DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE. 145 



Cyperus tegetum. Calcutta Mat Rush. 



Common in portions of India ; said to be found in Egypt and Abyssinia. 



Fiber. — The Calcutta mats are chiefly made of this species. The culms are split 

 into two or three and then woven into mats upon a warp of threads previously 

 stretched across the floor of a room. The mat maker passes the culms with the baud 

 alternately over and under the successive threads of the warp and jiresses them 

 home. In ditfereut districts of India it is believed that two or three allied species 

 are used for this purpose. (Watt.) According to Hooker's Flo. Brit. India, culti- 

 vated in Mauritius. 



Cyperus textilis. 



According to Spon this species is widely dispersed over the Australian Continent, 

 not including Tasmania and New Zealand. The C. textilis of Von Mueller referred to 

 by Spon is C. vaginatus, which see below. The true C. textilis belongs to South 

 Africa. 



Cyperus unitans. Mat Rush of Japan. 



This is the Shichito-i of Japan, from which the cheaper, rougher quality of mats 

 are made for the common people, in the manner that Bingo-i or Juncus effusus is 

 employed for the mats used by the higher classes. The mats exported to foreign 

 countries from Japan are also made of these two species, and have been exported in 

 a single year to the value of 650,000 yen, or over $400,000. The Shichito-i mats are 

 chiefly produced in the Oita prefecture. Beautiful examples of both forms of these 

 mats, with the raw material, were secured from the Japanese exhibit at theW. C. E., 

 1893, at Chicago, together with interesting information concerning them. 



The Shichito-i (C. unitans) is cultivated both in upland or "Hata" and rice field or 

 "Ta" (the irrigated lands). If it is grown in upland, soil of a moist nature is pref- 

 erable, while in paddy field, too much water is undesirable. Shichito-i is propa- 

 gated from roots, and for this purpose the bundles of three or four plants separated 

 from the mother stubbles are transplanted in well-cultivated and manured nursery 

 ground, in rows of 5 sun, or 6 inches, apart at a distance of samo length between the 

 bundles. The plants raised in 20 " Tsubo" of such nursery ground are sufficient for 

 transplanting in a "Tan" of the field (300 tsubo = l tau; 10 tau=l cho, andlc7*o=2 

 acres). For transplanting Shichito-i in the paddy field, or " Ta," the land is deeply 

 cultivated soon after the harvesting of rape or wheat crops, and well pulverized and 

 manured with rape cake or " Shochu-kasu," the quantity of which depends greatly upon 

 the character of soil, and then the land is irrigated. Twoor three root plants together 

 are transplanted in the rows of 5 sun apart at a distance of 3 sun between the plants. 

 Ten days after transplanting the water is withdrawn and the land is dried to a cer- 

 tain degree, and weeds are eradicated, and again the land is watered. These proc- 

 esses of drying, weeding, and watering the land are repeated two or three times 

 during the summer months, and the second manuring is also given in the month of 

 July. Shicliito-i is ready for harvesting at eighty to one hundred days after trans- 

 planting, in fact, the reaping of the plants takes place from the end of August to the 

 middle of September. For harvesting the rushes, the weather must be very fine. 

 The rushes are torn lengthwise into two parts with special tools and dried on sandy 

 ground or grass land. 



The varieties of mats from this species represented in the collection are as follows: 

 Kikaiori Hana-mushiro, Damask Hana-mushiro, common Hana-mushiro, two forms; 

 Seidaka Hana-mushiro, manufactured at Bungo. 



* Specimens, Mus. U. S. Dept. Ag. 



Cyperus vaginatus. Sheathed GtAlinoale. 



One of the most widely and most copiously distributed of the rush-like plants of 

 all Australia. Its fiber is extraordinarily tough, and accordingly can be formed into 

 a very tenacious paper, which, moreover, proves one of great excellence. The raw 

 12247— No. 9 10 



