UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

MISCELLANEOUS PUBLICATION No. 518

WASHINGTON, D. C. - AUGUST 1943

FIBER PRODUCTION IN THE

WESTERN HEMISPHERE

By

LYSTER H. DEWEY
Formerly Botanist in Charge
Division of Fiber Plant Investigations

jreau of Plant Industry, Soils, anJ Agriculture! Engineering

Agricultural Research Administration

UNITED STATES
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
WASHINGTON 1943 :

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U. S. Government Printing Office

Washington, D. C. - Price 30 cents
 CONTENTS
Page Page
Introduction 1 Long or multiple-celled fibers Con. —
Classification of plant fibers 1 —
Hard or leaf fibers Continued.
General observations on hard and soft Zamandoque 45
fibers 2 Chaparral yucca 45
Names of fibers and fiber plants 2 Pitafioja 46
Long or multiple-celled fibers 4 Phormium 48
Hard or leaf fibers 4 Abaca 50
Henequen -

4 Palm and palmlike fibers 54

Sisal 12 Bahia piassava 54
Letona 18 Para piassava 55
Mezcal 20 Cabbage palmetto 55
Zapupe 21 Scrub palmetto 57
Cantala 22 Corojo palm 57
Lechuguilla.. _' 24 Yarav 58
Jaumave lechuguilla 26 Toquilla 59
Furcraea 28 Soft or bast fibers 62
Piteira 28 Hemp 63
Cabuva ' 31 Cadillo 69
Fique 32 Jute 71
Chuchao 36 Ramie 74
Cocuiza 37 Short or one-celled fi bers 79
Pitre 38 Kapok 80
Yucca and related plants 38 Pochote . 83
Common yucca 39 Northern pochote 84
Soapweed yucca 39 Palo borracho 86
Palmilla 39 Samohu 87
Banana yucca 41 Miscellaneous fibers 87
Mohave yucca 42 Broomroot 87
Palma pita. 42 Treebeard 89
Palma barreta 43 Bibliography 93
ii
Miscellaneous Publication No. 518 Issued August 1943

Fiber Production in the Western Hemisphere

By Lyster H. Dewey 1

I ormerly bolanist in charge, Du ision of Fiber Plant Investigations, 2 Bureau of Plant Irul
Soils, and Agricultural Engineering, Agricultural Research Adrninslration

INTRODUCTION CLASSIFICATION OF PLANT

FIBERS
Cotton rind flax, obtained from
plant-, and woo] and silk, of animal Nearly all plant fibers are readily
origin, areknown to nearly everyone, classified by their structure and their
hit there are many other fibers, im- origin in different parts of the plant
portant in commerce for special uses into the following groups:
or used locally, that are not so widely
1. Long or multiple-celled fibers:
known. This publication treats of
plant fibers other than cotton and flax (a) Hard or leaf fibers: hard ami stiff

that are now produced commercially in in extending lengthw

texture, -

through the pulpy tissues of 1

the Western Hemisphere and include-
leaves in- leaf stems of mono-
brief note- about others produced on cotyledonous endogenous
or (in-
a smaller scale. More than a thousand growing) plants: Henequen, sisal,
species of American plant- have piteira, fique, yucca, pita floja,

yielded fibers of local u-e-. but only a and abaca, and the palm fibers,
treated in this publication as a
-mall number yield fillers that actually
separate group. See p- -1. i

The native produc-

I

enter commerce.
tion of fiber- by Laborious hand meth- (6) Soft or bast fibers; -"ft and flexible

as in extending through the

texture,
ods for local use i- decreasing,
inner hark of stem- or main stalks;
roads and traffic into hitherto isolated
of dicotyledonous or exogenous
places are bringing in machine-made (outgrowing) plants: Hemp, ca-
twine-, ropes, and fabrics. dillo, jute, and ramie.

2. Short >» one-celled fibers Seed hairs or

Retired in 10?,.-,.
1

-I'll.' Division <>f Fiber Plant Investigations was

hairs produced inside seed pods: Kapok,
merged in 1934 with the Division <>t Cotton and pochote, samohu.
Other Fiber Crops and Diseases.
'I'h.' Illustrations in this publication air from 3. Miscellaneous fibers Roots and -'cm-:
mis inn through ill'- courtesy of the Pan American Broomroot ami treebeard.
Dnion and made from photographs furnished bj tin'
Pan American nlon and ii"- United States Depart-
I

ment »( Agriculture.
For Spanish edition of tins material
Note. Dewey, Lyster Fibbas vmet4 a
i.\ imi rica,
Translated bj Maria \ Ruls&nchea Mast era. Cnlfin Panamerlcana, Officlna de C< pi

Agrlcola Pub, Agrlc. Noa. 137-140, 101 pp., Ulua. W aahlngton, 1041.
1
 MISCELLANEOUS PUBLICATION 5 IS, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON tissues in the inner bark of the stems

HARD AND SOFT FIBERS are separated from these materials after
the tissues and gums have been broken
The plants yielding hard fibers, such down by retting. Retting is a biological
as henequen, sisal, abaca, piteira, and process, and in actual practice the ret-
the various palms, are almost exclu- ting, or rotting, is effected by certain
sively tropical, whereas, of those yield- groups bacteria that are always
of
ing soft some, like flax and hemp,
fibers,
present. After the outer bark and tis-
grow best in the cooler regions of the sues surrounding the soft fibers have
Temperate Zone, and others, like jute been disintegrated by retting, the fibers
and ramie, in the warmer parts of the themselves must be separated and
Temperate Zone. The only important cleaned by mechanical processes. The
hard fibers produced outside the Trop- processes of beating and scraping, to
ics are phormium, in New Zealand, and separate fibers from stalks of hemp,
the istles, in northern Mexico. None of cadillo, and similar plants after they
the soft fibers are produced commer- have been retted, are called scutching.
cially in the Tropics.
Numerous machines have been devised
In the Old World the records indi- for separating soft fibers from stalks
cate that the soft fibers flax and hemp without retting. This process is called
were the first produced, flax at least as decortication. The soft fibers thus pre-
long ago as 3000 B. C, in central Europe pared must afterward be treated chem-
and in Egypt, and hemp at about the ically or retted to reduce the gums and
same time in northern China. In the other substances that are subject to fer-
New World, henequen and sisal in the mentation and cause trouble even after
Yucatan Peninsula, and other hard the fibers have been spun into yarns.
fibers from the leaves of agaves, fur-
During the past 75 years a great deal of
craeas, yuccas, and bromelias appear research has been devoted to the pro-
to have been the earliest used. The duction of bast fibers by means of decor-
Western Hemisphere has contributed to tication and subsequent chemical treat-
the world's fiber production all hard- ment. Much progress has been made,
fiber plants, except abaca and phorm- especially in recent years, but thus far
ium these include henequen, sisal, can-
;
these processes have not fully passed
tata, piteira, and others less important
the experimental stages.
commercially. However, none of the
Hard fibers are used chiefly for coarse
important soft-fiber plants are native
twines and for cordage. Soft fibers are
to America.
used for finer twines, for thread, and
Hard fibers are separated b} mechan- r

for yarns to be woven into fabrics.

ical processes directly from the pulpy
tissues of the freshly cut green
NAMES OF FIBERS AND FIBER
leaves; the}' are then dried and baled PLANTS
for shipment. some places the
In
leaves are rotted in water so that the The confusion of names used to desig-
pulp may be scraped away more easily, nate fibers and fiber-producing plants
but this method produces fiber of in- often causes uncertainty and sometimes
ferior quality. Soft fibers surrounded financial loss. The same common name
by pectic gums as well as thin-walled is often used to designate different
 FIBER PRODUCTION IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE

kinds of filters, and different names are to several dilferent hard fibers similar
used to designate the same fiber or to the true sisal. Generally geographic
fiber-producing plant. The name "ma- names indicating the origin of the
guey" is used in many parts of Mexico, fiber, as "Java sisal." •African sisal,"
Central America, and the West Indies or "Mexican sisal." suggest the kind
to designate nearly all of the larger of fiber only to one who knows which
leaved species of Agave and Furcraea, kind is produced The
in each locality.
and this use has extended to the Philip- word "hemp" is also very much over-
pine Islands, where an Agave species worked to designate numerous long
introduced from Mexico has become an fibers as well as the true hemp to which

important fiber-producing plant. In it was first applied.

Yucatan the name "maguey' 1

is rarely In this publication an effort has been
used, but the name "henequen" is ap- made to give dist inctive common names
plied not only to the Ago re species cul- for each different kind of fiber. In all

tivated there for fiber production but cases these names were chosen from
also to species of Agave and Furcraea among those that have been actually
that do not yield fibers of any value. used; nonew names were coined. The
The word "pita," of Carib origin, is names most commonly used were pre-
used in many localities from Brazil to ferred, provided they are distinctive,
northern Mexico to designate so many correct in accordance with the facts,
different kinds of fibers and fiber plants and do not include a geographic name.
thai it is almost synonymous with the It seems rather absurd to call a plant
English word "liber." Likewise the (toquilla) a "Panama hat palm." when
word "cabuya," also spelled "cabulla," it is known that the plant is not a palm
is used from Costa Rica to Ecuador to and the hats are not made in Panama,
designate several different species of or to call a fiber (abaca) "Manila
F uvci (tea. From La Plata Valley to hemp," when is not produced near
it

the Amazon the words "samohu" and Manila and is not hemp.
"sumauma," with numerous local deriv- The botanical name, with it- author,
atives, are used to designate the flossy is given for each plant, for these names
kapoklike from nearly a score of
fibers are recognized by botanists in all coun-
different belonging to the genera
trees t ries. A few of the botanical synonyms
Chorisia and Ceiba. The word "malva" most commonly used are given, bin no
is used for many different fibers from attempt is made to give a complete list
plants of the mallow family, but the of synonyms.
"malva blanca" of Cuba, which has re- It i- known that many plant fibers
ceived the most attention in the press, not mentioned here are produced in the
IS quite different from the malva blanca Western Hemisphere, but generally in
described in text books. very small quantities, for local use
The confusion of names i-. not con- only. The following list gives the
lined to the areas of production; it also names of the fibers or fiber plant-.
extends to the filler markets and to the classified by groups, in the order in
statistics published by governments. which they arc treated in this puhli-
The name "sisal" is commonly applied eat ion.
4 MISCELLANEOUS PUBLICATION 518, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE

LIST OF FIBERS OR FIBER PLANTS LONG OR MULTIPLE-CELLED

Fiber or Plant Botanical Name rlBi^Ks
Long or multiple-celled fibers Hard or Leaf Fibers
Hard fibers:

Henequen Agave fourcroydes Tne name <A.ffave, derived from a

Sisal Agave sisalana Greek word meaning "noble," was used
Letona igave letonae by Linnaeus, in 1753, to designate a
Mezcal- .-Agave tequilana „ rou of plants wMch now inc i udes
Zapupe Agave zapupe ,
n
. , ,-, , . ,

„ . . , ' henequen and sisal, the most important

L
Cantala Agave cantata
, 1

Lechuguilla__ Agave lecheguilla fiber-producing plants of American

Jaumave lechuguilla Agave funkiana origin. The agaves have fleshy leaves,
Piteira —Furcraea gigantea usually long and narrow, in rosettes.
Cabuya- ^Furcraea cabuija The leaveg of mogt species have hooked
Fique
.„
Chuchao ,
Furcraea macrophylla
„
Furcraea and. >:a
, ' .

*
•

e~
it
prickles on the margins,
,i
andt nearly
j all
• in
Cocuiza Furcraea humboldtiana have well-developed terminal spines.
Pitre Furcraea hexapetala They are often miscalled "cactus" be-
Common yucca .-Yucca filamentosa cause of the prickles and spines, but
Soapweed yucca____ ..Yucca glaura
^ are not re l ated to the cactus f am .
Palmilla ^lucca data. -
,f , ,.,, ,, , , ,., .
„
Banana yucca v „
Yucca hni-cata
ily.
n
Most ot the yellow tubelike Aqave
a
Mohave yucca Yucca mohavensis flowers are erect in dense clusters at
Paima pita Yucca treculeana the ends of branches of the tall flower
Palma barreta Samuela carnerosana stalks. However, in one section of the
Zamandoque Hesperaloe funifera
Chaparral yucca Hesperoyucca ichipplci
^
a
nus
including the lechuguillas, the
D.

Pita a
,

no.ia a .

Aechmea
j.
magdalenae i
flowers are crowded
i i n
slender spikes.
L
.
n
m•

.
•-,

Phormium Fhonnium tenax A11 a g ave s are native to America.

Abaca Musa textilis
d 7-, ^t,
HENEQUEN
Palm7
and patmtike .7 7
fibers:
Bahia piassava Attalca funifera
r, t 7 7- i • (Amaryllis family)'
Para piassava Leopold inui piassaba
Cabbage palmetto Sabat palmetto „ r ,

Scrub palmetto Sabai etonia

Agave fourcroydes Lemaire.
Gorojo palm Acrocomia crispa Agave rigida Auct. Amer., not Mill.
Yaray Sabat causiarrum Agave rigida elongata Baker.
Toquilla Carludovica palmata T n Yucatan, the Maya name for hene-
Roft fibers: quen was "sacci" (sak-chee). In Cuba
Hem P- - Cannabis sativa the plant is called henequen or sisal, and
Cadillo
„
Vrcna lobata • p i „, ,

in East Africa sisal weisz, or white

u
i>"a •

Jute Corchorus spp. . „ TT ,, . '

.

Ramie__ _ Boehmeria nivea slsaL In the markets of the United

Short or one-celled fibers States the fiber is called Mexican sisal
Kapok Ceiba pentandra or Cuban sisal, but in the London fiber
Pochote Ceiba aesculifolia market it is called henequen.
Northern pochote__
Palo borracho
_ Ceiba acuminata, A well-developed, mature henequen
Chorisla insignia ic-,
\ -n,
-iaa i -. i j.
„ .
Samohu „.
Chonsia speciosa
. . .
L & 1)' has 50 to 100 gray leaves,
plant v(ng.
,
or as many
i
,,. „ _.
Miscellaneous fibers J as 200 before any J have been
Broomroot Muhlenbergia macroura cut -
The leaves are 3 to 6 feet (
10 °
Treebeard Tillandsia usneoides to 200 cm.) long and 4 to 6 inches (10
 FIBER PRODUCTION IX THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE

to L5 cm.) wide, l' L . to 2^ inches (3.5

to >.> cm.) in vertical diameter at the
base, with prickles U to '.-, inch (3 to
5 mm.) long, hooked either up or down
and s to V/s inches
:;
10 to 30 mm.) 1

apart on the margins. The terminal

-pine is about 1 inch (25 mm.) long,
::
, 6 to 5
ii; inch i 5 to 7 mm. ) thick, flat-
tened or grooved on the face, and
nearly black or sometimes gray in age.
The young plant consists of a small
rosette of leaves rising from the
ground, and as it grows older the lower
older leaves decay or in cultivated
plantation- they are cut off and a trunk
is developed 3 to 5% feet (100 to 175
cm.) high.
The point of growth, as in all agaves,
is at the base of the leaves in the central
bud. The leave- growing at the base
—
FiGUBE 1. Henequen plant year- old, from m
are actually pushed up inside of the which seven crops Of leave- have been cur.
spindle-shaped hud. attaining their full Suckers large enough to be transplanted.
length in the bud as the preceding leaves Cardenas. luba. <

split away and lean outward.

The henequen plant was originally
The leave- contain aboul l' 1
*
percent
native to the Yucatan Peninsula, hut
moisture, hut the fleshy pulp i- very
it is now found only in cultivated
firm and the leaves are rigid. The
1 lantation- or a- an escape from culti-
fibers extend lengthwise through the
vation. In Mexico, about 440,000 acres
leaves, being most abundant near the
i 175,( 00 hectares of henequen are cul-
upper and lower surfaces.
I

tivated in the State- of Yucatan and

Henequen plants live 10 to 20 years
Campeche and about 5,00 >
acres 2,000
They are monocarpic,
I

or even longer.
hectares) outside the Yucatan Penin-
that i-. they produce flowers but once
and then die. Many die without sula; in the Wesl Indie-. Cuba has
flowering. The flower stalk, or "pole." about half a dozen large plantations
mow- up through the center of the hud of henequen, comprising about 33,

to a height of 15 to 25 feet i 5 to s m. I,
acres | L3,000 hectare-, (fig. 3), this
with rather -tout, nearly horizontal being the only country outside ol
branches bearing at their forked ends Me\ic where henequen fiber is pro
erect clusters of light-yellow flowers. duced in There are
large quantities.
The flowers are followed by either seed small plantation- in Jamaica, and a
pod- or bulbils, or sometimes by l»<>th lew plant- are grown in Tanganyika
in the same cluster (fig. 2). Suckers and Mozambique, in East Africa.
grow up from the rootstocks of the Elsewhere the henequen plant is rarely
plant each year i fig. 1). found, even in botanical gardens.
6 MISCELLANEOUS PUBLICATION 518, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE

properly. Clear sunshine is required

to dry the fiber Harvesting is
well.
usually discontinued during the rainy
season because of difficulty in drying
the fiber.
Henequen requires a well-drained
soil, preferably of limestone formation.
In Yucatan many of the plantations are
on porous lime rock too hard to be
plowed or cultivated. Most of the
plantations in Cuba are on clay loam
soils with many lime-stone outcrops.
Henequen plants sometimes grow well
in sandy soils containing abundant sea
shells,but they do not grow well in
sand without shells or lime. Henequen
will not grow well in a compact or
water-soaked soil, for the roots require
air.

As henequen fiber is now produced,

an area of at least 1.250 acres (500 hec-
Figure 2. —Henequen plants "pulling"; pole tares) of the plants is required for
at right in flower, In center bearing bul-
profitable operation.There is a tend-
bils, and at left bulbils mostly fallen.
Habana, Cuba. ency to use larger and more efficient
fiber-cleaning machinery, requiring still

Henequen is a tropical plant and larger numbers of leaves for continuous

requires a dry tropical climate. The operation. The land must be fairly
average annual rainfall at Merida, level so as to permit easy transportation
Yucatan, is about 30 inches (750 mm.) of the leaves from the field to the clean-
and the temperature ranges between ing machine.
50° and 100° F., rarely falling below Henequen plants grow best in full
60°. All of the henequen plantations sunlight. All trees, bushes, and other
are within the Tropics. Those near vegetation must be cleared off. Vines
Victoria, in Tamaulipas, are almost on that may twine around the buds and
the Tropic of Cancer, where there are prevent the leaves from spreading
light frosts of short duration nearly should be exterminated before henequen
every winter. In the parts of Cuba is planted. The land is laid out in con-
where henequen is grown, there is an venient units, usually
1,000 mecates
annual rainfall of 40 to 50 inches (about 100 acres or 40 hectares) in
(1,000 to 1,200 mm.), but the condi- Yucatan, or caballerias (about 21 acres
tions are generally arid and the ground or 14 hectares) in Cuba. The size of
dries quickly after a rain. Henequen units and number of plants per unit are
endures dry conditions better than the basis of all field labor and estimates
most other plants, but in a prolonged of production. Roads for carts or plan-
drought the leaves become leathery, tation railways are laid out from the
making it impossible to clean the fiber central fiber-cleaning mill to all parts
 »

FIBER PRODUCTION IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE

—
Figube 3. Field of henequen. Plants, nearly 3 years old with leaves un to M) inches ir, l »t »

grown from suckers (lii.jos) and photographed about a year before the Fust crop of leaves
may lie harvested. Matanzas, Cuba.

of the plantation. The transportation The suckers, called hijos, are dug out
of about 100 pounds ( I.") kilos) of leaves when 16 to 24 inches (40*to60cm.) high.
for every pounds .'5 (l 1
\ kilos) of fiber The roots and nearly all of the leaves
is an important item. are trimmed off (fig. 4). They are then
planted in rows- about 10 feet (1 varas
Henequen plants may be propagated
or about 3.3 m.) apart and 4 feet (1%
from seeds, bulbils, or suckers. As
vara.- or about L.25m.) apart in the row,
plants grown from seeds are le-s uni-
form (ban those grown from bulbils or making 96 plant- per mecate or about
960 per acre (2,400 per hectare). Some-
suckers, seeds are used only in experi-
ments. Bulbils have to be cultivated in
times the plants are set out in pairs of

a nursery 1 or \> years before they are rows closer together, with wider spaces
left between the pairs of rows through
set out in the field. They serve best
where it is necessary to transport them which to cany the leaves out to the
lone- distances to start plantations in roads. In rocky land it is often neces-

new In actual practice suckers

areas. sary to make hole- w itb a pick and then
are used almost exclusively. prop up the suckers VI ith -lone.-.
 MISCELLANEOUS PUBLICATION 518, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE

Figure 4. —Henequen suckers trimmed and ready for planting. Cardenas, Cuba.

The suckers are usually set out at the Afterward the weeds are cut at the time
beginning of the rainy season, so as to of each harvest.
have sufficient moisture for development Henequen is not irrigated, and fer-

of the roots. The young plants must be tilizers arenot regularly applied. Well-
looked over at intervals of about 10 rotted bagasse, or waste from cleaning
days, and especially after storms, so the fiber, is sometimes spread on the
that missing ones may
be replaced and fields. Low leguminous annuals, like
any that been blown down
have Japan clover, may be grown between
straightened up. After the plants have the rows to add nitrogen to the soil and
become firmly rooted they will with- to aid in keeping down weeds.
stand winds and tropical storms better The sisal weevil, Scyphophorus acu-
than most other tropical crops. punctatm Gyll., which bores into the
Li most henequen plantations in bud, and black rot, Colletotrichvm
Yucatan the land is too rocky to permit agaves Cav., a fungus that attacks the
the use of large cultivating tools. leaves, especially after they have been

"Weeds, grasses, and bushes are cut with punctured by scale insects, are the most
machetes. Perennial bushes and twin- destructive pests on henequen plants.
ing vines are exterminated as com- The scale insect Pseud ischnaspis bow-
pletely as possible. Cultivators are reyi Ckll. is often abundant on hene-
used to some extent in Cuba, but weeds quen leaves in the dry season, but it

close around the plants must be cleared disappears in the rainy season, causing
by hand. It is usually necessary to little injury except that its punctures

clear out weeds and other vegetation permit the entrance of black rot and
two to four times each year, or more other fungi.
frequently in regions of greater rain- In the arid climate of Yucatan the
fall, until the first harvest of leaves. crop of henequen leaves for fiber
first
 FIBER FHODCITKIX IX THE WESTERN 1 1 KM I.-1M ERE
1 9

production is cut in the sixth or seventh bundle-, and carry to the roadway 3,000
year. Successive crops are cut about to 1,000 leave- a day.

twice a year for periods of 10 to 20 The bundles of henequen leaves are

\ 'ears, or until the plants cease to yield brought from the fields by cart, truck,
good leaves. In Cuba, with a heavier or plantation railway directly to the
rainfall, the plants grow more rapidly, cleaning machine-. The fiber i> usually
and the crop is cut usually in the
first cleaned within 21 hours of the time the
fourth year and afterward about every leaves are cut. a- the work of cleaning
6 months for a period of 10 to IT) years. is and more efficient if done be-
easier
At the first harvest all leaves are taken, fore the leaves have begun to dry.
up to those leaning out at an angle of The epidermis, or skin, of the leaves
about 45°, and afterward about 2 tiers prevents them from drying rapidly,
around the plant (fig. 5). The leaves but if the leaves become leathery it is
are cut one at a time by hand, usually impossible to clean the fiber properly.
with an ordinary butcher knife. The machines used for cleaning the
Curved knives with
handles longer fiber obtained from henequen and. sisal
have been made for this work, but the leaves are the most efficient devised
butcher knives are cheaper. The termi- thus far for separating plant fibers
nal spine and marginal prickles are from the surrounding tissues. "With
trimmed off, and the leaves are tied in henequen, sisal, and similar leaves, the
bundles of 25 or 50. One man with two work consists of crushing, beating, and
assistants will cut, trim, count, tie in scraping away the pulp. This was done

'iqube .").-
-Harvesting henequen leaves: usually 2 tiers (about 16 Leaves) are cut Croui each
plant. Acani ii. JTucatan, Mexico.
i
\ 10 MISCELLANEOUS PUBLICATION 518, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE

first by hand methods, then by a ras- for fertilizer, but its acidity detracts
pador consisting of a large revolving from its Repeated
fertilizing value.
drum with lugs on its periphery and a efforts have been made to use it in the
plate with a curved apron separated by production of alcohol, but its sugar con-
about the thickness of a fiber from the tent is too low for it to be used profit-
rapidly moving lugs. The leaves were ably for this purpose. Owing to its
held by hand, first one end and then irregular consistency and disagreeable
the other, against the revolving drum. odor, it is not suitable for upholstery
Sr. Manuel Prieto, of Yucatan, put two tow. In some places the waste is piled
raspadors together and arranged a pair in great heaps and burned when dry;
of chains that grasped the leaves near sometimes it is pitched over cliffs, and
the middle and carried them sidewise sometimes into rivers, which carry it
past the first drum, cleaning the fiber out to sea.
from the basal end of the leaf. Then The wet fiber coming from the ma-
a second pair of chains grasped the chine is carried directly to the drying
cleaned fiber, carrying the upper part yards and hung on poles or galvanized
of the leaf past the second drum. The wire. The yards are usually paved to
fiber, clean and straight, came out side- keep the fiber clean and free from clust
wise, ready to be dried in the sun and (fig. 6). In dry weather the fiber dries
then baled for shipment. Numerous in 2 days or less. The work of cleaning
improvements have been made in these is usually discontinued in the rainy
machines until now machines in actual season. After poorly cleaned or dis-
operation clean as many as 20,000 leaves colored wisps of fiber are discarded, the
an hour, delivering 800 to 1,000 pounds clean dry fiber is gathered up from the
of perfectly cleaned filler. It requires drying racks. It is sorted into two or
the leaves from 10,000 to 15,000 plants three grades by length, color, and clean-
to keep one of these machines in opera- ness, and baled for shipment (fig. 7).
tion during an 8-hour day. In many It is important that the fiber be placed
machines a water plaj's on the
jet of as straight as possible in the bale, or
fiber as it passes thedrums. This aids with only the tips bent over. If a
in washing away the loosened pulp and hank is bent near the middle and so

also in washing the waste from the packed, the bend will be retained, mak-
machine. The disposal of the waste, ing the material more difficult to handle
constituting about 97 percent of the and causing waste and loss in the spin-
weight of the leaves, is an important ning mill. A standard bale is supposed
problem. About 90 percent of the green to weigh 375 pounds (about 170 kilos),
weight of the leaf is moisture, and the but the various baling presses on differ-
waste, or bagasse, as it leaves the ma- ent plantations make bales ranging
chine, is very wet and heavy. The solid from 275 to 575 pounds (130 to 260
material is chiefly cellulose, but it con- kilos). Therefore statistics based on
tains too much be used by pres-
silica to the number of bales are not very satis-
ent methods in the manufacture of factory.
paper. some lime, potash,
It contains Henequen fiber consists of reddish-
and other fertilizing elements, and in \ellow to nearly white strands 2 to 5
some places it is returned to the field feet (60 to 160 cm.) in length and y2 oo
 FIBER PRODUCTION IX THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE 11

i i- l
m

Fioube 6. — Henequen fiber drying in clean paved yard, Yucatan, Mexico.

Piqube 7. Henequen fiber in bales, entering the dock tor shipment from r S

-
slco.
 :

12 MISCELLANEOUS PUBLICATION 518, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE

to inch (Vs to Vz mm.) in diameter,

y50 1939, inclusive, is estimated as follows:
coarser at the base, angular or nearly Metric Metric

cylindrical. Each strand is composed

of one or usually more fibrovascular
^___. lOaooo £L_ o^OOO
i 931 76,300 1936 102,000
bundles, and these in turn are composed 1932 94,000 1937 107,000

of many
J elongated
fc
thick-walled cells
1933
1934
~ - "• 00 °
102,000
1938
1939
— -
91 000 <

. , . . . 95,000
6
1UU
<ioo to 8
/ioo
/1UU mch (1.5 to 4 mm.) long . .

he principal market lor henequen

^^ ^ ^
,. -I
-i
m ^
.

and 20 M to 30 M diameter, or with a

fiber ig ^ United
mean ratio of length to diameter of
recent yearg quant iti es considerable
about 100. The ends of these ultimate have been shippecl to Europe, It is
cells as viewed under a microscope are quoted in the fiber markets of the
rather blunt. Tests for strength, in United States under the name "Mexi-
which the average breaking strain per can sisal*' or rarely '"Yucatan sisal."
strand is divided by the average weight Henequen from Cuba is not quoted
per meter of the strands tested, show separately. The maximum and min-
henequen fiber from Yucatan has an imum quotations in New York from
average breaking strain of about 20,000 1930 to 1937 wel e as follows '

,. j. Cents per pound

gill, per graill-meter. Year Maximum Minimum
Henequen is used chiefly in the man- 1930 81/4 4%
ufacture of binder twine for tying 1932" " oil
2V
sheaves of wheat, oats, rice, and other 1933 334 2%
small grain into bundles as they are 1934 3ys 3

harvested. Binder twine made of bene- 1935 6 % 2 %

, . 1936 6% 6%
quen is mostly
500 pound feet per 1937.. _ 6 5 7/8
(330 m. per kilo). It is also made into The demand is governed largely by
other hard-fiber twines and ropes up to t iie condition of the grain crops that
1 inch (25 mm.) in diameter. In Mex- affect the demand for binder twine,
ico it is softened and spun into yarns
sisal
that are woven into sacking. It is also
, . (Amaryllis family)
used in coarse rugs.
The production of henequen fiber is Agave sisalana Perrine.
confined almost exclusively to the Yu- Agave rigida sisalana Engelm.
catan Peninsula and Cuba, with rel- Both sisal and henequen were
-
in-

atively small quantities produced in

correctly referred to Agave rigida by
botanists who had never seen the plants
Mexico outside of Yucatan and in Ja-
maica.
.

Accurate
,.
statistics of
t
. „
produc-
t growing
,°,
in the
,.,
Iropics,
'.
and even
, . .,
m
y
present-day literature sisal is often
tmn are difficult to obtain, because m- caUed Agav& r{gida simJana , The
creasing quantities are consumed m the name «sisal » from the old seap ort,
is
cordage mills in Cuba and Yucatan, g isa i
in Yucatan, from which the fiber
5

and tnese quantities do not enter into was formerly shipped. The Mayas of
the statistics of exports. The produc- Yucatan called the plant and its fiber
tion of henequen fiber from 1930 to yacci (yak-chee). Outside of the Yu-
 FIBER PRODUCTION IN THE WESTERS HEMISPHERE 13

Figube 8. — Well-developed 5-year-old sisal plants with leaves about 5 feet (150 cm.) long; plant
on left with flower stalk. Mayagiiez, P. I;

catan Peninsula it is generally called shorter lived than henequen and rarely
sisal, or sometimes green sisal to dis- develops a trunk more than 40 inches
tinguish from the gray-leaved hene-
it or 1 m. high. When the plant i- t<> .»

quen. The fiber produced in different l 11 years old a flower .-talk grows up
regions is called Bahama sisal, Afri- through the hud. attaining a height of
can sisal, Java sisal, and Haitian sisaL 10 to 25 feel (3 to 7 m.)
with (fig. 9)

A well-developed sisal plant (fig. S) rather slender

ascending branches,
has 7.") to 150 dark-green leave-. 30 to bearing at their forked end- erect clus-
60 inches (75 to 150 cm.) long and 4 ters uf yellow flowers. The flowers
to G inches wide, with
( 10 to 15 cm.) are followed by bulbils, but not 1>\ seed
smooth margins or very small marginal ]><><!- under normal conditions. The
prickles. The terminal spine is
I:
, to plants die after flowering. If the
1 inch (20 to 25 cm.) long and u. : , to flower stalks are cut out as soon ;i- they
•',.-, inch (4 In 5 mm.) thick, slightly appear, the leaves surrounding the
notched at the base and dark chestnul stalk in the hud may develop so as to
in color. The base of the leave- is yield fiber, instead of shriveling, n-
rarely more than L% inches | \ cm.) in they otherwise would, but the life of
verticaldiameter. The leave- grow the plant i- not prolonged.
from the base in the bud in the same Si-al originated in the Yucatan Pen-
manner as those of henequen. Sisal is insula and i- -till cultivated to a
14 MISCELLANEOUS PUBLICATION 518, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE

fibers in many Yu-

tropical colonies.
catan, having the monopoly of hene-
quen production, would not permit
propagating stock of the plants to go
out of that country. Bulbils from the
sisal plants growing wild in southern
Florida, however, were available in
great numbers at prices as low as $1 per
thousand. At that time botanists did
not generally recognize henequen and
sisal as different species. Sisal bulbils
from Florida went to the Bahamas,
Haiti, CuraQao, Hawaii, East Africa,
Algeria, India, and many other warm
countries. All cultivated sisal outside
Mexico may be traced directly or in-
directly to Florida. Sisal has been dis-
tributed very widely, whereas hene-
quen is comparatively rare outside Yu-
catan and Cuba.

