298 USEFUL FIBER PLANTS OF THE WORLD. 



places and in my pasture. In traveling about the State last year I discovered the 

 plaut nourishing in the waste places of the streets in nearly every village and town. 

 I also found it thriving in the lanes and along the roadside of the forest lands in the 

 Tertiary formation or 'low country' of South Carolina, where a clay subsoil pre- 

 vails, and wherever there was moisture as well as clay (in a shallow ditch, for in- 

 stance), each separate sprig of thick-growing sida was 3, i, and sometimes 5 or 6 feet 

 high. One striking peculiarity of the plant is that a single sprig growing by itself 

 will bunch, or rather branch out from the stem just above ground, so as to resemble 

 a squatty thicket of many short-limbed shrubs, with only one root, however; but 

 when the sprig grows thickly, each from its own root, the plants are straight and 

 without limbs or knots on the stems, except at the very top, and as tough as hick- 

 ory, boxwood, or perhaps any other wood. I have several acres of this plant growing 

 for pasture only. It is neither fit for hay nor for soiling, but it is a good pasture 

 plant for cattle, sheep, and hogs. Horses do nor seem to relish it much, while cattle 

 in particular appear to like it and thrive on it almost as well as upon Japan clover 

 (Lespedeza striata). The plant has a wonderful tap root and a large leaf, besides the 

 habit, where left to reseed itself, of standing very thick on the land and shading almost 

 every inch of the surface of the soil. For these reasons I have thought it must be 

 an excellent green manure plant, and am trying some experiments to test it as such. 

 I am glad to hear from you now that my mucilaginous pet, sida, ' when planted thickly 

 and allowed to mature, produces a finer fiber/ a virtue I did not dream it possessed, 

 although I had often observed the great toughness and strength of its bark." 



The stalks of sida that have been sent to the Department for examination, as well 

 as those seen by the writer in the field, from South Carolina are too small to be of 

 value for the extraction of the fiber. Some stalks grown in Alabama, however, 

 from India seed (marked S. retasa), reached a height of 5 feet. The conclusions of 

 the writer regarding the cultivation of the plant on American soil — based upon the 

 results of limited experiment, it is true, and from examining stalks from different 

 localities — would lead to the statement that the plant is too slow in growth, and the 

 stalks too small when grown, to make it of commercial value as a fiber plant. And 

 it is doubtful if the bast will yield as readily to treatment as jute, for when steeped 

 in water it is said to require almost double the time necessary to properly macerate 

 the jute bast. 



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



Other species. — S. carpinifolid is found in the hotter parts of India, its stems 

 yielding a good fiber which is employed in native uses. It is also found in Brazil 

 where it is employed for making brooms with which to sweep the huts of the 

 natives. This species is now regarded as identical with S. rhombifolia. 



S. cordifolia (Syn. S. rotundifolia) is a small perennial weed generally distributed 

 over tropical and subtropical India. " The plant yields a fine white liber.*' {George 

 Watt.) A good example of the fiber of S. paniculata is preserved in the Bot. Mus. 

 Harv. Univ. 



Silk, Artificial (see Artificial sill). 



Silk cotton. 



See this name under cotton — silk cottons, in alphabetical arrangement. 



Silk grass. 



This term is applied indiscriminately to many structural libers, derived from 

 foliaceous plants, and as a distinctive name it is worthless. Some of the species of 

 fibers that have been called silk grass, silk grass of Honduras, etc., are Ananas 

 sativa, Karatas plumieri, Bromelia sylvestris. Furcrcea cubcnsis, and other similar forms, 

 while the name has even been applied to the liber of some of the Agaves. Its use, 

 therefore, without the botanical name of the species can only add to the confusion 

 which already exists. 



