The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-09-12
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USEFUL FIBER PLANTS.
Interesting Facts in a New Descrip-
tive Catalogue.
From the New York Sun.

From the New York Sun
Charles Richards Dodge, special agent of
the department of agriculture has Just
issued a descriptive catalogue of the use
full fibre plants of the world, which in
cludes lob species. 1t is likely to prove
a valuable addition to the literature of
economic industries, as no work on this
subject so complete has ever been issued
by any country. Mr. Dodge's attention
was attracted to this line of investigation
by the Australian exhibit at the Philadel-
phia centennial, which illustrated a series
of experiments in economic fibre investiga-
ton conducted by DR.. Guilfoyle, of the
Melbourne Botanic Gardens.
The Importance of fibre plants for COM
mercial uses has increased largely as the
qualities OF unknown plants have been
investigated 1t is a fact, however, and
an interesting one, that the most valuable
commercial fibres to-day were the most
valuable commercial fibres of ancient
times, an Illustration of the survival of
the fittest. Flax, cotton, hemp, the lila
ceous tibres, many of the palms and roots,
were valued in past ages, and were en-
ployed in connection with common animal
tlbres, as wool, hair and silk. Mr.. Dodge
says that it may be conjectured that the
fibre in the form of nets may have sug-
gested the first weaving, and then the
substitution of vegetable clothing for the
skins of animals.
According to his catalogue, fax has a
greater antiquity than ony of the other
1ibers known to-day, for its cultivation
goes back to the stone age in Europe 1t
is known to have been manufactured by
the Swiss lake dwellers, a people contem-
poraneous with the long-eXlstent man.
moth and other great mammals of the
quarternary epoch, as specimens of the
straw fiber and fabrics prepared by them
are preserved in museums. At a later
period, though still remote by four or five
thousand years, the Egyptians cultivated
a somewhat different fax that resemb led
the commercial article of to-day They
were skilled in spinning and weaving fax
before the books of Genesis and Exodus
were written, and pictures illustrating the
culture and manufacture of this textile
are carved upon the walls of palaces,
temples and tombs. Egyptian fabrics Of
linen 400 years old, ranging from the
most delicate tissues to stuff like sail
cloth, have been found among the num-
my cloths. and as many as 800 hundred
yards were sometimes used to enwrap one
body. The linens were both white and
dyed in colors yellow, red and purple,
and they were handsomely embroidered
The Phoenicians did much to extend the
culture of fax and the art of weaving
linen, as their ships ploughed the Allan
tic more than 1900 years ago, and CEN
turtles before Christ; the Babylonians
were noted for their luxury and the high
state of the development of their textile
art, fax, cotton and wool being manufac-
tured by them.
Wool" says Mr. Dodge, twas more
grown in ancient Greece than flax, though
the latter textile was produced in certain
favorable districts, and imported in large
quantities for manufacture. There was a
distinct linen industry, slaves being the
operatives, as well as a household indus
try, for whether in the cottage or the pal
ace If possible, a special room was set
apart for the occupation of weaving. In
Homeric times not only were maids and
ladies of high degree familiar with weav-'
ing, but with spinning and embroidery, and
the dstaff, and spindle were often made of
ivory or of gold. As in Greece, so in Rome,
there were regular linen establishments,
and at the same time q domestic manufac-
ture practiced by maids and matrons
Wooden was earlier used for clothing by
the Romans; then linen was employed
first for domestic uses. then as a dress
material, the women adopting it before
the men.
Regarding the early use of linen in our
own country, the time when American
history began TO be made is so recent that
the word ancient does not apply. 1t has
been stated that both fax and hemp were
known to the ancient Mexicans, or Aztecs.
though 1 can refer to no records which re-
late to their use.
while it has been shown that cotton
was the ancient national textile of India.
Its cultivation and use were by no means
confined to that country. Flax was the
aristocratic textile OF Egypt, and was
generally cultivated, but cotton was
grown in the southern part of the coun-
try. Cotton and linen were sometimes
woven together (hax warp and cotton