Bird Shows Scientists a New Cotton

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 516, 20 November 1928, Page 9

Bird Shows Scientists a New Cotton

Weed Now Produced on Marketable Basis BIG SAVING MADE British Offlcial Wireless RUGBY, Monday. An important development in the Lancashire cotton trade is expected as a result of the cultivation on a commercial basis of a new product of artificial cotton fibre. The valuable qualities of the new plant were discovered by two English scientists in South America. They were attracted by the singular construction of a certain bird’s nest. The scientists watched the bird collect what appeared to be common weed, and soak it in a pool of water, then weave it with its beak. Tests showed it to contain an iron compound, and the scientists, after eight years’ experiments, have succeeded in producing it on marketable lines. Between three and four millior pounds of this artificial cotton are now being grown in Essex and Sussex, it will be available in July to cottonspinners at a fixed price of sixpence a lb. This will represent an immediate saving of at least fourpence a lb on what they are now paying Weaving firms in the North of England and the Midlands are reported to have tested the new product, and to be satisfied that it possesses a soft and lasting sheen and lustre.

It is claimed that the low price will be made possible owing to the many valuable by-products which can be obtained. These include parchment, light building material, and a drug from the stems, leaves and roots of the plant. A corporation has been formed to place the product on the market.