Straw is imported from Italy, Germany and Japan, wrought into ((straw plait" or 'braids" for the manufacture of hats, fancy baskets, etc. The Tuscan braids are the finest and are pro duced from wheat straw specially grown, al though rye straw is also employed in Italy. The braids from China and Japan are from rice and barley straw, while the Bohemian straw plait is from wheat. Two native American grasses, Poa pratensis and Sporobolus indicus, have also, in past time, been employed for the same pur pose.
The Eastern or Oriental floor mattings im ported into this country are made from several species of rushes or sedges. The Chinese and Korean are produced from Cyperus tegetiformis; the Japanese from Cyperus unitans and Juncus effusus; the Indian from C. corymbosus, C. esculentus and C. tegetum. Other species are also employed, though •the above are the most common. The Japanese mat rush industry is very extensive, over 400,000 worth of mats hav ing been exported in a single year. Cyperus unitans is the Shichito-i of Japan, from which the cheaper, coarser mats, for the common peo ple, are produced, while Juncus effusus is the Bingo-i, or form employed for the mats of the higher classes, both being cultivated. The technique of mat making is practically the same in China, Japan, India and Ceylon. The culms are either used entire or split into two or more parts, and woven upon a warp of thread, these often, stretched upon the floor, for much of this material is woven by laborious hand methods.
In the United States a new form of floor matting has recently come into vogue, produced from slough grass, Cares filiformis, also known as the slender sedge. The material grows wild over vast areas of the river bottoms of the Mis sissippi, and streams tributary. It is cut in July or August, dried, and by means of special ma chinery worked into a continuous strand, bound with thread or fine twine. It is afterward woven into mattings, the warp being cotton yarns in high colors. The grass twine as prepared far weaving is also used as binder twine for grain.
The sponge cucumber or snake gourd, Luffa i cylindric°, is imported from Japan in consider able quantities as a substitute for the bath sponge. The commercial article is the entire gourd with the epidermis and seeds removed, presenting the appearance of a network of straw-colored fibre. It is extensively cultivated
in Japan, for export. Grows in the southern United.. States, but has never been produced commercially, though used for bath sponge, flesh brush, dish cloths, and even for fancy baskets and bonnet crowns.
Among high-grade fibres that have been the subject of experiment in the United States but which are not produced commercially may be mentioned pineapple fibre, from Ananasa sativa. Fibre extracted in Florida was found to be fine, soft, flexible and very resistant. The filaments yield to treatment in the alkaline bath and are easily subdivided, producing an 'admirable spin ning fibre. In the Philippines, the fibre is used to some extent in the fabric known •as pifia cloth, which is becoming known in Europe America, and may become of commercial im portance. Consult Special Report No. 5, Office of Fibre Investigations, Department of Agricul ture, Washington, and Bulletin No. 4, Philippine Bureau of Agriculture, Manila, for further in formation regarding pineapple fibre.
Another valuable but unemployed spinning fibre that might be produced in the United States is the bowstring hemp, various species of Sansevieria. The plant grows to perfection in southern Florida, and yields a fibre which com bines all the good qualities of length, strength, fineness, color and divisibility, which adapts it for employment in the manufacture of fine threads, and even fabrics. There are eight or more species of bowstring hemps, all of which are considered for fibre. The Florida species is S. longiflora.
Mexico abounds in fibre plants, many species of Agave and Yucca not recognized as standard commercial forms being employed for rope, coarse bags and mattings. A little of this fibre finds, its way to the United States for employ ment in coarse twine manufacture, though not in appreciable quantities at present. Palma Istle and Pita Sylvestre are local trade names applied to a harsh, low-grade fibre produced from two species of Yucca. Pita is a Mexican name applied to several Agave fibres, and to some allied species, though pita is generally un derstood to mean the fibre of Agave ameri cana. There are several species of Agave, known in Mexico as Mescals, which produce fibre of good strength, which might be employed in cheaper grades of cordage.