which they delivered at the trading depots of the Hudson's Bay Company, or wrought into a rude blanket or rug. Several specimens of skins have lately been placed in the British Museum by John Keast Lord, F. Z. S., naturalist of the British North American Boundary Commission, who closely studied their habits, and procured the apparatus with which the aborigines of British Columbia and Vancouver Island spun the softer wool, and obtained a specimen of the rude loom with which they wove the yarn into blankets. The following extract from an article in the "Student," (London,) by Mr. Lord, shows how the demand for this material has decreased:

The Hudson's Bay Company take a few of the better class of goat-skins from the Indian ar trappers, but pay only a very meagre price for them. It is worthy of remark, en passant, that at the Hudson's Bay Company's March sale of furs for the year 1867, Rocky mountain goat-skins, although of unusually fine staple, realized only about a shilling per skin, not a tenth part as much as they made in the years 1864-5; and this falling off in value is thus accounted for: During the previous years it was the fashion with the ladies to use muffs, tippets, &c., made from the long black hair of an African monkey. The dyed hair of the Rocky mountain goat exactly corresponds with that obtained from "Jacko," and as it could be purchased for a considerably smaller sum, the demand was great for it; and hence the increased price it fetched at the auction. Now monkey-skin garments are not in vogue, the goats' hair employed to imitate it is not required, and accordingly the price has receded to a mere nothing. It is not a little remarkable that the employment of this jacket of a tropical animal should have a direct influence upon the value of one mainly confined to high northern latitudes.

The flesh is not highly esteemed as an article of food. It is represented to be tough, with a strong, rank flavor, from which even the meat of the kid is not exempt. It is not a favorite aliment with the Indians, whose tastes cannot be deemed fastidious. The body is somewhat larger than the average size of the domestic sheep.

The kids appear about the beginning of June, and twins are somewhat unusual. They are beautiful little animals, very playful, and exceedingly agile in their gambols. In the winter they descend to the range of the snow-line, and manage to obtain scanty subsistence until they are able to enjoy their favorite pasturage among the lichens, stunted grasses, and pine fronds of the mountain summits. It is found on all the more elevated portions of the Northern Rocky mountains. Mount Rainer is said to be a favorite haunt, and the higher peaks of Washington Territory abound with them. They have been seen near Fort Benton, and the Indians near Fort Simpson and among the hills of the upper Nesqually kill

numbers of them.

Mr. Lord deems the Aplocerus a valuable animal to acclimatize, and thinks it would thrive among the mountains of Scotland, and prove a remunerating "woolbearing animal." Its coat is very thick, and is composed of two classes of hair, one extremely long and somewhat coarse, beneath which is a short, dense covering, very fine, as delicate in fibre and texture as that of the famous goat of Cashmere." The outer coat of hair is very long, covering the body, tail, and legs, like the fleece of the Merino, being most abundant on the shoulder, neck, back, and thighs. The beard upon the chin appears to be continued down the throat, dangling from the chest between the fore legs. There is little difference in the figures of male and female, except that the male has more development of beard and outer coat and longer horns.

It would be worth while to ascertain more definitely the precise habits and capabilities of this American animal, and ascertain its pecuniary value, before searching further through Asia for goats to acclimatize upon this continent, though the probabilities of success, unless in mountain sections, might not be strong enough to warrant much enthusiasm in the effort.

CHINA GRASS.

The nettle of the east, Bockmeria tenacissima, vulgarly called ramie, and by other local names in different districts of southern Asia and the islands adjacent, has excited much attention in the southern States since its introduction there by M. Roezl, in the spring of 1867, though it was first introduced into the country in 1855, from the botanical garden of Jamaica, and cultivated in the United States botanical garden, and subsequently in the experimental garden of the Department of Agriculture. It was there grown from seed-a fact that should be mentioned, a general impression having been received in the south that it is propagated only by cuttings.

The high price of cotton, and the disturbance of the economy of its culture by the results of the war, have given an absorbing interest to the feasibility of substituting ramie fibre for the southern staple, and led thousands to experiments which they otherwise never would have undertaken. The Commissioner of Agriculture, to afford an opportunity for a thorough test of a fibre of superior strength and great lustre and beauty, has imported from Paris, for trial in 1868, seed of the B. tenacissima, and also of the B. candicans. These seeds have been distributed, and many reports have been received by the Department of their failing to germinate, and yet the failure attached to the experimenter, and not to the seeds, as portions of the same importation, in every instance of trial by the Department, germinated readily. The seeds are very small and require slight covering, and being very near the surface, need protection from the rays of the sun, as well as the right degree of moisture.

