UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



BULLETIN No. 404 



Contribution from the Bureau of Plant Industry 

 WM. A. TAYLOR, Chief 



Washington, D. C. 



PROFESSIONAL PAPER 



October 14, 1916 



HEMP HURDS AS PAPER-MAKING MATERIAL. 



By Lyster H. Dewey, Botanist in Charge of Fiber-Plant Investigations, and Jason L. 

 Merrill, Paper-Plant Chemist, Paper-Plant Investigations. 



CONTENTS. 



The production and handling of hemp hurds, 



by Lyster H. Dewey: 



What hemp hurds are 1 



Pith, wood, and fiber 2 



Ctiaracter of hurds affected by retting 2 



Proportion of hurds to fiber and yield per 



acre 3 



Hurds available from machine-broken 



hemp 3 



Present uses of hemp hurds 4 



Present supplies of hurds available 5 



Baling for shipment 5 



Cost of baling 5 



Summary 6 



The manufacture of paper from hemp hurds, 



by Jason L. Merrill: 



Introduction 7 



Factors justifying an investigation of hemp 



hurds 8 



Character of the material 11 



Character of the tests 12 



Operations involved in a test 13 



Description of tests 16 



Comparison of the tests and commercial 



practice 21 



Physical tests of the papers produced 24 



Conclusions — 25 



In preparing the report on the manufacture of paper from hemp 

 hurds it became evident that a short discussion of the agricultural 

 aspects of this material should be included in the publication. Such 

 an article was prepared, therefore, and the two reports are here pre- 

 sented together. 



THE PRODUCTION AND HANDLING OF HEMP HURDS. 



By Lyster H. Dewey, Botanist in Charge of Fiber-Plant Investigations. 

 WHAT HEMP HURDS ARE. 



The woody inner portion of the hemp stalk, broken into pieces and 

 separated from the fiber in the processes of breaking and scutching, 

 is called hemp hurds. These hurds correspond to shives in flax, but 

 are much coarser and are usually softer in texture. 



Note. — This bulletin should bo useful to all persons who are interested in the economic phases of paper 

 making;, especially to xtrint and book paper manufacturers. It also should be of interest to scientific inves- 

 tigators and chemists. 



51047°— Bull. 4r>4— ir 1 



