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From the American Journal of Science and Arts, No- I. Vol. XXI. 
 
 ^ 
 
 ON SOME 
 
 VSOZSTABXiE M ik T IS RX A Xi S 
 
 FROM WHICH 
 
 CORDAGE, TWINE AND THREAD, 
 
 ARE MADE. 
 
 BY JAMES MEASE, M. D. 
 
 Member of the Americam Philosophical Society, 8fc. ^c. 
 

VEGETABLE MATERIALS FOR CORDAGE, ac. 
 
 The two first vegetables that deserve to be noticed, as being most 
 generally known to the countries in which Christianity prevails, are, 
 1. Hemp, Cannabis saliva; 2. Flax, Linum usitatissimum. Ou 
 these no farther remarks are necessary. 
 
 In India the fibres of several vegetables, and different vegetable 
 productions, are extensively employed for the same purpose ; the 
 principal of which are the following. 
 
 1. Crotalaria juncea, L. ; sana,* or sun-plant. This is exten- 
 sively cultivated throughout India, and also in the island of Sumatra, 
 according to Marsden, to make small ropes and twine. The Rev. 
 Mr. Carey says there are two varieties of this plant, one of which 
 grows ten or twelve feet high : the seeds of another are sown in Octo- 
 ber, and rises to the height of four or five feet. The first variety is 
 preferred.! T^^® reason for this preference, according to Milburn, 
 is, 1st, the difference in the size of the two plants ; and 2d, the cir- 
 cumstance of the lateral branches which shoot out from the smaller 
 variety, and which render the fibres very difficult to be separated 
 from the woody part. The mode of separating the fibre is extreme^ 
 ly simple, as are all the mechanical operations in India. When the 
 seed vessels have nearly attained their full size, the plants are cut, 
 tied in bundles, and steeped in water for two or three days ; then ta- 
 ken out, and the stalks broken about a foot from the lower end by a 
 man standing up to his knees in water, who, holding a few of the 
 stalks with the large ends from him, threshes the water with them, 
 till the broken pieces are separated, and fall off. Then turning them, 
 he takes hold of the fibres which have been freed, and beats the small 
 ends in the same manner, until the fibre is entirely separated from 
 the stalks. A few strokes are sufficient. It is then dried and pack- 
 
 " Dr. Francis Buchanan gives two Indian names to this plant, viz. /«?a/7>a. Trav- 
 els, Vol. i. p. 226, and Shamqni, Vol. ii. p. 227. Milhiun says that th» large vari- 
 ety is called GJiore sunti: the iVurc i.s called Jute. Oriental ComiHcrcc, Vol. ii. p. 
 210. 
 
 t On fiic Agiicultuie ot Dinajpur. Tnmi., Aaialic l;oc. Vol. x. j). 11. 
 
4 Vegetable Materials fox Cordage, fyc. 
 
 ed up for market. Dr. Buchanan gives a somewhat different mode 
 of treating the plant to procure the fibre, which it is unnecessary to 
 copy. (Travels, Vol. i. p. 227.) The apparatus commonly used 
 in the United States to break and prepare hemp, would answer much 
 better than any Indian mode. The twine made in India from the sun- 
 plant, has long been an article of regular importation into the United 
 States, and is much used when a strong ligature is not required. It 
 is also extensively employed for fishing seines ; for although it is 
 weaker when dry, than the twine from flax, yet is stronger than it, 
 when wet ; on this account, and being but half the price of flax twine, 
 k is in great demand by the Delaware fishermen, as one of them re- 
 cently informed me.* The twine-fibre is also the material from 
 which the well known gunny bags are made, as I have long since 
 stated, f and has been converted into strong demy, crown and car- 
 tridge paper : a specimen of the first I received from the late Dr. 
 Lettsom of London, in the year 1803, J and still possess it. The 
 value of the sun-plant induced me to recommend the importation of 
 the seeds for sowing in Louisiana, and I repeat the recommendation. 
 The climate of Florida would be equally congenial to it, and from 
 the greater ease with which its filamentous fibre is separated, than 
 hemp, it would doubtless become a favorite with the cultivators. 
 Paper makers will find it profitable to work up the worn gunny bags 
 and old sun cordage, for coarse strong wrapping paper. The speci- 
 men I have of the paper is much stronger than tliat made from straw. § 
 
