286 



FIBER PLANTS 



FIBER PLANTS 



fertility of the soil, it would doubtless be valuable 

 in rotation if there were a satisfactory mechanical 

 method for preparing the fiber. 



Ambari. 



Ambari, or deccan hemp, is a bast fiber obtained 

 from Hibisms cannabinus, an annual belonging to 

 the Malvafxoe or Mallow family. The plant has 

 deeply parted leaves, giving it somewhat the ap- 

 pearance of true hemp, though the foliage is much 

 lighter in color. The stalks and leaf-stems are cov- 

 ered with very short spines, making them disagree- 

 able to handle when mature. 



The plant is cultivated in India. In Egypt it 

 is grown on the borders of the fields for a wind- 

 break. The fiber is prepared in about the same 

 way as that of sunn hemp. It is called "Bimlipitam 

 jute " in the London market. A very similar plant 

 has recently been exploited in Brazil under the 

 name Canhamo Braziliensis Perini. 



Miscellaneous bast fibers. 



Bast fibers for domestic purposes have been 

 secured from many diilerent kinds of plants, but In 

 most instances these have been superseded by com- 

 mercial twines and cordage. Some of the most 

 important of these fibers are the following : 



(1) Majagua {Paritium tiliaeeum), used for hal- 

 ters and cordage for small boats in Porto Rico and 

 Cuba. 



(2) Olona {Touehardia latifolia), formerly used 

 for harpoon lines and fishing lines in the Hawaiian 



_ islands. 



(3) Colorado 

 river hemp (Ses- 

 bania maero- 

 carpa), growing 

 wild in large 

 quantities o n 

 the overflowed 

 lands near the 

 mouth of the 

 Colorado river, 

 used by the In- 

 dians for bow- 

 strings and 

 other light cord- 

 age. 



(4) Indian 

 lieT[ip(Apoeynum 

 cannabinum). — 

 A perennial 

 plant of the 

 Dogbane family, 

 native through- 

 out the greater 

 part of the 



United States and especially abundant in the West. 

 It was the most important source of bast fiber 

 used by the North American Indians. (Fig. 397.) 



(c) Hard Fibers. 



The most important hard fibers are abacS, sisal. 

 New Zealand hemp, Mauritius hemp, ixtle and San- 

 severia. 



Fig. 397. Indian hemp {Apoaynum can- 

 naUnum) , a common native plant. 



Abaed. (Fig. 398 ; also Fig. 142, Vol. I.) 



Abacd or Manila hemp is derived from the sheath- 

 ing leaf -stems of the abac4 plant, Musa textilis, Nee., 

 a perennial belonging to the Musaeex or Banana 

 family. [See account in Vol. I, page 125.] 



Re. 398. Abac& (Mtisa textilis). Two-year-old seedlings.- 



The fiber, as found in our market, is six to twelve 

 feet in length, rather coarse and stiff, reddish yel- 

 low to nearly white, light in weight, and the better 

 grades remarkably strong. The approximate break- 

 ing strain of the current abaca ropes of different 

 sizes is as follows : 



i-inch diameter 550 pounds. 



J-inch diameter 2,000 pounds. 



1-inoh diameter 7,000 pounds. 



2-inch diameter 25,000 pounds. 



The abaca plant is very similar in appearance to 

 the banana plant. It consists of a stalk or trunk 

 six to fifteen inches in diameter, and six to fifteen 

 feet high, made up of herbaceous, concentric, over- 

 lapping leaf-stems, bearing at the summit long, 

 pinnately-veined leaves. (Fig. 398.) It reaches 

 maturity when two to five years old. A flower- 

 stalk pushes up through the center of the trunk, 

 emerging at the top where it bears a cluster of 

 flowers, followed by small, seed-bearing inedible 

 bananas. The stalk then dies, but meanwhile two 

 to twenty others of various ages are growing in a 

 rather open clump from the same root. The fiber 

 is composed of the fibrovascular bundles near the 

 outer surfaces of the leaf-stems. 



Abaca is native in the Philippines. It has been 

 distributed throughout the greater part of the 

 Philippine archipelago, and also has been intro- 

 duced into Guam, Borneo and the .Andamann 

 islands. It is cultivated commercially only in a 

 comparatively small part of the Philippines. The 

 most important abaca districts are the Camarines, 

 Albay and Sorsogon in the southern part of Luzon, 

 and the islands southward, Mindoro, Marinduque, 

 Masbate, Samar, Leyte, Cebu, Negros and Mindanao. 



