But the manufacture has been carried to a far greater extent in the South of France. In the Journal de Physique, Tom. 30. 4to. An. 1787. p. 294., is a paper by Broussonet Sur la culture et les usages économiques du Genêt d’Espagne. A minute and highly curious account is here given of the mode of preparing the fibres, which is practised by the inhabitants of all the villages in the vicinity of Lodêve in Bas Languedoc. The shrub abounds on the barren hills of that region, and all that the people do to favor its growth is to sow the seed in the driest places, where scarce any other plant can vegetate. After being cut, the twigs are dried in the sun, then beaten, macerated in water, and treated in the same way as flax or hemp (See Zincke’s process, [Chapter XI.]). The coarser thread is used to make bags for holding the legumes, corn, &c.; the finer for making sheets, napkins, and shirts. The peasants in this district use no other kind of linen, not being acquainted with the culture either of flax or hemp. The ground is too dry and unproductive to suit these plants. The linen made 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[215].” 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 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[216].” 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.)
[215] Journey through Spain, vol. iii. p. 129, 130.
[216] Carter’s Journey, vol. ii. p. 414, 415.
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 seems to resolve itself, it appears to us that the evidence preponderates against the use of Stipa Tenacissima for making cloth in ancient times, and points to the conclusion, that the coarse garments, to which Pliny alludes, were fabricated from the fibrous rind of Spartium Junceum.
One of the most interesting facts in the geography of plants is the frequent substitution in one country, of a plant of a certain natural order for another of the same natural order in another country. The Indians have a plant, bearing a very close and striking resemblance to the Spartium Junceum, which they employ just as the natives of Bas Languedoc employ that plant. We refer to the Crotalaria Juncea, called by the natives Goni, Danapu, or Shanapu, and by us the Sun-plant, or Indian Hemp. From the bark are made all kinds of ropes, packing-cloths, sacks, nets, &c. In order to improve the fibre, the plants are sown as close as possible and thus draw up to the height of about ten feet. According to Dr. Francis Buchanan, the plant thrives best on a poor sandy soil, and requires to be abundantly watered. After being cut down it is spread out to the sun and dried. The seed is beaten out by striking the pods with a stick. After this the stems are tied up in large bundles, about twelve feet in circumference, and are preserved in stacks or under sheds. When wanted, the stems are macerated during six or eight days. They are known to be ready, when the bark separates easily from the pith. “The plant is then taken out of the water, and a man, taking it up by handfuls, beats them on the ground, and occasionally washes them until they be clean; and at the same time picks out with his hand the remainder of the pith, until nothing except the bark be left. This is then dried, and being taken up by handfuls, is beaten with a stick to separate and clean the fibres. The hemp is then completely ready, and is spun into thread on a spindle, both by the men and women. The men alone weave it, and perform this labor in the open air with a very rude loom.” The fabric made from it is a coarse, but very strong sack-cloth.
“The fibres, when prepared,” says Ironside, “are so similar to hemp, that Europeans generally suppose them to be the produce of the same plant[217].”
[217] Account of the culture and uses of the Son-or Sun-plant of Hindostan by Ironside, in the Phil. Trans., vol. lxiv.: Dr. F. Buchanan’s Journey, vol. i. 226, 227, 291.; vol. ii. 227, 235.: Wissett on Hemp, passim.: Roxburgh’s Flora Indica, vol. iii. p. 259-263.
The genus Lupinus (the Lupin), belonging to the same natural order as Spartium and Crotalaria, might probably afford materials of the same kind. Mr. Strange (Lettera, &c. p. 70.) mentions the filamentous substance of the Lupin as adapted for making paper.