. A descriptive catalogue of useful fiber plants of the world, including the structural and economic classifications of fibers. Fibers. economic; classification. 27 from the cornstalk, the flower stems of broom corn, and .from reeds, sedges, and the true grasses. Still another form is the fibrous mass surrounding the fruit of the coacoanut, known as coir, and as a curious example may be noted the fiber from pine needles; a notable excep- tion of a structural fiber derived from an exogenous plant, the fibrous mass filling the sponge cucumber being another. The surface fibers are still more vari


. A descriptive catalogue of useful fiber plants of the world, including the structural and economic classifications of fibers. Fibers. economic; classification. 27 from the cornstalk, the flower stems of broom corn, and .from reeds, sedges, and the true grasses. Still another form is the fibrous mass surrounding the fruit of the coacoanut, known as coir, and as a curious example may be noted the fiber from pine needles; a notable excep- tion of a structural fiber derived from an exogenous plant, the fibrous mass filling the sponge cucumber being another. The surface fibers are still more varied in form. They may be the elongated hairs surrounding the individual pods which contain the single seeds of the thistle, familiarly known as thistledown, or they may be the hairy growths covering the clusters of seeds contained within large pods, as the cotton boll, the pod of the milkweed, or the seed envelop of species of Bombax found in tropical countries. See fig. 4, a highly magnified example of the fiber of cotton. In this. $E&® Fig. 4.—Cotton fibers: a, half ripe fibers of cotton, transverse section; 6, mature fibers; c, half ripe fibers with thin cell wall; d and e, mature fiber with definite cell wall. X 325. (After Bowman.) Surface fiber. group also is placed the leaf scales or tomentum found on the under surfaces of leaves, etc., or on the leaf buds of both endogenous and exogenous plants, which can only be used for upholstery, or as tinder. Epidermal strips of palm leaves, raffia being an example, are also included with the surface fibers. The pseudo-fibers are not fibers, but substances used as their substi- tutes. However, they are so clearly defined in the scheme of classifi- cation it will not be necessary to describe them farther or to give examples. Fig. 5 represents sphagnum moss, used as a packing material. ECONOMIC CLASSIFICATION. The highest use for which a fiber may be employed is in the manu- facture of cloth or woven fabric. As these fabrics va


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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookpublisherwashingtongovtprin