HEMP HURDS AS PAPER-MAKING MATERIAL. 
11 
CHARACTER OF THE MATERIAL. 
As received from Pierce ton, Ind., the hurds consisted of a mixture of 
tangled hemp bast fibers and pieces of broken wood of the hemp 
stalk. (Fig. 3.) No reliable data were secured as to the propor- 
tion of bast fiber in the total shipment of 4 tons, although two 
hand separations of small representative samples gave results aver- 
aging 8 per cent. The chemical character of the material was such 
and the quantity was so small that any appreciable variation of the 
proportion should not affect materially the treating processes finally 
adopted, yet its presence in varying proportions undoubtedly would 
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Fig. 4.— Fiber derived from the woody portion of the hurds. X 75. From a microphotograph. 
modify to some extent the quality of the resulting paper product. 
Since the length of the ultimate bast fiber averages about 22 mm. and 
the length of the ultimate hemp wood fiber averages 0.7 mm., it is 
natural to assume that the bast fiber would tend to increase the 
strength of paper produced from the hurds. (Fig. 4.) 
The broken pieces of wood contained in the hurds varied in length 
from mere particles which were somewhat finer than sawdust to pieces 
about 3 1 inches, long, exceptional pieces being found which measured 
6 inches in length. The majority of the long pieces were between 2 
and 3 inches in length. In thickness the pieces ranged from one-eighth 
of an inch, in case they were derived from the base of the hemp stalks, 
to about one sixty-fourth of an inch in those pieces which were 
derived from the top and branches of the stalks. In cross section the 