Sisal is now cultivated commercially

Figuke !). — Sisal plant in flower, with buds on large plantations in the State of
on the upper branches. Snead Island, Fla. Campeche, Mexico, and in Haiti in the
American Tropics; in Kenya, Tangan-
limited extent in Campeche and in some
yika. Mozambique, Togoland, and Sen-
parts of the State of Yucatan, but the
egal in Africa; and in Java and Su-
region where most of the henequen is
matra in the Netherlands Indies. There
grown is generally too dry for the best
are numerous other places where the
growth of sisal.
cultivation of sisal has been tried but
Both sisal and henequen were intro-
abandoned because the production of
duced into southern Florida about 1834,
the fiber with small or inefficient ma-
by Dr. Henry Perrine, who was then
chines could not compete successfully
United States consul at Campeche.
with its production on large, well-
Very few henequen plants survived the
equipped plantations under more fa-
abundant summer rains in Florida, but
vorable conditions.
the sisal plants thrived and became
naturalized. They are abundant in Sisal is a tropical plant, and all sisal

many places on the Florida Keys and plantations now in operation are with-
also in some places on the mainland, in the Tropics. Sisal does not endure
near the coast of southern Florida. severe drought as well as henequen,
The self-binder for harvesting grain but it endures excessive rainfall better.
and tying the sheaves with twine in- The plants grow best under semiarid
stead of wire came into general use be- conditions and in open sunlight. Dry
tween 18S5 and 1890. This resulted in air and abundant sunshine are neces-
a greatly increased demand for hard sary for drying and bleaching the fiber.
fibers and in efforts to produce these Although hurricanes sometimes break
 2

FIBER PRODUCTION IX THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE 15

them down, sisal plants endure storms or by suckers, which grow up from the
better than do mo-t tropical crops. rootstocks. Bulbil- mu-t be cultivated
in a nursery (fig. 11) 1^ to •_'! mot
wider range of
I

Sisal grows well >n a

before being transplanted to the Held.
soils than henequen. but it grow- best
Sucker- are sometimes cultivated in a
in a well-drained soil of rather loose or
nursery to give opportunity for better
open texture, allowing aeration of the
selection. The land to be planted is
roots. .Many of the best sisal planta-
thoroughly cleared and i- often plowed
tion- are on soils sufficiently free from
and cultivated. The plant- are then
rocks to be plowed and cultivated.
set in rows, in the same manner as
out
Sisal plantations are laid out in prac- henequen or sometimes a little closer
tically tli<' same manner as those for
together, at the rate of about 1,000 to
henequen. Successful commercial pro- 1,200 per acre (2,500 to 3,000 per hec-
duction of the fiber requires an area of tare). The land i- cultivated or the
at least 2.500 acres (1.000 hectares) of weeds are cleared out three or four
land suitable for growing the plant-,
time- each year until the first harvest,
within easy hauling distance of the cen-
2y2 to l year- after the young plants
tral cleaning machine and a plentiful are >et out, and afterward at the time
supply of fresh water for washing the of each harvest, about twice each year.
fiber. Availability of efficient labor and The sisal beetle. Scyphophanu
mean- for transportation of the fiber to
punctatus Gyll., and the black rot at-
market mu-t also be considered. tack sisal, but generally less severely
Sisal plants may be propagated by than they attack henequen. The yel-
bulbils ( fig. 10) from the flower -talk-. lows, or yellow -pot disease, sometimes

FlGUBE 10. — Sisal bulbils about 4 inches (in cm.) long, partly routed alter falling liviii the
Bower stalk Boi a Chlca, Fla.
5H74i; — —r.)
16 MISCELLANEOUS PUBLICATION 5 IS, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE

Figube 11. — Sisal bulbils growing in nursery beds; plants about 16 inches (40 cm.) high before
transplanting to the field. Mayagiiez, P. R.

referred to as mosaic, though no definite heres to sisal fiber, so it is necessary to

cause has been found for it, is much wash the fiber as it is cleaned. On some
more destructive to sisal, especially if plantations where there are frequent
the plants are growing under unfavor- rains the fiber is dried by means of cen-

able conditions. The first crop of leaves trifugals and hot-air driers. Most of
is harvested 2 to 4 years after the young the fiber is brushed on brushing ma-

plants are set out, and successive crops chines after it is dry. This brushes
are harvested about twice each year, for away adherent dust and weak fibers
periods of 4 to 6 years, or until many and brings out the luster of the fiber.
of the plants send up flower
stalks and The fibers beaten out in the brushing
die. The having no mar-
sisal leaves, process are sold as sisal waste.
ginal prickles and being more easily A
well-grown sisal plant yields 140
cut than henequen, are harvested a little to 200 leavesduring its entire life. The
more rapidly. leaves average about iy2 pounds (0.75
Sisal fiber is cleaned in the same kilo) in weight. The yield of fiber
manner as henequen and by the same ranges from 2.5 to 4 percent of the
kinds of machines. The sisal leaves weight of the green leaves, averaging
average a little more than one-half the about 3 percent. On the best planta-
thickness of henequen leaves at the base, tions in eastern Africa and Java the
and the pulp is scraped away more yield of dry clean sisal fiber is about
easily, so that less power is required 1,760 pounds per acre (2,000 kilos per
for cleaning sisal. The green sap ad- hectare) per annum during the period
 • , .

FIBKR PRODUCTION IX THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE ] /

of production, which i< two-thirds to The fiber is used in brushes ; sisal waste,
three-fourths of the lifetime of the beaten out in brushing, is used in cheap
plant-. twines and in upholstery tow.
Sisal fiber is cream white to clear The production of sisal, chiefly in

white. 24 to 64 inches (GO to 1(>0 cm.) East Africa and the Netherlands In-
in length, and 1
_.,,,, to 1
-,
( ,
inch (y8 to dies, begun after 1900, increased to
y2 mm.) in diameter. It is generally nearly 30,000 tons per annum before
a little more flexible than henequen. "World War I. then it dropped off,
The ultimate cells composing the fiber especially inTanganyika. Since 1920
are slightly finer than those of bene- the production has been increasing.
quen. The cellulose content of sisal The world production from L930 to
fiber is about 77 percent and that of 1939, inclusive, i- estimated in metric
henequen about 73 percent. The aver- tons as follows:
age breaking -train of >infrle strands, .v,

:- computed from a series of tests, is Year y ""'

..,—., !£ 1930 131,000 1935—224,000
per gram-meter. o-
.
/ 32,7.3gms. Sisal fiber _ .....
1931 _ ug ,„..,. it

absorbs water and swells more quickly -j,,^ _ 1(;1 (WI ::<:,-_ 228 mm>

—
i

than abaca, but it swells vrvy slightly, 1033 __. r.:;. 1938 240,000
—
>

so that in marine cordage it doe- not 1934 2oi,000 1939„_ h4T.uk)

cause seriou S n '" u,,le in th 1
"' lh '

y This annual production is greater

f
blocks "
h
.

a resastant r
" m 3
urlons
than that of any other plant fiber ex-
action of sea water,
cept cotton, jute, and flax.
Sisal has been used most extensively
T]u principa] markets f „. sisa] are in
,
,

mbmdertwme. It makes bmder twine Great Britain, continental Europe, and

"Clio ret per pound or 4<:s m. per kilo. .1 ~ » <, ti
the TI nited btates. 1 lie maximum and
1
l l i , : 1
1 . .

m
. .

I*- use is increasing

6 heavier twines •

. .
minimum quotations,
, ,
in cent- per
and rope- and even in marine cordage.
c „ lfil x -^-. -.-
1
pound, for
i ,•

sisal fiber in New York City ,

Caretu v conducted •

actual use on ships indicate that

.
tests, as
... well as
it is
from in
,•

*
A
1930
-,-,
., .

to
-,,,.,.,
1939,
,

inclusive, were as

the most satisfactory substitute for

, . .' . C> nts i" r povnd
abaca (manilarope) in marine cordage. Year Maximum Minimum
In recent year- the practice has been 1930 s- 7
.

adopted of softening the Bber by vari- 1: ::i

'
4 U
on- treatment-. These treatments do 93-— i
- -

., , . . . , 1933
not make ,

a really sort fiber out 01 sisal,

1
,,.,
l
,,

hut they have made it possible to spin 1935 31

sisal yarns soft enough to be woven into 1936 6% -" T
>

sacks for coffee. Sisal has been w^'A in 1937— 1

bagging to cover hales of cotton, and ''-

this covering, although not received

with much favor by the cotton spinners The increase in the number of uses
of Lancashire, England, is preferred to for sisal has made the market demand
jute. A comparatively new use is in for thi> fiber less dependent upon the
floor coverings, especially summer rugs. demand for binder t\\ inc.
18 MISCELLANEOUS PUBLICATION 518, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE

LETONA green tissue at the tip of the leaf. The

(Amaryllis family) flower stalks are 20 to 27 feet (6 to
8 m.) tall, and the flowers are followed
Agave letonae F. W. Taylor.
by seed pods.
The letona plant and its fiber have
This species has been grown from
been called Salvador henequen and Sal-
early times by the Indians in El Salva-
vador sisal under the supposition that
it was the same species as the henequen dor, and it is not known now as a native

of Yucatan, but the leaves are more wild plant. It has not been reported

slender, the terminal spines more angu- anywhere outside of El Salvador. It

lar, the fiber softer and finer,and there is grown on a small scale for the pro-
are specific differences in the flowers duction of fiber for local use in many
and seed pods. places in El Salvador (fig. 12). It is

The letona plant develops a trunk up cultivated on large plantations for the

to 60 inches (150 cm.) high. The production of fiber on a commercial

leaves are bluish glaucous. 3 to 4 inches scale. One of the largest is "Letonia,"
(8 to 10 cm.) wide and 50 to 80 inches near San Miguel, El Salvador. The
(125 to 200 cm.) long, slightly concave, plants are propagated by suckers and
with marginal prickles % to 1% inches cultivated in practically the same man-
(15 to 35 mm.) apart and a terminal ner as henequen in Yucatan. The fiber
spine about 1 inch (25 mm.) long, is prepared by the same kinds of ma-

round-grooved on the face and have chines that are used on the henequen
acute edges extending slightly into the plantations in Yucatan.

Figure 12. — Small machine for spinning letona fiber into yarns or twines. El Salvador.
 —

FIBER PRoDrCTION' IX HIE WESTERN HEMISPHERE 1!)

FIgure 13. Interior of a factory for preparing letona fiber ("Salvador henequen") for spinning
into twines. El Salvador.

Figure 14. Weaving fabric for coffee sacks from yarns of letona fiber. Kl Salvador.
20 MISCELLANEOUS PUBLICATION 518, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE

Letona fiber is similar to henequen in or trunks of the plants. The produc-

general appearance, but it is finer and tion of fiber from the leaves is inciden-
softer and may be used in making softer tal (fig. 15). Agave tequilana is called
yarns. The production of letona fiber mezcal azul or chino azul; ^1. pseudo-
in El Salvador in 1934 amounted to tequilano is called mezcal bianco or
nearly 2,700 metric tons. This was mezcal cucharo; A. palmaris is called
used mostly for home consumption in mano larga or chino bermejo; and A.
the manufacture of sacks for coffee and
pes-mulae is called pata de mula or pie
de mula.
sugar and in twines and rope (figs. 13
Tbe plants all bear a general resem-
and 14).
blance to henequen and sisal. All have
short and relatively thick trunks. The
MEZCAL
leaves of mezcal azul are light bluish
(Amaryllis family) green, thin, and nearly flat, 3 to 4 inches
(8 to 10 cm.) wide, and 45 to 50 inches
Agave tequilana Weber, A. pseudo- (125 to 150 cm.) long. Mezcal bianco
tequilana Trel., A. palmaris Trel., has yellow-green glaucous leaves, rather
and A. pes-mulae Trel. thick, slightly concave, nearly 6 inches
This mezcal group of agaves is cul- (15 cm.) wide, and 70 to 80 inches (175
tivated in western Mexico, from Sinaloa to 200 cm.) long. Mano larga has
to Jalisco, primarily for the production darker green leaves, somewhat glau-
of the alcoholic beverages mezcal and cous, 4 to 6 inches ( 10 to 15 cm. ) wide,
tequila, distilled from the roasted bases and about 70 inches (175 cm.) long

Figure 15. —Mezcal plantation. Left, mezcal bianco; right, mezcal azul. Tequila, Jalisco,
Mex ico.
 FIBER PRODUCTION" IX THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE 21

i
fig. 16). Pata de mula has blue-green
[eaves 2} _> to 3 inches (C to 8 cm.wide )

and tO i" 60 inches (100 to 150 cm.)

long. All have red or purple marginal
prickles mostly upcurved and about U
inch (3 mm.) long, or longer on mezcal
bianco. All four species are cultivated
together in the same fields, mezcal azul
being more prevalent in the southern
]
art nf the range and mezcal bianco
more abundant in the northern part.
The large leaves of mezcal bianco and
aiano larga are best for fiber pro-
motion.
When the plants are about to send up
a flower stalk, at the age of 8 to 10
year-, the short trunk- are well stored
with sugar. The leave- are then all

cut off, and the trunk-, looking like

MTV Large pineapples, are collected, to
be roasted. Some of the mezcal plan-
tations are equipped with fiber-clean- ITi —
cre 16. Mano larga mezcal plant, 10
years old and soon to send up a flower
ing machinery, and when there is a
stalk as indicated by the shorter central
good demand for fiber at favorable
leaves. Mazatepee, M sxico.
prices the leave- are collected and fiber
i- prepared in the same general man-
ner as has been described for henequen
Z LPUPE
and sisal. The
from the differ-
leaves
ent kinds of plant- growing together (Amaryllis iamu y |

in the held are not kept separate, and

the iiher i- mixed as they are all Agave zapupe Trel., A. lespinassei
.leaned together. Furthermore the Trel., and A. deweyana Trel.
leaves, all harvested at one time, in- Much interest in the cultivation of
clude many Long past maturity and the zapupe-fiber agaves was aroused
other- too young to yield the besl fiber. in Mexico from about 1902 to 1910.
The uniformity.
fiber, therefore, lacks Several plantations of zapupe were
It normally softer and a little finer
i> started, chiefly in the States of Vera-
than henequen. As it is generally re- cruz and Tamaulipas in eastern
garded as merely a byproduct on the Mexico. Some fiber-cleaning machines
mezcal plantation-, it i- nol often pre- were installed, but mostly of the
pared as carefully as henequen and -mailer and less efficient type-: at Least,
sisal. most of the machine- were not well
Mezcal Iiher i- used chiefly for mix- adapted for the preparation of zapupe
ing with other fibers in hard-fiber fiber. The fiber ne\ er came on the mar-
twines. It is exported, hut it is not ket in regular commercial quant
quoted in the fiber market-. and it- production was discontinued.
22 MISCELLANEOUS PUBLICATION 518, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE

Zapupe azul (Agave zapupe) is also

known as zapupe estopier. It has blue
leaves, yielding an attractive, fine,

white fiber, not strong enough, how-

ever, to withstand the straining of the
cleaning machines then available (fig.

IT). Zapupe de Tepetzintla {Agave

lespinassei) is sometimes called zapupe
vincent. has green leaves yielding
It
fiber more nearly like sisal. This plant
grows well on the sandy soils along the
coast of the Gulf of Mexico. Zapupe
verde (Agave deweyana) is also known
as zapupe de Tantoyuca. It has green
leaves, yielding fiber similar to hene-
quen or slightly finer and softer. This
plant has been cultivated a century or
more by the Tantoyuca Indians in the
mountains of northern Veracruz, where
there are light frosts in winter, but
when cultivated in the plantations of
henequen near Ciudad Victoria about —
Figure 18. Zapupe verde plant, 8 years old,
with bulbils killed by frost, near Ciudad
Victoria, Tamaulipas, Mexico.

140 miles (200 kilometers) farther

north, it was injured by light frosts
fully as much as henequen, introduced
there from Yucatan, where the tem-
perature never approaches freezing
(fig. 18).
CANTALA
(Amakyixis family)

Agave cantala Roxb.

The Malay name cantala, also spelled
kantala and cantula, used in Java and
is

to some extent elsewhere in Malaysia.

In the Philippine Islands, where this
plant is most extensively cultivated, it
is called maguey, and the fiber exported
from the Philippines is known in the
markets as Manila maguey or Cebu ma-
guey. The fiber exported from Java is
Figure 17. —Zapupe azul.The leaves yield
a fine white fiber. Tuxpan Valley, Vera- called cantala and. according to a regu-
cruz, Mexico. lation issued by the Philippine Govern-
 FIBER PRODUCTION EST THE WESTERN* II EMISPHERB 23

ment, the machine-cleaned fiber pro- dies, and to a less extent in French
duced there is officially called cantala. Indo-China, India, and Madagascar. It
The name maguey is u+cd so generally is cultivated as a fiber plant more than

in tropical America to designate many any other fiber-producing agave except

different kinds of plants that it is con- henequen and sisal.
fusing to apply it to this particular The cantala plant grows best in well-
species. drained limestone soils under tropical
cantala plant has a short trunk
The semiarid conditions.
with lather thin gray leaves 2i/2 to 4 In Java most of the cantala fiber is

inches (6 to 10 cm.) wide and about 60 cleaned with raspadors or by the larger
inches (150 cm.) often curved
long, automatic machines that are used for
sidewise, and bearing upcurved prickles sisal. The machines do not work as
on the margins (fig. 19). The terminal well with cantala as they do with sisal.
spine is bent slightly forward, and in In the Philippine Island- and most
pushing up through the bud these spines other places outside of Java the leaves
often pierce the opposite leaves and are rotted in sea water and the fiber
prevent the buds from opening. is cleaned by hand (fig. 20). The rot-

This species is rare in Mexico, where ted leaves are beaten on stone-, the pulp
it originated. supposed to have
It is is washed away in the water, and the
been introduced into Malaysia in early fiber is dried in the sun. The fiber thus
times and was first described from prepared is inferior in quality to that
plants cultivated in India. It is now prepared by machines scraping away
cultivated for fiber production in the the pulp from the freshly cut green
Philippine Islands, the Netherlands In- leaves.