THE EXPERIMENT IN THIS COUNTRY.

Since March, 1867, when the dissemination of this plant commenced at New Orleans, an interest, amounting almost to a furor, has been excited in that vicinity, and subdivisions of roots have been freely sold at a dollar each. Exaggerated representations have been made, and it is feared that the ardor of experimenters may be cooled by disappointment. There seems to be no reason to doubt its rampant growth and great thriftiness in that latitude; it has been planted in every summer and autumn month, and reports of rapid growth have been invariable; the question now to be solved concerns the economy of its production and preparation as a fibre, in competition with cotton and other textiles. It is increased, not only by root divisions, but with perfect ease by cuttings, by layering, and by planting the seed. From one root, planted in March, 1867, Mr. F. J. Knapp reports an increase of 100, and from layers and cuttings of the same more than a thousand. It is stated that in one instance 100 roots in nine months produced 40,000 plants.

The beauty, durability and value of the fabrics made from this fibre are unquestioned; the desirability of its success as an important accession to the products of American agriculture is conceded; the only point to be made clear at the present time is the profit of the production. Will it pay? That is a more difficult question, and one that should be answered; all present experiments should be directed to its solution. The plant will grow; it may yield a large product per acre. Then how can it be most successfully and economically grown? How, especially, shall it be most cheaply and efficiently prepared for the market? and, finally, what modifications and improvements in its manufac ture can be made to insure a large demand for the raw material? The draw

back to its more general use is its brittleness, which prevents weaving it by machinery, while the Chinese hand-loom is inadmissible in these days of steam and water power. Therefore, it is not used alone, but always in combination with other material, the warp generally being cotton, the weft China grass.

Manufacturers are anxious to use it; many of them have spent time and money in attempted discoveries of means and appliances for working it to better advantage. A chemical process of treating the fibre has resulted in producing, in combination with cotton, an article resembling the best mohair, a stiff, strong and cool texture, silky and beautiful. It is possible, perhaps probable, that further discoveries in this direction may give a ten-fold impetus to the manufacturers' demand. It must also be had at a low price, or it never can compete with cotton. Misapprehensions of its present marketable value are current, which should be corrected. The British imports of China grass (probably also including a portion of the fabric of the Neilgherry nettle) amounted to only 65,208 pounds in 1867, and the average cost was scarcely 19 cents per pound, while the cotton imports of the same year were 1,262,536,912 pounds, and the average cost nearly 21 cents per pound. One great want in this connection is suitable machinery for separation of the fibre, and preparation for manufacture. This was mentioned as a desideratum in the report of the International Exposition five years ago. A machine for separating the fibre has been invented by Mr. Benito Roezl, which is claimed as a success. The machine is a metallic cylinder three feet in diameter, driven at the rate of 300 or 400 revolutions per minnte. It is provided with transverse bars or knives projecting from the perimeter, (for breaking up the wood and extracting it from the fibre,) in combination with alternate concave and convex table edges. The plants are first subjected to the action of the machine, then soaked in hot water, again passed between the knives and table edge, and finally soaked several hours in a solution of common lye, soap and water, heated nearly to the boiling point. The first operation strips off the leaves, scrapes away the bark, and takes out the woody substance and three-fourths of the gummy matter, and is performed with the concave edge adjusted to the table. The second is simply steeping in water to soften the remaining gum. The convex edges of the knives then soften and flatten the fibre, which is ready for manufacture after the second steeping and subsequent drying.

ACCLIMATING TESTS IN OTHER COUNTRIES.

