DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE. 295 



in this country as fiber producing. Specimens of the straight, stiff canes of S. 

 macrocarpa, or the wild hemp of the Colorado Eiver region, have been sent to the 

 Department at different times in the past years, the best samples of stalks and fiber 

 having been received from the veteran collector, Dr. E. Palmer. Dr. Parry, for- 

 merly botanist of this Department, noted many years ago the abundance of the 

 species on the alluvial banks of the Colorado, and also that it grew in South Caro- 

 lina, Arkansas, and Texas. 



Bast Fiber. — Early specimens of the fiber, received by the Department, and now 

 loaned to the Field Col. Mus., were 4 feet in length. Specimens twice or three times 

 as long might be secured, however, as stalks 12 feet in height are common. The 

 filaments as extracted are exceedingly coarse, and resemble flat ribbons of fiber, 

 uncommonly Avhite and lustrous, and clear and smooth to a remarkable degree. 

 Single filaments are quite strong, but when several are twisted together they lose a 

 part of their strength, a defect sometimes observed in better fibers. It is somewhat 

 elastic, but its smoothness and elasticity are not in its favor where tenacity is 

 required, as the filaments will not cling when worked together. It is sufficiently 

 strong for small cordage for ordinary use, though too coarse for fish line or twine, as 

 roughly prepared. Among the manufactures for which it has been claimed that this 

 fiber is fitted are wrapping, writing and bond papers, twine and cordage, "sacking, 

 overall stuff, Irish linens/' and a fabric " better than the best Japanese pongee silk." 

 The museum samples of fiber, collected by Dr. Palmer and known to be Sesbania 

 macrocarpa are hardly capable of manufacture into " Irish linens" or "Japanese 

 pongee silk," although the filaments can be very finely divided. A specimen recently 

 submitted to Dr. Taylor was subdivided down to one ten -thousandth of an inch. 



Efforts to utilization. — At different times, in past years, efforts have been 

 made to bring the plant into prominence. In an early letter from O. F. Townsend, 

 of Yuma, Ariz., statements were made as follows: 



An indigenous plant commonly known here as wild hemp, producing a fiber of 

 great excellence, grows profusely on both sides of the Colorado River from Yuma to 

 tide water at the Gulf of California. The large fields lie in Mexican territory and 

 cover nearly 100 square miles of area. Numerous experiments have been made with 

 different kinds of machinery to utilize the valuable plant. The old hand-brake 

 system produces 20 per cent of fiber. The Indians work it into nets and fish lines. 



From statements by D. K. Allen, of Yuma, Ariz., some interesting facts regarding 

 the species have been gleaned. The wild hemp ripens from the 1st to the 3d of July, 

 as a rule, and still in many places it holds green until September 1, and the late 

 growth until October 1. It grows on the clean, clear soils or lands lying along the 

 sloughs or branches of the Colorado and New rivers, which are dry during the fall 

 and winter months. The first rise in the Colorado comes in February and lasts into 

 March. The second comes in May and June and runs from that time on till the next 

 February. The seed of the wild hemp sprouts and begins to grow in April and May, 

 running up and appearing exactly like wild or overgrown mustard stalks — in fact, 

 one could hardly tell one from the other except for the difference of taste in the seeds. 

 When young they are not at all alike. As soon as the water recedes in August, and 

 from that on, one can go almost anywhere through the hemp lands, although some 

 of the sloughs, or branches of them, contain a little water which would have to be 

 bridged. But they are very narrow, only 10 to 20 feet wide and only 2} to 5 feet 

 deep, with plenty of wood, brush, and timber with which to build the bridges. 

 Some of the hemp can be cut with a machine, but much of it will have to be cut by 

 hand. In April there are stalks of the hemp which, a foot above the ground, will 

 measure 10 inches in circumference, or more than 3 inches in diameter. One of the 

 McCormick reapers, rigged with guards of the proper size and with a sickle to corre- 

 spond, can be arranged so as to cut easily where they are not larger than a man's 

 finger. The hemp can be dried and pressed into bales on the ground where it grows. 

 It now grows all along the river, and back from it for 10 to 12 miles, to a distance, 

 up and down, of 100 miles. Many of the sloughs where water remains throughout the 



