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Show CLOTHING FROM TREES. If, as seems a well-grounded possibility, possi-bility, the price of clothing continues to soar in this country, Americans may turn to those lands where trees grow ready-mado garments to be had for the taking. Of course, these trees are some distance away, but clothing may go so high that a little jaunt to Java or to the Amazon for the acquiring of a suit of clothes would really be, in comparison, compari-son, a profitable trip. The upas tree, once accounted t deadly," dead-ly," has no terrors for the natives of southeastern Asia, where it is widely distributed. On the contrary, the upas tree is the only tree in the world that supplies man with ready-to-wear trousers trou-sers and material for the fashioning of other garments. The inner bark is a natural cloth, only requiring the removal re-moval of the soft cellular growth to render it available for UBe. A cylindrical cylin-drical section of it from a small branch will furnish a leg for a pair of trousers or an, arm for a coat. A bigger branch would supply an overcoat, with slight modifications and extensions. In tropical South America tho inner bark of another species of tree yields an excellent cloth, the fibres of which are interwoven much as if the fabric came from the loom. After washing, beating out the cellular stuff from the interstices and drying, it is light, flexible, flex-ible, and altogether suitable for the use of tho seamstress or the tailor. Polynesia suppies a famous material called "tapa" cloth, which is produced from the inner bark of the paper mulberry. mul-berry. When bleached to a snowy whiteness white-ness it is as fine as the finest muslin. Tho inner bark of a leguminous tree found iu tropical Africa is utilized in tho same way. The West Indies pro- duce the 'Mace bark" tree, which furnishes fur-nishes a material so delicate that many articles of feminine adornment are made from it. "With these sources of supply capable of development, the clothing profiteer would best not go too far. Else perhaps per-haps we may plant some of these trees in our back yards and, at the proper season, go out and pick a palm beach suit, an overcoat or a new dress for tho boss of the house. |