CHAPTER XIII.

SPARTUM, OR SPANISH BROOM.

CLOTH MANUFACTURED FROM BROOM BARK, NETTLE, AND BULBOUS PLANT.--TESTIMONY OF GREEK AND LATIN AUTHORS.

Authority for Spanish Broom--Stipa Tenacissima--Cloth made from Broom-bark--Albania--Italy--France--Mode of preparing the fibre for weaving--Pliny’s account of Spartum--Bulbous plant--Its fibrous coats--Pliny’s translation of Theophrastus--Socks and garments--Size of the bulb--Its genus or species not sufficiently defined--Remarks of various modern writers on this plant--Interesting communications of Dr. Daniel Stebbins, of Northampton, Mass. to Hon. H. L. Ellsworth.

Pliny says, that “in the part of Hispania Citerior about New Carthage whole mountains were covered with Spartum; that the natives made mattresses, shoes, _and coarse garments of it_, also fires and torches; and that its tender tops were eaten by animals[206].” He also says, that it grows spontaneously where nothing else will grow, and that it is “the rush of a dry soil.”

[206] L. xix. c. 2.

The que