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State College of Agriculture

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Cornell University Library

SB 241.G9

Fibres from plants, indigenous and intro

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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, VICTORIA.

FIBRES FROM PLANTS,

INDIGENOUS AND INTRODUCED,

ELIGIBLE FOR INDUSTRIAL CULTURE AND
EXPERIMENT IN VICTORIA,

BY

WILLIAM RB. GUILFOYLHE,

F.L.S., F.R.G.S., F.R.H.S., C.M.R.B.8., London,

Director of the Melbourne Botanical Gardens.

f

/

By Authority :

ROBT. S, BRAIN, GOVERNMENT PRINTER, MELBOURNE.

1s094.
7363. y
FIBRES FROM PLANTS,
INDIGENOUS AND INTRODUCED,

Eligible for Industrial Culture and Experiment in Victoria.*

By Witiiau R. Guirvorre, F.L.S., erc.,

Director of the Melbourne Botanical Gardens.

Tuat the colony of Victoria possesses special advantages, and,
no less, offers special facilities for the cultivation of a very wide
range of plants indeed, cannot be denied. Blessed with every
variety of soil, climate, and natural configuration, and, generally
speaking, with a fairly liberal water supply, plants of all kinds,
except perhaps those of the tropical and arctic regions, may be
fairly grown within its boundary. It is to be regretted that, with
the mndoubtedly splendid opportunities which beneficent nature
has showered on this colony with so lavish a hand, in the form of
various kinds of soil and characters of climate, so little has been
done in the way of taking practical advantage of those opportuni-
ties. This deficiency arises from the fact, perhaps, that we as a
nation sprang into existence having almost all things ready
fashioned to our hands. From the finest broadcloth to the
coarsest sacking, from the heaviest cable to the most delicate
thread, from the strongest pasteboard to the thinnest paper, all
were at our command and easy of acquisition; and therefore,
probably, we have not troubled ourselves, as we might have done
under other circumstances, about their production.

In the earlier ages of the world, men had at first to find the
wherewithal to satisfy the natura] cravings of hunger, and, having
done that, being neither protected with wool nor fur nor hair like
the beasts, nor with feathers like the birds, to cast about for
something to protect them from the inclemency of the weather.
Necessity was, indeed, the mother of invention, and the earliest
Biblical records show us that even our first parents sewed to them-
selves clothing of leaves, a sufficient internal proof that they
must have discovered, at least, the filamentary properties of
certain plants, while, later still, the ancient Egyptians must be
eredited with having utilized the fibre of the flax plant for

 

* Being the substance of a recent lecture at the Chamber of Rural Industries, Melbcurne.
A2
4

weaving, not only into their mummy cloth, as has been shown by
microscopic examination, but also into the fine linen mentioned
in Holy Writ.

If further proof were needed as to the cultivation of flax by
that remarkable people, it is only necessary to refer to the
description of the plague of hail mentioned in the Book of
Exodus :—‘‘ For the barley was in the ear, and the flax was
bolled,” or in seed. Even in our own time, and in this part of the
world, we know that the Aborigines of this country, who are,
perhaps, among the lowest in the scale of civilization, used the
fibres of plants for their cordage, fishing nets and lines, and bags
for carrying food, while our neighbours, the Maories, wove the
fibre of the so-called New Zealand flax-plant (Phormium tenax)
into mats, some of them highly if rudely ornamental, for clothing,
as well as for cordage, nets, bird snares, and other purposes. It
may be said, in fact, that the use of fibrous plants is coeval with
the creation of the human race, and has come down throughout
all ages and with all peoples to the present day.

VICTORIA ADAPTED FOR FIBRE PLANTS.

All this is, nevertheless, perhaps somewhat beside the question
of why we in this colony should not devote some of our energy and
enterprise in the direction of cultivating, for economic purposes,
the very many fibre-producing plants which lie close to hand, or
which may readily and successfully be grown in our midst. That
they may be so grown, and that fibres of commercial value can
be produced from them, is amply demonstrated by the fact that
large collections have been, from time to time, shown at various
Exhibitions at home and abroad, and that some of them have
gained high commendation from scientific, manufacturing, and
mercantile experts.

I have much pleasure in bringing under notice more than 130
samples of fibres produced from as many different plants (indi-
genous and exotic) grown in the Melbourne Botanic Gardens,
and of which in most instances specimens have been sent to the
following Exhibitions :—The Centennial of Philadelphia, 1876,
and the preparatory one here in 1875; the Paris Universal, 1878;
Melbourne International of 1880; that of Amsterdam, 1883; New
Orleans, 1884-5; the Colonial and Indian, 1886; Jubilee Inter-
national, Adelaide, 1887; Melbourne Centennial, 1888-9; the
New Zealand Exhibition of the same year; and last, not least,
to the Imperial Institute.

The samples were all prepared by hand, under my direction, by
garden employés, and with very crude appliances, such as blunt
knives and scrapers, which were used for the purpose of removing
the soft vegetable matter after the leaves or stems (as the case
5

might be) had been either steeped for a few days in the lake or
boiled in coppers. ‘The heckling or combing out afterwards, to
separate the filaments or threads, was effected by simply drawing
handfuls of the fibre through eight or ten nail-like spikes, 6 to
7 inches long, inserted ina board placed on a table—a very simple
process indeed, it will be said, but one which would be a very
tedious and unprofitable device in dealing with, say, the produce
of anacre. No doubt suitable machinery would soon be found
for extracting the most of the new fibres I shall refer to, especially
should they prove to be of marketable value; but I may here
remark that manufacturers in these colonies as a rule, though
they do not object to test new kinds, seldom care to have any-
thing more to do with them, probably because of the uncertainty
of cheap production and the possibility of not being able to
obtain a sufficient supply of material. Again, it may be stated
that it would be utterly useless for any one to attempt the eculti-
vation of any fibres, no matter how common or how valuable, if
not kept up to a uniform quality by careful preparation.

It would occupy too much space were I to attempt to describe:
the merits or demerits of the whole of the fibres (vide appended
list). I have, however, classified them in their natural orders or
families as they are related to each other in botanical sequence,
merely referring to some, but dwelling more particularly upon
those which, in my opinion, may be most worthy of experimenting
with farmers or enterprising agriculturists.

First, then, I begin with

THE MALLOW FAMILY, ORDER MALVACE,

which includes the well-known Cotton of commerce (Gossy-
pium), cultivated in warm climates for its capsular fibre and
not for its bast. Although one or two kinds of cotton plants have
been known to grow to fair size in a season in certain favoured
localities within the boundary of Victoria, it is extremely doubtful
whether it would ever become a profitable industry, even by the
aid of irrigation, in any part of the colony. Be that as it may,
however, we have in the Mallow family an abundance of hardy
perennial plants (including shrubs and trees indigenous and intro-
duced) that will grow freely almost anywhere, and which will
yield from their bast (or inner bark) fibres of excellent quality.
known to be useful for many purposes. Sida rhombifolia (syn.
S. retusa) for instance—known as “ Queensland Hemp,” but in
no way related to the true hemp (Cannabis sativa)—will grow as
rapidly in Victoria as in Queensland or New South Wales, where
it is indigenous. It is found also in North and South America
and the East and West Indies. By retting (steeping) from six
to ten days it gives a fibre similar to the best jute, useful for rope
6

making, weaving into textile fabrics (by itself, or as an admixture
with other fibres of softer and finer character), and is also capable
of being made into excellent paper.

Professor Charles R. Dodge, of the Department of Agriculture,
New York, one of the greatest authorities on the subject of
Fibres, and who examined the samples sent to Philadelphia
in 1876, speaks well of this so-called “ Queensland Hemp,” and
particularly of a sample sent by Mr. Alexander McPherson, of
Brisbane. He says—‘‘It is very white and lustrous, the fila-
ments fine and even; ina portion of the sample the ribbon-like
character of the bark is retained, filled with delicate indentations,
giving it a Jace-like appearance. These ribbons of fibre break
easily, but a twisted cord of the finer prepared fibre, the size of
cotton wrapping twine of the shops, broke only after repeated
trials with the hands.” Dr. Forbes Watson, another acknow-
ledged authority, says, in the Descriptive Catalogue of the East
Indian Department, International Exhibition, 1862 :—It is similar
to jute in appearance, but intrinsically so superior that it is worth
from £5 to £6 more per ton,” and places it next to that fibre in
order to attract to it the attention which it deserves. Professor
Dodge adds that experiments with the fibre demonstrated the
fact that a cord half an inch in circumference would sustain a
weight of 400 Ibs.; and in speaking of Dr. Roxburgh’s samples
from India, Royle says—“ The filaments are from 4 to 5 feet in
length and display a fine soft and silky fibre, as well adapted
for spinning as jute, but infinitely superior.” It is a semi-de-
ciduous shrub, 3 to 5 feet high, and should yield a handsome
return if extensively cultivated, as it is content with a moderately
good soil and requires no particular skillin preparing the fibre for
market.

The Abutilons, or “ Lantern flowers,” are well-known garden
shrubs, of quick growth and robust habit. There are of these
six samples of fibre, several of which have been valued by experts
at £10 to £20 per ton. Mr. Lefranc, of Philadelphia, states that
some of the Abutilons are good for weaving tissues and for mixing
with a certain class of woollen goods.

Abutilon Bedfordianum, from Brazil, is a tall shrub, of very
rapid growth in Victoria, and the bark yields a fibre of superior
quality. Three other Brazilian species (A. venosum, A. striatum,
and A. vexillarium) also grow readily here, produce fibre and
bast of fine quality, suitable for whipcord, matting, paper, &e.,
and are all easily prepared by the simple process of macerating
the young shoots or rods in the same way as jute.

Several species of the closely-allied Hibiscus yield white silky
fibres. ‘They are chiefly denizens of India, the Cape, America,
&e., but a number of beautiful kinds are found in New South
Wales and Queensland. ‘Those which are hardy in Victoria are,
7

like the Abutilons, easily propagated by stout cuttings a foot in
length, and should be planted in rows, in a sandy or loose soil,
‘during the winter season. Perhaps the best known here are—
Hibiscus Syriacus (syn. Althea frutex), or ‘“‘ Syrian Rose-mal-
low”; H. splendens, “ Hollyhock tree” of Queensland and New
South Wales; H. heterophyllus, the Queensland “Sorrel tree,”
native name “ Batham”; and H. mutabilis, or “ Changing Rose-
mallow,” from China and India. These shrubs average from
10 to 12 feet in height, and the bast from their stems and
branches may be spun and woven into fine textures. The first
mentioned affords a long beautiful white fibre of considerable
strength, which could be worked into cloth or converted into cord.
Hibiscus esculentus, besides giving a fibre of fair quality, pro-
duces mucilaginous seeds, the capsules being used as an article of
food in the West Indies and South America, and known as
“ o&hro,” “ gobbo,” or “ baudakai.”