 * Dr. Roxburgh gives the results of several hundred experiments, to show the 
 comparative strength of numerous vegetable fibres used in India for cordage and 
 twine, under the following circumstances. 1. In afresh state; 2. dry; 3. wet with 
 fresh water; 4. tanned; 5. tarred; 6. after one hundred aixd sixteen days niacera- 
 tton in fresh water. The result was, that tan tn general added strength, while tar, 
 althoiigh it preserved cordage, diminished its strength ; and in no instance was 
 this more clearly evinced, than in the common hemp, (Cannabis) cultivated in Ben- 
 gal. Wetting cords with fresh water, invaiiably increased their strength greatly. 
 A dry cord of sun-plant sail twine broke with one hundred and forty eight pounds 
 weight, but required seventy four pounds more, or a weight of two hundred and 
 twenty two pounds tobre;ik it when wet with fresh water. Thirty two pounds more 
 were required to break a hempen cord when wet, than to break another cord of the 
 game size when dry. 
 
 i, Domestic Encyclopedia, article "Gunny bag," 1S03. 
 
 I Domestic Encyclopedia, article " Paper," 1803. 
 
 § The foreman of a rope walk, in which Uie fibre of the .sun-plant is largely work- 
 ed up, informed mc, that when hackled " clo.sely," for twine or lines, it would not 
 yield more tha,n one half" tier," thatji, long hemp. The rest was tow, aixd only lit 
 
Vegetable Materials for Cordage, ^c. & 
 
 Milburn says that the island of Salsette produces two sorts of hemp, 
 one resembling the sun-plant, but preferred thereto, when great 
 strength is required ; it is the best substitute for hemp yet known- 
 (Vol. 1. p. 2S3.) The botanical name of the plant yielding it, is not 
 given. 
 
 2. Musa iexiilis. — For several years past, a fibrous material un- 
 der the name Manilla hemp, has been largely imported into the Uni- 
 ted States, and worked up into glossy white cordage for hawsers and 
 running rigging. Having four years since, accidentally met with a 
 store full of it, I was led to attempt to find out the vegetable that 
 yielded it, but failed to obtain the least information. The mercantile 
 men made no inquiries in the port where they shipped the article, 
 and were satisfied with the good returns derived from bringing it 
 home. I knew it could not be the fibre of the hemp of Europe and 
 North America, having been long familiar with the fact, that neither 
 hemp nor flax are cultivated in any part of India, or the Indian is- 
 lands, for cordage,* but the particular vegetable yielding the fibre, 
 could not be ascertained. Having however been recently consulted 
 on a question arising at the Philadelphia custom house, respecting 
 the nature of some Indian cordage, and a cordage material from the 
 same quarter, I determined to renew my inquiries, and despairing of 
 acquiring any knowledge from men, I resolved to consult every book 
 on India, within my reach. The second work I examined, was 
 " Crawfurd's account of the Indian Archipelago," and the first vol- 
 ume of it relieved me from my ignorance. According to this author^ 
 the fibre of Manilla hemp is obtained from the Musa textilis,-f a 
 species of wild banana, growing abundantly in the northern spice isl- 
 ands, and in the Phillippines, particularly in Mindanao. The length 
 
 for plough lines, halters, bed cords, fcc. The " tier" was also full of shaws, and 
 weak. These defects doubtless arise in part from the slovenly preparation of the 
 fibre. The brake and hackle would certainly tui-n it out in a more perfect state, al- 
 though they could not alter the strength of the fibre. 
 