Figube ii>. — Cantala plants, Cutting leaves troui plants not previouslj harvested. Photograph
by M. m. Saleeby, Philippine Bureau of Agriculture.
24 MISCELLANEOUS PUBLICATION 518, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE

Figure 20. —Cantala leaves rotting in sea water, with stakes to keep them from floating away;
fiber cleaned by hand, ready to send to the local market.

The fiber is finer and softer than hard fibers, but it is not produced in
sisal,but weaker. When the leaves are America. It is not recommended for
rotted in sea water the fiber lacks cultivation under American conditions,
luster and is often rough, harsh, and but is included in this publication be-
dusty. cause an American plant, although
it is

Cantala is used chiefly in hard-fiber itwas taken abroad and developed to

twines. It has been tried in binder commercial importance.
twine, but the salt in the sea-rotted
which eat the LECHUGUILLA
fiber attracts crickets,
bands as the bundles of grain are dry- (Amaryllis family)
ing in the field.

Cantala fiber, under the names of Agave Jecheguilla Torr.

Manila maguey and Cebu maguey, was The common name of the plant,
exported from the Philippine Islands lechuguilla, means "little lettuce,"
to the amount of 12,000 to 24,000 tons whereas the specific botanical name
annually. It is regularly quoted in the lecheguitta, suggests "little milk." The
American markets at prices 25 to
fiber fiber is called ixtle (eesh-tley) in Mex-
33 percent below the quotations for ico, but in the markets of the United
Yucatan henequen. States it is called Tula istle (generally
In commercial importance, or quan- mispronounced "issel" instead of "is-
r
tity of fiber produced and placed upon tley ). The name Tampico fiber is ap-
the market, cantala is exceeded only by plied to this and other fibers shipped
sisal, henequen, and abaca among the from Tampico, Mexico.
 FIBER PRODUCTION IX THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE 25

The Iechuguilla plant (fig. 21) con

sists of a rosette of 2."> to 50 green or
bluish leaves with no trunk above the
ground. The leaves are 12 to 20 inches
(30 to 50 cm.) long and 1 to l
1
- inches
(3 to 4 cm.) wide, rather thick, and
nearly always curved inwardly and
often sidewise. A light-colored stripe
often extends lengthwise on the face,
and on the back there are numerous
narrow dark-green lines 1 to 2 inches
(25 to 50 mm.) long. Each leaf ter-
minates in a spine 1 to 1 '
-j inches (2.">

to 40 mm.) long. The base of the spine

extends as a horny margin down each

side of the leaf bearing curved prickles

% 5 to y25 inch to 7 mm.) long and

{'.\

% to 111, inches (20 to 40 mm.) apart.

The flower stalk is 5 to 7 feet ( 1.5 to

2 m.) high, bearing light-yellow flowers

Figtjke -2. — Leehuguilla plants in flower. The

flower stalks bend downhill. Saltillo,
.Mexico.

in a close spike (fig. 22). The flowers

are followed by seed pods, but never by
bulbils.
Leehuguilla grows on dry limesto
mesas, from the region of San Luis
Potosi northward across the high table-
lands of central Mexico to western
Texas, SOUthern New Mexico. and
southeastern Arizona. It i> not culti-
vated.
Leehuguilla grows in an arid or semi-
arid climate, enduring -now and light
frosts and sometimes severe frosts in
the northern part of ii> range.
obtained from the young
'Hit' fiber is

leave- forming the central hud or co-

gollo. The pulp in the outer leaves is
Figure 21, Lechugullla planl from which the
too hard and linn to he scraped aw a\
leaves forming the bud or cogollo have been
broken oul ami a new bud Is starting. S;il-
by hand. The bud is tender at the
tillo, Mexico. base, which i> the point <*i grov
26 MISCELLANEOUS PUBLICATION 518, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE

covered with a coarse fabric made by

hand from the lower grades of istle.
Numerous machines have been devised
for cleaning istle, but thus far none of
them seem to be entirely successful in
preparing a satisfactory fiber for
brushes.Most of them crush the fiber
and thus destroy its resiliency. The
leaves are too short for the fiber to be
cleaned by the machines designed for
henequen and sisal.
In Mexico, Tula istle is spun by hand
into coarse yarns that are woven by
hand into fabrics for covering bales of
the fiber, or into closer woven fabrics
which are made into sacks for corn,
coffee, and numerous other products.
The yarns are also twisted into two-ply
or three-ply rope for domestic use or
for export 24). Outside of Mexico
(fig.

used almost exclusively in

Figure 23. —Cleaning istle fiber by pulling the the fiber is

leaf under a knife pressed against a block the manufacture of brushes; the waste
of wood. Jaumave, Mexico. fiber beaten out in straightening the
fiber for brushes is used for upholstery
A ring on a long handle is slipped over
tow.
the bud and given a quick jerk, break-
In the New York market Tula
fiber
ing out the entire cogollo and leaving
istle is During the
regularly quoted.
a cogollito to begin a new growth. (See
past 10 years the prices have ranged
fig. 21.) A
basketful of cogollos are
from 4 to 9 cents a pound (8.8 to 19.8
collected. The horny borders, includ-
cents per kilo).
ing the marginal prickles and terminal
spine, are stripped off. The leaves are JAUMAVE LECHUGUILLA
then pulled, one at a time, about five
(Amaeyixis family)
times between a blunt knife and a
block of wood, scraping the pulp away Agave funkiana Koch and Bouche.
from one end. The fiber thus cleaned The plant is called Jaumave lechu-
is wound around a small piece of wood guilla (how-u-mah-ve lech-u-geel-ya)
for a handhold, and the other end of and the fiber, istle de Jaumave. In the
the leaf is drawn five times under the market the fiber is usually called
knife (fig. The cleaned fiber is
23). Jaumave istle.
spread on the ground to dry in the sun, The Jaumave lechuguilla plant (fig.
after which it is tied into bundles. An 25) very similar to the common
is

expert workman cleans 66 to 88 pounds lechuguilla except that its leaves are
(30 to 40 kilos) per week. The bun- usually straight and longer, often 30
dles of fiber are packed by hand into to 40 inches (75 to 100 cm.) long, but
bales of about 110 pounds (50 kilos) rarely more than 2 inches (5 cm.) wide,
 FIBER PRODUCTION IX THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE

Piguee24. — Spinning istle; men walk backward, paying out the fiber, which is twisted into yarn
by spindles turned by women and children. Tula. Tamaulipas, Mexii

i'n, i
1a 25. — Jaumave lechuguilla is similar t>> common lechuguilla except that Its

longer ami yield a better fiber. Jaumave, Tamaulipas. Mexico.

28 MISCELLANEOUS PUBLICATION 518, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE

and the terminal spines are smaller. Fourcroya, but in the original publica-
The downward-hooked m arginal tion it was spelled Furcraea, and this
prickles are borne on a brown homy form is preferred in accordance with
border about 1^5-inch (1 mm.) wide, the rules of botanical nomenclature.
which, like that of the common lechu- The plants of this genus have rosettes
guilla, is easily stripped off. of large fleshy leaves resembling those
Jaumave lechuguilla grows in a lim- of the agaves, except that they termi-
ited area on the mountainsides sur- nate in very small horny tips instead of
rounding the Jaumave and Las Palmas well-developed spines; and the green-
Valleys in the State of Tamaulipas and ish-yellow or white flowers are scattered
also in the State of Nuevo Leon. It is along the branches, with petals spread
not cultivated. out instead of being nearly closed and
It grows in a semiarid climate and in erect clusters like those of the agaves.
is subjected to snow and light frosts
PITEIRA
nearly every winter.
The fiber is cleaned by hand in the ( Amaryllis family)
same manner as Tula istle (fig. 23).
Nearly all of it is taken to Ciudad Vic- Furcraea gigantea Vent.
toria, Avhere it is sorted according to
Furcraea foetida (L.) Haw.
Furcraea gigantea willem&tticma
length and quality and packed into
Poem.
bales for shipment.
The plant is called piteira (pee-te-ra)
The fiber is light reddish-yellow or
or piteira gigante in Brazil and other
nearly white, 12 to 30 inches (30 to
Portuguese-speaking countries, and the
75 cm.) long, cylindrical, y2 oo to y50
fiber is called pita. In Mauritius the
inch (Vs to 2 mm.) in diameter, stiff
y plant is called aloe vert, aloe creole,
and resilient. It is more nearly uni-
and malgache, and the fiber is
aloe
form throughout its length than Tula
called fiber, although the plant
aloe
istle and not so coarse and rigid at the
bears only a faint resemblance to the
base. When used in brushes, it re-
true aloe, native to Africa. The true
sembles animal bristles more nearly
aloe does not yield fiber. The fiber
than does any other vegetable fiber.
produced in Mauritius is known in the
Nearly all of the Jaumave istle is market as "'Mauritius hemp," a mislead-
exported and used in brushes of high
ing name, for the plant is not native to
quality.
Mauritius and the fiber is very different
In the New York fiber market Jau- from true hemp. In Venezuela a
mave istle is regularly quoted at prices
variety without marginal prickles is
ranging from 6 to 10 cents per pound called coeuiza mansa.
(13.2 to 22 cents per kilo). The young piteira plant consists of a
rosette of bluish-green, thick, fleshy
FURCRAEA
leaves (fig. 26). As the plant grows
The genus Furcraea was named by older it develops a short trunk bearing
Etienne Pierre Ventenat, in 1793. in 75 to 150 leaves 50 to 80 inches (150 to
honor of Count Antoine cle Fourcroy, 200 cm.) long and 6 to 8 inches (16 to
chemist at the Jardin du Roi, in Paris. 20 cm.) wide at the widest part, near
The name of the genus is often spelled the middle, narrowing to about 4 inches
 FIBER PRODUCTION l\ Mil. WESTERN HEMISPHERE 29

Figube 26. Piteira plant 3 years old, with leaves 17 by 7 Inches I- by 18 cm. >, from bulbil re
I
1
*

ceived from Mauritius and planted at the Federal Experiment Station, Mayaguez, P. It.

(10 cm.) wide, and 2^ t

to 3 inches (6 humid conditions are essential require-
to S cm.) in vertical thickness, near the ments for the growth of piteira. The
base. Above the thick base the leaf is plants grow rapidly in open tropical
thinner, with faint lines or ridges, con- Sunlight, hut not in shade, in wide
a
cave, light green, rough on the hack,
variety of soils.
and terminating in a sharp horny tip
was cultivated for fiber pro
Piteira
about '
s inch (3 mm.) long. The typi-
duction by the Dutch, who occupied
cal form of the species, known in
Pernambuco and (Vara in Brazil in the
Mauritius as "aloe Creole," hears a few-
seventeenth century. They introduced
scattered prickles on the margins, most-
piteira into other Dutch colonies, and it
ly near the base; whereas the variety
was widely distributed in the Tropics
Furcraea gigantea willemettiana, called of both hemispheres. Dr. Pio Correa,
"aloe malgache," lias strong upward- an authority on the fiber plants ..|' Bra
hooked prickles about
"
%
inch (10 mm.) zil. thinks that this species is the same
lone; and s to '2 inches (20 to 50 mm.) as the cabuya of Costa Rica and that it

apart. The (lower stalks •_><> to •"(> feet was introduced into Brazil. grows It

(6 to 10 m.) tall, bear abundant bulbils, in the coast region of northern Colom-
nearly '-, inch (20 mm.) in diameter bia. Piteira is cultivated on a tew
from which the plants arc propagated plantations in eastern Brazil; on the
(fig. '27). High temperature and semi island of Mauritius, in tin- Indian
30 MISCELLANEOUS PUBLICATION 5 18, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE
cultivated plantations of piteira are
not large, and many of the leaves used
for fiber production are obtained from
plants growing wild.
The leaves of piteira are too large
and too thickat the base to be handled
successfullyby machines designed for
henequen and sisal. In Brazil, large
machines are used, in which the leaves
are crushed and the pulp scraped away
by large revolving drums similar to
those in the sisal-cleaning machines.
The fiber thus cleaned and dried in the
sun is about as coarse as henequen, but
somewhat softer and generally longer.
In Mauritius the production of pi-
teira, or "aloe fiber," as it is there called,
is the most important industry in the
island, next to the production of sugar.
A machine called a gratte is used. This
Figuke 27. —Piteira plants with flower stalks
consists of two scraping drums on one
bearing scattered flowers and bulbils.
shaft, similar to a double raspador.
Mayagiiez, P. R.
The leaves are delivered in bundles of
Ocean; in Natal. Union of South 8 to 18 leaves each. The thick bases
Africa and in India.
;
of the leaves are crushed. Two men,
Piteira is propagated by the bulbils. called gratteurs, work at each machine,
These are collected as they fall from feeding the leaves endwise by hand,
the flower stalks, and are cultivated often two leaves at a time. The basal
about a year in nursery beds, or they ends are cleaned first and withdrawn;
are dug up where they have taken root
-
then the leaf is reversed and held by the
and begun to grow around the mother fiber while the gratte scrapes away the
plants. The land where they are to pulp from the remainder of the leaf.
be planted must be thoroughly cleared, Ail expert gratteur, working 4 to 6
for piteira cannot thrive in shade. In hours, produces 440 to 550 pounds (200
Mauritius, the young plants are set out to 250 kilos) of fiber a day. An aver-
in quincunx, about 51 inches (1.3 m.) age piteira leaf nearly twice as large
is

apart. The land between the plants is as a sisal leaf but yields only about the
cleared two or three times each year same amount of fiber. The yield of dry
until the first crop of leaves is har- fiberranges from 1.5 to 2.5 percent of
vested in the fourth year, and from then the weight of the green leaves. The
on the land is cleared each time the average yield is about y2 long ton per
leaves are harvested, or about twice The
acre or 1.25 metric tons per hectare.
each year. The plants continue to yield fiber coming from the gratte is tied
leaves for 12 to 16 years, when they in small bundles and washed in clear
send up flower stalks and die. The water. It is then soaked 36 to 48 hours
 FIBER PRODl.'C ETON IX THE WESTERN HEMI.-I'IIERE 31

in a solution of soap and water and to -" i

inches (I to G cm.) in vertical
again washed in clear running water, thickness, smooth and slightly glossy
after which it is dried and bleached in on the upper surface, and somel
the sun. It is then brushed, graded, and slightly roughened on the back. The
baled for market. The fiber thus pro- end -pine, when developed, is minute.
duced is white and is finer and much barely '
- inch (3 mm.) long. The
softer than sisal or henequen, but typical form has coarse upward-hooked
weaker. prickles on the margins, except near the
The produced in Brazil
piteira fiber apex. The prickles are yellow, with
is used chiefly in thai country in the orange or chestnut points. The variety
manufacture of wines and cordage. In t
/-'.
cabuya Integra, called cabuya olan-
Mauritius the fiber there produced i- cho or cabuya blanca, has leave- gen-
used extensively in the manufacture of erally .-mailer, narrower, and thinner
sacks for sugar. The piteira fiber ex- at the base, and with very few or no
ported from Mauritius is used in other marginal prickles (fief. 2s). This vari-
countries chiefly for mixing with other ety i- more widely cultivated than the
hard fibers to improve the color in typical form, because the leaves, being
twines and cordage. It i- also used in without prickles, are more easily han-
unoiled "paper twine-*' foi tying bun- dled, and being narrower, yield more
dles of wallpaper and new -paper-. fiber.

