Page:The history of silk, cotton, linen, wool, and other fibrous substances 2.djvu/245

 from broom-bark had been long established in Albania, Italy, and the South of France. In the latter district more especially, the entire dependence of the people on this material as a substitute for flax and hemp, and the primitive mode in which this domestic manufacture was carried on in a retired and mountainous region, seem to indicate the high antiquity of the practice. All the other authors, who mention the use of the Stipa Tenacissima, certainly give little countenance to the idea of its fitness to supply a thread for making cloth. Mr. Carter, adopting the common opinion that the Spartum of Pliny is the Stipa Tenacissima, observes, that "at present the meanest Spaniard would think clothing made from this grass very rough and uncomfortable ." We shall only quote one other authority, that of Löfling, the favorite pupil of Linnæus, who became botanist to the King of Spain, and whose Iter Hispanicum (Stockholm, 1758.) relates particularly to the plants of that country. He follows Clusius in supposing the Spartum of Pliny to be the Stipa Tenacissima of Linnæus. He mentions, that its stem is two or three feet high, with leaves so long, thin, tough, and convoluted, that they are admirably adapted for the purposes to which they are applied. He adds, "Hispanis nominatur Esparto. Usus hujus frequentissimus per universam Hispaniam ad storeas ob pavimenta lateritia per hyemem: ad funes crassiores pro navibus ad que corbes et alia utensilia pro transportandis fructibus." (p. 119.)

Pliny's remark, that the Spartum, of which he speaks, could not be sown (quæ non queat seri), is not true of the Spanish Broom; but this is of little importance in the present inquiry, because it is coupled with the remark, that nothing else could be sown in the same situation (nec aliud ibi seri aut nasci potest); a remark, which is totally unfounded in fact. The Spanish Broom would unquestionably be propagated by its seed, which is very abundant.

From these facts, the reader will have no difficulty in forming his decision. Notwithstanding the respect due to the authority of Clusius, into which that of all the subsequent writers