 * Hemp and flax have been cultivated in India from the earliest times, for the oil 
 produced from the seeds ; but the chief object of attention (o the first, is owing to 
 the general use made of the leaves for smoking in pipes, either alone or mixed with 
 tobacco; and for making an intoxicating preparation from them called bang, which 
 is smoked with tobacco. In Sumatra, according to Marsden, the same practice pre- 
 vails, and hemp is there extensively cultivated for this purpose. 
 
 i Dr. Roxburgh says, that " the species of Musa, which wc call Coccinea, yields 
 what is called Manilla hemp ; at least it was sent to me from China as that plant." 
 — Trans- Soc Art?, Vol. xxiv, p. 153. 
 
G Vegetable Materials for Cordage, ^c. 
 
 of it when imported into the United States, is from six to eight feet. 
 From many inquiries at the proper sources of information, on the 
 qualities of this cordage, I am authorized to say, that it is stronger, 
 more durable, and more elastic than that made from common hemp. 
 
 The elasticity o-f the Manilla hemp cordage is one of its greatest 
 recommendations, and on this account is highly prized by our sea- 
 men. On one occasion a few years since, a New York packet ship 
 in the harbor of Liverpool, during a heavy blow, dragged two an- 
 chors, and was driving fast towards a pier against which she would 
 have been dashed with great violence, had not the captain ordered a 
 hawser of Manilla hemp to be carried on shore, and made fast. 
 This being done, the progress of the ship was arrested, but it was 
 not until the hawser had been stretched to one half its original diam- 
 eter, that she was brought up. The master of a Philadelphia pack- 
 et, who witnessed the scene with great anxiety, determined immedi- 
 ately on his return home, to order a hawser of the same material.* 
 
 3. Woody fibre inside of the coco-nut husk. — The short, woody, 
 and apparently intractable, husky fibres, lining the inside of the 
 husk of the coco-nut, constitute the material which Hindoo inge- 
 nuity has long since converted into excellent cordage. They are 
 first soaked in water, until they become soft, (and to effect this, Dr. 
 Buchanan says six months are required,) then beaten to separate the 
 woody substance connecting them, which falls away like saw-dust, 
 leaving only the strings. A commercial friend states, that these are 
 spun by hand into yarns of a foot or more in length, and brought in 
 bulk from the Maldive, Laccadive, and other islands on the Malabar 
 coast, to Calcutta, and there made up by the native workmen. There 
 are two statements on the subject of the stage of maturity of the 
 coco-nut, proper for the preparation of the coir fibre. Dr. Bu- 
 chanan saysjf that the rope made from the strings of the husk when 
 the nuts are ripe, is veiy bad, and that the green nuts yield the best 
 material. People, he says, of the low caste of Williarue, collect 
 diose that have been cut for juice, or thrown down by monkies ; but 
 another author asserts, that the fibres " can only be procured from 
 
 * He has recently informed mc, that had the hawser of the New York packet 
 been made of hemp, it would have parted. The Manilla cordage like that of coir, 
 recovers its claslicily, after being stretched, until cousidcvably worn. 
 