Piteira fiber i- quoted in the fiber Cabuya grows in Costa Rica and
market in New York at price- usually Panama and in the coast region of
20 to 30 percent below the quotations for northern Colombia. It is found from
henequen, but very little of this fiber the semiarid coastal plains up to an
has been imported into the United altitude of 6,000 feet (1,800 m.) in the
States in recent year-. mountains. It is reported to be abun-
dant only in Costa Rica, which is the
CABUTA
only country where it is cultivated in
i Am \ i : v r i is i amiLY)
Large plantations for fiber production.
Furcraea cabuya Trel. Cabuya plant- are propagated from
Furcraea cabuya Integra Trel. bulbils produced on the flower stalks
Both the plant and its fiber are called and also from suckers, called hijuelos.
cabuya, cabuia, or cabulla. A variety The bulbils must be cultivated in nurs-
without prickles on the margins of the eries before they are set out in the held
leave-. Furcraea cabuya Integra, is (fig. Suckers are preferred be-
28).
called cabuya olancho, cabuya blanca, cause they
are thought to produce
and cabuya sin espina. longer lived plant-. The first crop of
The cabuya plant is similar to pi- Leaves is harvested 3 to 5 years after
teira, F. gigantea, bul i- often larger. the young plant- and 20 toare set out.
It has a short trunk bearing 50 to 100 30 Leaves per plant are harvested an-
wide-open concave green leave-, often nually for 5 to B years. It is difficult

with margins turned out or rolled to 'lean the fiber from the thick bases
slightly back, 60 to LOO inches ( L50 to of the leaves ; therefore the Leaves are
250 cm.) long and 6 to s inches 15 to i often cut leaving 8 to L6 inches 20 to I

20 cm.) wide, narrowed at the base to lo cm.) of the best fiber-yielding |

about inches (7 cm.) wide and

•_'•''
i 1 (
_• tion attached to the trunk of the plant
511742 13— 8
32 MISCELLANEOUS PUBLICATION 518, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE

Figure 28. —Cabuya olancho: Old plants from which several crops have been cut ; bulbils grow-
ing in nursery rows. Near San Jose, Costa Kica.

(fig. 28). Several different kinds of woven articles as a household industry

machines designed for cleaning sisal in places where the plants grow
fiber have been tried for cabuya, but abundantly.
without satisfactory results. A ma- FIQUE
chine designed especially for cabuya (Amaryllis family)
and built in Costa Rica has proved to Furcraea macrophylla Baker.
be tbe most successful in cleaning this
The name fique is used in Colombia
fiber.
to designate both the plant and its
The leaves yield from 1.5 to 3.5 per- fiber, but this name is also used there
cent of their green weight in clean dry for other species such as cabuya, Fur-
fiber. The fiber is 60 to 90 inches (1.5 craea cabuya, and piteira. Furcraea
to 2.25 m.) long and generally coarser gigantea. In some places all of these
than henequen fiber. It is longer than plants are called maguey.
any other kind of furcraea or agave The mature fique plant has a short
fiber produced in quantity. trunk, rarely more than 12 inches (30
Practically all of the cabuya fiber cm.) high. The leaves are green, mostly
produced in Costa Rica is used there smooth on the face and rough on the
for making twines, ropes, saddlebags, back, 60 to 80 inches (150 to 200 cm.)
cinches, halters, and hammocks. In long, 3 to 5^2 inches (8 to 14 cm.) wide
1937 only two companies were reported measured around the convex back, a
to be carryingon this work commer- width less than one-tenth of the length,
but cabuya fiber is prepared by
cially, and narrowed at the base about one-
hand and made up into twines and third of the entire length (fig. 29).
 FIBER PRODUCTION IX 1 1 1 K WESTERN HEMISPHERE 33

Coarse red-brown prickles on the mar

gins arc l to 3 inches to x cm.
1
._, ( 1 i

apart and are hooked upward; some

.-mailer prickles, near the base of the
leaf, are hooked downward. The flower
stalks, 20 to 30 feet 7 to 10 m.) high, I

bear both seed pod- and ovoid bulbils.

This species may be distinguished from
other- mentioned Ln this publication hv
the leaves, which are narrower in pro-
portion to their length than in other
species with concave leaves rough on
the hack, and have a long, narrow, -tern
like base. The leave- are longer than
those of Yucatan henequen. aboul
the same width but thinner above the
base, and with less pulp. The fiber is
finer in texture than henequen ami i-
lustrous and of excellent quality when
well cleaned.
This species was first described in

1907 at the British Museum in London,

from specimen- received from the Ba-
hamas. The plant was introduced into
theBahama- and Jamaica hut doe- not Figuki 29. — Pique leaves, narrowed nearly
grow a- large in those islands as it doe- one-third up from the baa
ill its native habitat in Colombia. It is
of fiber per day by this method, but
reported to be most abundant in the
the constant contact with the strong
region of Riohacha, in northern
acrid juice make- hi- hand SO -ore that
Colombia, and in Cundinamarca, in
he can work only about days a week. -J
central Colombia. It i- cultivated to
In some place- a device consisting of
pome extent, hut not in large planta-
metal plates pressed together by
tions. The leave- are collected from
springs i- used. With this the work-
either wild or cultivated plant- and
man may hand- to pull the
use both
taken short distances to the places
-trip of leaf. Raspadors (fig. are :'>•_' I

where the fiber is extracted (fig. 30). al-o used they ha\e a capacity of about
:

The most common method of prepar- llu pound- (50 kilos) of fiber an hour.
ing the fiber is by mean- of the carrizo Aiier the pulp ha- been scraped awaj
(fig. 31 ). The leave- are split into the fiberi- hung on poles to dry in the

narrow strips, and these are pulled be- sun I

tig. •">•".).

tween two sticks pressed together to Fique fiber produced in Colombia i-

-crape away the pulp. A workman Used there in twine-. ropes, hammocks,
1 1
1
a \ clean about 110 pounds (50 kilos) -addle girths, halter-, and -;ii.dal- and
34 MISCELLANEOUS PUBLICATION 518, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE

—Transporting fiqtie leaves, typical scene in the fields of Cnndinaniarca, Colombia.

Photograph from Sr. Adel Lopez Gomez, of the Ministry of National Economy of Colombia.

?^P "tf

Figure 31. — The carrizo. Strips of flque leaves are drawn between two sticks pressed together
to scrape away the pulp. Photograph from Sr. Adel Lopez Gomez, of the Ministry of Na-
tional Economy of Colombia.
 FIBER PRODUCTION IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE 35

Figube 82. —
A mechanical defibrator, or raspador, made in Colombia. It lias a capacity of about
1 in pound* ."id kilns of fique fiber an hour.
i i Photograph from Sr. Adel Lopez :<'>nn>/.. of be < I

.Ministry of National Economy of Colombia.

• :;

Figure 88. Fique fiber drying in the sun. The preparation of fique is n household Indus trj
in uianj parts of Colombia. Photograph from Sr. A.del Lopes Gome . of the Minlstrj of
\a ional Kconomj of
t
(
'olombia.
36 MISCELLANEOUS PUBLICATION 518, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE

Figure 34. —Chuchao bulbils from the eastern slopes of the Andes in Peru.

in sacks for coffee, cacao, corn, and 170 cm.) long and 4 to 6 inches (10 to
sugar. The fiber has not been exported 15 cm.) wide, narrowed at the base,
in sufficient quantity to establish but the narrow portion not elongated
market quotations. as in fique. The marginal prickles are
hooked mostly upward and are to %
CHUCHAO % inch (5 to 8 mm.) long and to %
(Amaryllis family) % inch (15 to 20 mm.) apart. The
ovoid conical bulbils (fig. 34), borne on
Furcraea andina Trel. the flower stalks, often produce small
The names chuchao (chu-chow), leaves before falling.
cabuya, and maguey are used to desig- Chuchao grows in eastern Peru and
nate the chuchao plant and its fiber in in Ecuador and is abundant in many
Ecuador and Peru. The name chu- places from near sea level to the high
chao is preferred as it originated in passes in the Andes. It has been cul-
Ecuador, where the plant is native, and tivated and the fiber extracted as a
designates this one species, whereas the household industry in Ecuador from
other names originated in countries the earliest recorded times. The best
farther north, where they also apply to fiber comes from Ibarra, north of Quito,
other species. where it is carefully prepared, but the
Chuchao has a very short trunk, plants are more abundant farther
bearing leaves openly concave or south in the region of Riobamba and
nearly flat, 50 to 70 inches (120 to Ambato.
 I'IBKH PRODICTIOX IX THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE 37

The fiber i> prepared mostly by are nearly flat. 40 to 70 inches < 100 to
hand, but in sonic place- ra-padors are 1 75 cm. ) long, lUni: inches (12 to 15
used. It i- necessary to crush tin- bases cm.) wide near the middle, and about :;

of the leaves to obtain the best results inches (8 cm.) wide by l 1

- inches I
1

with raspadors. The fiber is 40 to 60 cm.) thick near base. the

are They
inches i LOO to 150 cm.) long, finer and light green or grayish on both >ides,
more flexible than henequen, lustrous rough on the back and on the face near
and of good strength when well cleaned the base. The marginal prickle-. :;
- to
from the freshly cut green leaves, but •2 inches I
15 to 50 mm. apart, |
are
dull and rather brittle if the leaves are
mostly in pair- hooked in opposite di-
rotted in water to reduce the work of
rections near the base of the leaf, ami
scraping away the pulp.
of the chuchao fiber farther up on the margins the prickles
Practically all

produced is used in the home industries are often single and pointing upward.
in Ecuador in the manufacture of This species may be identified usually
twine-, rope, pack-saddle blanket-, -ad- by the twined prickles.
dle girths,and sacks. About 1911 an Cocuiza plants, are abundant in many
experimental shipment of chuchao liber localities, chiefly in well-drained lime-
\va sent to the United State- where it stone lands from the coastal plains to
wa- made into binder twine of very an altitude of about 4,000 feet i
L,200
satisfactory quality. m.) in Venezuela. The plant grows
Chuchao fiber has not been exported wild in many State- of the Republic of
regularly and is not quoted in the fiber
Venezuela, particularly in Carabobo,
markets. Cordage and twine manu- Yaraciiy. and Lara. It i- plentiful on
facturers who have examined the fiber the hill- around Caracas. It has not
state that, if well prepared, it should
been reported outside of Venezuela.
command a price about equal to that About 2, acres (800 hectares) of
»

n|' henequen. Chuchao. a- it grows in cocuiza are cultivated chiefly in Lara.

Ecuador, is regarded as promising for On these cultivated plantation- the
liber production on a larger scale. pro- leave- are harvested t\\ ice a year, yield-
\ ided machines can be adapted to pre- ing aboiii s.si) pounds an acre (600 to
pare the liber as efficiently a- -i-al and
1,000 kilo- of liber per hectare) an-
henequen are now prepared, nually. The leave- are generally run
through a crushing machine, which re-
COCI l/\
moves most of the pulp. The fiber is
( A.MAKYI.I is FAMILY) then washed in water and spread on
Furcraea humboldtiana Trel. wooden platforms to dry in the sun.
Furcraea gerrdnispina Jacobi. The fiber is aboul the same length as
Agavi {Furcraea) cubehsis'Bxxnft}. henequen, somewhat liner, and lustrous
The cocuiza plant is called cocuiza and st rone- if well cleaned.
brava or -imply cocuiza or cocuisa and The annual production of cocuiza
sometime- maguey de cocuiza. The liber in Venezuela is estimated at

fiber i- generally called cocuiza. 2,200,000 i 1,000,000 kilos). It is used

Mature cocuiza plants have trunks in thai country chiefly in the manufac-
ato'.'i'eet (1 to 3 m.) high. The leaves ture of sacks, twines, ropes, and halter-.
38 MISCELLANEOUS PUBLICATION 518, U. S. DEFT. OF AGRICULTURE

PITRE The prepared by hand, chiefly

fiber is
by scraping, and washing.
beating,
(Amaryllis family)
Fiber of inferior quality has been pro-
Furcraea hexapetala (Jacq.) Urb. duced by rotting the leaves in sea water
Furcraea cubensis (Jacq.) Vent. so that the pulp can be scraped away
The name pitre (pee- tray), which is
more easily.
used to designate this plant in Haiti, is
The fiber is finer, softer, and more
taken as the common name, although it
flexible than henequen. It is lustrous
is too nearly like piteira, Furcraea and of good strength if prepared from
gig ant ea, to be quite satisfactory. The freshly cut green leaves that have not
fiber is often called pita in Haiti, but
been rotted in water.
the name used in many places to
pita is
3 lost of the pitre fiber is used in
designate different kinds of fibers. The hand-made twines, mats, sacks, halters,
plant, and sometimes the fiber, is called
and other domestic articles. It has
cabulla in the Dominican Republic and been exported from Port de Paix under
maguey in Cuba, but these names are the name pita, but not in sufficient quan-
used also for other plants. This is be- tities to establish market quotations.
lieved to be the species called henequen
The narrow pitre leaves, not thicker
or jenequen by Oviedo in his Historia than henequen, probably could be
general de las Indias, published in 1535. with machines designed for
treated
The pitre plant has a very short henequen and sisal, but it might be
trunk bearing smooth, bright-green, difficult to propagate the plant in suffi-
narrow, flat leaves, 40 to 70 inches (100 cient numbers because of the small
to 175 cm.) long and 2^ to 4 inches (6 number of bulbils produced.
to 10 cm.) wide, and nearly cylindrical
for 8 to 12 inches (20 to 30 cm.) above YUCCA AND RELATED PLANTS
the base. The margins, except near the
apex, bear prickles or nearly straight About forty different species are rec-

sometimes hooked at the end, ognized as belonging to the genus

teeth, %5
to %5 n °bi (2 to 4 mm.) long and % to Yucca and to the closely related genera
1 inch (15 to 25 mm.) apart. The Samuela, Hesperaloe, and Hespero-
flower stalk, 15 to 30 feet (5 to 10 m.) yucca. Nearly all these are native to
tall, bears flowers in abundance, fol- the southern United States or northern
lowed by a much smaller number of Mexico. Two or three species are found
bulbils and seed pods. This species also in Central America.
may be distinguished from other fur- In Mexico the name palma is used to
craeas by the long, narrow, flat leaves designate yuccas as well as palms. In
with small prickles projecting straight the United States the smaller species
out from the margins. are called beargrass and most of the
Pitre grows in dry limestone soils, larger ones Spanish-bayonet and Span-
often in partial shade, where the rain- ish-dagger.
fall is from 20 to 30 inches (50 to 75 All of the jaiccas have long slender
cm.) in Cuba, Haiti, and the Domini- leaves containing fiber, and many of
can Republic. It has not been recorded them have been used for fiber produc-
as native anywhere on the mainland. tion in a primitive way when commer-
The pitre plant is not cultivated. cial twines were not available. Palma
 FIBER PRomt TIOX IX THE WESTERN" HEMISPHERE 39

barreta and palma pita arc regularly SOAi'w kid SXTCCA

used for commercial fiber production in (Lily i amily)
Mexico, and efforts have been made to
Yucca glauca Nntt.
develop fiber production on a commer-
V in i ,i inif/ustifolia Pursh.
cial scalewith other species. Most of
Soapweed yucca i- so called because
the yuccas grow very slowly in arid
of the abundant saponaceous matter in
or semiarid regions. Unlike the agaves
it- short rootstocks.
It is more often
and furcraeas, most of the yuccas con-
called beargrass in the region where it
tinue to live after flowering.
grows, from northern Texas and north-
COMMON YUCCA ern New Mexico to the Badlands of
western South Dakota. It is increasing
(Lily family)
in abundance in sandy soils on over-

Yucca filamentosa L. stocked ranges (fig. 35). Its leaves,

Common the Eve's thread or

yucca is arising in large (bisters from root-

Adam's needle of old gardens, and it is stocks, are 10 to 32 inches (40 to 80

one of the species commonly called cm.) long, about inch (lcm.) wide, %
beargrass. The early settlers in Vir- and nearly triangular in cross section.
ginia called it abundant
silk <rrass. It is Its fiber is finer and softer than other
iu sandy soils in many places, from Vir- hard fibers now in use. It was Used
ginia to Georgia and Alabama. The extensively as a substitute for jute in

flat green leaves arc 12 to 28 inches bagging to cover cotton bales when
(30 to long and
TO cm.) to V/2 % conditions during World War I made
inches (2 to 4 cm.) wide, with numerous it impossible to obtain adequate sup-
white or gray filaments on the margins. plies of jute from India. The methods
The flower stalks are :'» to 6 feet (1 to used preparing the fiber at that
for

2 m.) high, bearing many cream-white time were too expensive for economic
flowers. Because of its flowers, the use in competition with jute and other
specie- is cultivated extensively as an fibers under normal conditions. The
ornamental plant. liber i- too short and weak for high-

The farmers in the regions where this grade twines, but if it could be prepared
yucca grows abundantly sear the leaves cheaply enough it might be used in low-
over fire and use them in place of twine grade twine- and upholstery.
to hang up hams and shoulders in the
P AT.MTT.T.A
smokehouse. Since 1920 this species
has been introduced into Germany, I 1.1IA I \\1 1IA I

where efforts have been made to develop

it into a hard-fiber-producing plant Yucca elata Engelm.
adapted to the climate of that country. )' m ni /in/;,,'., i Trel.
The fiber IS 10 to 20 inches (_':» to ;,() The palmilla abundant in -and\ i-

cm.) long and is liner than most hard soil-,from western Texas across south-
fibers now on the market. Thus far the ern New Mexico to southeastern Ari
filler has not been produced in commer- zona, and on the plain- of northern
cial quantities, and no regular uses have Chihuahua in Mexico. The mature
been established for it. plants have trunks 3 to 15 feet (1 to
40 MISCELLANEOUS PUBLICATION 5 18, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE

/i > " A"*'". "

j \~.-jk. J - ^_ ifM

Figure 35. — Soapweed yucca ;

well-developed plants, with

leaves 20 to 28 inches (50 to
cm.) long, in sandy soil
1 7(1

near Tucumcari, N. Mex.

n**%jik «&

|
J \\
iw/mSi
•
(
s^H wMjifStL*- jSK
v iliJ S9 ig^-^-—
*>- S^jy-i

'-<*>:

&9*

1*

—
Figube 36. Palmilla large
;

branching plants in land

occasionally irrigated. Tuc-
son. Ariz.
 )

FIBER PRODUCTION IX THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE 41

.")
in.) high, mostly simple, but the crushing and washing proa and — -

larger ones often branching i fig. 36). prepared for use as upholstery tow.
The main trunk or the branche.- termi- BAN \ \ \ 1 I < I
i

nate in dense clusters of narrow, white- i

I. II Y FAMILY)
-
margined leaves 12 to J4 inches (30 to
Yucca baccata Torr.
60 cm.) long and about - bach cm. :;
I
1
The banana yucca is often called the
wide. blue-leaved yucca to distinguish it from
The trunk- are shredded and fed to the Mohave yucca with green leaves,
stock in t unes of drought, but tin- leaves growing in the same region. The dark
have very little food value and -tuck blue-green leaves, arising in scattered
rarely eat them. The fiber IS fine and clusters from creeping rootstocks (fig.

similar to that of the soapweed yucca. 37), are rigid, 20 to 50 inches (50 to
This palmilla fiber was also used as an 125 cm.) long, and about 1*/% inches
emergency substitute for jute in the il cm.) wide: many are curved side-
manufacture of bagging for covering wise. The fruits are fleshy and 4 to 6

bales of cotton in the first World War. inches (10 to 15 cm.) Long, suggesl _

Since then it ha- been extracted by the nana' banana yucca.

