put to the same uses as hemp. At the present day, the people of Lower Languedoc, towards Lodeve, manufacture it into various household textures, such as tablecloths, shirts, and other things, employing the bark as fuel. It is the species called by Pliny (Book xxxix. cap. 9) genista, but which he seems, though wrongly, to consider as another variety—the Stipa (macrochloa) tenacissima. This last variety certainly grows in Spain and Africa, and is there designated sparto or esparto. As described by him (Book xix. cap. 2), it is still in great request for the manufacture of baskets, mattresses, ship-cables and cordage, and when treated as hemp, is converted into more delicate articles. The Spaniards make of it a kind of shoes called alpergates, which form a large export commodity, being in popular demand in the Indies, where these sandals are more suitable than anything else. It is also an essential material for the fabrication of coverings for rooms, balconies, and chairs; and makes, besides, excellent panniers for mules. It is most likely that the Greeks employed the spartium and the Romans the stipa, in making shoes for their beasts of burthen.
In more modern times, however, sandals for horses have been made from spartum, as appears from J. Leonis.[1] It is also now largely employed in the manufacture of paper.
We have already examined what Vegetius had to say about horses' feet, and their injuries from non-shoeing. We will now consider what he relates with regard to some portions of their treatment, as a supplement to his mention of ‘detritus pedibus,’ ‘subtritus pedibus,’ etc. He
- ↑ Africæ Descriptio. Lib. iii. p. 120.
