BUREAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY. 285 



STUDIES OF PLANT FIBERS, 



In the investigations of plant fibers, in charge of Mr. Lyster H. 

 Dewey, special attention has been given to hemp, flax, sisal, and 

 zapupe, products represented by importations averaging $16,000,000 

 annually, a large proportion of which could be produced with profit 

 in our own country. 



Hemp investigations. — Experiments in growing hemp on the State 

 farms in Wisconsin, in cooperation with the Wisconsin Agricultural 

 Experiment Station, have been continued with gratifying results. 

 This hemp has been pronounced superior to any grown in Kentucky 

 in manj^ years. The fertile soil in Wisconsin produces a uniform 

 growth of stalks with a very thin woody shell and consequently a 

 larger percentage of fiber. The stalks in Kentucky are more woody 

 and therefore more difficult to ret properly and much more difficult 

 to break. Since the success of these experiments depends largely 

 upon the development of suitable machinery for preparing hemp 

 fiber, various types of hemp brakes are being tested. There seems 

 to be ample ground for the belief that when this feature of the prob- 

 lem has been solved hemp will prove a valuable addition to crop 

 rotation in Wisconsin. The success attained in the experiments thus 

 far has been sufficiently encouraging to warrant farmers in enlarging 

 the area devoted to this crop. 



Experiments with hemp which were undertaken last year at sev- 

 eral places in Iowa in connection with the Iowa Agricultural Ex- 

 periment Station have given promise of satisfactory results. Work 

 on the development of improved varieties is being continued with 

 considerable success. 



Flax investigations. — The continued careful selection by scien- 

 tific methods of flax plants of superior types grown for the produc- 

 tion of fiber under clor-e observation in nursery plats in eastern 

 Michigan has yielded large quantities of valuable material for prop- 

 agation. A setback has been encountered in the wilt which has 

 attacked a number of the experimental plats during the past summer. 

 Wliile this difficulty is a serious one, it furnishes an opportunity for 

 experiments in the development of wilt-resistant types, a phase of 

 the work which has been undertaken in the hope of obtaining satis- 

 factory results in this direction during the coming season. 



Satisfactory results are being obtained in the work under way in 

 Minnesota and adjacent States for the selection of flax plants with a 

 view to the adaptation of improved and uniform varieties grown for 

 seed, special attention being given to the increased production of 

 flaxseed to meet the urgent need for this commodity in the manu- 

 facture of linseed oil. 



Sisal and other hard fibers. — Experiments in the cultivation of 

 sisal, henequen, and zapupe near Yauco, P. R., carried on in co- 

 operation with the Porto Rico Agricultural Experiment Station, 

 have given excellent results in the growth of the jDlants. In order to 

 avoid the mistake of cutting leaves too soon, thus injuring the plants, 

 it has been decided to postpone harvesting leaves for the first crop of 

 fiber until the coming season, when a larger number will be available. 



The cooperative experimental plantings of sisal, cabuya blanca 

 from Costa Rica, and two varieties of zapupe from eastern Mexico, 



