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whole province of Saragossa , which has sent a specimenof this pulp, as prepared for the blue dye of stuffs. Ad-verting to this blue colour, we may mention that thesouthern provinces of Spain present large tracts of countryin which indigo might be raised with advantage. Someattempts of this kind have actually been made at Seville ,and have succeeded very well.]
149 Cruz (D. J. de la) Canary Islands .
Specimens of cochineal.
150 Meron (D. Enrique), Malaga .
Specimens of cochineal.
151 Alcaide (D. Miguel Gomez), Malaga .Specimens of cochineal.
152 Calderon (D. Juan Manuel), Granada .
Hemp {Cannabis saliva) raw and combed. Flax {Linum
usitatissimum ). Flax and hemp seeds.
153 The Municipal Corporation, Castellon.Samples of raw hemp.
154 -, D., Marcia.
Linseed. Cleaned hemp.
Rush ( Macrochloatenacissima ), of spontaneous growth.
Fibre called Pita, of the Agave Americana; also ofspontaneous growth.
Samples of hemp, unbroken and cleaned.
[Pita is the name of a species of hemp-like filament, orfibre, obtained from the American agave (not the aloe),and is raised in Murcia . This plant is abundantly dif-fused over the entire southern coast of Spain , and maybecome the staple of a great department of material in-dustry. The present price realized by it is 48 reals thearroba. It is employed in the manufacture of rope, andcertain other coarse tissues. The art of preparing the rawmaterial is still very little advanced in Spain , into whichnew species of this plant, and of other varieties of thesame family, might very easily be introduced fromAmerica .
Esparto is a name given in Spain to the herbaceousstalks of the Machraclea tenacissima , a plant peculiarto the arid wastes of different regions, and in verygeneral use for the making of mats, sandals, cords, &c.,and which may become of much greater importance whenthe art shall be discovered of extracting the finer fibres forother uses, and of employing the entire plant, reduced topulp, for the finishing of paper, cardboard, &c. There aretwo varieties—perhaps, indeed, two species of esparto,commonly distinguished by their relative fineness. Thespecimens that have been sent from Spain come from theprovinces of Huesca, Murcia, and Almeria . The trade inthis textile article would seem to have engaged the atten-tion of the Spanish G-ovemment during some epochs ofthe last century; for we have found several “ Ordon-nances” of the years 1783, 1784, and 1790, prohibitingthe export of this material out of the kingdom.]
156 Martinez, D. Pascual, Valencia —Manufacturer.Samples of hemp cordage.
Thread tor sail-making.
Sail-cloth, best quality.
Cotton stuff, cotonina } second quality.
[Cotton has yielded very abundant crops in Spain , espe-cially on the coast of Andalusia. , at Mobril. During theWar of Independence , this circumstance proved highlyadvantageous to Catalonia , which could then command noother supplies for her manufactures from remoter quar-ters. But the lands on which this cotton has been raisedhave become exhausted by its continuous cultivation insuccessive years without manures. The consequence is,that this cultivation of cotton has been given up, for theplant had become too deteriorated for the crop to pay theexpenses of growing it. The relations established betweenSpain and America have almost entirely changed theeconomic conditions of this product, though its culture is,at present, to some extent, reviving in Seville , from whichprovince the specimens in the Exhibition have beenfurnished.]
157 Sagra (Ramon de la), Madrid.
Vegetable and textile products from the Island ofCuba:—
1 Trunk of the plant Lagetta lintearia , showing thetextile substance of the interior liber.
[The lace-bark tree is thus called because the films ofthe inner bark are so tough and so easily separable thatthey may be stretched laterally till they form a net-workof great delicacy and beauty. The films being, moreover,arranged in very numerous layers, which are also sepa-rable, a small piece of the branch of the tree will producoa large quantity of this natural lace.—J. L.]
2 Large piece of the interior liber of the same.
3 Cord made from the sub-cortical fibres of the same.This cord is preferred to all other kinds in the Island ofCuba on account of its great tenacity.
4 Cord made from the textile fibres of the leaves of thepalm.
5 Mat made from the same substance.
6 Cord made from the textile fibre of the tree calledMajagua {Pariiium elatum , Rich:)-, much used in theisland.
7 Yarn, extracted from the Senegal hemp {Hibiscuscannabinus) ; acclimated in the Botanical Garden of theHavana.
8 Cord made from the same yarn.
[In order to supply some idea of the fibrous productsfurnished by the Spanish colonies, certain specimens frombotanical collections made in the island of Cuba , havebeen transmitted from Spain to the Exhibition. “Duringour long sojourn in that island,” writes M. Ramon de laSagra, “we recommended the cultivation and industrialimprovement of a great number of plants hitherto muchneglected, and more especially of those composing thesection of Monocotyledons , whose textile, long, silky andresisting fibres are drawn from the leaves, and not fromthe stalk or the bark.” In reference to this subject wehave instanced various species of the “pita,” which itwould be easy to introduce from the continental coastof Guatemala '* and of Columbia^ These are knownunder the names of “ Cabulla,” “ Cocaiza,” &c. Somespecies of the Bromelia and of the Fourcrcea supply,also, excellent fibres ; and all the leaves of the palm-tree,in this respect, may be advantageously made use of. Wehave sent some specimens of this class to the Exhibition,as well as of the Puritium elatum , of the Hibiscus canna-binus , and of the curious cortieular coats peculiar to the
* Memoirs of the Agricultural Institution of Ilavanna, 1834 .—{Memories de In Institution Agronnma de la llabana, fyc.)
+ “ La Cute ferine,” &c. The old “ Spanish Main.”