Fun in. .".7. Bununa yucca plants, with leaves tibnul •"• feci il in.) louj a drj luuestoue la ad

Dear Ledge, « alii'.

42 MISCELLANEOUS PUBLICATION 5 18, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE

The banana yucca grows in gravelly The mohave yucca develops a trunk
or rocky soils at altitudes about 7,500 usually 3 to 6 feet (1 to 2 m.) high and
feet (2,500 m.) above sea level, or usually simple, or sometimes up to 12
higher than most other yuccas, from feet (4 m.) high, with short branches.
eastern California across northern Ari- The simple trunk or branches bear at
zona to northern New Mexico. the top 50 to 75 coarse, rigid, light-
Fiber from the banana yucca is 15 to green, smooth leaves 24 to 40 inches
40 inches (40 to 100 cm.) long, about (60 to 100 cm.) long and 2 to 2%
as coarse as henequen or sisal, and inches (5 to 7 cm.) across the curved
rather stiff as prepared. It is not pro- back (fig. 38).
duced in commercial quantities. This species grows on the mountain-
sides and dry upland plains, from
MOHAVE YUCCA northern Arizona, across southern
(Lll.Y FAMILY) California, especially on the mountains
surrounding the Mojave Desert, to the
Yucca mohavensis Sarg.
northern part of Baja California. It
The name mohave yucca is also
is generally scattered, but is most abun-
which is likewise pro-
spelled Mojave,
dant at altitudes a little lower than
nounced mohave. The plant is also
those at which the banana yucca is
called the green-leaved yucca to dis-
found.
tinguish from the blue-leaved ba-
it
The fiber of the mohave yucca is
nana yucca, near which it grows in
similar to that of the banana yucca but
some parts of its range.
is a little finer, softer, and weaker.

Soon after the first World War, when

prices were abnormally high, fibers
from the leaves of both of these yuccas
were extracted and prepared by me-
chanical processes at Ledge, Calif., and
by combined chemical and mechanical
processes at Kingman. Ariz. The fibers
produced were inferior in quality to
henequen from Yucatan, and the proc-
esses used were much more expensive
and less efhVionl than those used for
henequen. The simple mechanical
treatment, consisting of crushing,
scraping, and combing, gave better re-
sults than the chemical treatment.

PALMA PITA
(Lily family)
Yucca treculeana Carriere.
The names palma pita and pita palma
are used to designate this plant and its
Figure 38. —Mohave yucca, from which leaves fiber. The plant is called palma de
are being cut for fiber production near
Ledge, Calif. datiles because of its fleshy fruit, and
 FIBER PRODUCTION IX THE WESTERN" HEMISPHERE 43

palma loca, a name often used to desig- 8 cm.) wide, and y8 to l/4 inch (4 to
nate other tree yuccas that are scat- 7 mm.) thick, concave, rigid, and
tered in northern Mexico. It is also rounded to a sharp point, with coarse
called Spanish-bayonet. brown curled fibers projecting out of
The palma pita has a trunk 3 to 15 the margins near the point. The flower
feet (1 to 5 in.) high, simple or spar- stalk, about 3 feetm. lone-. b<
( i i

ingly branched. The thick, concave, many large cream-white flower-, fol-
sharp-pointed leaves are bluish green lowed by fleshy fruits 2 to 3 inches
with brown margins, and 35 to 50 (5 to 8 cm.) long and iy2 indie- (4cm.)
inches (90 to 125 cm.) long and 1 to 2 in diameter. The flower- and the
inches (3 to 5 cm.) wide. sweet but somewhat bitter fruits are
Palma grows in the States of
pita eaten by people a- well a- by wild and
Chihuahua, Durango, Coahuila, Nuevo donie-t ic animal-.
Leon, and Tamaulipas, Mexico, chiefly Palma
barreta grow- abundantly.
in sandy soils, in a semiarii climate. !
forming veritable forests in the high
The coarse fiber is cleaned from the mountain valleys, 6,000 to 9,000 feet
leave- by hand, chiefly by beating and (2,000 to 3.000 m.) above sea level.
scraping. Sometimes the leaves are around Saltillo and Monterrey, Mexico,
steamed to soften the pulp so that it where there are light frosts and -now
maybe scraped away more easily. Most almost every winter. The species has
of the fiber produced is used locally in been reported from the States of Coa-
twines, cordage, and coarse sacking. huila,Nuevo Leon, Zacatecas, and San
Luis Potosi, Mexico.
PAT.MA BARRETA
Palma barreta i- not cultivated. The
(1.11. Y IA.M1IV I
leaves for fiber production are c< llected
from plant- growing wild. The pulp
Samuela carnerosana Tiel. in the older, outer leaves i- too firm and
In the States of Coahuila and Zacate- hard to be scraped away by hand:
cas, Mexico, the palma barreta is called therefore ino-t of the fiber
i- obtained

also palma samandoca, or palma zaman- from the young leaves, which form the
doque. The name date yucca has been central hud. or COgollo. A ring O]

proposed because of it- fleshy fruits. long handle i- -lipped over the spindle-
In Mexico the fiber is called istle, and shaped hud and given a .-harp jerk.
in the fiber markets outside of Mexico breaking out the cogollo in the same
it is usually called palma istle because manner that the cogollo- of lechuguilla
of certain processes in it- preparation. are collected for the production of istle
though it is unlike Tula istle or Jau- fiber. These palma barreta cogollos,
mave isl le. resembling large ear- of green corn in
The palma barreta firsl is a rosette of the husk, are -teamed about 12 hours
leaves arising from the ground and over crude \at- to -often the pulp
later develops a trunk 5 to 20 feel i
L.5 (fig. l"). They are then separated into
to 6 in.) high, simple or rarely their constituent leaves,and the pulp is
branched i fig. 39 >. The leaves are scraped away by drawing each leaf,
dark, dull green, 24 to tl inches (60 to first one end and then the other, about

110 cm.) long. •2\

1 to 3 inches V
G to five times under a knife pressed against
 ;

44 MISCELLANEOUS PUBLICATION 518, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE

Figure 39.—Palma barreta

filler is obtained from
the
young leaves forming the
central bud, or cogollo.
Carneros Pass, south of
Saltillo, Mexico.

Figure 40.— Palma barreta

fiber production plants ;

abundant on hills in back-

ground trunks of palma
:

barreta for burning in the

crude stone furnace to
steam the cogollos, at
right, which are separated
into fiber-yielding leaves,
in centerthese leaves are
;

drawn under a knife by the

man sitting on the ground.
Carneros Pass, Mexico.
 FIBER PRODUCTION IN THK WESTERN" HEMISPHERE 4.";

a block of wood. The fiber is dried in not pull the entire leaf under the scrap-
the sun. then tied into bundle- to keep ing knife at one motion. It i- the com-
it and packed into hand-made
straight, mon practice, therefore, to rut the
bales for shipment to market. leave- The pulp i- -craped
in two.
A machine that crushes the leave- and away by drawing the leave- by hand
scrapes away t!u' pulp of even the older, under a knife pressed against a block
outer leave-, without the necessity of of wood. A fiber of better quality
steaming them, has been used for pre- might he produced by crushing instead
paring this fiber. of steaming the leaves before scraping
Some of the palma fiber is used in away the pulp. The pulp is so hard
Mexico in hand-made twine-, sacks, an 1 and firm that it could not be scraped
brushes, and it i- also exported to the away without being either -teamed or
United States and to Europe to be used crushed.
in twines, especially unoiled twine- for Zamandoque fiber i- used chiefly in
tying bundles of papers. Some of it is twine and coarse sacking.
die— ed and used in brushes. It is
softerand much less resilient than Tula
CHAPARRAL YUCCA
istle or Jaumave istle for brushes. It ( Lily family)
i- quoted in the fiber market of New
Hesperoyucca whip p lei (Torr.)
York at 3 to 5 cents a pound (about
Baker.
<;i., to 11 cents. United States currency,
Yucca whipplei Torr.
per kilo).
Chaparral yucca, the most beautiful
ZAMANDOQUE of all the yucca-, grows in abundance
in limited area- in the San Bernardino
(Lily family)
Mountains and Coast Range in south-
Hesperaloe funifera (Koch) Trel. ern California, and south into Baja
The Zamandoque plant is also called California. It i- often called flowering
samandoca, and its fiber is called ixtli yucca because of the gorgeous cream-
or Tampico fiber. white, fragranl flowers, borne in great
Zamandoque is different in appear- abundance on the erect (lower -talk- l-_'

ance from most yucca-. It- leave-. 5 to to 20 feet (4 to 6 m.) high. The blue-
7 feet ( 1.5 and 2 long and
m. | to "2 1
j
_.
1
t
green, straight, rigid, sharp-pon
inches i 1 to 6 cm.) wide, grow singly leave- about 3 feet (1 m. I long, grow
or two or three together, nearly erect, out from a trunk 8 to 20 baches (20 to
and scattered along creeping rootstocks. .".ii cm.) high, shaped like a large pine-
Zamandoque grows wild in sandy apple. The plant usually die- after
plains in the State- of Chihuahua. flowering.
Xuevo Leon, and Tamaulipas, in north- Fiber obtained from the leaves is

ern .Mexico, and i- cultivated commer- white, nearly 3 feel (1 m.) long, similar
cially in Xuevo Leon. in texture to henequen, and nearly as
The leaves are collected and steamed strong. This fiber has been produced
to soften the pulp. Most of the leaves on a small scale almost continuously
are SO long that a tallador. or Mexican since 1919. If this liber production i-
liber cleaner, sitting on the ground, can- expanded without efficient method- I
46 MISCELLANEOUS PUBLICATION 518, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE

propagating and cultivating the slow- The pita floja plant, which is well
growing plants, the species will soon known by local common names in many
be exterminated in its limited range. regions from southern Mexico to Ecua-
Its value as an ornamental plant is dor, has been placed by botanists in
greater than the value of the fiber that four different genera within the past
might be obtained from it. 40 years. It is now generally agreed
that the correct botanical name is

PITA FLOJA Aechmea magdalenae. In addition to

the three other names, originally con-
(Pineapple family)
sidered valid, the plant has been mis-
Aechmea magdalenae Andre. identified as Ananas macrodontes E.
Chevalliera magdalenae Andre. Morr., and Karatas plumieri E. Morr.
Ananas magdalenae (A n d r e) Pita floja and more often simply pita
Standi. are the names commonly used to desig-
Bromelia magdalenae (Andre) C.
nate the plant and but pita its fiber,
H. Wright.
alone used to designate other fibers.
is

The name arghan was adopted as a

trade name by a London company that
attempted to exploit this fiber without
permitting its identity to be known.
The plant has also been called wild
pineapple, but this name is applied to
other plants of the pineapple family.
It is called silk grass in British
Honduras.
The pita floja plant resembles a pine-
apple but is larger. The leaves, num-
bering 25 to 50 in a mature plant, are
7 to 10 feet (2 to 3 m.) long, 3 to 414
inches (8 to 11 cm.) wide, and 5 to %
%5 inch (1 to 3 mm.) thick, dark green
and shining on the face, and silvery
white on the back. The leaves are flat,
even when dry, except at the channeled
base. The margins of the leaves bear
hooked prickles 1 to 2 inches (30 to 50
mm.) apart, hooked downward on the
lower half of the leaf and closer to-
gether and pointing outward or upward
on the upper half ( fig. 41 ) The flowers .

are produced in heads like pineapples

—
Figure 41. Pita floja leaves showing prickles but not fleshy, sometimes borne singly
hooked downward on lower part of leaf and
but more often in groups of two to four
closer together and pointing outward or up-
ward on the upper half. Leaves from Guate- on a stalk 8 to 12 inches (20 to 30 cm.)
mala. high (fig. 42). The flower clusters are
 FIBER PR'OIMVTION IX THE WESTERN HEMISIM IhKE 47

surrounded by rod or rose-colored

bracts. Seeds are produced irregularly.
Numerous suckers are produced from
the creeping rootstocks, and these are
wW j-&bi-

the principal means of propagation,

enabling the plant to occupy all the
ground to the exclusion of other vege-
tation.
The grows generally
pita floja plant
in dry alluvial soils at low altitudes,
'q^Wv>^ mJtmA*'
from the coast region of Veracruz and
r^/ Sjr 2^kik5v9il E^mk^**
Tabasco, Mexico, through all of the
in

countries of Central America, and from ^ ^^HcSiP^

:

Colombia to Ecuador in South America. s^ y Trl 1

It grows sometimes in areas that are
overflowed during brief periods of high
water, but not in
drained
ing in
soils.
swamps
It is reported as
the open sunlight in the coast
or poorly
grow- $s
Figuke 42.— Pita floja fruit from the Canal
region of Costa Rica, but it generally
Zone.
forms dense undergrowth in open
a
forestswhere it is partly shaded. In afterward scraped away and the fiber
Colombia these pita floja thickets, often washed. Sometimes the leaves are
many acres in extent, are called pitales. rotted in water to soften the pulp, which
The plant grows so abundantly in the is then more easily scraped away: bu1
wild state that no attempt has been this lazy-man's process results in a
made to cultivate it in quantity in discolored and brittle fiber of inferior
America. Efforts to cultivate the plant quality.
under unfavorable conditions in the Since 1918 several companies have
Federated Malay States resulted in been organized to prepare pita floja on
failure. a commercial scale. Several kind> of
For many years, in places where the machines have been tried. Although
plants arc abundant, the natives have commercial success has nol been fully
prepared the liber for local uses, espe- attained, much progress has been made
cially for sewing leather, suggesting toward an efficient mechanical method

the name pita floja, or thread liber. In preparing the fiber.

for In order to
some places the base of the leaf LS produce fiber of good quality, the fiber
beaten, exposing the ends of the libers. must be extracted from the freshly cut
These are picket! out with the thumb green leaf.

and fingernail, and are then torn out Pita floja is very much like piiia,
entire and nearly clean from the back which i- produced from pineapple
of the leaf, which is Less firm and leaves in the Philippine Islands.
resistant than the face. In some places When properly prepared, it is light-
the full length of the leaf is beaten cream white, with good luster, and .">

with a club to soften the pulp, which is to 8 feel (

!.•"> to 2.5 m.) long. It is

511742° 13 I
48 MISCELLANEOUS PUBLICATION 518, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE

finer and more flexible than any of the PHORMIUM

hard fibers now in general use. When
(Lily family)
testedon silk-testing scales, the strands
of pita floja were found to have a Phormium tehax Forst.
breaking strain of 3 to 6.1 g. per denier The phormium plant and its fiber
and an elasticity of 1.8 to 2.5 percent. are generally known by the misleading
English names "New Zealand flax" and
By another test the strands showed a
"New Zealand hemp," but both plant
breaking strain of 50 kilometers. This
and fiber are very unlike either flax or
means that the breaking strain is equal
hemp. In South America, where the
to the weight of 50 kilometers of the
plant has been introduced, it is called
fiber itself. This may be compared formio. One of the common names
with 23 kilometers for cotton, or 31.8 for the plant in New Zealand is hara-
for abaca. It contains 75 percent cel- keke lily.