The “ Ribbonwood of Otago” (Hoheria populnea) is a hand-
some tree, not unlike the Aspen, and the delicate lace-like bast
from its young branches, being strong and glossy, might be used
for other purposes than matting and string. The same may be
said of Plagianthus pulchellus, known as the “ Victorian Hemp
bush,” but which is indigenous also to New South Wales and
Tasmania. It abounds on the banks of the Yarra near Mel-
bourne, and will flourish on any land subject to occasional
inundation. In this case, as in many others, it may be said that
familiarity breeds contempt, and that a prophet is not without
honour save in his own country, for this plant will produce fibre
quite equal to that of the Sida rhombifolia, or “ Queensland
Hemp,” and is, in fact, longer in staple. It may be obtained fully
8 feet in length if necessary; but, although the tree is of rapid
growth and easily reproduced from seed, a good crop of bark
could not be obtained until the plants are, say, from five to six
years old. Another species of this tree (P. betulinus), the “Lace-
bark,” or “Ribbon tree” of New Zealand, also grows well in
moist rich soil, and furnishes good fibre. Nor are the Mallows*
themselves to be despised.

The “Common Tree Mallow” (Lavatera arborea), a tall
biennial plant, yields a bast highly recommended for paper
pulp; the Sea Mallow (L. maritima) gives a fine fibre 3 to 4
feet long, easily prepared; and the ‘‘ Velvet Mallow” (L. Olbia),
which is a perennial evergreen, supplies from its bark a substance
not unlike white horsehair, and quite as useful for many purposes.
Malva Capensis, the “ Cape Mallow,” and Sphzralcea umbellata,

 

* Lavatera plebeja (Australian Mallow)—-a white-flowered perennial often attaining a height
-of 5 feet, and found in Victoria, New South Wales, and South Australia—produces a strong
- soft silky fibre, which has been converted into fine twine of great strength. It is frequently

used by the Aborigines for_fishing lines and nets.
8

known as the “Globe Mallow,” a native of Mexico, both yield
silky fibres useful for cordage—that of the latter averaging from:
4 to 5 feet in length. Lagunaria (Fugosia) Patersonii, the
“Whitewood,” or “Cow-itch tree” of Norfolk Island, is a vigorous
grower in this climate, and a specimen of its bast sent to the
Philadelphia Exhibition was placed in the third division of
Professor Dodge’s Economic Classification, under the heading of
“Fibres capable of employment in the arts, &e.”

Closely allied to the Mallow tribe is

THE “BOTTLE TREE” FAMILY, ORDER STERCU-
LIACEA,

several representatives of which are trees of large size, notably
the Sterculias themselves, one of which, Sterculia diversi-
folia, is known in Victoria, New South Wales, and Queens-
land as the “ Currijong,” and by the settlers of Gippsland also
as “ Bottle tree,” because of its thick swollen trunk ; Sterculia
acerifolia, the “ Flame tree” of New South Wales; S. lurida,
Commersonia Fraseri—known in parts of Victoria as “ Black-
fellow’s Hemp;” Dombeya Natalensis, or “Cape Wedding-
flower,” and other members of the family all yield from their
stems and branches strong fibre not easily affected by wet, and
therefore suitable for ropes, matting, baskets, &c., whilst the
refuse or tow, after heckling, supplies no mean substitute for
horsehair, its elastic nature rendering it invaluable for upholstering
purposes.

THE “LINDEN TREE” FAMILY, ORDER TILIACEZ.

supplies us with that valuable fibre, the Indian jute, which in
Bengal has been cultivated and woven into various fabrics from
a remote period, and yet, little more than half a century ago,
was considered a weed and unfit for textile purposes, the green.
tops only being used as a pot herb or vegetable by the Jews in
the East, and known as “ Jew’s Mallow.”

Indian jute is obtained from two distinet species of the plant
(Corchorus capsularis and C. olitorius), principally the former.
Several other species, however, are supposed to possess filaments
of great tenacity. According to Baron von Mueller’s Census
of Australian Plants, there are no less than seventeen species of
Corchorus found growing wild in the north of this continent, and
Corchorus olitorius, one of the Indian kinds, is included in the
number. Again, the Baron states in his work Select Plants for
Industrial Culture, that the first-named (C. capsularis) is also.
indigenous to North-West Australia.
9

Now, the question arises—Can jute be cultivated in Victoria ?
In certain favoured warm localities, where there is rich loose soil
that can be easily irrigated and drained, I am inclined to believe
it can, and in such places its cultivation, on a simall scale, may be
worthy of trial; but, speaking generally, J] think it extremely
doubtful that it would ever become a profitable industry in this
colony. As regards the kind of climate and soil most suitable for
jute, and the mode of treating the crop in Bengal, I cannot do.
better than quote from Mr. D. A. Curr’s interesting article, which
appeared in the Bury Times, Lancashire, in January last.* ‘Jute
is the most extensively cultivated of plants throughout the whole
delta of Bengal. It is generally grown during the rainy season,
on high land, and not, like rice land, subject to submersion,
which would utterly ruin the jute plant for textile uses. The
seeds are sown in} April or May, when there has been a sufficiency
of rain to moisten the ground, on land ploughed and rolled, and
the seeds which had been sown broadcast are then harrowed over
to cover them. No plant is more grateful for kindly cultivation
than jute. It thrives best in a warm loamy soil, well manured.
A hot and moderately rainy season suits it best; but excessive:
rain injures it. In this respect it is a delicate plant. It also
requires to be carefully weeded when young, but it soon acquires
altitude and strength enough to suppress all intruders on its
territory. A good crop attains the height of from 10 to 12 feet ;
I have used some even Jonger. Heat and moisture produce the
most luxuriant crop of jute. The land is irrigated according to
need ; where the soil is damp and cold, irrigation is not required.
In about 100 days the crop is ready for cutting. It is cut like:
corn, but close to the roots; no stubble is left. It is tied up in
bundles and laid in a shallow tank or ditch, and over the bundles
clods are Jaid to sink them overhead in the water until rotted,
that is to say, the bark rotted off, which requires about ten days’
immersion, or steep, as it is called. When the bark is easily
removed, and the fibrous substance soft, it is ready to be taken
out of the steep, and the water wrung out of it, as a washerwoman
does with her clothes, and hung up on lines to dry ; afterwards
cleaned from all bits of bark and other impurities, then bundled
up and sent to Calcutta to be sorted and made up in the bazaar,
where there are many wealthy merchants who deal in jute.”
The same writer, speaking of the uses of jute, says—‘ The
clothes we wear are more or less composed of jute; what is called
canvas padding is made of jute ; the stuffing of women’s stays is
jute; in fact, the increase and ubiquity of jute is truly marvela
lous. The bags that contain our coal, the sacks that hold our

 

* Kindly placed with other useful records at my disposal by Mr. J. Arbuckle-Reid of this-
city.
+ The month of October would be the best time to sow seed in most parts of Victoria,
10

grain and flour, are jute; seed bags of all sorts are jute; every bale
the eye can look upon is wrapped in jute; every bale in our docks
and warehouses is jute; every bale in every ship at sea is jute.
Many scores of tons of jute-yarn, which covered the Atlantic
telegraph wire to America, taken out and reeled off by the Great
Eastern steam-ship, now lie quietly at work at the bottom of the
sea ; and thousands of tons of jute are doing a similar service to
mankind in every quarter over the terraqueous globe, constituting
the peaceful medium of intercourse among all nations. In the
time of the Crimean War millions of jute bags filled with earth or
sand were used for the construction of bastions or earthworks.
A large proportion of the paper used in the world is made from
jute; hops from the sunny south of England are conveyed to
their destination in bags of jute; screens for upholstery and for
protecting fruit and other trees are woven from jute.” We learn
from the British Trade Journal, September, 1893, that the
imports of jute into the United Kingdom, in 1892, amounted to
255,000 tons, the value of which was nearly £4,000,000, and,
independent of the quantity of material exported, 170,000 tons
were used principally for yarn and piece goods for the export
market. The value of jute as imported into England and Scot-
land is from £17 to £24 per ton.

Another member of the Jute family is Sparmannia Africana
(vide Fig. No. 1), a well-known evergreen garden shrub from the
Cape, but the value of which as « fibre plant has yet to be proved
by experts. Ifthe fibre be really worth anything, I can safely lay
claim to having been the first to discover the textile properties of the
plant ; and in forwarding a somewhat roughly-prepared specimen
to Philadelphia, I gave it the provisional name “ African Hemp
bush.” Professor Dodge’s opinion of it, as expressed in his
general report on fibres, is rather favorable; he says—‘‘ The
fibre is of a brilliant silvery-grey colour when it has been
properly prepared; some of the filaments of the sample are
brilliant and lustrous, and it possesses considerable strength, in
fact seems almost equal to China grass (Rheea or Ramie) in
tenacity.” This fibre could be produced in enormous quantities
in Victoria, as the shrub grows with extraordinary rapidity in any
loose fairly good soil, with or without irrigation, although a
liberal water supply during the warm season would improve the
growth of the plant, and render it capable of producing at least
two crops of “canes” or shoots ina year. The double-flowered
variety (undoubtedly the best) is of dense habit, attains a height
of 10 or 12 feet, and can be readily propagated hy cuttings, seeds,
or division of the roots ; whilst the mode of obtaining the bast
is by simply macerating the stems and branches for eight or ten
days, according to temperature and the age of the wood, and after-
wards heckling.
11

THE “FLAX FAMILY,” ORDER LINEA,

foilows the three preceding orders in a direct line of botanical
relationship, according to Hooker and Bentham’s standard work,
the Genera Plantarum. The birthplace of the flax (Linum
usitatissimum) is supposed to be Asia, but it is found all over
Europe, particularly in the south. The cultivation of this annual
has now an almost world-wide distribution. Fine linen or mummy
cloth was used by the Egyptians 1200 years B.C. Indeed the
plant seems to have been cultivated from the remotest antiquity,
manufactured flax having been discovered in the pre-historic lake
cities of Switzerland.

The uses to which flax can be put are almost innumerable, but
the principal are the manufacture of linen, lace, holland, drills,
sheeting, shirting, and clothes of many kinds, table-cloths, floor-
cloths, sail-cloth or canvas tents, woolpacks and bagging, paper,
cambric, string, twine, sewing thread, cord, &c., while the refuse
fibre is utilized for packing for steam-engines, &c., and the seeds
for oil, oileake, and linseed meal.

