Page:Hardwicke's Science-Gossip - Volume 1.pdf/293

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Dec. 1, 1865.]
SCIENCE-GOSSIP.
277

nets, but in Piedmont the fibre is converted into a kind of linen cloth. We possess thread lace of excellent quality which had no more aristocratic origin than the common stinging-nettle. The Puya (Bœhmeria puya) of Darjeeling, and the China-grass (Bœhmeria nivea) of Assam, China, &c., are nettles (fig. 2) which yield fibres unsurpassed for strength, are easily bleached, and may be converted into the finest linen in the same manner as flax. The Neilgherry Nettle is also useful in a similar manner.

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