Natural Thread. The fiber of the mescal plant, grown in New Mexico and Arizona. It looks very much like a cabbage plant. On a large stalk which grows up out of the head, are long-stemmed leaves with sharp, hard-pointed ends. The soft sides of the leaf can be removed and the stem stretched out to four or five feet, so elastic is it. After allowing this to dry in the sun, it forms an eyeless needle already threaded. As fine a thread as is needed can be made, and it is as strong as wire. Ropes and heavy twine are made from the fiber that will be as strong as a steel-wire cable. This plant is found nowhere else on the face of the earth, so that Mexico and the United States have a monopoly of the trade.