 I Vol II, p. 50 London, 1S07 
 
Vegetable Materials for Cordage, ^c. 7 
 
 (he fruit in its greatest maturity."* The circumstance of tfie color of 
 the cordage being precisely that of the inside of the liiisk of the ripe 
 nut, would seem to sanction this last opinion. It is singular, that the 
 accurate and observant Mr. Marsden should be entirely silent on this 
 point. With respect to the superiority of a coir cable to that of hemp, 
 in salt water, there is but one sentiment among those who have used 
 both. The experienced navigator Forrest says, that the "coir cable 
 gives so much play to a ship riding at anchor, that with a cable of one 
 hundred and twenty fathoms, the ship retires or gives way sometimes 
 half of its length, when opposed to a heavy sea, and instantly shoots 
 ahead again : the coir cable, after being wire-drawn, recovering its 
 size and spring. It is usual for valuable ships leaving the Ganges in 
 August and September, against the south west monsoon, to have a 
 coir cable fresh made, under the eye of the chief officer, for a 
 stand-by. Hempen cables are strong and stubborn, and ships often 
 founder that ride by them, because nothing stretches or gives way ; 
 the coir yields and recovers." He says further, that " it is prefera- 
 ble for small cordage for running rigging, as it passes much freer 
 through the blocks than hempen rope, which if wet, becomes hard 
 and does not run free, owing to the tar casing it, by the heat of the 
 climate, and the rope is stubborn, especially after a rain."f Other 
 advantages of coir cables, consist in their floating like wood ; never 
 rotting in consequence of being soaked in salt water ; not exhaling 
 those unpleasant and unwholesome odors which are perceived from 
 hempen cables when wet, and in their being comparatively light and 
 easily managed. But in fresh water, hempen cordage is more dura- 
 ble. Mrs. Graham states, that " the rigging of a country ship of eight 
 hundred tons, in which she made a voyage from India to Ceylon, 
 consisted entirely of coir rope, and that fresh water rots it to such a 
 degree, that the standing rigging was covered with wax cloth and 
 hempen yarn. "J A commercial friend confirms the statement of 
 this keen and observant female traveller, and says, that when the 
 operation is neatly performed, the cordage intended for the standing 
 rigging is deprived of its elasticity, (technically, "the stretch taken 
 
 ' Letters annexed to Heyne's Tracts on India, p. 15, 4to. London, 1814. Tlie 
 author, whose name is not given, says he resided twenty years in India. 
 
 t Voyage from Calcutta to the Mergui Archipelago; introduction, p. vi. Lon- 
 don, 1792. -t Residence in India, p. 8G. Edinburgh, 1812. 
 
8 Vegetable Materials for Cordage, ^c. 
 
 out,") then "served," and finally covered with the Indian dubbing 
 called dammer. Thus protected, rigging will last for years. Euro- 
 pean and American ships hire coir cables when in an Indian port, to 
 save their own. The article (coir) constitutes a grand staple of In- 
 dia, the value of which is considerable. 
 
 4. Agave Americana. — While I was engaged in examining a coil of 
 Manilla rope, in the course of my inquiries about that article, my at- 
 tention was drawn to another parcel of glossy white cordage, which 
 I was informed by the ship chandler, had been made from Sisal 
 hemp, and was much used. Of the vegetable producing it, and the 
 reason of the specific name attached to the raw material, he knew as 
 little, as respecting the Manilla hemp, which he had been working 
 up for several years. But by continued inquiry, I heard of the 
 merchant who first introduced the article into Philadelphia, and from 
 him I learnt, that having been told by a manner of the rope made 
 from the prepared fibre in Yucatan, he imported a cargo of it in the 
 year 1825, from Sisal, referring me to my old acquaintance Capt. 
 Patrick Hayes, for further information, he having attended to the pro- 
 cess of preparing the article for sale in Yucatan, and seen the plants in 
 the open lot before the Pennsylvania hospital ! Upon visiting that insti- 
 tution with Capt. H., and entering the green house, he pointed out the 
 plant, which I immediately recognised as the well known Agave Amer- 
 icana — that eminently useful plant to the people of the countries in 
 which it is native, and whose distant periods of flowering when remov- 
 ed therefrom, have given rise to a popular error, which will require ages 
 to remove.* According to my informant, the preparation is extreme- 
 ly simple. By means of two sharp corners made by hollowing out 
 the ends of a wooden tool like a flat ruler, the fleshy leaves are slit 
 into two or three longitudinal strips, and the pulpy substance being 
 scraped off, the fibrous material appears, which is then shaken loose, 
 tied ia a knot, and when dried in the sun, is put up in bales for ex- 
 
 * I allude to the idle story of the plant (the popular name of which is the Ameri- 
 can aloe) flowering only once in an hundred years.— In Mexico they flower every 
 ten years, according to Bullock, p. 2S2. In the year 1804, an Agave flowered at the 
 Woodlands, the seat of the late Wm. Hamilton, which grew from a sucker of one 
 that flourished thirty six years before, (1778) at Springetsbury, (Bush-Hill) both 
 near Philadelphia- 
 
