ON SOME UNTRIED EXPERIMENTS 



experiments have had to do with the wild teazel 

 and with the Chilean hemp, that give promise of 

 the production of a valuable fiber. 



The teazel, as is well known, has been an 

 important plant, inasmuch as its long hooked burrs 

 are used for producing the nap on cloth, more 

 especially the woolens, and no mechanical device 

 has ever been invented as a thoroughly satisfac- 

 tory substitute. There are several distinct varie- 

 ties of the plant, and one of them is a weed that 

 grows along neglected roadsides in California. 

 Among any lot of wild teazels one may find a 

 number of types, and it is not unusually difficult 

 to fix these types by selective breeding. 



If it were necessary or desirable for any 

 particular use to make the hooks several times the 

 usual length, or the burrs themselves several times 

 as large, this could easily be accomplished. 



My work had to do with some of the peculiar 

 forms rather by way of experiment than with 

 any practical idea. The forms worked with were 

 those with vertical rows of hooks, instead of the 

 spiral ones, and with varieties having extra large 

 hooks at the base and double heads. I carried 

 the experiments forward for several years for my 

 own information and education, and these experi- 

 ments demonstrated that different kinds of teazel 

 burrs could be developed and fixed if desired. 



[301] 



