TEXTILE CROPS. The principal textile crops produced in the United States are cotton, flax and hemp. Flax indeed can hardly be ranked as a textile crop, since the fiber is only considered a secondary product anywhere. Gen erally it is regarded simply as a waste product. Jute and ramie are still in the experimental stage of progression. Among the plants the cultivation of which has been undertaken in the South and abandoned, sisal hemp Agave sisalana, and the pulque plant, Agave pulque, may be mentioned. The first is used exclusively for its strong fiber, and the latter furnished the Mexican liquor pulque and its fiber the paper of the ancient Aztecs. So also the attempt to introduce the . cultivation of the Indian mallow Abutilon avi cenna in Illinois is worthy of mention. It was hoped that this plant, which has become a nox ious weed might be allowed since the method of preparation of the fiber was very much similar to that of flax. Yet the cultivation did not prove remunerative. Among the textile and cordage fibers not generally known, and mostly the production of tropical and subtropical countries may be noticed. Agave Mexican, or aloe; the Heliconea Caribect, or Brasilier; Musa textilis, or abaca; hemps of Saigon, a species of Urtica, or nettle, from Cochin China; also string made from the fiber; Coir, or cocoanut fiber, of which a coarse rope is made; fiber, of the Ana oas, or pineapple, apparently very good; Battenb.ing and Suntang, hemp-like fiber from Cochin China—very fine and apparently strong; fiber made from the stalks of the Hibiscus escu lentus, or the common okra of our gardens; also , fiber made from the karatas (?) and banana. A curious kind of fibrous cloth is also
made by beating the inner bark of the Brous sonetia ,papyrifera, or paper mulberry in Tahiti, as likewise from the Da wron bark and Ficus prolixa from New Caledonia. As showing the annual production of textile fibers in the United States, including wool and silk, the following table for three decennial periods will be interest ing as evidencing the status of these products: In 1878 there was produced, cotton, 5,200,000 bales of 950 pounds each. Flax, fiber, hemp and silk have grown less, though the acreage and yield of flax for seed holds its own. It will be seen from the table we have given, that out side of cotton the fiber crops of the United States do not aggregate a large sum. It seems quite safe to say that for many yet to come that the two staple fibers, of the United States will be cotton in the South and wool in the North. If machinery can be devised for cheaply con verting other fiber crops into merchantable fiber& of high quality. then, flax in the North, hemp in the Middle Stntcs, and ramie and jute in the South will take important rank, and other tropical and subtropical plants will also be 'brought into active importance.