PLAITING AND ROUGH-WEAVING FIBERS Coir, or coconnt fiber, is obtained from the thick outer husk of the coconut, or fruit of the coco palm, Cocos nucifera, Linn., belonging to the Pal maeea or Palm family. Coir is a rather coarse, stiff, elastic fiber four to ten inches long, of a brownish color. In this country it is used for door mats and floor covering. In Asia, and to some extent in Europe, it is used for cables and towing hawsers, valued for their elasticity and lightness. It is sometimes woven into coarse sail-cloth.
The coconut palm grows in abundance along the sandy shores of nearly all tropical countries, and occasionally in inland localities, but the production of the coir of commerce is confined almost exclu sively to the Laccadive islands and adjacent shores of southern India and Ceylon, and in southern China. Coir is obtained from green coconuts. The fiber from mature coconuts, such as are sold in the markets, is coarse and brittle and of little value except for jadoo fiber, used in place of leaf-mold for growing conservatory plants. Machinery is now used for shredding the fiber and twisting it into a coarse yarn, the form in which it is exported.
Raffia.
Raffia is a flat, ribbon-like fiber, consisting of strips of the epidermis peeled from the leaves of the raffia palm, Raphia Ruffia, Mart., growing in Madagascar, and the jupati palm, Raphia tedigera, Mart., of eastern Brazil. These palms belong to the Palm family. They are plentiful in the wild state, and are not systematically cultivated.
In this country raffia was formerly used almost exclusively as a tie material in nurseries and gar dens, but now it is largely used in basketry, milli nery and various kinds of fancy work. Its use for these purposes has increased the demand and re sulted in doubling the price within the last six years. In Madagascar, raffia is made into woven goods.
Matting fibers.
Matting fibers are plaiting or rough-weaving materials, not textile fibers. Entire stalks or leaves are used with a warp of cotton or hemp yarn, or in many instances, especially in the Pacific islands, the same or similar materials are used in both directions, that is, for warp as well as woof.
Japanese matting is made from the mat rush, "round grass" or " bingo-i," Juncos drums, Linn., or the "three-cornered grass," "shichito-i," Cyperus tegetiformis, Roxb. The mat rush is distributed throughout the greater part of the north temperate zone. It is plentiful in many parts of the United States, but is not need here except as a tie material by Chinese gardeners. In Japan and the region about Shanghai, China, it is cultivated with great care in the rice-fields.
It is propagated by roots set out first in nursery beds, then transplanted to the fields late in the fall after the rice crop has been removed. The crop is hoed, well fertilized and watered, somewhat like rice. It is cut in July. The roots are then dug to make room for transplanting rice, and to be used for future planting. The shoots are dipped in a pond of water, holding white clay in suspension, to give them a coating which tends to preserve their color and When dry they are stored away in bundles until used.
In the Ningpo and Canton districts of China, and in Formosa, the Chinese mat rush " Kiam tsau," Cyperus tegctiforrvis, is cultivated largely in the rice-fields to supply material for matting. In the region about Calcutta and for the flue Tinnevelly mats of south India Cyperus tegetum, Roxb., is used. Its leaves are harder than those of C. tegetiformis.
Nearly all of the "round grass," Juncos, used for matting is from cultivated plants, and the stalks, mostly sterile shoots, are used whole, while the sedges, " three - cornered grass" of the genus Cyperus, are largely from wild plants, and the stalks are split into two or three sections before drying. The matting made in China and Japan is woven on hand-looms, and affords employment to thousands of men, women and children. The United States imports floor matting to the value of about $4,000,000 every year, and its use is steadily increasing.