That good marketable flax has been grown in Victoria is proved
by the fact that Mr. James Miller, the rope merchant of this city,
has given as much as £40 per ton for some grown in Gippsland,
and a few weeks ago he showed me a splendid sample, fully
2 feet in length, that was produced at Yarram (South Gippsland),
where there are about 100 acres or more now under cultivation.
Mr. Miller also told me that a number of growers there have just
formed themselves into a co-operative company for the purpose
of developing the industry, and that 100 acres more (40 at Orbost
and 50 at Glengarry) have been sown down this season. JI am
informed also that Mr. D. F. Mackenzie, who is an enthusiastic
believer in the ultimate value of the Victorian-grown article, has
. been good enough to grant the farmers at Yarram the use of
a water-power engine and turbine, to drive certain machinery
useful in connexion with the preparation of the flax for market,
and that a skilled man, approved by the growers, is to be ap-
pointed to superintend the work. This, it must be admitted, is a
step in the right direction. No doubt better encouragement will
be given to the rope manufacturers here if the flax is carefully
prepared, kept up to a good standard quality, and if a regular
yearly supply can be depended upon. Jt may be said of flax, as
of sugar cane and many other crops, that the product is made in
the field. The crop must be well cultivated. Flax will succeed
in any place where wheat will grow, and as well inland, north or
south, in this colony as near the coast ; moreover, it will flourish
in soil that will produce inferior crops of grain. It delights in
soil in which its roots can ramify freely, such as that of the rich
uplands and river flat lands of Gippsland, or the fine loam found
12

in patches all over the Goulburn Valley, and in other parts of
the colony. A light loam on a clay subsoil is said to be good ;
in fact, flax may be cultivated in any fairly good land, but perfect
drainage and a moderate amount of moisture are indispensably
necessary. It will not succeed in soddened wet soils, or in harsh
clay liable to get hard, nor is it likely to do well in sand where
there is a substratum of coarse dry gravel only a few inches
beneath the surface. Although in rich soils no manure need be
used, it is never wise to crop with flax too many years in succes-
sion. Some Continental and American growers limit it to five,
others to three years. Many cultivators adopt a judicious rotation
of wheat or oats, clover, vegetables of various kinds, such as
potatoes and turnips, for the purpose of maintaining the fertility
of the soil, but the latter vegetable, it is said, should never imme-
diately precede flax. ‘There is no plant which needs more careful
attention in regard to cleanly cultivation. Weeds are its greatest
enemy, and should be kept down, or freed from the crop at inter-
vals, before it has become 6 or 7 inches high. In some soils,
however, flax grows so rapidly that any weeds which crop up
(excepting, of course, such strong growers as docks and thistles)
are smothered at once, and thus a considerable amount of labour
is saved. But should weeding be necessary, an industrious man,
who, by the way, should be either barefooted or shod with
woollen socks, to prevent permanent injury to the plants by
treading them down, can get over an acre of ground in three or
four days, perhaps less. Children also can be made useful for
the work, which should always be performed in moist weather
(because the weeds are more easily pulled up), and facing the
wind, so that the trodden-down plants may the more readily
regain an upright position.

The preparation of the ground for sowing is a very important
matter, and to do this thoroughly means ploughing deeply in the:
autumn for spring sowing. Heavy land will probably require
deep cross ploughing again during the winter. Ground which
has already been cropped with wheat or potatoes, &c., needs
only shallow ploughing—say 38 to 4 inches after the first
deep ploughing—and should be stirred up with a cultivator
(the Planet is the best, 1 think), the weeds removed, and then
harrowed several times diagonally. If the soil happen to be of a
loose friable character, so much the less trouble in rolling, which
must be done prior to sowing, so as to render the ground as
smooth and uniform as it can be made. The object of this is, the
seed can be scattered evenly broadcast, and the crop thereby made
regular and better for pulling or mowing. As regards the proper
time to sow, there is great diversity of opinion, and the farmer
must be guided by circumstances, and the climate with which
he has to deal. I think that the advice given by an old flax
13

‘grower in New York would be a safe rule to adopt in Victoria—
‘Sow when the soil has settled, and is warmed by the influence
of the sun, and when weeds and grass have begun to spring up,
and the leaves of trees begun to unfold.” It would be wise not
to sow until the frosts have ceased, and never in wet weather.
The months of October and November are quite early enough,
I should think, for most parts of this colony. After the seed has
been sown, the ground should be lightly harrowed several times,
and then rolled.

It is very necessary indeed to be careful as to quality of the
seed, for on that depends, in a great measure, the success or non-
success of the crop. If the seed contain weed seeds, it should be
carefully passed through sieves. Dutch seed is said to be best
for heavy soils, but Riga or Russian seed is the kind generally
used in Ireland, Belgium, France, and America. Change of seed
is no doubt desirable oceasionally, the same as with wheat and
‘other cereals, to prevent deterioration ; and the Belgians, who are
perhaps the most successful and careful cultivators of flax in the
world, use the precaution of obtaining fresh seed from Riga every
second year, for the purpose of sowing and producing home-grown
‘seed for the following season. As regards the quantity of sced
necessary per acre, from 2} to 3 bushels will be required if the
‘crop be intended for fibre, in which case it must be sown thickly ;
if for linseed, 2 bushels, or even less, will be sufficient. In about
ten or twelve weeks after spring sowing (the exact. time depends
upon the nature of the soil and climate) the crop will be ready
for pulling or mowing. Pulling is the system adopted by careful
cultivators if the crop be intended for fine fibre. To pull too
early or too late is to alter the texture of the fibre, perhaps to
spoil it. If too soon, the fibre is weak or very fine; if too late,
it is of coarse quality. When very fine fibre is required, the crop
is pulled while in flower, or when the “bolls” or seed pods are
just forming. If fibre of a stronger character be desirable, the
‘crop is said to be at its best when the stalk of the plant, for about
half its height from the ground, has turned yellow, and the upper
capsules have begun to turn brown. In pulling, a sudden jerk
cand slight shake is necessary, so as not to drag up the soil. Flax
is seldom of uniform height in the field, therefore the tallest
plants should be grasped at the first handful and the shorter ones
at the second handful. In this way, the short and the long stems
can be kept separated and tied up in distinct bundles.

Flax intended for stacking or housing is allowed to remain
long enough on the ground to dry. In this climate only a short
weathering will be necessary, and after being rippled it may be
tied up again in bundles, and either stacked for the purpose of
being dealt with afterwards or the preparation of the fibre can be
proceeded with at once. The process of rippling or threshing out
14

the seed (linseed) is usually performed by means of an iron comb:
consisting of teeth 18 inches long, set upright upon a board or
form. The stems are taken in double handfuls, grasped tightly,
and drawn through the spikes several times until the “bolls” have
been removed. Next comes the retting or steeping process, which
facilitates the separation of the fibre from the “boon,” or woody
part of the stem, and decomposes or dissolves the gummy sub-
stance which holds the filaments together. The duration of
retting varies according to the nature of the crop and temperature:
of the water; if warm, submersion for four or five days and nights
may suffice; but if cold, a much longer period will be necessary
before fermentation ensues. Flax not intended for stacking
is usually placed in steep the same day it is pulled, and should
not be mixed with the pulling of the following day. The sheaves
or bundles are put into the water, roots downwards, in rows close
together, and kept submerged by weighted planks or inverted
grass sods. Various methods of retting are practised, such as
dew-retting—the system adopted in Russia; retting by steam and
hot water, &c. Machinery has been invented for separating the
fibre without retting, known as the “dry process.” The old
method, however— water-retting”"—just described, may be
effected in creeks, rivers, ponds, or dams, and, being considered
the best, is the plan usually adopted by farmers. River water is
supposed to be good, but brackish water or water containing lime
are to be avoided, because they not only delay fermentation but
ruin the fibre. A pond 50 feet long, 9 feet wide, and 4 feet deep
will ret the produce of an acre. Ponds should be dug in clay or
hard soil, and be so constructed that the water can be readily let
out. Water in which flax has been steeped is poisonous, and
gives out a most intolerable odour, caused by the mucilage;
nevertheless, it is a most valuable manure, and, according to some
acknowledged authorities on flax culture, should be returned to the
soil. With regard to knowing exactly when the flax has been
sufficiently steeped (for to allow it toremain a few hours too long
in the pond or dam will depreciate the value of the fibre), the
progress of the operation must be tested occasionally by selecting
a few stalks of average thickness from bundles in various parts of
the pond, and by twisting them in opposite directions, or pulling
the fibre gently from the end along the entire length of the stem;
if it feel slimy and peel readily, the flax is suflicieutly retted.
When the bundles have been taken out of the water, they are set.
on end, roots downward, placed loosely together, and allowed to
drain for a few hours, after which (same day) they are untied, and
spread out evenly in thin layers on clean short grass, and turned
over frequently for several days till perfectly dry. In Belgium
and Holland flax is frequently dried in the field prior to retting.
Breaking and seutching, which removes the fragments of wood or-
15

pith, is done by machinery, and the fibre is then ready for the
manufacturer. Our own Australian native flax (Linum marginale)
produces a very fine silky fibre of long staple, but, with the
exception of a few samples produced in our laboratory, I have
never heard of it having been tried elsewhere.

A FEW OTHER FIBRE-YIELDING PLANTS FOR
TEST CULTURE.

The “Bean and Pea family” (Leguminos) supplies few fibre-
yielding plants of value. Crotalaria juncea, however, the “ Sunn-
Hemp,” which is an annual abounding in India, and found wild
also in parts of tropical Australia, produces a useful fibre almost
equal to jute; but as the plant is not sufficiently hardy in Victoria
to be worthy of extensive cultivation I need not enter into further
particulars concerning it. Some 50,000 acres, Spon informs us,
are occupied by it in the Punjab.

In the “Spurge Laurel family” (Thymeleacew) we have.
several species of Pimelea indigenous to Victoria and to other
parts of Australia that yield fibre suitable for string and paper
pulp. Pimelea axiflora, known by the early Victorian settlers as
“tough bark,” and P. clavata, a shrub of 8 or 9 feet, and native
of West Australia, thrive well under cultivation, and yield strong
fibres, which may be considered valuable for textile manufacture.
Dais cotinifolia, or “ African Button Flower ”—a small tree allicd
to the Pimeleas—produces not only a fibre of fine quality but also
a rich yellow dye.

The “Spurge-wort family” (Euphorbiacez), to which order the
castor oil, croton oil, and Cassava plants belong, supplies us with
a small shrub, Amperea spartioides, the fibre of which being
soft and silky, although dark in colour, may yet prove useful for
many purposes. It is found growing in quantity in Gippsland
and other parts of the colony.

To the “Nettle family” (Urticacee) belong many important
fibre plants, notably the true hemp and the “Ramie,” “Rheea,” or
“Grass-cloth plant” of the Chinese. The hemp plant (Cannabis
sativa), an annual often attaining a height of 18 feet or more in
warm latitudes, is indigenous to Central and Western Asia, but
has long been naturalized in Brazil, Canada, and Venezuela, also
in tropical Africa, and is extensively cultivated in Italy, France,
Spain, Germany, and many other European countries, particularly
Russia and Poland. In India, besides the lowlands, it is culti-
vated as high up in the Himalayas as 9,000 or 10,000 feet. Hemp
grown in England is said to be of superior quality, but the plant
does not pay the farmers in consequence of the immense quanti-
ties imported, and very little of it is grown. The average yield
per acre there is from 6 to 8 ewt. of fibre, and from 14 to 16

 
16

bushels of seed. In some of the United States—Kentucky,
Missouri, and Tennessee for instance—it is a crop of considerable
importance. Italian hemp is said to be the very best, that of
Russia and Poland being next in value.

In giving a few particulars of the

MODES OF CULTIVATION AND PREPARATION

of these important fibres, hemp and ramie, I have consulted
the best authorities on the subject—Spon, Haldane, and others,
whose knowledge and advice can be depended upon. With
regard to hemp, like flax, it only requires a few months of
summer temperature to bring it to perfection ; the climate there-
fore, as well as the soil, of most parts of Victoria being adapted
for its cultivation, it needs only a little enterprise on the part of
our farmers to make it a profitable industry. I have seen some
very fine samples of hemp that were grown in Gippsland, and
even in our Botanical Gardens have we grown the plant to 6 (six)
feet high, on a plot of poor sandy soil, with the aid of irrigation
alone. It was thirteen weeks exactly from the date the seeds
were sown till the plants flowered. Over-rich soils, it is said,
produce coarse but good fibre, and poor soils, fibre of very fine
texture but small returns. The most suitable soils are friable
loams containing vegetable matter, or alluvial lands where sand
and clay are intimately mixed. Stiff cold clays are to be avoided.
Fairly rich soil, moisture, and heat are essential for the production
of good hemp in quantity, and even light poor soils, if well
manured and moistened, will bear crops for several years in
succession. Land intended for hemp must be well ploughed and
drained, harrowed as for potatoes, rolled, and thoroughly cleansed
from all weeds. The quantity of seed per acre, if fibre be the
object, is from 24 to 3 bushels. If for seed 14 to 2 bushels. The
hemp plant being dicecious—or male and female existing in
separate plants—the male plants should be pulled as they come
into flower, and the female plants left in the ground for about a
month longer, to admit of the seed becoming ripe. The crop
intended for fibre is generally pulled or cut when in flower,
without any regard to sex of the plant.

