{145}
CHAMBERS’S JOURNAL
OF
POPULAR
LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND ART.
CONTENTS
NETTLE-CLOTH.
BY MEAD AND STREAM.
SOME PARLIAMENTARY MAIDEN SPEECHES.
THE MINER’S PARTNER.
CONCERNING LOVE.
A NEW PROCESS OF WHITE-LEAD MANUFACTURE.
THE SENSITIVE PLANT.
LOVE LIGHTS.
No. 10.—Vol. I.
Price 1½d.
SATURDAY, MARCH 8, 1884.
NETTLE-CLOTH.
Some little time ago, when one of our most distinguishedbotanists was asked his opinion aboutthe desirability of forming a collection of all thevegetable substances which are or have been usedin medicine both by civilised and savage races, hereplied that it would take a large building to holdit. Although a series of fibre-yielding plantswould be much less in number, the list would stillbe a long one, provided we knew all those in useby savage tribes. Very few of these, however,are extensively used for clothing. Putting asidewool and silk, which are animal products, we haveonly cotton and flax of prime importance. Hempof fine quality is largely grown in Italy, and therewoven into cloth for ordinary purposes; but asyet this use of hemp in other civilised countriesappears to be limited, though the fibre is everywhereemployed for cordage. With the exceptionof jute, which is chiefly made into coarse fabrics,all other vegetable fibres believed to be suitablefor important textile industries may be said tobe as yet only on their trial. But a number—suchas the so-called New Zealand flax (Phormiumtenax), Manila hemp (Musa textilis), pine-apple(Bromelia ananas), American aloe (Agave Americana),and some yielded by certain species ofpalms—are known to possess very valuable properties.We have omitted to mention any membersof the Nettle tribe—to which, however, thehemp-plant is closely allied—as we propose tosay a few special words about them.
Growing both wild and cultivated in suitablelocalities scattered over a large area in South-easternAsia, there is a species of nettle to whicha peculiar interest is attached. The reason of thisis that the liber or inner side of its bark yields afibre excelling every other derived from the vegetablekingdom for fineness, strength, and lustre combined.In China, this fibre is called by English-speakingpeople, China grass; in India it is calledrhea; and in the Malayan Archipelago by the nameof ramie. It was some time before botanists discoveredthat the material which w