Vegetable Materials for Cordage, Sfc. 9 
 
 portation.* Great quantiiies are sent to Cuba lonjako cofFee-bags, 
 and since the year 1825, numerous cargoes have been imported into 
 the United States, and worked up into hawsers, running rigging, and 
 small ropes. Much of the late importation 1 am informed, has been 
 of a quality far inferior to the early stock. Jn Yucatan, about Me- 
 rida, the most beautiful sewing thread is made of the fibre, some of 
 which Capt. Hayes brought home, and used in his family. The 
 coarsely prepared fibre for ropes and hawsers, resembles the Manilla 
 hemp, but is harsher to the touch : this may be owing to the great size 
 of the leaves, and to a careless preparation of them, for the fibre 
 from Hayti is much finer than that from Sisal, and the small ropes 
 made from it are beautiful and glossy. 
 
 The plant has a very extensive range in Asia, Soutli America, 
 ]Mexico, and the West Indies, and wherever found, is applied more 
 or less to the same purposes as hemp or flax. In Yucatan the fibre 
 is called " hennequin :" in other places " pita,"f the name by which 
 the thread and twine made of it are also known. In Colombia the 
 prepared fibre is called " coquise," and the name pita, given to that 
 of a tree, called marichi.\ The cordage from the Agave plant is 
 said to be liable to mildew, and to lose its pliability after being wet, 
 faults that do not attach to the Manilla rope. It is also thought to be 
 inferior in strength to this last. Hawsers made of it are much less 
 durable than those composed of Manilla hemp. 
 
 I was led to the preceding investigations by the following occur- 
 rence, to which I have already alluded. 
 ■ In the autumn of 1829, Mr. F., a merchant of Philadelphia, im- 
 ported a quantity of " coir cordage," and also a large parcel of the 
 
 * " The leaves vary iVom live to eight feet in length, but some considerably ex- 
 ceed these dimensions." — V/ard's Mexico, Vol. I. p. 55. — Mr. Bullock mensuied 
 some ten feet long, fifteen inches wide, and eight inches thick. — Residence in Mex- 
 ico, p. 71. — In Hayti they seldom exceed five feet in length. Humboldt has given 
 a very interesting account of the various uses to which the plant is ajiplicd, in his 
 Political Kssay on the Kingdom of New Spain. Mr. Ward, in the account of his 
 mission to Mexico, has also stated .some of (hem, and given a line plate of (he plan(. 
 
 ) This is its name in Guatimala, according to Dunn, p. 241. 
 
 + The fibre of this tree is said to be ten or twelve feet long, and liner and more 
 silky than that of the Agave. It is used for sewing half boots and shoes. — Notes 
 on Colombia, by Lieut. Bachc, U. S. Army, p. 81), 1827. — It is to bo regretted (hat 
 no further account is given of so valuable a tree or its produce, and (hat no speci- 
 men of the fibre has boen brought home. 
 
