and
all sorts of textile fabrics.
The fiber bureau at Washington,
under the direction of Expert Charles
Richards Dodge, has great hopes of
the pineapple as fiber producer in
bulb III bllc ruiz 10
grown on large scale, but the leaves
are thrown away--thousands of tons
of them annually. It is frightful
waste, for they can be made to yield
one of the most valuable fbers known.
In India pineapple fiber is woven into
the most delicate of all vegetable
fabrics-the celebrated ''pina. The
1aAAav 1ooIra 1,Ira aud SC
light that it will almost float in the
air when tossed up. For making it
the fibers are lsboriously separated by
hand, the ends being glued together
so as to make a continuous thread.
They can be spun like flax. At the
same time, they are wonderfully
strong, and there is record of an inch
rope formed of them that stood
strain of 500 pounds before breaking.
The cultivation of another plant
namely, sisal hemp-for the fiber
yielded by its leaves is already promis-
ing to develop into a great industry in
Florida. Every year we import from
Yucatan So, 900, 900 worth of this kind
of fiber, which can be produced just
as well and of better quality in the
Peninsular State, south of the frost
line. The sisal grows readily in the
poorest and rockiest soil, which can
not be farmed proftably for anything
else. Apart from its commercial
value, it is one of the most interesting
plants in the world 1t is bush of
huge green bayonet-shaped leaves.
When about six years old it sends up
from its middle with great rapidity
stalk or mast twenty y-five feet high and
three inches in diameter. From the
upper half of this stalk small branches
grow out, each branch bearing tulip
shaped blossoms. The flowers do not
smell pleasantly, their odor being de-
scribed as resembling the bouquet ofa
mouse in an advanced stage of de-
composition under the floor. Pres
emily the blossoms wither, the petals
drop off, and in their place leaves ap.
pear. Within few days, where each
flower was, complete little sisal plant
has developed, attached TO an ex-
tremity of the parent stem. When
mature it drops to the ground, and, il
it manages to come into contact with
the mother earth, proceeds to take
root and become a growth like Its
progenitor This method of reproduc.
tion is found in no plant save the sisal
and few of its near relatives. As
many as 1000 small plants may be
gathered from a single stalk rs they
ripen. They are remarkably tenacious
of life and will retain their vitality for
months out of the ground. Plantations
of sIsal practically take care of them.
selves. The fiber yielded by the
leaves is superb material for cordage,
binding-twine and other purposes,
Ramie is the most remarkable of the
new fiber-producing plants. It's cult
walton it likely to become eventually
one of the foremost agricultural indus
tries of the United States All that is
required TO bring this about is II sat
isfactory machine for separating the
fiber economically. No contrivance
that will accomplish this cheaply has
as yet been devised. Consequently
the stuff is nowhere produced ON a
commercial basis at present, except in
Japan, where labor is procurable for !
next to nothing. The Japanese sepa-
rate the fiber by hand and dry it on
the roofs of their houses. One man
can thus prepare two pounds day.
The plant belongs TO the nettle fam.
lily, and is sometimes called the 'sting. |
less nettle" 1t is also known as China |
grass, having been cultivated in that |
country from time immemorial. The |
fiber is in the bark of the stalk, which .
has "A pithy centre 1t is very beau.
tiful, light, strong as silk and will not
mildew. From it all sorts of eXquis-
ite fabrics are made, counterieiting
silk and the finest linen, as well as
laees for curtains, muslins, dress
goods, plushes and handsome and ser
viceable carpets 1t has been sug-
gested as n future material for yacht
sails, on account of its lightness and
strength. Ramie thrives in the Gulf
States and California. One acre of it
a year oldwill produce 1900 pounds
of stripped stalks ready for machine.
A firm in Salem, Mass, has devised q
plan for reducing the fibrous parts of
the plants into wool-like substance,
from which nice yarns for certain
classas of manufacture are produced.
For the sake of encouraging farmers
IC cultivate it California has offered