The best time to sow the seed is during spring, after the frosts
have ceased. Frosts injure the young seedlings, and sowing too
late conduces to thinness and weakness of the plants. To prevent
deterioration in the quality of fibre, constant changes of seed are
beneficial. As soon as the young plants appear the ground should
be kept free from weeds, and the crop thinned out according to
the class of fibre required and the capability of the ground ; but
as a rnle hemp grows so rapidly that after one weeding there
will probally be no more trouble with the crop in that respect
17

afterwards. About thirteen weeks after sowing, or when the
male plants have shed their pollen, and the flowers begun to turn
yellow, the crop is ready for harvesting. The stems are then
pulled or mown, and carefully shorn of leaves and flowers at
once, which help to manure the land. When the stems are
stripped they are bound in small. bundles, and the dry soil
adhering to the roots is knocked off. The bundles are then set
on end in stooks like corn. If the crop is to be kept for long, the
bundles are made of larger size, and are stacked or thatched. The
seed-bearing or female plants, after gathering, are allowed to
stand in the air for a few days to allow the seed to dry and
ripen, the heads are then cut off, and the seed is threshed out.
The length of time for which the pulled plants intended for
fibre should remain in stook to dry before retting is a munch
debated point. Some authorities declare that one or two days sun
drying is essential, while others state that it is unnecessary, and
that ripe plants should be retted immediately after they are
pulled, the retting being then reduced from eight or ten to four
days. Some cultivators merely dry the crop and sell it on the
ground, leaving the purchaser to do the rest.

There are various ways of retting hemp 2s of most other fibre
plants. Water-retting and dew-retting are, however, the methods
usually practised. 1st. Watering or steeping is conducted in
ditches 3 to 4 feet deep, and of varying length and breadth, dug
on the margins of rivers. The bundles are laid at the bottom,
covered with straw or sods, and weighted down by logs and
stones. Putrid standing water makes softer fibres than running
water. The most satisfactory plan would seem to be a series of
basins at different altitudes, a small stream constantly trickling
from oue to another. The progress of the operation is readily
ascertained by taking out a stem by the root-end and drawing the
thumb-nail along it to the top: when the fibre slips up the stem
the process has been carried sufficiently far. 2nd. In dew-retting,
after the stooks have been allowed to remain standing several
days they are opened, the stems spread out carefully on the grass,
subjected to the effect of showers and dews and an occasional
watering, if necessary, for a period which may extend to six
weeks, care being taken to turn them constantly during the whole
time. The appearance of pink spots on the stems must be
watched for, whereupon the stems must be gathered up, tied in
bundles, and piled*in stooks to dry. By this method a valuable
white hemp is produced, but the operation is very tedious, and
entails great expenditure of labour. After water-retting the hemp
is removed from the water to a field of clean grass. There it is
spread out evenly and allowed to lie for three weeks or more to
bleach, and to enable the fibre to free itself; during this it is
turned over with light long poles every three or four days. When

7363. B
18

dry, and the pink spots on the stems have commenced to appear,
it is again tied up in bundles and carried to a barn or rick. The
same kind of machinery used for breaking and scutching flax is
applicable to hemp, but as the stems of the latter are coarser and
tougher than those of the former the machinery must be some-
what stronger.

Hemp or flax crops are well adapted for cultivation by small
farmers, especially those with large families, as a great deai of
the work of weeding, pulling, drying, &c., can be done by children;
moreover, quick returns can be obtained, as from the time the
seed is put into the ground till the crops are ready for harvesting
or the scutching mill occupies only a few weeks.

Much has been written of late years concerning the cultivation
and manufacture of fibre from that near relative of the hemp and
member of the nettle family—

THE “RAMIE,” “RHEEA,” OR “CHINA GRASS-
CLOTH PLANT” (BQSHMERIA NIVEA),

and although it will grow freely enough in most parts of Victoria,
its value here at present as a remunerative marketable crop is, so
far as I can judge, extremely doubtful. Unlike the hemp, it is a
bushy spreading perennial, averaging from 5 to 7 feet in height,
according to the conditions of heat, moisture, and soil. Numerous
specimens of the plant may be seen in the Botanical Gardens,
where it has been growing for nearly 40 years; and although
during the past twenty years I have freely distributed roots to
settlers and others, and have prepared crude samples of fibre for
our local Exhibitions, I have never heard of any attempts having
been made to cultivate it as a crop; that, however, is hardly to
be wondered at, as will be seen presently. From ramie is
produced that beautiful creamy-white fabric known as China
Grass-cloth, which is frequently mistaken for silk; indeed the
better qualities of it are often sold as such in England and
many parts of the Continent. In Assam, Nepaul, and other parts
of India it has been known from time immemorial as “ Rheea.”
The Malays call it “ Ramie,” the Chinese “ Tchuma” (Chuna),
and in Japan, under the name of “ Karao,” the cultivation of it
and hand preparation of its fibre dates back to 1660.

The great drawback to the spread of the ramie industry is
undoubtedly the want of suitable machinery for treating the fibre
in an expeditious and economic way, or of getting rid of the
gummy substance which holds together the filamentary portions of
the plant. Could that difficulty be solved, ramie cultivators
would be counted by the thousand wherever the plant would
grow, and its production would ultimately rival the flax, hemp,
and jute industries. Although in 1869 the Indian Government
19

‘offered a prize of £5,000 for a thoroughly capable machine, it
would appear by the following extracts from the report of the
Secretary for Agriculture, Washington (Mr. J. M. Rusk, 1890),
that no machinery had been invented that would decorticate and
‘prepare the fibre at a sufficiently cheap rate to enable it to com-
pete with fibres of similar character, and according to still later
reports on the subject the difficulty still exists. Mr. Rusk
says—* Practically the culture of ramie is at a stand-still both
here and in Europe, the knotty problem of economical decortica-
tion of the stalks when grown not having received satisfactory
solution, . . . . To those who know nothing of the story,
it may be briefly stated that’ the invention of machinery and pro-
cesses for the extraction and cleaning (degumming) of ramie
fibre in the last 30 years in the various countries where experi-
ments are going on might foot up a hundred or more could the
-entire catalogue be enumerated. In spite of the vast inventive
effort, ramie up to the present time has not been grown in any
country (excepting China and Japan) save in a limited way,
because no machine or process for decortication thus far has been
presented that has filled all the requirements demanded of a
thoroughly practical decorticator.” Mr. Rusk adds—“ It should
be stated that while little of importance has been done in the past
year (1890) which would give evidence of progress in culture, there
are indications that some considerable areas will be planted during
the coming season. The interest is greatest in the states of
Louisiana, Texas, and California. Sbould a practical decorticator
be presented during the coming season, or should any of those
now under experiment fulfi! the requirements of the economically
successful machine, ramie culture is in favorable condition, I
think, for early establishment of the industry.” Since the publi-
‘cation of Mr. Rusk’s report I have frequently endeavoured to
ascertain from correspondeuts in the United States whether
any new process had been discovered for degumming the ramie
in an economic way, but the answers have always been in the
negative.

The cultivation of ramie in Victoria presents no difficulties
as far as suitable soil and climatic conditions are concerned. A
free rich light soil, a fair amount of summer heat and moisture,
are all the plant requires. Where irrigation can be applied, of
course the greater the crop; but free drainage is absolutely neces-
sary, as the roots will not bear stagnant moisture. The land
should be well ploughed to a depth of 10 or 12 inches, cross
harrowed, and made ready for planting by the end of September,
-or when the frosts have disappeared. Immediately before planting
the ground should be thoroughly scarified, brush harrowed, and
rendered perfectly free from weeds. From half-an-acre of plants
three years old sufficient roots can be obtained to furnish 10 acres.

B2
20

In this climate rooted offsets are more certain to grow than cut--
tings, and should be inserted in furrows 5 feet apart and 6 inches.
deep ; a foot or 18 inches should be the distance between each
plant in the rows. The soil should be well pulverized, drawn
over the roots with a hoe, and tightened with the foot. When

the shoots have attained, say, 10 or 12 inches in height the rows
should be hilled up like potatoes. The object of close planting

in the rows is to cause the stalks to run up straight, and prevent

branching. When the crop is ready for cutting a brown tinge is

noticeable at the base of the stems. The stools or ratoons sprout

up thicker every season, and under favorable conditions two or
three crops of “canes” several feet high can be cut in a year.

After two or three years, if the plants happen to spread too far

into the spaces between the rows, it will be necessary to chop out

with a spade the advancing stools or suckers; and these may be

used for other plantations. To those who are engaged in silk

culture the Kew Bulletin for August, 1890, states that the leaves

of the ramie may be used as food for silkworms in the same way

as those of the Mulberry and the ‘Osage Orange” (Maclura

aurantiaca).

Several other species of Boehmeria have been recently intro-
duced by me from India, and grown in the gardens; and from:
these have been produced some fairly good samples of fibre—
notably from Boehmeria macrophylla, which is more robust in
habit than the true ramie. Fibres have also been prepared from
other members of the Nettle family—the great “ stinging-trees ”
of New South Wales and Queensland— Laportea (Urtica)
gigas,” “ L. photinifolia,” and even the ordinary annual weed
nettle. The common wild perennial nettle of Europe (Urtica
dioica), so common in Germany, is supposed to yield a fibre little
inferior to hemp. Every member of the “ Plantain and Banana
family ” (Scitaminea) is fibrous.

SOME ADDITIONAL FIBRE-YIELDING PLANTS.

Musa textilis* yields: the well-known Manilla hemp, so useful
for rope making and other purposes. The climate of Victoria,
however, is quite unsuitable for its cultivation. Its near relatives.
Canna gigantea (“ Indian Shot plant”) and Alpinia nutans (or
“Indiau Shell-flower”’)—which may be seen in most large
gardens around Melhourne—supply fibres of fair strength. That
obtained from the stalks of the former somewhat resembles
Manilla hemp, whilst the refuse from the roots after the arrow-root
has been extracted can be converted into strong packing paper.

* Good samples of fibre of Musa Ensete (Bruce’s Banana) and of Musa sapientum (Common.
Banana) were also exhibited. hat of the former measured over 4 feet in length. The plant
grows freely in the Botanical Garcens, where it sometimes attains a height of more than
18 feet. Several specimens fruited and produced an abundance of seed last year. Musa
sapientum is not so hardy in Victoria as the former,
21

The “Pine-apple family” or Order (Bromeliacex) includes
several valuable fibre plants, notably the common pine-apple
itself. We have but one species, however, likely to prove hardy

-enough for cultivation in this colony—* Bromelia sylvestris,” the
wild pine-apple, or “ Silk Grass” of British Honduras.