 Vol. XXL— No. I. 2 
 
10 Vegetable Materials for Cordage, &fc. 
 
 fibre of the " sun-plaiit" for rope makers ; and a question arose on 
 the duties to be charged on each. Mr. F. said that in importing 
 them, he had been influenced by the edition of the tariff law of 
 1828, republished in that year by two clerks of the custom house, 
 and revised by the late collector, in which the duty on coir rope, 
 is charged at 15 per cent, ad valorem ; and the "sun-plant" not 
 being mentioned at all, he concluded that the duty would be the same 
 as on the other " non-enumerated articles," viz. 15 per cent. Tt was 
 however determined to charge the coir at the same rate as that paid 
 by imported hempen cordage, viz. five cents per pound, and Mr. F. 
 accordingly paid that duty. Sometime after, another parcel of coir 
 rope was imported into Boston, and the owners resisting the attempt 
 to class it with foreign hempen cordage, the collector finally assented 
 to their construction of the tariff law. The extra duty, therefore, 
 which had been paid by Mr. F., amounting to seven hundred and 
 seventy five dollars, was refunded to him. With respect to the sun- 
 plant fibre, the question was, whether it should be charged with the 
 duty of imported hemp, which was fifty dollars per ton, or be classed 
 with the non-enumerated articles, paying an ad valorem duty of 15 
 per cent, and which, in the case of the sun-plant fibre, would lower 
 the duty to nine dollars and ninety cents per ton. This last sum was 
 finally fixed on. The decision of the Boston collector as to the 
 coir, and that of the Philadelphia collector on the sun fibre, were 
 m strict accordance with justice, propriety and reason ; for the 
 framers of the tariff law of 1828, when fixing the liigh rates on im- 
 ported cordage and hemp, had alone in view, the hemp of Europe, 
 ( Cannabis mtiva,) and cordage made from it, never dreaming of any 
 other material for cordage than that yielded by this vegetable. The 
 officers of the customs, therefore, might with as much propriety have 
 classed a cargo of Paraguay tea (mate) with some of the varieties 
 of green or black tea of China, and charged the duty accordingly, 
 merely because the daily beverage is prepared for millions of peo- 
 ple in South America, from one of these vegetables, and from the 
 others in China, Europe and North America, as to equalize the duties 
 on two articles made from substances so opposite in their natures, as 
 the coco-nut husk strings and the hemp fibre. The same remark 
 is applicable to the hemp and sun-plant. It would have been quite 
 as unreasonable to charge at the same rate, two raw materials, such 
 as hemp and the fibres of the sun-plani, which are the produce of 
 
Vegetable Materials f 07- Cordage, Sfc. H 
 
 vegetables so different, ami from opposite quarters of the globe, 
 for no reason, except that they can be worked up into the same arti- 
 cles, and applied to the same mechanical purposes. In the case 
 of the coir and hemp, however, this equalization subsequently took 
 place ; for upon refunding the amount of extra duty paid by Mr. 
 F., an order was issued by the treasury department, to charge in 
 future, the same duties on hemp and coir cordage, viz. five cents 
 per pound, and this duty was actually paid on a quantity a few weeks 
 after. This order cannot be justified by the terms of the tarifi' law, 
 and must be considered as the result of a forced construction of it, 
 for the reasons just given. Coir cordage, and that from other Indian 
 vegetables, ought to be classed with the sun-plant twine, and with 
 the fibres of the Agave, (Sisal hemp,) until an express law on the 
 subject be passed, to fix their rates of duty. 
 
 A discussion on the subject of the twine made from the sun-plant, 
 had taken place at the custom house of Philadelphia, in the year 
 1808, in consequence of the arrival of a ship from Calcutta, with a 
 quantity of that article on board. By a law then recently passed, 
 hempen cordage was prohibited, and the surveyor of the port being 
 informed of the twine on board of the ship, showed samples of it to 
 several persons all of whom pronounced it to be made of hemp. 
 He therefore gave his opinion that the law had been contravened, and 
 that the ship had incurred the penalty expressed in it. But on a 
 reference to the collector of the port, he was overruled, for one of 
 the supercargoes, had the foresight to obtain letters from Mr. Wm. 
 Roxburgh, jr. the superintendent of the botanic garden near Calcut- 
 ta, and from the Rev. Mr. Carey, to show the nature of the plant 
 from which the twine had been made, and that neither hemp nor 
 flax were ever used in India, as materials for cordage or twine, a 
 fact since frequently confirmed. Although such authorities required 
 no support, yet the supercargo to increase the chance of a favora- 
 ble decision on the question, thought proper to consult me, and I re- 
 ferred him for a confirmation of their statements to the articles I had 
 published five years before, (1803,) in the work already mentioned. 
 A gentleman who had resided for ten years in Calcutta, added the 
 weight of his testimony to the same points, and the ship was releas- 
 ed from the custom house seals. I annex the letters of Mr. Carey, 
 and Mr. Roxburgh, which the supercargo put into my hands at the 
 time. 
 
