Page:The history of silk, cotton, linen, wool, and other fibrous substances 2.djvu/244

 of the Spanish Broom is as supple as that made from hemp; it might be even as beautiful as real linen, if more pains were taken with it. It becomes whiter, the oftener it is washed. It is rarely sold, each family making it for its own use. The stalks, after the rind has been separated from them, are tied in small bundles, and sold for lighting fires.

Let us now see how far Pliny's account of the Spartum agrees with these representations of the mode of manufacturing Broom-bark. The Spartum, of which he speaks, is "the rush of a dry soil," a description far more applicable to the young twigs of the Spanish Broom than to the grassy stems of the Stipa Tenacissima, or indeed to any other plant. His Spartum was used for making fires and for giving light (hinc ignes facesque), purposes for which the Stipa Tenacissima is not at all adapted, but to both of which the stems and twigs of the Spanish Broom are applied. The tender tops of Pliny's Spartum served as food for animals. According to Trombelli sheep and goats feed upon the Spanish Broom in Italy; but we cannot find that this is the case with the Stipa Tenacissima. Pliny's Spartum, after being steeped in water, was beaten in order to be made useful (Hoc autem tunditur, ut fiat utile); and this process was quite necessary in preparing the twigs of Spanish Broom, whereas the Stipa Tenacissima is most commonly manufactured without going through any such process. Clusius indeed states (l. c.) that by macerating it in water like flax, and then drying and beating it, the Spaniards of Valencia make a kind of shoes, which they call Alpergates, also cords, and other finer articles; but, at the same time, he says, that it is made into mats, baskets, ropes, and cables, merely by being dried, platted, and twisted, without any other operation. The same account is given by Townsend, who visited the country as late as 1787, and who further states, that "the esparto rush" had latterly "been spun into fine thread for the purpose of making cloth ." It seems, however, that this had only been done as an experiment, whereas the accounts which have been quoted show, that the manufacture of cloth