THE SOAP PLANT.

Manawatu Times, Volume II, Issue 57, 5 May 1877, Page 3

THE SOAP PLANT.

The bulbous plant called the soap plant, long known to the Indians and the old Spaniards, is said by a Californian paper to be claiming the attention of settlers generally m America. This plant grows all over the country, and sometimes iv very large quantities ; it is now attracting much attention with a view to its cultivation. The bulb is enclosed m a fibrous coating, of which the writer thinks one is produced every year ; so that a matured plant will have many. It is found that when dressed, those fibres run into four or five different qualities ; the finest is like human hair, and being naturally of fashionable color, it is iv great request for ladies' use, the other qualities for various purposes. The coarsest of the fibres are used for stuffing sofas, chairs, and other articles of furniture, and also for stuffing railway carriages, superseding crimped horse hair, being equally elastic, and much sweeter. It is expected that more than a thousand tons will be exported during the coming summer, and it is thought desirable to bring the plant into general cultivation. The core of the bulb makes a first rate lather m water, equal to the finest soap, and its properties for cleansing are very great.