Of the ‘ Blood-root family” (Hemodoracez) there are two
samples from “ Anigozanthos flavida” or “ Kangaroo-foot flower ”
-of West Australia (a plant which thrives here remarkably well),
and also of Sanseviera or “ Bowstring Hemp,” but I cannot
recommend the latter plant for even trial, as it will not withstand
our Victorian winter.

More than twenty kinds of fibre belong to the closely-allied
families of the Iris, Narcissus, and Lily. First, the “ Iris family”
(Iridew) gives “ Morawa (Iris) Robinsoniana,’”’ or “ Wedding-
flower” of Lord Howe’s Island, whose fibre is suitable for paper
making. In

THE “NARCISSUS FAMILY” (AMARYLLIDEA),

the Doryanthes or “Spear Lilies” of New South Wales and
Queensland (four species) furnish from their long broad leaves
masses of fibre of great strength suitable for rope, matting, cord-
age, coarse cloth, &e. (Vide Figs. II. and III.) They are
easily propagated by division of the roots or from seed, which
is produced in great abundance. Samples of fibre from these
plants forwarded to the Colonial Institute measured 5 feet in
length. A rich-red colouring matter exudes from the leaves
of Doryanthes Palmeri* during the process of boiling, so that,
in addition to its usefulness as a fibre, it may prove valu-
able as a dye plant. Fourcroya gigantea, known as “ Mauri-
tius Hemp,” “fcetid green Aloe,” “Cabuja,” and “ Giant-fibre
Lily,” and “Fourcroya longeva,” known in Mexico, Jamaica,
and other places as “ Silk Grass,” “ Cuba Hemp,” &c., have also
yielded, from specimens grown in the Botanical Gardens, fibres
4 to 5 feet in length; and, although frosts will sometimes dis-
-colour and somewhat damage the outer coating of the leaves, yet
the fibre remains uninjured. The fibre of the first-named species
has been known to realize as much as £28 per ton in England.
The Agaves are amongst the most useful of this family for the
manufacture of stout ropes. (See Figs. IX. and X.)

Agave Americana, under the various names of “Century
Plant,” “ American Aloe,” ‘Mexican Aloe,” “Spanish Aloe,”
““ Toddy Lily,” ‘“Carata,” and “ Pita” or “Pita~-Hemp,” is the
most common and best known in this country. The drought-
enduring character of the plant is extraordinary, and it will
thrive in any soil, rich or poor. Barren waste lands in arid
regions might be planted with profitable results. After, say,

* Also from Doryanthes Guilfoylei—‘ The Giant Queensland Lily.”
22

from six or seven to ten years, the Agave will go on yielding
annual crops of huge fleshy leaves, 4 to 6 feet in length, for a
term of eight or ten years longer. Spon observes that—“ The
culture of the plant is being extended in America, but not to the
extent it deserves. . . . ” The product is often known com-
mercially as ‘‘ Agave thread,” and is exported for admixture with
Manilla hemp. The fibre may be separated by bruising the
leaves, macerating, or by a boiling or steaming process. Most
effective machinery for the preparation of it has been used of late
years in Mexico and other parts of America, by the aid of which
it can be made ready for cleaning a few hours after the leaves-
have been cut, or in the same way that ‘“ Agave sisalina” and
other species or varieties are prepared at the Babamas and Yuca-
tan. The variegated kinds of the A. Americana, frequently
seen in our gardens, yield fibre quite equal to that obtained from
the glaucous green-leaved or normal form, and this is more easily
prepared by the water process. Professor Dodge says that— In
Mexico the common kind is utilized in the manufacture of ropes
for use in the mines, and, in some cases, for the rigging of ships.
In South America it has been used for large cables. Humboldt
mentions a bridge in Quito, with a span of 180 feet, constructed
of ropes made of this fibre, some of them 4 inches in diameter.
The name ‘ Pita’ follows it to Spain and Sicily, where it is used
for cordage and mats.” Dr. Forbes Royle says—“ That it has.
been found superior in strength to either coir, jute, or Sunn-Hemp.
In a trial of strength near Calcutta, the tests were made with
ropes 1 fathom long and 3 inches in cireumference, with the fol-
lowing resulis:—The Agave or “Pita” broke in a strain of
2,519% Ibs., coir 2,175 Ibs., jute 2,456} lbs., and Suon-Hemp
2,269 lbs. In an experiment with Russian hemp and “ Pita”
(stout cords), the first named broke with 160 lbs. weight, and the
latter with 270 lbs.” ‘These experiments, Professor Dodge adds,
show the great strength of the fibre, which is worthy of more
extended cultivation and employment in the arts. An enterprising
firm in Sydney, known as “The Australian Hemp and Fibre
Company,” have recently established a plantation of 600 acres of
this Agave and Fourcroya gigantea (‘ Mauritius Hemp”) at
Jervis Bay, from which they expect to obtain handsome returns
in the course of a few years. The following letter from one of
the principal shareholders in the company was received by me :—

The Australian Hemp and Fibre Company Limited,
11 Central Chambers, 173 Vitt-street, Sydney,
11th December, 1893.

Dear Sir,—It gives me pleasure to reply to your esteemed favour of the
8th inst. Any information J may have will always be at your service.
This company has, so far, planted about 600 acres at Jervis Bay with.
Agaves and Fourcroyas, We began planting rather more than two years.
since. The land there forms w peninsula, being bordered by sea on three -
23

sides, and is what Scotchmen call ‘“sand-dunes,” cast up by the action of
wind and tide. It is covered with light scrub, almost wholly “ black-butt”
and oak and the common fern. We have every reason, so far, to be satisfied
with the result of our work. The plants are growing well, the Agaves
making more headway than the Fourcroyas, but both rooted splendidly,
and of course no blanks. They all grow, and from such soil—if I may
call it soil—we shall get a grand fibre. My only cause of dissatisfaction is
that I have not 6,000 instead of 600 acres down; but I have some difficulty
in getting plants. We plant about 600 to the acre. I have not as yet
secured machinery. Ido not want it for another twelve months. I know
where to go when I want it.
Yours very faithfully,

Grorce WHITE.
Mr. W. R. Guilfoyle, F.L.S., C.M.R.B.S., London,
&e., &e.,
Director, Botanic Gardens, Melbourne.

The products of Agave rigida and its sub-species or varieties
are known commercially as “Grass Hemp,” “ Mexican Hemp,”
“ Mexican Grass,” “Cabulla,” “‘Henequen Hemp,” and “ Sisal
Hemp.” They are largely cultivated at the Bahamas and Yucatan,
and samples of the fibre have brought as much as £38 per ton in
England. From the Agaves Rumphii, angustifolia, geminiflora,
Jaquiniana potatorum, Salmiana (Fig. [X.), and Karatto, fibres
more or less useful are produced.

The nearly allied

“LILY FAMILY” ORDER (LILIACE)

is rich in textiles; indeed some of them are said to be far
superior for many purposes. New Zealand is the home of several
valuable fibre plants belonging to this order. The cultivation
of Phormium tenax, the so-called “ New Zealand Flax” (vide
Figs. V. and VI.), there is little doubt will eventually become
an important colonial industry. Already it is generally known
to the commercial world, under the name “ New Zealand Hemp,”
as one of the staples of New Zealand produce, whence the expor-
tation of several varieties of it, both in a prepared and partially
prepared state, has of late years attained very high figures. Sir
James Hector, F.R.S., &c., Director of the Colonial Museum
and Geological Survey Department, Wellington, New Zealand,
informs me that since the last date given in his report on the
subject the export of Phormium hemp has been as follows:— #4,

1889 ay ... 4,042 tons, value £75,269
1890. se "TOL. 5, 361,182
1891... Zia i 381,789
1892... . 15,809, 281,514
1893 ase «= 12,798 a 214,542

Or a grand total for five years of £1,314,296 sterling.
24

The Maori or native-dressed Phormium fibre—which by some
experts is said to be far the best, because the leaves of only the
best varieties are selected when quite ripe and carefully stripped—
has brought in Scotland as much as £70 to £90 per ton; while in
London the price of the ordinary European-dressed article for
rope or paper making purposes has ranged from £10 to £25 per
ton, according to quality. According to the New Zealand Trade
Review and Wellington Price Current for January last, however,
the market at present is almost at a stand-still. It states—“ No
orders in force, and little orno disposition on either side to speculate.
Small contracts might be made at £12 or £14, but at these low
rates millers are unwilling to enter into any large or long-dated.
engagements.” The Phormium grows in a wild state in most
parts of New Zealand, but especially in the North Island, under
almost all circumstances of soil or situation, and is found even in
the interior at an elevation of 2,000 feet. Most luxuriantly does
it flourish near the coast, on river flats able to inundation, and
on the terraces and lower slopes of hills (where in places it forms
an almost impenetrable barrier against the advance of the traveller).
To the Maori in his native state it is his all in all. With its aid
he builds his “wharé” (or house) and his canoe; of its fibre he
makes his clothing—those handsome mats and blankets which are
the admiration and envy of all who see them; torn into strips and
twisted he makes his line and net for fishing, and his snare, where-
with to capture the wild fowl of the forest. It is, as has been
well said, his roof, his blanket, his cloak, his kilt, his cable, his
ladder, his basket, and his couch,* Sir James Hector states that,
although there are 55 different names applied to the Phormium
plant by the natives, it is doubtful if more than twenty marked
varieties can be distinguished.” These are from the two recog-
nised species—Phormium tenax (Forster) and Phormium Colensoi
(Hooker). Again, Sir James Hector says—‘‘ One variety of
P. tenax, called ‘ Yellow Hill Flax,’ grows generally in clay
hills . . . . and the leaves are seldom more than 5 or 6 feet
inheight . . . . fibre very soft and glossy. The leaves of
Phormium Colensoi and its varieties are not so strong as those of
P. tenax, and are sometimes quite brittle.” Thus, it is at once
apparent that, in establishing plantations the object of which is
the production of good marketable fibre, care should be taken to
obtain the right kinds, as with the uninitiated it is an easy matter
to mistake one species or variety for another.

Samples of the fibre may be prepared in three ways—first,
by stripping the upper cuticle of the green leaves, steeping the

 

* Tor full and complete information regarding New Zealand flax, see Sir James Hector’s
instructive pamphlet Fhormium tenax as a Fibrous Plant, 2nd edition, 1889: Published by the
New Zealand Government. ’
25

remainder in water, and afterwards scraping (the primitive method
as practised by the natives from time immemorial). This—no
doubt a slow and tedious process—produces the finest and softest
flax, but it is evident that in order to keep pace with commer-
cial requirements some more expeditious plan of dressing it by
machinery has had to be adopted. The second is by maceration
for several weeks, which tends somewhat to injure and weaken
the fibre ; and the third by boiling in a caustic solution for 33
hours. The last process is a vast saving of time and trouble, but
it weakens the fibre and imparts a dark colour, which can, how-
ever, be removed by artificial bleaching. Samples can also be
prepared in the same way from the variegated-leaved variety,
which have been proved to be much finer and stronger in quality
and more easily prepared than the green-leaved form. According
to Sir James Hector, “ there has been one almost universal method
of manufacture by Europeans in New Zealand having for its
object the production of fibre for rope making. The green leaves
are stripped by revolving rollers, with projecting beaters, travel-
ling at a high rate of speed, which erush the epidermis against a
fixed plate, so set as to allow room for the fibre to remain intact.
The fibre thus freed from the leaf of the plant is washed by
various methods, put on the ground or on lines to dry and bleach,
finished by an arm or barrel-scutch, and when baled is ready
for market.” Machine-dressed fibre is said to be in great
demand for the production of twine for harvesting purposes,
and that “no fibre makes twine that is so suitable for this
special use.”

