29 G USEFUL FIBER PLANTS OF THE WORLD. 



year can be used. Flat boats tbat can carry 10 to 15 tons can be loaded and towed 

 with horses or mules, poled or towed by Indians when the banks are too soft. Sails 

 can also be used to take the hemp to the river, where it can be loaded on steamers 

 and brought to the railroad, or down the river to the gulf, where it can be loaded 

 upon vessels for any part of the world. 



It has been estimated that at the very least there arc 50,000 acres of it, and that in 

 the poorest years it will yield 500 pounds of the dressed fiber per acre. This makes 

 25,000,000 pounds— 12,500 tons, or 1,250 carloads of 10 tons each. Repeated efforts 

 have been made by the Department to secure several hundred pounds of the liber for 

 test, but even the offer to purchase it at a fair price has not brought any practical 

 results. Even considering the coarseness of the fiber, should it be found quite inferior 

 to the commercial cordage libers, the fact that it grows over such vast areas without 

 cultivation, and with such large yield, commends it to our attention, for if it can be 

 cleaned cheaply it has a value for some purpose, and when subdivided by after chem- 

 ical treatment there is no doubt that the fiber might be used for higher purposes of 

 manufacture. 



Sesbania platycarpa: A few years ago P. S. Clark, of Hempstead, Tex., stated that 

 this species had suddenly made its appearance in his neighborhood. He described 

 the fiber as very strong, and thought that it would make a good bagging fiber for 

 baling the cotton crop. 



Seubbara (Arab.). Agave americana. 

 Shacapa (Peru). Attalea spectaMUs. 

 Sheathed galingale rush. Cyperus vaginatus. 

 Sheathed rush (Vict.). Juneus pauciflorus. 

 Shemolo (Ind.). Bombax maldbaricum. 

 Sheoak (Austr.). See Gasuarina. 

 Shichito-i mattings (Jap.). Cy penis unitans. 

 Shining galingale rush (Viet.). Cyperus lucid us. 

 Shivan and Shewun (Ind.). Gmelina arborea. 

 Shoe-string grass (U. S.). Sporobolns cryptandrus. 

 Short-podded yam bean. See Pachyrhizus. 

 Shral (Ind.). Alnus nitida. 

 Shwet-simul (Beng.). Eriodendron. 

 Sida rhombifolia. 



Syn. Sida rliomboidea, S. retusa. 

 Exogen. J\falvacea\ A perennial shrub. 



Common and native names. — Sida, and Tea-plant (U. S.)j Queensland hemp 



(Australian colonies); Atabula (Sane); Sivet Bariala and Sufet Bariala (Ind.); 



F.scoba (Venez.). 



Abounds in the tropical regions of India; distributed to Australia and to North 



and South America. According to the Pes. Ec. Prod. Ind., the Linnean varieties 



accepted by botanists are as follows: scabrida, retusa, rhomboidea, obovata, and 



rhombifolia. It seems probable tbat the sida fiber experimented with in Bengal has 



been chiefly obtained from S. rhombifolia or S. romboidea. S. rhombifolia abounds in 



many portions of South America. Dr. Ernst states that it is very common in Vene- 