The history of its introduction into Europe has some curious features. Sir W. J. Hooker was early interested in the experiment at a period when little was known of the plant that produced so beautiful a fibre. He identified the B. ritea and B. tenacissima as really the same species, and sought to introduce the fibre into Great Britain in large quantities, and to encourage its systematic production in British colonies, with the hope of reducing the price which it had commanded (from £60 to £120 per ton) to a figure which should encourage its general manufacture. In 1851, referring to plants then growing in the royal gardens at Kew, he says:

Long previous even to the time when the commercial importance of the fibre became known among us we had raised this plant and had it in cultivation in a hothouse, or in a warm greenhouse. This present year we have planted it in the open ground, rather with a view of showing that it cannot succeed, than with a hope of its bearing our climate unharmed save during the hottest of the summer months. But this is no reason why the "Chinese grass should not be cultivated, and advantageously, in our colonies-that is, such of our colonies as possess a climate nearly analogous to that of Canton; and we cannot doubt that it would, with due care, prove a most valuable and important article of export. It is only a true and correct knowledge of such plants, and of the peculiarities of soil and climate necessary for their being successfully reared, that can enable us to grow them to good purpose. For sixteen years this recommendation was practically unheeded, but official action was finally taken in consequence of a communication to the United States

Department of Agriculture, by one of its foreign correspondents, George J. Abbot, esq., United States consul at Bradford, England, which was made public in the annual report for 1865, in a practical essay upon this plant and its products. Specimens of the manufacture, sent by the same gentleman, were at the same time deposited in the museum of this Department. The fact was stated that considerable quantities were produced in China, but that the civil war there had interfered with its production, as civil war in this country had reduced the yield of cotton; that it was then worth in England £80 per ton, and that it might perhaps be profitably grown in the southern States, and its production become a valuable addition to American industry.

Great Britain was at this time engaged in a solution of the question of the cotton supply, and this official mention at once attracted the attention of the British authorities, who immediately communicated with Dr. Hooker, at Kew, asking his opinion as to the colonies most suitable to the cultivation of this fibre. In response to despatches sent to colonial governors, facts are reported concerning experiments with this plant.

Mr. Wilson, of the Jamaica garden, from whom seed was received for the botanic gardens of this city in 1855, reports to the colonial secretary that the Boehmeria was introduced in 1854, was found to thrive admirably, and to produce two crops of shoots annually of eight to ten feet high. He says:

The plant being suffruticose the shoots die down to the crown of the stool as soon as the seed ripens, and are rapidly succeeded by others, and I find by an experience of 12 years that two regular crops of growth or shoots are all that can be reasonably expected or natu rally produced per annum. I have found the luxuriance of growth to be all that could be expected, and even to vie with most of our rank growing weeds. The peculiarities best suited for the most successful culture of this plant are a rather rich and porous soil, warm and moist climate, and at altitudes not exceeding 3,000 feet. In this description of land and climate the island abounds, more particularly in this country in the lower hills and abandoned sugar estates. I have distributed this plant largely, which has thriven well in general, but it is held in little estimation, being looked upon more as a weed than as containing the germ of a future new and valuable staple; however, the experiment has placed beyond the shadow of a doubt the enti. eligibility of soil and climate for the full and healthy development of the plant in general. Some years ago I received a fine sample of this fibre from London, where it was cleaned from the raw material sent from India; the marketable value of this fibre was 2s. 6d. per pound, being equivalent to £280 per ton.

A report from Mr. Prestoe, of the botanic garden at Trinidad, represents that the plants thrive well there, and might be increased at a small expense to many thousands in a few weeks.

The soil and climate of the Bahamas are stated to be unsuited to its successful growth.

Mr. Home, sub-director of the Mauritius Botanic Garden, states that a few plants only were grown at the date of the reception of the despatch, but that efforts would promptly be made for their propagation, and a portion of the gar den would be set apart for the especial cultivation of fibre-yielding plants, with a view of testing their commercial importance. Sir Henry Barkly, governor of the Mauritius, has no doubt that B. tenacissima will thrive there, as two species of the same genus are indigenous to the island; but he mentions as a drawback to practical operations with it the large amount of capital invested in the sugar manufacture, which may prevent the "larger proprietors" engaging with spirit in the enterprise, while the smaller planters, many of them natives of Bengal and presumed to be acquainted with the mode of culture, may find in it an important resource.

In the Straits Settlements little is expected unless the government shall test its profit by cultivating a small experimental patch, as was done by the Indian government in the case of tea and of cinchona.

An interesting report of the experiment in Queensland is made by Mr. Walter