12 Vegetable Materials for Cordage, &i-c. 
 
 5. The most singular vegetable fibre convertible into cordage, is 
 tlie production of a Sago Palm, first named Saguerus by Rum- 
 pliius,* ulio gives a long and interesting account of it, and an excel- 
 lent plate of the tree, showing the mode of growth of the fibre. The 
 common name of the fibre in India is Ejoo. In the Island of Suma- 
 tra, according to Marsden,f it is called Anou. It resembles black 
 horse-hair. " Each tree produces six leaves in the year, and each 
 leaf yields ten and a half ounces of the fibre, which makes the an- 
 nual produce of each tree nearly four pounds. Some of the best 
 trees produce full one pound of the fibres in each leaf. They grow 
 from the base of the footstalks of the leaves, and embrace completely 
 the trunk of the tree. The fibres and leaves are easily removed 
 without injuring the tree. "J Crawfurd says " It is used for every 
 purpose of cordage in India, domestic and naval, and is superior in 
 quality, cheapness and durability, to the cordage manufactured from 
 the fibrous husk of the coco-nut." Cables made of this unique 
 production, are occasionally brought from India, but not as an article 
 of commerce, into the U. States. It is presumed that this was the 
 cordage brought by the ship Ajax a few years since into New York, 
 and called " Palm tree cordage." 
 
 6. In Italy, the Hibiscus roseiis, Thore, has been within a {ew years 
 employed for small cordage, by Signor Barbieri, curator of the bo- 
 tanic garden at Milan, who two years since sent a specimen of a cord 
 made of it, with some of the seeds of the plant, to " the Philadelphia 
 Society for promoting agriculture," which were distributed. The 
 plant abounds in the marshes of Italy, and grows twelve feet high. 
 It is a perennial, and as it is therefore not liable to the same expense 
 and attention required by common hemp or flax, it may lay claim to 
 some exclusive advantages over these plants. S. Barbieri did not 
 state the comparative advantages of flax and the Hibiscus roseus, as 
 to the separation of the fibre, a point by the way, of great conse- 
 quence. The people of Cumberland Co. New Jersey, have lotfg 
 
 * Herbarium Ambdj'iiense, Vol.1, p. 57, plate 13. ii is ihe Borassus gomutus 
 of Lourciio, Flora Cochin Ctiinensis, p. 618 ; and Jlrenga saccharifera of Labil- 
 lardiere, according to Dr. Roxburgh. This last work, I have not seen. Rumphius 
 says it is found on the coast of Java, about Grissek and Samarang, and in the islands 
 of the Molucca Archipelago. It abounds in Amboyna, p. 59. 
 
 t History of Sumatra, p. 77. 
 
 t Roxburgh, Traus. Soc. Arts. Lond. Vol. 24, p. 152. 
 
Vegetable Materials for Cordage, S^c. 13 
 
 been in the practice of making ropes and plough lines of the H. 
 palustris, the growth of their marshy districts. 
 
 7. The Sida abuiilon, treated as hemp, yields a fibre, from which 
 very excellent ropes are made. It abounds in the United States, 
 particularly in Pennsylvania and Virginia, 
 
 8. Phormium tenax ; New Zealand Flax. We owe the knowl- 
 edge of this valuable plant to the first voyage of Capt. Cook. All the 
 attempts to cultivate it in Europe and the U. States, in the open air, have 
 failed. Cables and ropes formed of it, are said to be not only much 
 lighter, but far stronger than those made from hemp, ( Cannabis,) viz. 
 in the proportions of 23 y\ to 16^. The missionaries might render 
 an essential service to the objects of their spiritual care in the New 
 ^Tealand group of islands, by urging them to cultivate extensively 
 this valuable production of their soil. The growth, preparation of 
 the raw material, and its exportation might be made greatly auxiliary 
 to their civilization, by inducing habits of regular industry, and by 
 fiu-nishing them with the means of procuring eyery article of cloth- 
 ing, and for domestic use, books, and the various things connected 
 with the arts of civil life, all of which moreover, have hitherto been 
 supplied at the expense of the friends to missions in Europe, and 
 the United States. 
 
