Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-08-21
THE WORK OF SPECIAL AGENT DODGE
A Comprehensive Publication Of
Great Commercial Value.
THE WORLDS PRODUCTS


and includes the enumeration Of lois spe-
cies of useful fiber plants, the more impor-
tsnt of which are fully described and treat
ed from the botanical, agricultural and
industrial standpoints. They are described
or referred to under their scientific, COM
n,ercial, common and native names, as far
as the latter could be obtained, and prop
erly verified. The kind of fiber produced,
the part of the plant producing it, as well
as the position of the species in the vege-
table kingdom, is indicated, and in some
instances the names of museum or museums
ere stated where specimens of the fiber are
preserved. 1t has taken about twenty
years to prepare this work.
The object of the publication is to bring
together in one volume, arranged for ready
reference, a descriptive list of such useful
tbers of the world as are known to be- or
which have been, employed commercially,
or those prepared by the natives in the
countries where they abound or which
have been the subject of experiment, and
shown at prominent Industrial expeditions
Naturally, the simple list of commercial
species would make an insignificant show
ing; the experimental list would be much
larger, the gre alter number of species there
1ofe coming into the category of native
hbers, of which the Indian hemp, the plant
that supplies several North American
indian tribes with material for their cord
age hsh lines and nets. is an example.
Modern and Ancient.
The author states as an interesting fact
though in no wise remarkable one, that
the most valuable commercial fibers of to-
cay were the prominent fibers of ancient
times, Illustrating in a word, the survival
OF the fittest. Flax, cotton, hemp, the lila
ceous fibers, mary of the palms, weeds and
grasses, were known and valued in past
ages on both hemispheres, being imported
In connection with the common animal
fbers as wool, Lair and silk When or how
vegetable fbers first came to be used Mr.
Dodge says, will never be known but it is
possible that they were first employed in
aulng man to secure his food, as the ma
tives of every country, from the burning
tropics to the frigid l,orth have drawn
largely upon the resources of the vegetable
Kingdom for their fish lines and nets. 1t
t IliSht De further conjectured, he states,
that the rude knotting of the twisted fila
Eents of fiber in the form of nets may
have first suggested the weaving and the
SUBSTITUTION of vegetable clothing for the
skins OF animals.
Antiquity of Flax.
Flax has greater antiquity than any of
the fbers of which there is any knowledge
Tor its cultivation goes back to the Stone
age in Europe. 1t is known to have been
manufactured by the Swiss lake jewellers
a people contemporaneous with the long
extinct mammoth and other great NAM
mals of the quaternary epcch as sneci
mems of the straw fiber fabrics and others
prepared by them are preserved in the mn
seums Egyptian fabrics of linen 4 5On
years old are found in the museums. and
among the mummy cloth fabrics from, tho
Eost delicate tissues of linen to sailc,oth
Wrapplngs. have been also found. and az
many as 5oO yards were used to wrap one
o. nooyi me linens are both white and dyed
In colors yellow, red and purple. and thew
were handsomely embroidered
~ the two dozen species of commercial
npers used In the United States. the work
says, twenty hgure in the list of imported
important manufactures from fibrous s,,h
stances, and some of the rougher Iaanufac
lures from fibers or fiber substances nro.
uuced at nome, the complete list of Ameri
can commercial fibers may be sweIIed to
thirty species. many of these being min
portant. 'A''''
The Bast Fibcrs,
Ihere are six bast fibers, as follows: Flax.
emma grass, hemp, jute, Sum hemp and
cuba bast. all excepting the las: being
spinning fbers, the Cuba bast finding en-
ployment in millineries. There are two SIR
race fibers. cotton and rafia. The list Of
structural fibers numbers fifteen. renresant
ing asaVes' palms and grasses, as follows:
Slsal hemp, Manila hemp, Mauritius and
New Zealand fax, cordage fibers Tamnjco
or lstle, Bahia paissaba Para naissaha
mexican Whfsk or broom root and cab
page palmetto brush fibers; Grin vegetal
spanish moss, saw palmetto cocoanut fiber
upholstery and mating fibers. Esnarto
grass, Tor paper manufacture and vega
table sponge,as substitute for bath spoopes
me Two species of palmetto and the Span
duced in this country
AS to the sources of supply of these fibers.
max Is imported chiefly from Belgium. Rus
s.a. Holland Italy. the united kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland and from
Canada. China grass or ramie comes from
Snha I'm very small quantities). Hemp is
derived from Russia, France, Belgium, Ger
in many austria, Hungary, Italy, the Neither
lands and British East Indies (the latter in
trining quantity: jute from India, and Cuba
bast from the West Indies. The imports of
cotton are chiefly produced in Eernt md
feru' though small quantities may be OBJ
as agricultural tie bands, comes from
Africa. -oA'
SisnI Grass.
The sisal hemp is produced in Yucatan.
small quantities being produced in Cuba
and the Bahamas. Manila hemp is the
product Of the Philippine Island, cebu hemp
being trade variety. Mauritius or aloe
fiber comes from Africa, and the source of
supply of New Zealand fax is indicated by
Its name. Tampico. or Istle, is a Mexican
product, and the Bahia and Para piassabas
Ian plains. There are other species Of bass
derived from African palms, which former
ly never came to the United States and
now. II at all. only in trifling quantities.
Broom root is a Mexican product, the root
OF tall. wiry grass. The two palmetto
fbers are produced from uncultivated spe-
Giles of Florida palms. while the Grin vegetal
Is derived from an allied PALM growing in
Algeria. The vegetable hair from Spanish
moss is prepared in South Carolina and
other gulf states. while cocoanut fiber
comes from the East Indies. Esparto grass
is produced In Algeria, Spain and Portugal,
and vegetable sponge comes largely from
Japan.
Other commercial species that might be
enumerated are imported in partially pre-
pared state or as manufactures. Such
fbrous substances appear IN the form Of
straw plait from Italy, Japan and China,
chiefly. the eastern floor mattings and bas-
kerry from various substances. In this ac-
count. however, only the raw hbers are
noted.
The American Varieties.
The fbers produced in this country In
commercial quantity are cotton, hemp. fax.
palmetto fiber and vegetable hair from