lulose, which is more than that re- The plant is a perennial, growing
corded for any other hard fiber. from short rootstocks that send up fan-
The ultimate cells of which the pita shaped clusters of leaves (fig. 43).
floja strands are composed are ^6 to y± The leaves are 5 to 13 feet (1.5 to i
inch (1.7 to 6.1 mm.) in length, very m.) long and 2Vi to 1 inches (6 to 10
slender, with loug-pointed ends, narrow cm.) wide, V-shaped at the base, but
lumen, and relatively thick walls.
nearly flat above. Some varieties have
These characters indicate that they are
leaves with a red midrib and red mar-
well adapted to the manufacture of
gins. These red marks on the leaves
strong tissue paper, and this has been
further demonstrated by experiment. sometimes appear as scarlet threads in
Pita floja fiber is very resistant to the fiber.

deterioration in sea water and is used The harakeke lily is native to certain
by the natives for fishlines and nets. parts of New Zealand, where the tem-
It is used for sewing leather in sad- perature is remarkably uniform, rarely
dles, belts, and especially fancy leather rising above 65° F. or falling much
articles. has been spun experi-
It
below freezing. It grows mostly in
mentally on flax-spinning machinery.
marshes or on reclaimed swamplands
When further supplies of the fiber are
available for more extensive trials,
where water does not often stand on
many uses may be found for it in the surface but where the level of free
twines and fabrics requiring strength water in the soil is not more than 3
and durability. feet below the surface and the soil is
Because of the peculiar characteris- rich in nitrogen. Some varieties grow
tics of the pita floja fiber, especially its
well on uplands, in soils well supplied
strength and its resistance to injury
from sea water, and the abundance and
with humus. A few fields of harakeke

rapid growth of the pita floja plants,

lily have been set out and cultivated in

this may be regarded as one of the most New Zealand, but most of the leaves for
promising hard fibers not yet in gen- fiber production are cut from plants that
eral commercial use. are left when other vegetation is cleared
 FIBER PRODUCTION" IN" THE WESTERN" HEMISPHERE ill

(.in of the marshes. Harakeke plants

have been introduced into the Azores
and into the island of St. Helena. They
have al.-n been introduced on i -lands
belonging to Argentina in the Rio de
la Plata, and into the region of Valdi-
via. in Chile. Efforts have been made
to grew the plant in the United States,
but the winters are too cold and the
summers to., hot for it i fig. 44 : in lim-

ited areas where the temperature is

more equable, there is not sufficient

moisture nor sufficient humus in the soil.

In New Zealand, where the fiber is

produced commercially, it is prepared

by rather tedious and laborious proc-
esses.

The outer leave- of each fan are cur

separately by hand, leaving the younger
middle leaves to continue growing. The
long more
Figtjbe 43. — Phormium or harakeke lily in
limp leave-, difficult to flower: filterobtained from the leaves.
is

handle than the shorter stilt leaves of Botanical garden, Berkeley, Calif.

i < <
i.:
14. Phormium plant with leaves thin and shriveled by li.>t weather, although it has
been well supplied with moisture bj spraying and irrigation. Chico, Calif.
50 MISCELLANEOUS PUBLICATION 518, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE

henequen, are tied in bundles and taken in Argentina and Chile appear to be

to the "flax mills,"where the fiber is more promising, though not yet fully

cleaned. The leaves are put through a proved on a commercial scale.

crushing machine, after which the

fiber is washed in running water and
(Banana family)
spread on the grass to dry and bleach.
After being taken back to the mill and Musa textilis Nee.

scutched with revolving drums, it is "Manila hemp" is a name commonly

inspected and the poorly cleaned por- used for both the plant and fiber of
abaca, but the plant is not grown for
tions are removed, and finally the fin-
fiber production near Manila, and the
ished fiber is baled for market.
fiber is very different from true hemp.
The yield of clean dry fiber is 10 to
Abaca is a Malay name used to desig-
15 percent of the weight of the green
nate the plant and fiber before Euro-
leaves, which is much larger than the
peans went to the Philippine Islands.
yield of other commercial fibers. Abaca is included in this publication
Phormium fiber is light tan to nearly because the most important hard
it is
white and 5 to 8 feet (1.5 to 2.5 m.), fiber, and experiments have demon-
rarely as much as 10 feet (3 m.), long. strated that it may be produced in the
It longer than other commercial hard
is American Tropics.
fibers except abaca ("manila hemp"). Abaca resembles the common culti-
A test of phormium of good quality vated banana plant, to which it is
showed a breaking strain of 26,159 gm. closely related. It is a perennial plant
per gram-meter, which may be com- growing from short rootstocks. Nu-
pared with 20,021 for Yucatan hene- merous suckers grow up from the root-
quen, or 32,773 for East African sisal. stocks, forming a cluster of stalks 10 to
It is softer than sisal or henequen and 20 feet (3 to 6 m.) high. These have
lighter in weight per unit length of green false trunks. 6 to 12 inches (15 to
strand. It is composed chiefly of ligno- 30 cm.) in diameter, composed of broad
cellulose,with a cellulose content of overlapping leaf stems, which bear at
about 63 percent, about the same as that the top spreading leaf blades 3 to 6
of jute. It does not retain its strength feet (1 to 2 m.) long and nearly 12
as well as other hard fibers with a inches (30 cm.) wide (fig. 45). The
higher cellulose content. oldest leaf stems are on the outside,
Phormium fiber is used chiefly in and each successive younger one is
twines and coarse cordage. In New pushed up on the inside. The point
Zealand fiber of the better quality is of growth is at the base. The fiber is
hackled and spun into fine hard-fiber near the outer surface of each succes-
yarns that are woven into fabrics. sive leaf stem. Finally a flower stalk
Phormium fiber production has not about 2 inches (5 cm.) in diameter is
become established on a commercial pushed up through the center, bearing
scale anywhere in America. There are at the top flowers, followed by green
no areas in North America where the fruits similar to bananas but smaller
climate is favorable for the growth of and filled with black seeds instead of
the plant. Conditions in limited areas edible pulp. Abaca plants grown from
 FIBER PRODUCTION IN TJIK WESTERN HEMISPHERE 51

l''u;i i:e 45.- —

Abaca plant
growing well in fertile soil
in the warm moisl climate
of western Panama, where
it was introduced from the
Philippine Islands in L925.

seeds do not mine true to typo. The is required for the abaca plain-. A
plants are propagated from suckers or small plot of less than 200 plain- has
from rootstocks in the same manner as grown well at the Federal Experiment
bananas. Station at Mayagiiez, I'. K.. in a ravine
Abaca requires a continuous warm protected from drying winds, with a

moist tropica] climate. In the Philip- rainfall of about l."> inches (115 cm.).
pine Islands as Ear north as Manila The plant- require a fertile soil of
(al)out lap 15° X.) the plants do not rather loose texture affording good
grow well. They have not grown well drainage. They will not endure either
in northern Honduras or near the swampy condit ions or drought. Strong
northern coast of Cuba; but in western wind- arc injurious, for the large
Panama, where there abundant mois-
is leaves arc easily whipped into shreds.
ture and warm weather throughout the
1
Abaca* is native to tin- Philippine
year, they have made excellent growth. Islands. It is cultivated for fiber pro-
At the Plant Introduction Garden at duction in main place-, from the south-
Summit, in the Canal Zone, irrigation ern part of the island of ] iiizon to the
52 MISCELLANEOUS PUBLICATION 5 18, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE

southern part of Mindanao. It has grow well under suitable conditions in

been introduced into Java, Sumatra, the American Tropics and that they
Celebes, Borneo, and the Andaman yield fiber of excellent quality.
Islands. Since 1900 there have been at The first stalks for fiber production
least a half dozen attempts to introduce are harvested from the abaca plants
it into the American Tropics. The about 2 years after the suckers are set
and most successful introduction
largest out. Only the largest stalks are cut,
was made by the United States Depart- leaving the others to continue growing.
ment of Agriculture in 1925, resulting The entire trunk is cut down, and the
in an experimental plantation of 6 to 8 leaf blades are cut off at the top. The
of the best varieties in the vicinity of trunks weigh from 35, to 120 pounds
Almirante, in western Panama. Abaca (15 to 50 kilos) or even more. They
plants have been sent to the experiment yield only about 2 to 3 percent of their
station in Trinidad and also to Brazil, weight in clean dry fiber; so it is not
but thus far abaca has not been
fiber economical to transport them very far.
produced in commercial quantities in The fiber is prepared, usually by
America. Abaca fiber produced experi- hand, from freshly cut green stalks.
mentally in Panama has been made into The fiber-bearing outer layer of each
rope fully equal to rope made from leaf stem is stripped off in ribbons,
abaca fiber from the Philippine Islands. called tuxies, 2 to 3 inches (5 to 8 cm.)
Ithas been demonstrated that the plants wide and y12 to % inch (2 to 4 mm.)

Figure 46. — Stripping abaca by pulling tbe tuxie under a serrated knife pressed against a block
ofwood by means of a spring pole. Province of Albay, P. I. Photograph from Philippine;
Bureau of Science.
 FIBER PRODUCTION IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE >3

i hick. The tuxies from the outer leaf by these large machines is classified

stems, yielding brownish fiber, and those separately, and in the Philippine
Islands it i- called deco.4
from the inner leaf stems, yielding finer

and whiter fiber, are kepi separate. The total production of abaca fiber

These tuxies are pulled by hand under ranges from about L50,000 to 2
tons per annum. There are some 16
a finely serrated knife pressed against
recognized grades, based chiefly on tex-
a block of wood by means of a spring
ture, cleaning, and color. The quota-
pole (fig. 46). This process usually
tions in the New York fiber marker for
scrapes away all of the pulp at one these various grades range from about
pulling. The fiber is dried in the sun, 4 to 15 cent- a pound (8.S to 33 cents
then made up into bundles and taken to per kilo).
a warehouse, where it is sorted into The consuming countries
principal
grades, inspected, and certified by fiber are Great Japan, and the
Britain,
inspectors of the Philippine Govern- United State-. Abaca i- used in 18
ment, and baled for market. cordage mills in the United State- and
In some place- a small machine is in many other mill- in Canada, Cuba,

used. The workman using this ma- Mexico, and South America. It i- used
chine places a tuxie under the knife,
more than all other fibers combined in
marine cordage, well-drilling cable-.
which i.- pressed down by weights or
hoisting ropes, transmission rope, tent
springs, and holding one end of the
cordage, and hay ropes and in all coarse
tuxie. gives it a turn around a revolving
cordage requiring strength, durability,
spindle and pulls it enough to make the
and reliability.
loop cling to the spindle and draw the
In the Philippine Islands some of the
tuxie under the scraping knife. These besl abaca i- combed and the fibers
machines, sometimes operated by water are drawn out one by one and tied end
power, relieve the workman from the to end. making a continuous long
strenuous labor of pulling the tuxies strand called knotted
These abaca.
under the knife. strands are woven on hand loom- into
On two or three large plantations in fabrics called sinamay and tinampipi
the Philippine Islands and in Sumatra. that are used in clothing and especially

large machines, similar to those used in children"- dresses. The knotted

for cleaning sisal, are used. In these abaca i- also braided into 13-strand
machines sections of the abaca trunks braid- aboul V6 1,l,h •' mm.) wide, '

are fed sidewise. The trunks are cut which are exported to America to be
into pieces not more than 70 inches sewed up into so-called "hemp bats"
(180 cm.) in length, and these are splil for women'- wear.
usually quarters. The coarse brown-
in Abaca is \\-^'\ extensively in Japan
ish from the outer-leaf stems is
fiber in making strong paper for the movable
mixed with the finer white fiber from partition- in the homes. In recent
the interior unless the outer-leaf stems years it has been used in increasing
arc taken off and kept separate, as is

done cleaning by hand or w it h he

in i
1
A large macblne Installed In Panama In
i> turning out clean drj abacA fiber
-mailer machine-. The fiber prepared hour.
54 MISCELLANEOUS PUBLICATION 5 18, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE

quantities in the United States in the and characters, and in uses. They are
manufacture of fine strong tissue paper. therefore treated as a separate group.
Worn and discarded abaca rope (ma- Fibers or fibrous materials have been
nila rope) is made into rope manila obtained from a great many different

paper, a very strong paper used in sacks species of palms native to the Amer-
for flour, cement, lime, and similar ican Tropics, but only a few are defi-
materials. nitely recognized as yielding fiber in

Abaca is a multicellular long fiber commercial quantities. The most im-

consisting of cylindrical strands of portant uses of palm fibers in America
fibro- vascular bundles. The strands are in the manufacture of brushes and
are 7 to 14 feet (2 to 4 m.) long, or brooms, hats, baskets, and mats. The
even up to 20 feet (G m.) in special leaves of several species of palms are
used locally for thatching houses and
samples, and V125 to V25 mcn (0-2 to
ether buildings.
1 mm.) in diameter. The ultimate cells
Most of the trees from which these
composing the strands are %
to y2 inch
fibers are obtained are readily recog-
(3 to 12 mm.) long and IQ/j. to 32/* in
nized as either fan palms, like the pal-
diameter, with a mean ratio of about
mettos, or pinnate palms, like the coco-
250.
nut palm. The terms "piassava"' and
Numerous tests indicate that abaca
"bass" are often used to designate gen-
is the strongest fiber regularly used in
eral types of long coarse fibers obtained
the manufacture of cordage. In one
from leaf stems of various kinds of
series of tests the breaking strain per
palms.
gram-meter of different samples of
Included in the group is the fiber
abaca ranged from 29.000 to 75.000 gin.,
used in making the so-called '"panama"
with an average of 45.000 gm. This
hats, which obtained from the to-
is
may be compared with 33,000 gm. for quilla plant, Cwlocluvica palmata, a
Hawaiian sisal and 20.000 gm. for Yu-
palmlike species belonging to the
catan henequen. In another series the
screwpine family.
breaking strain per square millimeter
of abaca was computed to be 91.430
BAHIA PIASSAVA
gm.. as compared with 31,458 gm. for
cotton. Rope made of abaca lasts (Palm family)
longer than rope made of other fibers.
It absorbs water very slowly and is re- Attalea f unif era Martius.
sistant to injury from salt water. The name Bahia piassava is also
spelled piassaba and piacaba. It is
Palm and Palmlike Fibers called chiquechique in Venezuela.
Bahia piassava is a pinnate or
Most of the various kinds of fibers feather-leaved palm tree, attaining a
obtained from palm and palmlike trees height of 30 to 40 feet (10 to 12 m.).
are essentially hard fibers, but many The young plants have leaves 10 to 17
of them differ from ordinary hard feet (3 to 5 m.) long, growing up from
fibers in their development in the plant the ground in a nearly erect cluster,
as well as in methods of preparation and much of the fiber is obtained from
 FIBER PRODUCTION- IX THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE 55

these leave- before the trunk has de- PAS \ PI \--\\ \

veloped. This palm is Dot regularly (Palm family)

cultivated but grows abundantly in
Leopoldinia piassaba Wall.
sandy soils or sandy ridges in the rest-
The Para piassava is called monkey
inga region in southern Bahia and
palm and piassaba or piassaba palm,
northern Espirito Santo in Brazil and
and ii- liber i- called monkey bass. In
in more limited area- in Venezuela.
the market- ir i- usually called Para
The trees bear leave- -uitable I'm
piassava because it has been expo-tec!
fiber production at the age of G to 9 through the port of Belem, formerly
years. Tbe fiber is obtained from tbe called Para.
Leafstalks, either by grasping one or Para piassava has pinnateleaves lOto
more fibers at the base and tearing 16 feet (3 to 5 m.) long with broad
them out through the back of the leaf- leaf stems. These stems of the old
stalk or by crushing the leafstalk and Leaves hang down, covering the trunk,

combing out the fibers. A workman and are frayed into fibrous ribbon- by
can collect about 6."( pounds (30 kilo-) the wind and weather. This palm
grow- mostly in sandy soils, someti
of crude piassava fiber in a day.
The fiber is stiff, of firm texture, does
subject to overflow, but not in swampy
land-, along the tributaries of the
not absorb water readily, is light to
dark chocolate in color, and '_..- to 1
.-,
Amazon above Manaos in Brazil, and
along the Orinoco in Venezuela.
inch (1 to 5 nun.) in diameter at the
The long fibrous strands of the old
angular base, tapering to a slender
strand at the upper end. This liber is
Leaf stems are collected and combed by
band. The filter- are •"•
to 6 feet 1 to 2
very durable and retain- it- resiliency
i

even w hen wet.

m.) Long and % to V 4
inch (3 to 6 mm.)
thick at the ba-e. taperingto fine si rands
The thicker ba-e- of the fiber are
broom- and street above. These fibers are softer in texture
used in coarse
-weeper- and the liner portion- in
than Bahia piassava. They absorb
water and do not retain their resiliency
house broom- and scrubbing brushes.
The finer and more flexible strands are when wet. They serve best in brushes

used for hand-made twines in the re-

and broom- for uses where they will be

gions where the fiber is produced.