The Phormium tenax was introduced into the south of Ireland
as long ago as 1798, and a company established soon afterwards
for its cultivation, but the slow growth it made caused the project
to be abandoned. No later than three years ago I saw some
specimens doing remarkably well in gardens at Dublin, Cork, the
Lakes of Killarney, also in parts of England and the west coast
of Scotland.* Sir James Hector says “that when the colonists
first arrived in New Zealand the valuable qualities of the Phor-
mium fibre were well known, as it was in constant use by the
natives, and a very considerable trade in the article existed as
early as 1828, when the islands were only visited by whalers and
Sydney traders, as £50,000 worth of the fibre was sold in Sydney
alone between 1828 and 1832.” With regard to the cultivation
of the plant in this colony, it is sufficient to say that it might be

 

* Professor Boulger, in his valuable little work, The Uses of Plants (1889), states “that
Phormium tenax is now grown successfully in the Orkney Islands. The demand exceeds
the supply, and though there are several varieties or qualities of the fibre, better rope can be
made from it even than from Musa textilis, and it sells at from £17 to £22 per ton, the refuse
-only being used for paper.”
26

profitably brought into culture on patches of spare ground of good
quality, especially in swampy country, if well drained. In the
latter the drains should be open and the water therein should
flow about 12 inches below the surface. Most of the varieties of
Phormium thrive best in rich moist soil, but dislike superfluous
moisture or stagnant marshes. The ground should be well
ploughed and harrowed, and the seedling plants or young offsets
arranged in rows, say 5 feet apart and 3 feet between each plant
in a row.

A recent writer in Chambers’ Journal says that the fibre is.
susceptible of being woven into tissues of the most delicate
description, and may be made into lace, or it may be wrought as
a substitute for silk into tapestry or damask, with a lustre not
much inferior to that of silk itself. On the other hand, it can be
manufactured into materials of the strongest and coarsest kind,
such as cables, running rigging, floor mats, carriage and railway
mats, sail-cloth, twine, yarn, sacking, and bed-tick.

Of the nine species of Cordyline or “Palm Lily” (vide Fig.
No, VII.) from which we have extracted fibre five are indigenous
to New Zealand, three to New South Wales and Queensland, and
one to Norfolk Island. The most common in the Botanical and other
gardens of this city is “ Forster’s Palm Lily” (Cordyline Australis),
one of the New Zealand species. Under favorable circumstances
it grows to a height of 30 to 40 feet, and the leaves afford a large
percentage of excellent strong fibre. With proper attention this
plant will yield a good crop of leafage in its fourth or fifth year ;
and, as it will grow vigorously in land subject to partial inunda-
tion, it can be utilized in places otherwise comparatively useless.
It seeds freely, and can therefore be extensively propagated, so
that a young plantation may be always coming on to supersede
the old one when the latter becomes unprofitable.

Cordyline Banksii, “ Sir Joseph Banks’ Palm Lily ” (vide Fig.
No. VIII.) also from New Zealand, attains a height of about 10 feet,
and throws out leaves of 3 or 4 feetin length. The fibre is long in
staple and of great strength. Like the first-named species, the seeds
are produced in great abundance, and especially on irrigated land
will it grow rapidly in this colony, as under these conditions two or:
even three strippings of the outer leaves might be made in a year.
Professor Dodge, in his report to the Commissioner of Agricul-
ture, New York, on the fibres sent from here to the late Phila-
delphia Exhibition, thus speaks of a sample of this fibre, which
by mistake was named Cordyline pumilio:—“It is convertible
into a good quality of paper. The fibre is from 24 to 3 feet in
length, straight, white, and glossy, but very stiff, resembling fibre
OF
of ‘Yucca’ or‘ Agave.’ It is fully as strong as Yucca fibre, and
would make excellent rope of great tenacity.” None of the rest
of the Cordylines call for special remark beyond the fact that they
produce good fibre easy of extraction by boiling or steaming for
five or six hours, that they all more or less possess the character-
istics of those mentioned, and that they will all grow readily in
Victoria.

There are various kinds of Yucca fibre. The terms—“Bears-
grass,” “ Adam’s Needle,” “ Mound Lily,” “ Dagger-leaf,” “ Eve’s
Thread,” “Spanish Dagger,” and others are applied to several of
the species. They inhabit the southern United States, Mexico,
and Central America, and many of them thrive admirably in
Victoria. Yucca gloriosa (vide Fig. No. XI.) produces the “ Petre
Hemp” of the Mexiean Spaniards, and, according to Nuttall,.
‘““is used for cordage, ropes, &c., as well as for packing-cloth, and
is extremely durable.” Elliott, in his Botany of South Carolina,
speaks of it as “one of the strongest fibres of the Vegetable
Kingdom.” :

There are five species of Dianella or “ Australian Flax Lily”
(vide Fig. No. IV.) from which fibres of fair quality have been pro-
duced, the most important being the smooth-leaved aud broad-leaved
kinds. The former (Dianella levis) bears large panicles of pretty
blue flowers, followed by large globular blue berries ; the latter
(D. Tasmanica) is of more robust habit, has leaves of 3 or 4 feet
in length, and, like the former, inhabits the moist and heavily-
shaded fern gullies and ravines of the sub-alpine parts of this
colony and Tasmania. It gives an excellent fibre, and the refuse
or combings contributes good paper stock. Professor Dodge
says—‘ Some of the filaments are white and brilliant, and quite
strong, a few twisted together requiring quite an effort to break
them.”

Passing over the Dasylirions, Nolina, Beaucarnea, Stypandras,
and other members of this important family of the Lilies, all of
which yield fibres more or less useful, I will briefly refer to the
“Torch Lilies” of the Cape of Good Hope, which are known
botanically as “ Knipbofia” or “ Tritoma” (vide Fig. No. XII):
As fibre plants they were first brought under notice by me in
1875, samples of five kinds having been prepared in the Botanical
Gardens, and forwarded to several Exhibitions since. It will be
seen that the present specimens are of fair strength and quality,
and possibly they are capable of being woven into fine textile fabrics.
The plants are all quick-growing perennials, producing a wealth
of long leafage, and are readily increased by root division and
seeds. With good cultivation they would yield two crops per
year, and the fibre can be obtained within a few hours by boiling
28

‘or steaming the leaves. ‘The great-flowered Torch Lily (Kni-
phofia grandiflora) and the “ Reeurved Torch Lily ” (Kniphofia
‘Tecurvata) are probably the strongest and best in quality, and
‘these give the greatest percentage of fibre.*

A FURTHER GROUP OF THE FIBRE-YIELDING
PLANTS.

The “Rush family,” Order Juncacez, must not be passed
over. There is perhaps no plant more commonly despised and
looked upon as worse than useless than the rush, whose presence
alone is sufficient to indicate cold worthless swampy ground, or
ground at all events liable to submersion. And yet even this
‘despised order of vegetation has its uses, and, in its way, its
economic value. There are in this colony at least four species
found growing on the marshy tracts, both inland and near the
sea, that furnish fibres which, if properly treated, make excellent
strong paper. Of these the best is, perhaps, ‘Juncus pallidus ”
(‘the pale-green tall rush”) which may be gathered in vast
‘quantities all over this and the other Australian colonies.

A good fibre is obtained from ‘“ Xerotes longifolia,” a tufted
perennial commonly called ‘Tussock Grass” or “ Australian Mat-
rush”; and from the leaves also of the “ Grass tree” (Xanthorrhea
Australis) a small percentage of silky fibre can be extracted,
which probably is of little value, although the trunk yields a
fragrant resin, which has been used as a varnish, for dyeing
‘purposes, and in the manufacture of lacquer for tinware. It also
affords a large percentage of wood spirit.

An aquatic perennial belonging to the “Bur Reed family”
(Typhacea) yields from its leaves a fibre of considerable strength
and fineness, and also good paper material. The plant is known
all over Australia as the “Native Bulrush,” and is, in fact, a
cosmopolitan, being found wild on the banks of rivers, ditches,
and ponds in all quarters of the globe. In Europe it is called
“Reed Mace” and “ Catstail,” while the botanical name is
“Typha angustifolia.” As a fibre plant it was brought under
notice through a sample prepared here and sent to the Amsterdam
Exhibition of 1876, and very shortly afterwards an article
appeared in an Iinglish periodical stating that a French com-
pany had been formed for the purpose of utilizing it, and that
machinery had been invented capable of converting it into textile
fabries of great fineness. The sample sent from here was partly

 

* Since this was penned I received, through Mr. H. N. Sleigh, of this city, a letter from a
London firm of manufacturers, stating the value of this fibre and that of Sparmannia Africana
to be from £17 to £17 10s, per ton.
29

prepared by a boiling process, after which the leaves were scraped!
with a blunt instrument.

The “ Sedge family ” (Cyperacex) includes a number of useful
plants suitable for paper pulp. Two species of Carex (Carex
paniculata and Carex tereticaulis); the same of Gahnia or Cladium,
“Black Reed”; one of Scirpus, or “Knotted Rush”; Schenus
brevifolius, “Cord Rush”; and three species of Lepidosperma,
or “Sword Rush,” are all wild in Victoria and other parts of
Australia, and all alike useful for the purpose mentioned.

Lastly, the “Grass family ” (Graminexw), which is the most
important of all to man, as it produces corn for his bread and
food for his flocks and herds, yields perhaps the most abundant
and best material for paper making. Our Victorian “ Wire
Grass” (Poa cespitosa), which grows to a height of 4 feet,
might, with proper appliances, even rival the celebrated “ Esparto”
(Stipa tenacissima) of South Europe.

PRACTICAL OUTCOME.

I may remark that this is but a brief sketch of what might
and what deserved to be said in reference to some of the
experimental fibres, and will suffice to indicate that there is a
vast field of enterprise open to our farmers and settlers generally
in the way of, if not going in for the absolute cultivation of one
or more of them, still of utilizing their waste patches of land by
trying such plants as would be most likely to succeed thereon,
taking into account whether they be sandy, stony, swampy, or
subject to flood. And, further, it may be pointed out that after the
first planting (except, of course, low-growing perennial or herba-
ceous plants) few, if any, of the fibre-producing trees or large
shrubs mentioned require any special attention more than can be
given them by the women or children of the household. Unlike
cereal and other field crops, they do not require continual care
and nurture. Given a suitable soil and climate, most of them only
need to be left alone until they attain their full maturity.

I should indeed be sorry to be the means of misleading any one
by stating positively that a crop of this or that would afford a
large profit to the grower. No; my work in the laboratory and
experience in the garden are well enough in their way ; but, as
Bacon says—“I only sound the clarion, but I enter not into the:
battle.” It remains for experts to decide what uses these new
native or Australian-grown fibres can be put to, whether for
the manufacture of rope, cordage, textile fabrics, or paper, &e.;
whether they are equal to the imported fibres, and, if so, what is.
their market value to the Victorian producer? In the long list.
30

‘of fibre plants which have been mentioned, and at greater or less
length described, there are several to which the special attention
of the husbandman has been directed, as being well known and
most suitable to ordinary conditions, as being easily cultivated,
and as producing the quickest returns. Professor Goodale, in his
presidential address delivered before the American Association
for the Advancement of Science, in August, 1891, speaking of
the possibilities of economic botany, remarked that— Countless
sorts of plants have been suggested as sources of good bast-
fibres, for spinning and for cordage, and many of these make
capital substitutes for those already in the factories; but,” he
adds, “‘the questions of cheapness of production and of sub-
sequent preparation for use have thus far militated against
success. There may be much difference between the profits
‘promised by a laboratory experiment and those resulting from the
same process conducted on a commercial scale. The existence
of such differences has been the rock on which many enterprises
seeking to introduce new fibres have been wrecked.”

