FARM GARDEN 



FIBER PLANTS 



281 



Fig. 391. Home-made seed- 

 tester. (See Fig. 210.; 



packed in barrels or bins, a layer of leaves is first 

 put in the bottom, then the roots are mixed with 

 a few leaves and a covering of leaves is put on top. 

 A piece of burlap or a grain bag spread over all 

 will keep the leaves in place. 



Varieties of vegetables. — Much of the value of any 

 variety of vegetable depends on the selection or 

 strain of the seed-stock. One variety is known and 

 popular in one section 

 and a different variety 

 in another section, so 

 that no list of varieties 

 adapted to all localities 

 can be given. It is im- 

 portant that each gar- 

 dener grow varieties or 

 strains of varieties that 

 are known to be gener- 

 ally successful in his 

 own locality. Varieties 

 change greatly from year to year, and it would be 

 of little use to give lists. 



Protection from insects and fungous pests. 



There is no crop grown on the farm or in the 

 garden that is not attacked by some pest, and 

 fi no attempt is made to control the pests many 

 of the crops will be failures. An equipment for 

 spraying is indispensable, and farmers and garden- 

 ers should cooperate and equip themselves with 

 a power sprayer by which the work of a whole 

 community may be done promptly, thoroughly and 

 cheaply. Through the state experiment stations 

 one can know what these pests are and how best 

 to control them. For chewing insects we may use 

 hellebore, Paris green, arsenate of lead or other 

 arsenates. For sucking insects, scales, aphides, 

 and the like, we may use whale-oil soap, kerosene 

 emulsion, lime and sulfur wash, or other insecti- 

 cides that kill by contact. For blights, rusts, and 

 rots we have an almost universal fungicide in 

 the Bordeaux mixture. Spraying or other remedy 

 must be employed promptly and thoroughly as 

 soon as a pest appears. 



Full directions for the use of insecticides and 

 fungicides may be secured from the state exper- 

 iment stations. [See also Chapter II, "Insects and 

 Diseases."] 



Literature. 



Green, Vegetable Gardening ; Fletcher, How to 

 Make a Fruit Garden ; Fullerton, How to Make a 

 Vegetable Garden, and How to Make a Flower 

 Garden (two books); Greiner, How to Make the 

 Garden Pay ; Henderson, Gardening for Pleasure ; 

 Maynard, Successful Fruit Culture, and Home 

 Decoration (two books); Williams, Window Gar- 

 dening ; Meli, Gardening for the South ; Wickson, 

 California Vegetables ; Bailey, The Principles of 

 Vegetable -Gardening, The Principles of Fruit- 

 Growing, Garden-Making, The Pruning-Book, The 

 Nursery-Book ; Hunn and Bailey, Amateur's Prac- 

 tical Garden-Book; Card, Bush-Fruits. There are 

 now many available books in this field, and the home 

 gardener need not lack for enthusiastic advice. 



FIBER PLANTS. Figs. 392-404. 

 By Lyster H. Dewey. 



Fiber-producing plants are second only to food 

 plants in agricultural importance. In continental 

 United States, however, cotton, hemp and flax are 

 the only fiber plants cultivated commercially, and, 

 aside from cotton and hemp, most of the raw fibers 

 used in our industries are imported. In an article 

 of this scope, only the leading commercial fibers 

 can be discussed. The reader of literature on fibers 

 will find many names of materials that are used in 

 tropical countries, but the fibers may not be subjects 

 of export. In Mexico and Central America the 

 name " pita " is widely used for a great variety of 

 plant fibers, but none of them is produced in sufli- 

 cient quantity to become an article of commerce 

 outside those countries. Bamboo, okra, paper mul- 

 berry and pandanus (screw-pine) afford fibers that 

 are used by natives in many countries. 



Commercial plant fibers include (1) Textile fibers, 

 used for spinning into yarns for woven and knit 

 goods, thread, twine and cordage, such as cotton, 

 hemp and sisal ; including brush fibers, used in mak- 

 ing brushes, such as ixtle and piassaba. (2) Plaiting 

 or rough weaving fibers, used for hats, mats and 

 baskets, such as straw, raffia and rushes. (3) Fill- 

 ing or stuffing fibers, used for mattresses, cushions 

 and upholstering, such as Florida moss, crin vege- 

 tal and kapok. (4) Natural textures, such as Cuba 

 bast, used in millinery goods and wrapping cigars. 

 (5) Paper materials, such as jute butts, esparto, 

 straw and wood pulp. The last two groups are not 

 specially discussed here. 



I. Textile Fibers 



Textile fibers are readily classified by origin, 

 character and use into three groups : (a) Cottons, 

 hair-like single cells, one-half to two inches long, 

 growing on the seed in closed seed-pods, used for 

 spinning into fine yarns for woven and knit goods, 

 threads, twines and cords of small diameter, (b) 

 Soft fibers, long strands of overlapping cells pro- 

 duced in the bast or inner bark of the stalks of 

 plants such as flax, hemp, jute and ramie, capable 

 of subdivision into fine flexible soft strands, used 

 for spinning into yarn for fine woven goods and 

 also for threads, twines and cordage of small 

 diameter, (c) Hard fibers, long strands of over- 

 lapping cells, somewhat lignified or woody in 

 character, extending through the tissues of thick 

 fleshy leaves or leaf stems of plants such as agaves, 

 bananas, phormium, sansevierias and yuccas. 

 While often capable of flne subdivision, these hard 

 fibers are stiffer than bast fibers of the same de- 

 gree of fineness. Hard fibers are used chiefly for 

 coarse twines and cordage of all sizes up to 

 eighteen-inch (circumference) towing hawsers. 



(o) Cottons (see article on Cotton). 



Cotton is produced by several species of the 

 genus Gossypium belonging to the Mallow family. 

 The most important commercial cottons belong to 

 two distinct groups, as follows : 