 Philadelphia, December, 1829. 
 
 P. S. I send herewith specimens of die fibres of * 
 
 1. Croiolaria juncea, sun-plant of India, the material of Calcutta 
 twine. 
 
 2. Musa textilis, Manilla hemp. 
 
 3. Coir fibre, from the inside of the coco-nut husk. 
 
 4. Agave Americana, from Tampico and Hayti. Sisal hemp. 
 
 Letters on the Sun-Plant of India, referred to in page 35. 
 
 Dear Sir — In reply to your inquiries, concerning the material of 
 which gunnies, twine, &c. are manufactured, and which you say 
 are thought in America, to be manufactured from hemp, I observe 
 that hemp, {Cannabis,) is no part of the material used in those goods. 
 
 I have written a paper on the state of agriculture in the district of 
 Dinajpur, which is printed in the volume of the Asiatic Society, 
 now in the press, and in it, I have taken some notice of the cultivation 
 of the plants used in the manufacture of gunnies, &c. ; but as that 
 volume will not perhaps be published in less than another year, I can- 
 
J 4 T^egetahle Materials for Cordage, ^c. 
 
 not refer you to it. I therefore observe, that there are several plants 
 indigenous to India, the fibres of which are used for the manufacture 
 ■of cordaoe, twine and gunnies, tlic principal of which are the Croto- 
 lariajuncea, (called sun by the Hindoos) and two species of Corcho- 
 rus, (Paat or Kosta of the Hindoos.) Several species of the Hibisms, 
 furnish a durable fibre, but are cultivated in too small quantities to be 
 brought to market. Rohinia or MiUhigionia canoiahina, is used by 
 ihe natives to make ropes, but is seldom brought to market. 
 
 Hemp {Cannahis) grows inmost places throughout Hindostan ; 
 but the Hindoos are ignorant of its uses for cordage, cloth, &c., and 
 only cultivate it in very small quantities, on account of its narcotic 
 qualities. Flax is also cultivated in large quantities for its seed, but the 
 'natives know nothing of its use in the manufacture of linen cloth, &c. 
 
 The East India Company, have tried to extend the cultivation of 
 hemp {Ca?inabis,) and flax {Linum,) but the attempt has not been at- 
 tended with the desired success. The natives are loth to venture up- 
 on the cultivation of a plant (hemp) which has never been tried by 
 them as a crop, or to strip the bark from the feeble stalks of the flax, 
 while they find the cultivation of Crotalaria and Corchorus, so easy 
 and effectual for cordage, sail cloth, &c., and that of Cotton so proper 
 for cloth. 
 
 You may therefore assure yourself, that neither gunnies, twine, 
 rope, nor any other article of Indian manufacture, which is brought 
 to market, is made of hemp (Cannabis,) or of flax (Linum.) 
 I am, dear Sir, yours very truly, 
 
 Wm. Carey. 
 
 To Mr. Henry Drinlrr, 
 Calcutta, July 22, 1807. 
 
 Botanic Garden, near Calcutta, July 22, 1807. 
 Dear Sir — The principal material of which twine and other sorts 
 of cordage are made in India, besides the coarse bags and canvas, is 
 j5un (the fibres of Crotalaria juncea;) also Paat is used (the fibres of 
 Corchorxis capsularis,) and several other substances, all of which are 
 different from hemp, (Cannabis sativa,) and flax, (Linum usitatissi- 
 mnm. Wm. Roxburgh, Jr. 
 
 In charge of the Botanic Garden. 
 To Mr. Drinker. 
 
IW«,«L°^ CONGRESS