192 



USEFUL FIBER PLANTS OF THE WORLD. 



grown in considerable quantity at Samana. (Santo Domingo) and -was seen more 

 sparingly along streams in the mountains" (Charles Wright). See H. elatus. 



Hibiscus cannabinus. Ambaei Hemp. 



This is the most valuable species of the genus. The plant is a native of the East 

 Indies, and at present is largely cultivated for liber throughout India, the product 

 being almost wholly utilized by the agricultural classes where grown as a substi- 

 tute for hemp. Its common names are Deccan hemp and Ambari hemp, the latter 

 particularly in western India. In Madras it is called Palungoo. It is the Mesta pat of 

 Bengal, and Deccan or Ambari hemp of Bombay. The Sanskrit name is Ndlita. The 

 plant has a prickly stem, the leaves deeply parted, and the stem attains a height of 

 6 to 8 feet. 



Bast Fiber. — The fiber is described as soft, white, and silky, and by some writers 

 is said to be more durable than jute for the coarser textiles. "It is largely grown 

 by the natives of India and employed for agricultural purposes — ropes, strings, and 

 sacks being made from it. The length of the extracted fiber varies between 5 and 

 10 feet. The fiber is somewhat stiff and brittle, and though used as a substitute for 

 hemp and jute, it is inferior to both. The breaking strain has been variously stated 

 at 115 to 190 pounds. It is bright and glossy, but coarse and harsh. It is sold with 

 and as jute, and is employed in Bengal for the purposes of jute, including fishing 

 nets and paper. Samples of the fiber exposed for two honrs to steam at 2 atmos- 

 pheres, followed by boiling in water for three hours, and again steamed for four 

 hours, lost only 3.63 per cent by weight, as against flax, 3.50; manila hemp, 6.07; 

 hemp. 6.18 to 8.44; jute, 21.39." (Watt.) 



The fibers of carefully prepared Ambari are from 5 to 6 feet long. Compared 

 with ordinary hemp they are paler brown, harsher, adhere closer together, though 

 divisible into fine fibrils, possessed of considerable strength. Its tenacity tested 

 with sunn is as 115 to 130. "Fiber stiff and brittle, has no superiority over jute. 

 and it is very inferior to that of India hemp or sunn" ( Vitillarf). A roughly pre- 

 pared sample of bast from this species was sent to the Department from the Alabama 

 Experiment Station in May, 1896. 



Cultivation. — Though thriving at all seasons of the year, it is generally culti- 

 vated in the cold season. The seeds are sown as thickly as hemp, in rich, loose soil, 

 and it requires about three months' growth before it is ready to be pulled for 

 "watering" and dressing, the mode of treatment being the same as that given the 

 sunn hemp, Crotalaria juncea (see p. 139). Fnll-grown plants that have ripened their 

 seed furnish stronger fiber than the plants cut while in flower, though the fibers of 

 this species are more remarkable for their fineness than for strength. 



In harvesting the plants are either cut close to the ground or pulled up by the 

 roots, as the lower portion of the stem contains the best fiber. The stalks are sub- 

 merged in water and allowed to remain from six to ten days, according to the 

 weather, when the bark can be readily peeled by the hand. Too long steeping, 

 while it makes white fiber, results in a loss of strength. 



The fiber is prepared by bundling the stalks, which, after a few days, are steeped 

 for nearly a week in water under stones. When sufficiently retted they are cleaned 

 by beating them on the ground, the fiber is stripped off. washed, and dried. Five 

 hundred stems about 8 feet high, as grown en masse in gardens, were recently 

 taken at random and the fiber removed and cleaned in the usual way. The result 

 was 54 pounds clean and good fiber. The stems when carefully dried weighed 

 nearly 20 pounds. Assuming the acre to be 40,000 square feet after allowing for 

 waste patches the number of stems at 3 inches apart would be 640,000. hence the 

 yield in clean fiber at 1 pound per 100 would be 6,400 pounds, equ;il to 2- tons. 

 The stems would yield also 11 tons of poor fuel. (From Eeport Rev. and Ag. Dept. 

 of India.) 



Uses. — A coarse sackcloth is made from its fil>er in India sometimes called 

 gunny), though its chief employment is for ropes and cordage, it being the common 



