The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-09-05


the word ancient does not apply. 1t has
been stated that both flax and hemp were
known TO the ancient Mexicans and Az
tees, though / can refer 90 no records
which relate 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 gen
orally cultivated but cotton was grown
in the southern part of the country Cot
ton and linen were sometimes woven to-
gether FLAX warp and cotton wooD. just
as mixed tow linen is made in the noun
tains of Virginia and North Carolina to-
day. These Egyptian mixed frabrics, as
well as pure cotton cloths, were largely
used in upholstery, as the coverings of
chairs and cOunches, and probably also
as drapery hangings. The cottons of In
dia were famous, and Hndoo muslins We're
formerly produced that were so fine that
when laid upon the grass and wet with
dew they became invisible. The marvel
lous fabrics of Cos and Tarentum, by
some said to have been made from cot
ton, were more likely silk as they are de-
scribed as floating like mist around the
female form, disclosing the contour like
Sauze veil. There is also the record of a
muslin turbn thirty English yards in
length, contained in a cocoanut set with
jewels, which was so exquistely fine that
it could scarcely be felt by the touch 1t
is impossible to say how far back into
the ages cotton was first used in India,
and though it is referred to 800 b. c., we
may be sure that the industry was old at
that time. Cotton was late introduction
into Greece, though it was known 200 B.
c., and even linen was an introduced tex
tile, which came slowly into favor at a
time when wool was almost universally
used
Turning to the western world and to
Il ,,s,-s
find the ancient Peruvians with their SIM
pie hand looms, were enabled to produce
fabrics that were marvels of design and
exquisite in color and finish. Both cotton
and wool were used in the different arti-
cles of dress of these people with other
tibers. The AZtecs, or ancient Mexicans,
were familiar with cotton, as well as sew
eral other vegetable fibers. With cotton
and feathers we are told they produced
a soft and beautiful fabric, which was
used for mantels and blankets, and exam
pies of their plain cotton fabrics are said
to have been as fine as some of the i'm
ported linens Of the present age. Regard
ing the early use of cotton on this CONT
nent there are abundant records to show
that it has been cultivated more or less
generally for four or five centuries. How
long it had been known to the early an
! cestors of some of the native Indian tribes
of our own country viii never be known,
although from the fact that its use is re-
quired in religious ceremonials, as in the
Hopi Indian tribe, we may be sure that
such use is no modern Innovation"
The date palm afforded valuable mate
rial for cordage in Egypt in very early
| times, as modern excavations have shown,
and Pliny says that even the papyrus was
used for cordage as well as for mating,
curtains and sails.
OF the two dozen species of commercial
fiber used in the United States, twenty
ffrrTr Sv, k11 it,
ducts. Taking into account also the i'm
ported manufacturers from fibrous SUBJ
stances and some of the rougher manufac-
lures from fbers, the complete list of
American commercial fibers may be swol-
len to thirty, though many of these are
unimportant. This list includes fax, China
grass, hemp, Jute, sum hemp, Cuba bast
used in millinery; cotton and sisai and
manila hemp, cocoanut fiber, Mexican
whisk Spanish moss, and vegetable
sponge. Since the cultivation of sisal
hemp as a commercial article was begun
in the Bahamas this industry has thrived
until it is one of the chief sources or rev.
enue of Nassau.
AS to the sources of supply from these
hbres," says Mr.. Dodge, flax is import
ed chiefly from Belgium, Russia, Holland
Italy, the United Kingdom of Great Brit
ain and Ireland, and from Canada China
grass or ramie comes from China lin very
small quanGties). Hemp is derived from
Russia, France, Belgium Germany Aus
a-Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, and
British East Indies (the last in trifine
quantity; jute from India and Cuba bast
from the West Indies. The imports of
cotton are chiefly produced in Egypt and
Peru, though small quantities may be de-
rived from other countries Rafia, used
as agricultural tie bands, comes from
Africa.
The sisal hemp supply is produced in
Yucatan, small quantities being produced
in Cuba and the Bahamas. Manila hemp
is a product of the Philippine Islands,
cebu hemp being a trade variety. Maui
ritius or aloe fibre comes from Africa, and
the source of supply of New Zealand flax
is indicated by its name. Tampico, or
istle, is Mexican product, and the Bahia
and Para piassabas, or bass fibres are
collected from Brazilian palms There, are
other species of bass derived from African
palms, which formerly never came to the
United States, and now, that all, only in
trifling quantities. Broom root is a Next
can product, the root of tall, wry grass.
The two palmetto fibres are produced from
uncultivated species of Florida palms.
while the Grin vegetal is derived from an
! allied palm growing in Algeria. The yege-
table hair from Spanish moss is prepared
in South Carolina and other Gulf states,
while cocoanut fibre comes from the East
Indies. Esparto grass is produced in AL
gerla, Spain, and Portugal, and vegetable
| sponge comes largely from Japan.
"Other commercial species that might be
enumerated are imported in a partially
prepared state or as manufactures Such
fbrous substances appear in the form of
straw plat, from Italy, Japan, and China
chiefly, the eastern floor mattings, and
basketry from various substances. In
this account, however, only the raw fibres
are noted.
The fbers produced in this country in
commercial quantity are cotton, hemp,
flax. palmetto fher, and vegetable hair
from Spanish moss. Hemp and fax pro-
duction should be largely extended: jute
production and the growth of sisal hemp.
pineapple and bowstring hemp are possi-
bic Cane fiber can be produced in large
quantities and there are doubtless other
kinds that might form the basis of local
fiber industries"
Mr. Dodge's table shows that we i'm
ported $19,O00000 or S2O000O00 worth of raw
fbers last year. Mr.. Dodge says that il
might be possible 10 manufacture here
twice that amount of fiber. and his inves.
legations have led him to believe that 1t
| MIGHT acflv ba rpsgfbIa 70 vral,,o1 49,.