=Other fibrous plants= are the _Agave Americana_ or century plant, which is cultivated as a hedge; enough is produced to satisfy most of the home demand for fibre for ordinary rope and twine, also for making common packing sacks, and alpargatas, sandals worn by the poorer people. Here grow ramie and other shrubs, the fibre of which is used for vegetable silk. Ramie on the Bogotá River yields 6 crops a year without irrigation, the stems 6 feet long having a very tough fibre. Most of the Magdalena land could not be better used than for raising such plants. A recent invention to extract the fibre by a chemical process makes its culture important. Jute in Colombia on the same soil as ramie reaches double the height attained in its native country, and gives two cuttings a year, the first crop three months after planting. =Wheat= gives good crops on the highlands, and =maize= (corn) grows everywhere, in the rich lower valleys producing three crops a year. Potatoes and other vegetables grow in various altitudes. FORESTRY The natural wealth of the forests is enormous, though at present largely inaccessible for lack of transportation facilities, a condition which might easily be remedied so far as the forests of the Pacific Coast and of the Atrato and Magdalena Basins are concerned. The chief products now are rubber and tagua nuts. The =Rubber= is of both the _caucho_ and the _hevea_ varieties, the former of inferior quality, procured by cutting down the trees, the _hevea_ or fine Pará by tapping. The former is obtained by the Tolimenses from the Rio Negro section, the latter by Indians of Vaupés, this being sent down to Manaos. Rubber also comes from Chocó, being collected by Indians and negroes who exchange it for goods at Quibdó, at places on the San Juan River, also at Barbacoas, back of Tumaco. A few plantations have been started in the Atrato and Magdalena Valleys and near Tumaco. Balatá and chicle are also exported. =Tagua Nuts=, which have only to be picked up, are gathered in the forests on the Pacific slope and in the Atrato and the Magdalena Basins, the best quality from the Sogamoso tributary of the latter. This is called vegetable ivory, from which buttons, etc., are made. =Timber= of great value exists, a little of which is exported: Colombia mahogany, cabinet and dye woods; but there are few saw mills, and the great variety of trees in a small area renders their exploitation difficult. =Medicinal plants= are numerous: cinchona, sarsaparilla, ipecac, balsams, etc. Many other valuable plants abound but are little exploited. LIVE STOCK