156 ANISIUAL, EEPOETS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Yucca fibers. — An investigation has been made of the production 

 of fiber from leaves of yucca plants growing abundantly over hun- 

 dreds of square miles of unused lands from western Texas to south- 

 ern California. 



Fibers from palmilla {Yucca data) in southern New Mexico and 

 bear grass {Yucca ylauca) in northeastern New Mexico and adja- 

 cent jjarts of Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas have been used as emer- 

 gency supplies to take the place of jute in the manufacture of cotton 

 bagging. 



Coarser fibers, more nearly like palma ixtle in character, are being 

 prepared from the leaves of the blue yucca {Yucca haccata) of 

 northern Arizona and eastern California, the green yucca {Yucca mo- 

 havcnsis), extending from the Mohave Desert of California to central 

 Arizona, and the flowering yucca {Hesferoijucca ^ohipj^lei), grow- 

 ing in the San Bernardino and Coast Range Mountains of California, 

 to be used in the manufacture of binder twine. 



The yucca plants now growing are sufficient to insure a supply of 

 leaves for several years, but investigations are desired to determine 

 the rapidity of growth, length of life, and the possibility of cultivat- 

 ing a permanent supply. 



SOFT FIBERS FOR THREAD AND TWINE. 



The severe reduction in foreign supplies of flax and hemp has 

 resulted in increasing interest in the production of these fibers in the 

 United States. The principal efi'orts of the Bureau of Plant In- 

 dustry to encourage the cultivation of hemp and fiber flax in the 

 United States have been directed toward the development of im- 

 proved strains or varieties. 



Flax. — A large number of pedigree selections of fiber flax and also 

 increase plats of the best varieties were grown at the experiment 

 station at East Lansing, Mich., in 1918. These improved strains 

 had been developed by four to eight generations of selection. A 

 marked difi^erence in resistance to lodging was shown by the different 

 strains, and it was noted that some of the tallest and best strains were 

 also lodge resistant. 



In order to gain time in increasing the supply of seed of these 

 improved strains some of the seed, after being harvested in Michigan, 

 was taken to Porto Rico, where an increase crop was grown during 

 the winter. The seed thus produced was brought back in the spring 

 of 1919, in time for planting semicommercial tests in the fiber flax- 

 growing regions in Michigan and Oregon. This flax is decidedly 

 superior to the fiber flax grown from commercial seed of either recent 

 or remote importation. The stocks of these improved strains are 

 being increased as rapidly as possible. 



Trial plats of fiber flax, ranging from one-tenth acre to 5 acres, 

 are being grown in 12 localities in Wisconsin. Some of these plats 

 are very promising, notwithstanding unfavorable weather conditions. 



In addition to eastern Michigan and tlie Willamette Valley in 

 Oregon, where the cultivation of fiber flax has become an established 

 industry, this crop is being cultivated this season in western Wash- 

 ington,' southeastern Minnesota, southern AVisconsin, and western 



