Select Plants fo r Industrial Culture and
B e tu la p a p y ra c e a , Alton and Dryander.
The “ Paper-Birch ” of North-America. Generally a larger tree
than B. alba, with a fine-grained wood and a tough bark ; the latter
much used for portable canoes. Likes a cold situation. Hardy to
lat. 63° 55' in Norway [Schuebeler]. Wood rather heavy, hard and
tough, but adapted only for indoor-work, extensively employed for
spools, shoe-lasts, pegs and various turnery.
B ix a O re lla n a , Linné,
Tropical America. The Arnatto-plant. This shrub or small tree
can he grown to advantage for its pigment as far south as Moreton-
Bay and probably even further southward. Lives in the open air
a t P o rt Jackson, but does not mature its fruit there [C. Moore],
Succeeds in Jamaica up to 3,000 feet [W. F aw c e tt]. Culture most
easy. Fruits well in Natal [ J . M. Wood]. The mercantile product
is merely the pulp of the fruit.
B o e hm e ria n iv e a , Gaudichaud.*
The “ Bamee or Rhea.” Southern Asia, as far east as Japan.
This bush furnishes the strong and beautiful fibre, woven into a
fabric, which inappropriately is called grass-cloth. The plant can
be raised from seeds, which should be sown on manured or otherwise
rich and friable soil, when a crop is obtained in the third year,
or it can be multiplied quickly from cuttings. Rich forest-soil
seems best adapted for the Ramee, where occasional irrigation can be
applied. According to Mr. W. H. Murray, failures of crops are unknown
in California ; replanting is not required. Professor Hilgard
says, th a t it is one of the few plants which will prosper on alkaline
laud. In the open lands a t P o rt Phillip it suffers from the night-
frosts, although not to such an extent as materially to injure the
plant, which sends up fresh shoots, fit for fibre, during the warm
season. The plant has been cultivated and distributed by the writer
since 1854 in the Botanic Garden of Melbourne, being also here
readily propagated from cuttings, the seeds rarely ripening with us.
Numerous shoots spring after cutting from the same root. Ordinarily
three crops can be obtained a year ; but under irrigation, according to
Professor Hilgard, the plant is cut four times annually in California.
Colonel Hannay and Dr. Forbes Watson record, th a t in Assam even
four to six crops are cut annually, that obtainable in the cool season
providing the strongest fibre ; the latter attains sometimes the length
of 6 feet. The produce of an acre has been estimated at two tons of
fibre, which is always best obtained from the young shoots. The bark
is softened by water or steam, and then the bast is sepai’able into its
tender f i b r e s b u t as in the case of many other fibre-plants, both the
so-called wet and the dry process can he applied, the latter mode preferable,
particularly in a dry clime. Dr. Collyer, of Saharumpore,
boils the whole branches with soap-water [a process used here since
1866 for separating the Phormium-fibre in rope-making, L. Morton]
for the easy separation of the fibre, of which he obtained 160 lbs.
from a ton of Ramee branches. He also perfected machinery to render
the process easy and more remunerative. Fibre further prepared by
Bonsor’s process can be spun into the finest yarn. Mr. D. Martin,
of the Agricultural Department of Victoria, draws attention to the
dry method, adopted by M. Favier in Gerona, further to the several
machines lately constructed by M. Billion, of Marseilles, by M.
Kaulek, of Paris, by M. Scheifner, of the same place, and by Don
D. Priesto, in Barcelona. M. Vial’s process also deserves attention.
Superior machines have also recently been invented in the United
States ; one by Mr. W. H. Murray seems particularly recommend-
able [See Hilgard’s Bulletin, January, 1891]. By Mr. Ch. Toppan’s
process the fibre is now easily freed from any sticky, corticatmg
substances, and can be spun and carded by ordinary cotton- and wool-
machinery. A splendid résumé of what has hitherto been achieved
in India with Rhea-culture is contained in Dr. G. W a tt’s Dictionary,,
vol. VI., 1892. The fibre is strong and durable, glossy, to some
extent with the appearance of silk. T t was known in Europe to be
used in Jap an for ropes and cordage since Kaempfer’s time, and is
said to be three times as strong as hemp for this purpose ; it is not
easily subject to decay in water. But this fine and light fibre is also
well adapted for a variety of textile fabrics, enduring wear to an
extraordinary extent, and not particularly subject to attacks by insecte.
Yarn is already made of it by the ton in Baltimore [T . Albee Smith].
The ordinary market-value of the fibre is about £40 per ton ; but
Dr. Royle mentions, th a t it has realized at times £120. Lately the
culture of the Ramee has assumed sufficient magnitude to bring the
fibre into competition with, or even superiority to other leading textile
material. Also the leaves are useful, as they serve as food for silkworms
[W. T. Dyer]. Other species of Boehmeria require to he
tested, among them one, which was discovered in Lord Howe’s Island,,
namely, B. calophleha (Moore and Mueller).
B o le tu s b o v in u s , Linné.
Europe. Besides this species Dr. Goeppert mentions also the
following, as sold for food in the market of Silesia; B. circinans,
Persoon ;' B. edulis, Bulliard ; B. luteus, Linné ; B. sapidus, Harzer ;
B. scaher, Bulliard ; B. subtomentosus, Linné ; B. variegatus, Swartz.
Dr. Cooke lauds B. æstivalis. Fries, for food. Dr. L. Planchon’s
list of edible fungs of France includes from this generic group : B,
æreus, Bulliard ; B. granulatus, Linné ; B. castaneus, Bulliard.
Edible is also B. badins. Fries. B. luteus. Fries, and B. granulatus,,
Linné, are indigenous in the colony Victoria. Among the Victorian
species one, allied to B. edulis, attains a weight of 3 lbs., and the
pileus then is of 12 inches width. The genus is dispersed over the
globe in numerous species, many others doubtless fair esculents,
although some are known to he poisonous.
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