70 USEFUL FIBER PLANTS OF THE WORLD. 



Chickasaws, and Seniinoles. The Ckoctaws especially excel in its use, and their 

 little baskets, variously colored, are offered for sale in several Southern cities. 

 * Specimens. — Field Col. Mus. ; Mus. U. S. Dept. Ag. 



Arundo donax. 

 Endogen. GramineaB. Tall grass or reed. 



A widely distributed species, supposed to be the scriptural "reed." The plant 

 grows to a height of 10 feet in England, though much taller in the south of Europe. 



Uses. — The canes being long, straight, and light, make admirable fishing rods and 

 excellent arrows; the latter quality being of great importance to the warlike Jews 

 after they began to practice archery with effect. See also Phragmites communis, an 

 allied species. A. karka is mentioned by Liotard as one of the fiber-producing 

 plants of the Province of Sindh, in India. See page 14, Introduction. 



Arvore de Paina (Braz.). See Ghorisia speciosa. 



Asa (Jap.). See Cannabis sativa. 



Asclepias syriaca. Common Milkweed, or Sixkweed, of the 

 United States. 



Syn. A. cornuti. 



Exogen. Aselepiadacece. Perennial shrub. 



Abounds in Canada, grows over a wide section of our own country, and is well 

 known in portions of South America and in the Old World. The culture of the plant 

 is said to be attended with little difficulty, as it generally thrives on poor soil and is 

 a perennial. It grows from either the roots or seed, so would be easily propagated 

 if desirable to cultivate it. Probably the commonest and best known Bpecies of 

 milkweed or "silkweed" growing in the United States. 



Fiber. — The only portion of the plant of which practical use can be made is the 

 bast, which furnishes quite a tine, long, glossy fiber that is strong and durable. 

 Early authorities have given it a place between flax and hemp, and the yield has 

 been claimed about equal to the latter. Dr. Schaeffer, as far back as the fifties, 

 made comparisons of the two fibers in Kentucky, and his conclusions were most 

 favorable to the Asclepias liber. The native fiber was taken in winter from the 

 decayed stalks as they stood in the ground where they grew without culture, while 

 the hemp had not only been cultivated but treated afterwards with the usual care. 

 The liber of the milkweed was nearly, it" not quite, as strong as that of the hemp, but 

 apparently finer and more glossy, while the quantity from a single stalk of each was 

 nearly the same. 



Among specimens of the fiber shown in the Mus. U. S. Dept. Ag. are some tint' exam- 

 ples from Brazil, which have been most carefully prepared, showing that the value 

 of the plant has been recognized in that country, though there are no records of its 

 use in manufacture. According to one of the old authorities, "an early knowledge 

 of the fiber of silkweed caused its introduction into Europe, where it has fully become 

 a cultivated plant, while in its own country but little is kuown of its true value." 

 Dr. Masters, an European authority, states that "its excellent fiber is woven into 

 muslin, and in some parts of India is made into paper." From the Flax and Hemp 

 Commission of 1863 the Department received small pieces of Aschpias cloth mixed 

 with one-third cotton. The bast forms a good paper material. 



Surface Fiber. — While the stalks yield a good fiber, the pods or seed vessels pro- 

 duce a mass of silk-like filaments, adhering to the seed, resembling thistle down, and 

 frequently called vegetal de silk. Experiments in this country have shown that the 

 substance has no value beyond a mere upholstery material, or for use as wadding, 

 and for stuffing pillows. Spon makes the statement that the material is used for 

 stuffing beds in this country, and reference is made to the manufacture of fabrics 

 from it in Russia and Prance. A French firm has used it by mixing 20 per cent of 

 the "down" with bO per cent of wool, the fabric being called "silver cloth." The 