In conclusion, J think it will be generally admitted that what
we really require here is a number of experimental farms, say
eighteen or twenty, established in various parts of the colony,
choosing the best districts, where the soil is fairly good, and placing
each farm under the management of a thoroughly practical man,
who should be able to prove within a reasonable time the capa-
bilities of his particular district ; in short, whether the soil and
‘climate were suitable for cultivating any special economic plants
likely to be a source of profit and benefit to the country. It is
scarcely necessary for me to remark that what will suit say Ballarat
-or Dunolly may not thrive at Bendigo or Dookie, or vice versa, or
that plants which merely exist as miserable specimens in our publie¢
gardens may thrive admirably in the warm valleys and splendid
undulating or hilly country to be found in Gippsland. By the
establishment of such farms experiments could be tried not only
with our numerous textiles but also with fodder plants, grasses,
and herbs, medicinal and scent plants, &c., devoting, say, a patch
of a quarter of an acre to each, thoroughly cultivating and testing
them in such a way that the people might be taught what plants
they should go in for as likely to become profitable industries
and what to leave alone. Then, indeed, might the valuable
collection of economic plants in our Melbourne Botanic Gardens
be made to serve far more useful purposes in some instances
than as botanical specimens in our borders or classified groups,
or in our plant sheds. I do not mean to say that such plants
should be sent in quantity anywhere, excepting to the experimental
farms suggested, in which case,after proving their adaptability
for the locality, and after practical lessons had been given in regard
to their cultivation, they could be propagated and freely distributed
31

to all farmers willing to turn them to profitable account. To bring
my remarks to a practical issue, let me hope,as indeed I venture to
think we well may, that the late and indeed the present disastrous
depression may not be altogether without its bright side and its use,
inasmuch as it may tend to turn the minds of the manhood and
youth of the colony from precarious speculations and other
unstable methods of that ignis fatuwus—the pursuit of wealth
without work—into a higher and nobler groove, namely, the
making the best of the land we live on, in extracting fresh, and it
may be yet unheard of, treasures from the soil, in enriching the
country as a whole, and in many cases causing even the hitherto
waste and apparently useless wilderness to become rurally pictu-
resque, as well as to yield supplementary and even payable results
to well-directed labour.
LIST OF FIBRES (EXTRA-AUSTRALASIAN)
IN BOTANICAL GARDENS MUSEUM.

 

Abutilon album (Hort.) ...
Order Malvacez.
Abutilon Bedfordianum (Hooker) ...
Order Malvacez.
Abutilon Megapotamicum (St.
Hilaire). Syn. A. vexillarium
(E. Monro). Order Malvacez.
Abutilon molle (G. Don) ... A
Order Malvacez.
Abutilon striatum (Dickson)
Order Malvacez.
Abutilon venosum (Lemaire)
Order Malvacez.
Adansonia digitata (Linnzus)
Order Malvacee.
Agave Americana (Linnzus)
Order Amaryllidez.
Agave Americana (Linneus), var.
longifolia. Order Amaryllidez
Agave Americana (Linneus), varie-
gata. Order Amaryllidez.
Agave angustifolia (Haworth)
Order Amaryllidez.
Agave densiflora (Hooker)
Order Amaryllidez.
Agave geminiflora (Ker) ...
Order Amaryllidese,
Agave Ixtli (Karwinsky) ...
Order Amaryllidez.
Agave Jacquiniana (Schultes) a
Order Amaryllidez.
Agave Karatto (Miller)
Order Amaryllidez.
Agave Mexicana (Lamarck)
Order Amaryllides.
Agave potatorum (Zuccarini)
Order Amaryllides.
Agave rigida (Miller)
Order Amaryllide,
Agave Rumphii (Hasskarl)
Order Amaryllidez.
Agave Salmiana (Otto)
Order Amaryllidezx.
Alpinia nutans (Roscoe)
Order Scitaminez.
Ananassa sativa (Miller) ...
Order Bromeliacez.
Apocynum cannabinum (Linneus)
Order Apocynacez.

White Lantern flower.
China.
Duke of Bedford’s Lantern flower.
Brazil.
Big River or urn-shaped Lantern
flower. Brazil.

Soft Lantern flower.
Peru.
Streaked Lantern flower.
Brazil.
Veined Lantern flower.
Brazil.
Baobab tree.
Africa.
Toddy lily or Pita-hemp plant.
South America.
Long-leaved variegated American
Aloe. South America.
Variegated American Aloe.
south America.
Narrow-leaved Agave.
St. Helena.
Dense-flowered Agave.
Mexico.
Twin-flowered Agave.
Central America,

. “Istle fibre.”

Mexico.
Jacquin’s Agave,
Mexico.
“Faratto.”
South America.
Mexican Agave.
Mexico.
Drinker’s Agave.
Mexico.
The “ Chelem ” of the Mexicans.
Mexico.
Rumph’s Agave.
Mexico.
Prince Salm Dyck’s Agave.
Mexico,
Indian Shell flower
India, Ceylon, &c.
Common Pine-apple.
South America.
Indian hemp
North America,
33

Attalea funifera...
Order Palme.

Beaucarnea glauca (Lehmann)
Order Liliacez.

Behmeria macrophylla (D. Don)
Order Urticacezx.

Behmeria nivea (Hooker)
Order Urticacezx.

Behmeria Puya (Hooker)
Order Urticacezx.
Bromelia sylvestris (Linnzus)
Order Bromeliacee.
Calotropis gigantea (R. Brown)
Order Asclepiades.
Canna gigantea (Desfontaines)
Order Scitaminez.
Cannabis sativa (Linnzeus)
Order Urticacez.
Caryota urens (Linnzus) ...
Order Palme.
Cocos nucifera (Linnzus)...
Order Palme.

Corchorus capsularis (Linnzus)
Order Tiliacee.

Crotalaria tenuifolia (Baker)
Order Leguminosz.

Cyperus Papyrus (Linneus)
Order Cyperacez.

Dasylirion glaucophyllum (Hooker)
Order Liliacez.

Debregesia longifolia (Weddell)
Order Urticacee.

Dombeya Natalensis (Sonder)
Order Sterculiacez.

Draczna Draco (Linneus)
Order Liliacez.

Fourcroya gigantea (Ventenat)
Order Awmaryllidez.

Fourcroya longeva (Karwinsky and
Zuccarini). Order Amaryllidea.

Grewia occidentalis (Linneus)
Order Tiliacez.

Helicteres Isora (Linnzus)
Order Sterculiacez.

Hibiscus mutabilis (Linnzeus)
Order Malvacez.

Hibiscus Sabdariffa (Linnzus)
Order Malvacee.

Hibiscus Syriacus (Linneus)
Order Malvacez.

Hypoxis longifolia (Baker)
Order Amaryllides.

Kniphofia aloides (Mcench).
Tritoma Uvaria (Ker).
Liliacez.

7363,

one

Syn.
Order

Cc

The Piassaba palm.
Brazil.
Sea-green leaved Beaucarnea.
South America.
Large-leaved Grass-cloth plant.

Nepaul.
Chinese Grass-cloth plant, or
“Rheea,” ‘Ramie.” China,

Sumatra, and Assam.
Nepaul Grass-cloth plant.
Nepaul and Sikkim.
Wild Pine-apple.
South America,
Yercum fibre plant.
India.
Large Indian Shot plant.
South America,
Common hemp.
India and Persia,
Jaggery palm,
India and Malay Peninsula.
Common Cocoanut palm.
Southern India and Malayan
.. Islands.
Jute plant.
Asia.
Sunn-fibre plant.
Madagascar.
Nile Papyrus or Paper reed of the
Ancients. Egypt.
Glaucous Dasylirion.
Mexico.
“Wild Rheea.”
India. |
Cape Wedding-flower.
Natal.
Dragon’s-blood tree.
Canary Islands.
Giant fibre lily.
Mexico.
Long-lived giant lily.
Mexico and Guatemala.
African Star bush.
Cape of Good Hope.
The twisted horn fruit.
India.
Changing Rose-mallow.
Java and East Indis.
Rosella fibre plant,
Tropical Asia and Africa.
Syrian Rose-mallow.
Syria.
Long-leaved Hypoxis.
Algoa Bay.
Aloe-like Torch lily.
Cape of Good Hope.
34

Kniphofia aurea. Syn. Tritoma
aurea. Order Liliacex.

Kniphofia grandiflora. Syn. Tritoma
grandiflora. Order Liliaceae.

Kniphofia recurvata (Moore). Syn.
Tritoma recurvata (Ker), Order
Liliacez.

Kniphofia Rooperi (Lemaire). Syn.
TritomaRooperi. Order Liliacez.

Kydia calycina (Roxburgh)
Order Malvacee.

Lavatera arborea (Linnaeus)
Order Malvacez.

Lavatera maritima (Willdenow)
Order Malvacez.

Lavatera Olbia (Linnzus)
Order Malvacere.

Lecythes ollaria (Linneus)
Order Myrtacez.

Linum usitatissimum (Linneus)
Order Linez.

Malva Capensis (Willdenow) whe
Order Malvacez.

Musa Ensete (Gmelin) ...
Order Scitaminee.

Musa paradisaica (Linneus)
Order Scitaminez.

Musa sapientum (Linnzus)
Order Scitaminee.

Musa textilis (Linneus) ...
Order Scitaminee.

Nolina erumpens ($8. Watson)
Order Liliacez.

Pandanus utilis (Bojer)
Order Pandanee.

Raphia vinifera (Beauvois)
Order Palme.

Sanseviera fasciata (Hort.) mt
Order Hamodoracee.

Sanseviera Guineensis (Willdenow)
Order Hemodoracez.

Sparmannia Africana (Linneus fil.)
Order Tiliacez.
Sparmannia Africana fl. pl. (Linnaeus
fil.). Order Tiliacea.
Spheralcea umbellata (Spach)
Order Malvacez.

Sterculia villosa (Roxburgh)
Order Sterculiacez.,

Urtica heterophylla cis
Order Urticacee,

Yucca aloifolia (Linnaeus) we
Order Liliacee.

Yucca aloifolia variegata (Linnzus)
Order Liliacez.

Yucca Californica (Lemaire) ee
Order Liliaceae.

eee

Golden-tinted Torch lily.
Cape of Good Hope.
Large-flowered Torch lily.
Cape of Good Hope.
Recurved Torch lily.
Cape of Good Hope.

Rooper’s Torch lily.
British Caffraria.
Large-calyxed Kydia.
East Indies.
Common tree mallow.
Europe and Asia.
Sea mallow.
South Europe.
Velvet mallow.
France.
Winna fibre or Monkey pot.
British Guiana.
Common flax.
Europe and Egypt.
Cape mallow.
Cape of Good Hope.
Bruce’s or Abyssinian banana.
Abyssinia.
Common Plautain fruit.
India.
Common banana.
. East Indies.
Manilla hemp plant.
Java and Philippine Islands,
The sprouting Nolina,
Texas.
Common Screw pine.
Mauritius and Madagascar.
African bass fibre palm,
West Tropical Africa.
Pale-banded Bowstring hemp.

