I have confined myself to recapitulating _a few only_ of the _fibres_ in either class, best known to commerce; this list, indeed, might be extended almost indefinitely, as may be seen by reference to the work before alluded to, 'The Fibrous Plants of India,' by Dr. Forbes Royle, as also to the elaborate Paper on the same subject, read at the meeting of the Society of Arts, May 9, 1860, by Dr. J. Forbes Watson, Reporter on the Products of India, Dr. Royle's able successor. With some few exceptions (notably "Esparto" and some of the Cereal straws and grasses), the resulting or ultimate fibres from vegetable fibrous plants, before they can be utilized either for Textile purposes, or for the manufacture of Paper, must be freed from the extraneous substances with which during their growth they are more or less combined. In the case of _Endogens_, the fibres are imbedded or enveloped in succulent, fleshy, or pulpy stems, or leaves; and in the case of _Exogens_, the fibre is combined with, and attaching to, wood, or woody matter, such extraneous substances or matters constituting, more or less, a considerable portion both of the weight and bulk of the plant even when matured. TREATMENT OF FIBRE-PRODUCING PLANTS. From all, or nearly all, _Endogenous_ plants the fibres are extracted by hand labour, no machinery having been hitherto invented by which this operation can be performed in an economical and satisfactory manner. The fleshy stems, or leaves, of this class of plants are crushed and beaten, macerated in water, scraped and roughly combed, to separate the fibrous from the vascular, or pulpy portion of the plant; sometimes the plants are buried in wet sand, or mud, leaving them to soak, or rot, for many days, then beaten on a stone, scraped, and combed; but by this system the fibres generally lose colour and strength. The yield of fibre from this class of _Endogens_ ranges from 6 to 12 per cent., and it is only where native labour is exceedingly cheap and abundant that such a laborious and tedious process could be carried on. The majority of the fibres from _Exogenous_ plants are also, in somewhat a similar manner obtained solely by manual labour; the herbaceous, or woody stems of such plants, being first steeped, or retted, to induce partial fermentation, and facilitate the separation of the corticular fibres, from the woody stem. When produced in Europe, Flax and Hemp form an exception, being generally dried before steeping, which process is also more systematically and regularly conducted, and the subsequent separation of the ultimate fibres effected by breaking, scutching, and heckling; these operations being as far as possible carried out mechanically.