DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE. 



69 



Arundinaria gigantea. Cane. 



Endogen. Graminece. Perennial, 10 to 30 feet. 



Cane of the Southern swamps. (See fig. 21.) 



"A valuable supplement to the winter pastures. Thousands of animals have 

 almost no other food. The fodder furnished, however, does little more thau sustain 

 life, and is of no value for fattening or for milch cows. Attempts made to cultivate 

 this grass have not been successful. The plant blooms but once, and when the seeds 

 mature the cane dies. The canes are used for many purposes, such as fishing rods, 

 scaffolds for drying cotton, splints for baskets, mats, etc/' (F. Lamson-Scribner.) 



Two species are recognized — the above, or large cane, and A. iecta, the small cane, 

 which is the more important as a fiber plant. See the next title. 



Arundinaria tecta. Lesser Cane. 



"This is regarded by some as only a variety of the cane mentioned above, but it 

 is of smaller growth, rarely exceeding 10 feet in height; it extends as far north as 

 Maryland. Its woody stems and perennial 

 leafage are like those of A. gigantea, afford- 

 ing similar fodder to cattle upon the winter 

 ranges/' (F. Lamson-Scribner.) 



Structural Fiber. — Coarse, but very 

 strong, the length depending upon the dis- 

 tance between the joints of the cane. As 

 prepared, it is a yellowish ochre in color. Is 

 suitable for coarse cordage, such as binding- 

 twine, and for paper manufacture. 



Economic Considerations.— The employ- 

 ment of southern cane as a fiber substance 

 dates back to about 1870, when an effort was 

 made to produce a paper material from the 

 canes by aprocess known as "steam blowing.'' 

 In reducing the cane to this fibrous state, 

 tightly compressed bundles of the " bamboo " 

 were placed in steam cylinders or guns 24 

 feet long aud 12 inches in diameter, and there 

 subjected to the action of steam at a pressure 

 of about 170 pounds to the square inch for 

 about ten minutes. The gums and glutinous 

 matters which held the fibers together were 



thereby dissolved or softened, and while in that state the cane was blown into the 

 air by the force of the steam in the gun, and the fibers separated by the expansion of 

 steam among them. The papers manufactured from the steam-blown fiber were 

 different grades of wrapping paper, book, and "news," some of the samples being 

 quite white and of good quality. The industry never became permanent, however. 

 See Ann. Rept. U. S. Dep. Ag., 1879, p. 563. 



Recently another form of cane fiber has been produced from this species, which 

 promises to become an industry, as the fiber is prepared at such low cost that it will 

 be able to compete with the better fibers for certain purposes. Beautiful samples 

 of the straight and tangled fiber were exhibited with the canes in the collection of 

 the Office of Fiber Investigations in the United States Government exhibit at Chi- 

 cago. Tests of the fiber made by the author show that it will stand a breaking 

 strain about equal to sisal hemp and approaching to that of manila hemp. The 

 process is patented. 



Dr. Havard makes the statement that the cane of the Southern States furnishes 

 the principal basket material of the remnants of the Cherokees, Choctaws, Creeks, 



Fig. 24. — Cane. Arundinaria gigantea. 