Common Bowstring hemp.
Guinea,
“ African hemp bush.”
Cape of Good Hope.
Double-flowered “African hemp
bush.” Cape of Good Hope.
Umbel-flowered globe mallow.
Mexico.
The hairy Sterculia.
East India.
Neilgherry nettle.
India,
Aloe-leaved Adam’s needle,
dagger-leaf. Mexico, &c.
Variegated dagger-leaf.
Mexico.
Californian mound lily.
California,

or
35

Yucca filamentosa (Linnzus)
Order Liliacez.

Yucea flexilis (Carriere) ...
Order Liliacez.

Yucca gloriosa (Linnzus)
Order Liliacez.

Yucca gloriosa (Linneus). Var.
superba (Baker), Order
Liliacez. :

Yucca Guatemalensis (Baker). Syn.
Y. Ghiesbrechtii (Hort.). Order
Liliacee.

Thread-bearing mound lily.
Virginia,
Flexible Yucca.
Mexico.
“Petre hemp” or “ Mound lily.”
Southern United States,
Superb mound lily.
America.

The large mound lily.
Mexico and Guatemala.

LIST OF FIBRES (AUSTRALASIAN) IN
BOTANICAL GARDENS MUSEUM.

 

Amperea spartioides (Brongniart)...
Order Euphorbiacce.

Anigozanthos flavida (Redoute) ...
Order Haemodoracez.

Astelia Banksii (A. Cunningham)...
Order Liliacez.

Carex paniculata (Linneus), Syn.
C. adpressa (R. Brown). Order
Cyperacee.

Carex tereticaulis (I. v. Mueller)...
Order Cyperacee.

Cassytha melantha (R. Brown)...
Order Laurinez.

Commersonia Fraseri (J. Gay)
Order Sterculiacez.

Corchorus olitorius (Linneus)
Order Tiliacez.

Cordyline Australis (Hooker). Syn.
C. Forsteri (F. v. Mueller).
Order Liliacez.

Cordyline Australis, var. lineata ...
Order Liliacez.

Cordyline Banksii (Hooker, fil.)
Order Liliacee.

Cordyline Baueri (Hooker). Syn.
C. nutans (A. Cunn.). Order
Liliacez.

Cordyline Cookii (?) aan on
Order Liliacew,

Broom-like Amperea.
Victoria, N. S. Wales, Queens-
land, &c.
Yellow sword lily or Kangaroo-foot
flower. West Australia,
Bank’s Astelia.
New Zealand.
Close-spiked Sedge grass.
Australia, except North, New
Zealand, &c.
The round-stemmed Carex.
Victoria, N. S. Wales, South and
West Australia, and Tasmania.
Common scrub vine or Dodder laurel.
Victoria, N. S. Wales, South and
West Australia, and Tasmania,
Blackfellow’s hemp.
Victoria, N. 8. Wales,
Queensland.
Jute plant or Jew’s mallow.
North Australia, South Asia, and
Africa,
Forster’s palm lily.
New Zealand.

and

Lined-leaved Dragon tree.
New Zealand.
Sir Joseph Banks’ palm lily.
New Zealand.
Bauer’s palm lily.
Norfolk Island and Tropical
Polynesia.
Captain Cook’s palm lily.
36

Cordyline indivisa (Kunth)
Order Liliacez.

Cordyline stricta (Endlicher) wis
Order Liliacee.

Cordyline terminalis (Kunth)
Order Liliacez.

Cordyline terminalis (Kunth). Var.
cannefolia (Bentham). Order
Liliaceae.

Cordyline Veitchii
Order Liliacee.

Crotalaria Cunninghamii (R. Brown)
Order Leguminose.

Crotalaria juncea (Linnzus)
Order Leguminose.

Cyperus lucidus (R. Brown)
Order Cyperacee.

Dianella coerulea (Sims) ...
Order Liliacez.

Dianella elegans (Kunth) ...
Order Liliacezx.

Dianella levis (R. Brown)
Order Liliacea.

Dianella revoluta (R. Brown)
Order Liliacez.

Dianella tasmanica (Hooker)
Order Liliaceae.

Doryanthes excelsa (Correa de Serra)
Order Amaryllidez.
Doryanthes Guilfoylei (Bailey) ...
Order Amaryllideze.
Doryanthes Palmeri (Hill)
Order Amaryllidez.
Gahnia psittacorum (Labillardiére)
Order Cyperacez.

Gahnia Radula (Bentham)

Order Cyperacez.
Hibiscus cannabinus (Linneus) ...
Order Malvacez.

Hibiscus heterophyllus (Ventenat)
Order Malvacez.,

Hibiscus splendens (Fraser)
Order Malvacez.

Hoheria populnea (A. Cunningham)
Order Malvacez.

Juncus communis (i. Meyer)
Order Juncacez.

«“ Toii.”
New Zealand.

. Erect palm lily.

N.S. Wales and Queensland,
Terminal palm lily or ti plant.
N.S. Wales, Queensland, Poly-
nesia, &c.
Canna-leaved palm lily.
N, S. Wales and Queensland.

Veitch’s palm lily.
New Zealand.
Cunningham’s Crotalaria,
Queensland, South, West, and
North Australia.
Bombay hemp.
Queensland, North Australia,
and Asia,
Shining Galingale rush.
Victoria, N. S. Wales, Queens-
land, &c.
Paroo lily.
N.S. Wales and Queensland.
Elegant native Flax lily.
Victoria and Tasmania.
Smooth-leaved Flax lily.
Victoria, N. S. Wales, Queens-
land, &c.
Recurved-leaved Flax lily.
Australia, except North.
Broad-leaved native Flax lily.
Victoria, N. S. Wales, and Tas-
mania,
N. S. Wales Spear lily.
N.S. Wales and Queensland,
The giant Queensland Spear lily.
. Queensland.
Queensland Spear lily.
Queensland.
The parrot rush.
Victoria, N, S. Wales, Queens-
land, &c.
Cutting grass or black reed.
Victoria, South Australia, and
Tasmania.
Ambari hemp.
Queensland, North Australia,
Asia, and Africa,
Queensland Sorrel tree.
N.S. Wales and Queensland.
Hollyhock tree.
N.S. Wales and Queensland.
Ribbonwood of Otago.
New Zealand.
Common or Candle rush.
a exrept North; Europe,
Cc
‘387

Juncus maritimus (Lamarck)
Order Juncacez.

vee

Juncus pallidus (R. Brown)
Order Juncacesx.

Juncus prismatocarpus (I. Brown)
Order Juncacez.

Lagunaria Patersonii (Don)
Order Malvacez.

Lepidosperma elatius (Labillardiére)
Order Cyperacez.

eee

Lepidosperma gladiatum (Labillar-
ditre, Order Cyperaces.

Lepidosperma longitudinale (Labil-
lardiére). Order Cyperacez.

Morea Robinsoniana (F. v. Mueller)
Order Iridez.

Pandanus Forsteri (C. Moore and
F.v. Mueller). Order Pandanez.

Pandanus odoratissimus (Linnzus fil.)
Order Pandanez.

Pandanus pedunculatus (R. Brown)
Order Pandanee.

Phormium tenax (Forster)
Order Liliacez.

Sea rush. ;
Australia,except North; Europe,
&e,

._Pale-green rush.

Australia, except North,
Prism-shaped fruited rush.
Australia, except North.
Norfolk Island Cow-itch tree.
Norfolk Island.
The taller Sword rush.
Victoria, South Australia, and
Tasmania,
Coast Sword rush.
Victoria, N.S. Wales, South, and
West Australia, &c.
Long-leaved Sword rush,
Victoria, N.S. Wales, South, and
West Australia, &c.
Wedding flower.
Lord Howe’s Island.
Tent tree of Lord Howe’s Island.
Lord Howe’s Island.
Moreton Bay Bread fruit tree.
Queensland, North Australia,
Asia, &c,
Native Screw pine.
N.S. Wales and Queensland.
Common New Zealand flax.
New Zealand.

Phormium tenax variegatum (Forster) Variegated New Zealand flax.

Order Liliacez.
Pimelea axiflora (F, v. Mueller)
Order Thymelzacez.

Pimelea clavata (Labillardiére) ...
Order Thymelzaceze.

Plagianthus betulinus (A, Cunning-
ham). Order Malvacee.

Plagianthus pulchellus (A. Gray) ...
Order Malvacez.

Syn. P.

Poa cxspitosa (Forster).
Order

australis (R. Brown),
Graminee.

Scheenus brevifolius (R. Brown)
Order Cyperacee.

Scirpus nodosus (Rottbeell). Syn.
Isolepis nodosa (R. Brown).
Order Cyperacez.

Sida rhombifolia (Linnzus)

Order Malvacez.,

Sterculia acerifolia (A. Cunningham)
Order Sterculiacez,

New Zealand.
Axil-flowered tough bark.
Victoria, N. S. Wales,
Tasmania.
Club-flowered Pimelea.
West Australia.
Ribbon tree, or New Zealand lace-
bark tree. New Zealand.
Victorian hemp bush.
Victoria, N. S. Wales, and Tas-
mania,
Australian meadow grass, or wiry
grass. Victoria, N. 5. Wales,
Queensland, &c,

Short-leaved bog rush or cord rush,
Victoria, N. 5. Wales, Queens-
land,
Knotted club rush.
Australia, except North.

and

Queensland hemp.
N.S, Wales, Queensland, North
Australia, &c.
Flame tree or lace-bark of N. S.
Wales, N.S. Wales and Queens-
land,
38

Sterculia diversifolia (G. Don) eis
Order Sterculiacez.

Sterculia lurida (F. v. Mueller)
Order Sterculiacez.

Stypandra cespitosa (R. Brown) ...
Order Liliacee.

Tarrietia actinodendron (F. v.
Mueller). Order Sterculiaces.

Tetrarrhena juncea(R. Brown), Syn.
Ehrharta tenacissima (Steudel).
Order Graminez,

Typha angustifolia (Linneus) ...
Order Typhacee.

Urena lobata (Linneus) ...
Order Malvacee.

Xanthorrhea australis (R. Brown)
Order Juncacee.

Xanthorrheea minor (R. Brown)
Order Juncacez.

Xerotes longifolia (R. Brown)
Order Juncacez.

Victorian bottle-tree or Currijong.
Victoria, N. Wales, and
Queensland.
Pale-leaved Sterculia.
N. S. Wales and Queensland.
Tufted Stypandra.
Victoria, N. 8. Wales, Queens-
land, and Tasmania.
The rayed Staveswood.
N.S. Wales and Queensland.
Climbing Rush grass.
Victoria, N.S. Wales, and Tas-
mania.
Native Bulrush or catstail.
Australia, Tasmania, Europe,
&e.
Lobed-leaved Indian mallow.
-Queensland, N. Australia, Asia,
&e.
Resin grass tree.
Victoria and Tasmania,
Dwarf grass tree.
Victoria, N. S. Wales, &c.
Native tussock grass or mat rush.
Victoria, N. 5. Wales, Queens-
land, &c.

By Authority: Ronr, S. Brarn, Government Printer, Melbourne.
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