kept dry. The natives in the regions

It roughly estimated that about

is
where the Para piassava grows use the
two-third- of the piassava fiber pro- fiber in rope-, baskets, hats, and for

duced Loaded and packed into bun-

i-
tying materials.
dle- of LOO to L30 pound- (50 to 60
( \m:\(.i i«\i Mum
kilo-) each for export. The annual ex-
ports of this fiber from Sao Salvador. (I'AI.M FAMTLJ |

the principal port of Bahia, range from Sabal palmetto Room, and Schult.
about 40,000 to 75,000 bundle-, or from I,k,,L palmetto
,
(Roem. and
about 2,000 to 4,500 long tons (2,000,- Schult.) O. F. look.
000 to 1,500,000 kilos). In quantity, The cabbage palmetto is so-called be
this i- the most important liber, except cause of it- edible laid. i- sometimesIt

cotton, exported from South America. called Carolina palmetto because

56 MISCELLANEOUS PUBLICATION 518, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE

Figtjee 47. —Cabbage pal-

metto; the best palmetto
fiber is obtained from leaf
stems in the bud inside of
the upper part of the trunk.
South Island, S. C.

the only native tall palm growing in are produced in such abundance that
the Carolinas. The Seminole Indians with reasonable care the supply may
call this palm tah-lah-kul-kee. be kept up when the old trees are cut
The cabbage palmetto is a fan palm down for fiber production.
with a trunk 20 to 40 feet (G to 12 m.) The cabbage palmetto grows chiefly
high. When young the trunk is covered in the coast region and on the coastal
with the broad, bases of the leaf stems, islands, from Florida nearly to Wil-
called boots (fig. 47). Later the lower mington North Carolina, but very
in
part of the trunk is smooth, but the sparsely north of Charleston in South
leaf stem bases, or boots, persist on the Carolina. It is often planted as a street
upper part, the upper ones being still tree or as an ornamental tree in parks.
green and alive long after the large leaf Brush fiber of the best quality is ob-
blades have died and fallen. The leaves tained from the young leaf stems 3 feet
are 3 to 10 feet (1 to 3 m.) in length and (1 m.) or more in length that have not
nearly as wide, and are recurved at the yet emerged from the top of the trunk.
apex. The leaves are borne on long The tree cut clown and the trunk
is

stems and are pushed up through the split open to obtain these young leaf
interior of .the trunk from the base of stems. If the trunk is cut above the
the bud nearly 6 feet (2 m.) below the base of the bud, the tree may live and
top. New up inside
leaves are pushed develop a new top. Coarser fibers are
of the circle of older ones. The pal- obtained from the stems of fully devel-
metto is propagated from seeds, which oped leaves, and even from the live
 FIBER PRODUCTION IX THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE 57

green boot- or bases of leaf stems from

which the blades have fallen. These
are all crushed, combed, and brushed by
means of small machines.
The prepared fiber is red tan.
straight, nearly cylindrical 8 to 20
inches (20 to ."i0 cm.) long, y50 to C-
inch (0.5 to 1 mm.) in diameter, and
fairly uniform. and re-
It Is resilient
sistant to injury from water.
In the brush-fiber market this mate-
rial isknown as palmetto fiher. It is
used either alone or mixed with other
fiher-. chiefly in scrubbing brushes and
horse brushes. Some of the liner fiber
goes into clothe- brushes.
The leaves of the cabbage palmetto
arc split into narrow strips and made
into brooms called palmaswepa. As
the basal ends of the .-trips arc the
tougher, the outer end- are fastened to
the handle of the broom so that the
tough basal ends are subjected to wear
;u sweeping. Tin' leaves are used also
in making hats, mat-, baskets, and vari-
ous novelties for the tourist ti ade.
—
Figure 48. Corojo palm, showing swollen
trunk; fiber called pita de coroja i- obtained
from the leaves. Santiago de las Vegas,
SCRl It PALMETTO
Cubai
i Palm i amily)

Sabal etonia Swingle. the lca\ es of he corojo palm. This is

t

The leaves of the scrub palmetto, a pinnate palm native to the West In-
Sabal etonia, a fan palm without an dies. It grows most abundantly in the

upright trunk, widely distributed in savannas of central Cuba, forming for-

the southeastern United State-, arc also ests called corojales.
used in making hats, basket-, and fancy The trunkof the corojo palm i- swol-
articles. len and covered with horizontal n
of dark-colored -pine- (fig. 18). There
COROJO PALM
are also numerous fine needlelike spines
(Palai \mii.y)
i
about "',-,
inch (20 mm.) lone- ( >n the
Acrocomia crispa (H. B. K.) C. F. rat hi- and leaflets. These are flattened
Baker. on one side and are yellow, or nearly
Acrocomia fusiformis (Swartz) white, with very -harp, dark-colored
Sweet tips. Some of these fine slender -pines
A strong, -lender, ribbonlike fiber are often present on the ribbonlike liber.
called pita tie corojo i- obtained from The fiber in this stage i- lighl -'raw
58 MISCELLANEOUS PUBLICATION 518, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE

color in flat ribbons y12 inch (2 mm.)

or less in width. Most of the strands
are remarkably strong, but the lack of
uniformity in strength is a serious
handicap in their commercial use. The
flat ribbonlike strands contain fine
white fibers, nearly as fine and soft as
the coarser types of flax fiber. These
are sometimes extracted by hand and
epun by hand into yarns that are woven
into fabrics. The flat corojo fiber,
which is the more common form, has
been used extensively in fly brushes
called plumeros de pita. The fiber is
also used in hand-made twines, ropes,
and halters.

YARAY
(Palm family)
Sabal causiarum (0. F. Cook) Becc.
/nodes caxmarum, O. F. Cook.
The palm known in Puerto Rico as
Figure 49. —Taray, or Puerto Riean hat palm :

yaray is also called by the English

coconut palms in background. Joyuda,
P. II. name Puerto Rican hat palm.
Yaray is a fan palm with shiny green
curved leaves attaining a length of 3
feet (1 m.) or more, borne on a stout
smooth trunk 10 to 16 feet (3 to 5 m.)
high (fig. 49). This palm, together
with coconut palms, grows in abun-
dance in limited areas in sandy soils on
the west coast of Puerto Rico and on
the east coast of the Dominican Repub-
lic. It is not regularly cultivated, but
the growth of seedlings and young
plants is encouraged (fig. 50).
The young leaves are collected while
they are still folded in plaits in the bud.
They are dipped in boiling water and
afterward dried in the sun. The thin
tough segments of the leaves are split
into narrow strips and these are woven
into hats, mats, baskets, and many use-
ful and fancy articles. The width of
the strips determines the fineness of the
Figure ~>o. —Young yaray palm. Joyuda, P. R hats. The strips are flat and rather
 FIBER PRODUCTION IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE 59

Figiri 51. — Making hats from strips of yaray palm leaves, a household industry iu
Cabo Bojo, P. It.

firm in texture mi that they are not called paja de toquilla. The name
woven so closely as to prevent ventila- meaning straw and also desig-
jipi japa.
tion. The finer hats arc woven in the nating a district in Ecuador where the
morning and evening or in rainy hats are made, is used to designate the
weather, but the cheaper hats may be prepared fiber and also the hats.
woven at any time (fig. 51). Cheap, Manabi is another name for hats made

stiff, machine-made straw hats and -till in Ecuador, and Suaza is a name for
cheaper paper hats have reduced the one of the principal hat-making dis-
market for nood Puerto liican hats. tricts in Colombia. Other name- used
to designate the plant or it- fiber are
TOQUILLA
cogollo in Venezuela, juneo in Hon-
(Si Kl.U 1>!\I AMII.Y
Colombia, and
I
1

duras, palmichi in

Carludovica palmata Ruiz and Pav. raicilla in Panama. The name "Pan-
The botanical name Cm in,; ama hat palm" i- misleading, for al-
commemorates Charles IV and Queen though the so-called "panama" hat-
Louisa of Spain. The name toquilla were formerly exported through the
(to-ke£l-lyah) is widely used to desig- city ofPanama, they are not made in
nate the plant and in many places the Panama, and the plant itself is not a
prepared fiber. The fiber is often palm.
60 MISCELLANEOUS PUBLICATION 518, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE

The toquilla plant is much like a Ecuador, and Peru, and east of the
trunkless fan palm, with leaves often Andes in Venezuela and British
3 feet (1 m.) or more in diameter, Guiana. It has been introduced into
deeply cut into four or five divisions, Puerto Rico, Java, the Philippine
and these again cut and borne on tri- Islands, and probably elsewhere in the
angular stems 3 to 10 feet (1 to 3 m.) Tropics. Some attempts have been
long (fig. 52). The flowers are borne made to cultivate toquilla by propagat-
in a spike at the base of the leafstalks. ing it from seeds or from suckers, but
The leaves reach nearly their full most of the material used in making
length folded in plaits in the bud. hats is obtained from wild plants.
Toquilla grows in fertile, moist low- Toquilla grows most abundantly in
lands in partial shade. It is found fertile lowlands in western Ecuador
from Guatemala and Honduras, and in the valleys of the upper Magda-
through Central America to Colombia, lena River in Colombia.

—
Figure 52. Toquilla, from
which the so-called "pan-
ama" hats are made, intro-
duced at Mayaguez, P. E.
 FIBER PRODUCTION IX THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE 61

It is said that the first toquilla hat tributed or sold to the hat mat
was made about L630 in the Province of The hat weaver-, mostly women and
Manabi, Ecuador, by Francisco Del- children, -elect uniform
Straw," or
gado, an Ecuadorean. In recent years jipijapa. for each Beginning at hat.
the most importanl centers of the in- the center of the crown with a des 2
dustry have been in Jipijapa, Monte- usually characteristic for each hat-
cristi, Santa Rosa, Cuenca, and Guaya- making locality, they weave outward
quil in Ecuador, and in Suaza, An- and downward. Long "straw" is
tioquia, Zapatoca, and Bucaramanga in selected crown, so that they
for the
( lolombia. will have to be pieced.
not The
The young leaves attain their full "straw" used in the rim i- often pieced,
length of 3 feet (1 m.) or more while but the end- are tucked in so they do
still folded in the bud. They are col- not -how. In some places the hats are
lected in this condition with }
_> to 1 woven over wooden form-, and some-
inch (15 to 25 cm.) of the stem at- times two or four women sitting oppo-
tached to be used as a handle, espe- site one another work together on the

cially in the hot-water treatment. The same hat. The "straw" must be kept
coarse veins are removed, and the moist throughout the process of weav-
leave-, -till folded in plaits, are (lipped ing. In some place- most of the work.
repeatedly in boiling water: some in especially on the finer hats, i- done
places they are boiled in water a few early in the morning or in rainy
minutes. Sometimes lemon juice i- weather, but there i- no authentic rec-
added to the water to bleach the seg- ord that the hats are woven under wa-
ments. After boiling or dipping in hot ter, as is often stated in fairy tales.
water, the segments are shaken to re- The jipijapa is injured by being soaked.
move water clinging to them. In some It must be moist but not too wet.
places they are exposed to the sun to Three to six months, in which the hat
bleach, but generally they are kept in weaver works about i hour- a da;
the shade. In some place- they are required to complete one of t:

exposed to the night air. They are and highest priced hats, but a child
wrapped in cloth to retain lnoi-iuiv can make two of the cheap hats from
and to keep them clean, and they are undressed "straw" in a day. The
handled a- far as possible by the -tem>. woven hat i- trimming the
finished by
The plaits are separated and -plit brim, edging the border, and fastening
lengthwise by mean- of the thumb and all projecting ends so they cannot be
little finger nail or by a gage consisl ing
-een. The hat i- washed in clean cold
of needle points in a wooden handle.
water, coated with a thin solution of
The -lender strips, .-till attached to the
gum, and polished with dry sulfur.
stem, are allowed to dry. or are first

plunged into boiling water and then

The qualities of a really fine toquilla
(died. A- the strips dry -lowly, they hat are uniformity and fineness of the

become involute, or inrolled. making straw, durability, strength, elasticity,

fine cylindrical strands. These cylin- resistance to soaking with water, and
drical strands, called jipijapa. are dis- the property of being easily washed
62 MISCELLANEOUS PUBLICATION 518, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE

Figure 53. —Hemp sown broadcast for fiber production. Harvesting hemp by hand.
Lexington, Ky.

when soiled. A good hat well cared for Soft or Bast Fibers
will last many years.
Toquilla hats, exclusive of the excep- None of the important soft fibers of
tionally fine ones that are not found in commerce are obtained from plants na-
the ordinary markets, are sold at prices tive to the Western Hemisphere. Fiber
ranging from $2 to $40 a dozen. They flax, hemp, jute, and ramie have been
are generally regarded as the best introduced into both North America
standard hats for summer wear. Hats and South America, but the production
woven from fine strips of palm leaves of their fibers has never attained im-
are sometimes called "panama" hats by portance in the Americas as compared
retail dealers, but nearly all palm hats with their production in the Old World.
made in the Americas are heavier than All of the commercially important
the toquilla hats, and the strands are soft fibers are obtained from the inner
flat instead of cylindrical. barks of herbaceous plants. Some soft
The coarser material from the to- fibershave been obtained from the in-
quilla plant, not suitable for good- ner bark of trees or woody shrubs, such
quality hats, is made into baskets, mats, as the linden and willows in the Old
and fancy articles. Fibers extracted World and majagua in the American
from the leaf stems are rather stiff and Tropics, but these are not produced in
resilient, and they are sometimes used be regarded as
sufficient quantities to
in brushes and brooms. commercially important.
 FIBER PRODUCTION IX THE WESTERN' HEMISPHERE 63

Flax fiber, the oldest and most valu-

able of the soft fibers, is obtained from
the fiber flax plant, L'nnim u&itatis-
sinvwm L. Seed flax, which is culti-
vated extensively for tbe production
of linseed in Argentina, northern
United States, and northwestern Can-
ada, belongs to the same botanical spe-
cies, but is a different horticultural
form, and its straw does not yield a
fiber suitable for spinning.

HEMP
(Mulberry family)

Cannabis sativa L.
The hemp plant lias been cultivated.
to some extent at least, in nearly all
countries of the Temperate Zones and
has received names in nearly all lan-
guages. Both the plant and its fiber Figure -">4.
— Hemp grown in checks for seed
are known by the names canamo in production; pistillate <>r seed-bearing plant
Spanish, canhamo in Portuguese, chan- (left) and staminate or pollen-bearing
plant, which dies after shedding pollen.
vre in French, canapa in Italian, hanf
Arlington Experiment Farm, Arlington, Va.
in German, hennup in Dutch, and hemp
in English. of 12 to 16 feet (4 to 5 m.) and a
Unfortunately, all of these names, diameter of % to 2 inches (10 to 50
which were first used to designate the nun.) and bear spreading branches
true hemp and its fiber, have been (fig. 54). Ideal stalks for fiber produc-
applied to many other long fibers, both tion are about y5 inch (5 nun.) in
soft and hard, but never to flax fiber, diameter and about 6 feet ('_' m.) high.
which is most nearly like hemp. Con- Larger and thicker stalks have more
fusion will be avoided if the term wood and les- fiber and are difficult to
"hemp" is used to designate only the handle. The leaves are palmately com-
true hemp to which it was originally pound and have 7 to 11 Leaflets. The.
applied and if other fibers are called by plants are dioecious: that is, the stami-
their distinctive names. nate or pollen-bearing flowers and the
Hemp is an annual herbaceous plant pistillate or seed-bearing (lowers are on
with a slender, erect stalk ',)
to 10 feet separate plant-. The two kind- of
(1 to :$ m.) high and Yq to -"v. inch plants are alike except for the flowers
( 1 to 20 mm.) in diameter, and without and the seeds, and there i- no apparent
branches if crowded in broadcast cul- difference in the liber, provided the crop
ture as it is grown for the production is harvested at the proper time, when
of fiber (fig. 53). If grown in checks the staminate plant- are in flower. The
or drills and cultivated for seed pro- staminate plant- die a> soon as the
duction, the stalks often attain a height pollen is shed, whereas the pistillate

511742 s —48— r>

64 MISCELLANEOUS PUBLICATION 518, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE I
plants continue to live 20 to 40 days Fertile clay loam or silt loam soils,
longer, until the seeds are ripe. Fiber neutral or slightly alkaline, are best for
from dead plants, whether staminate or hemp. It will not grow Avell in acid
pistillate, is of poor quality. In any sandy heavy clay or gumbo soils,
soils,

one field or group counted, the propor- or gravelly soils that dry out quickly.
tion of staminate to pistillate plants On peaty marshlands the plants may
may vary 40 to 60 percent either way, grow large, but the fiber will be small
but the average ratio is about 50 to 50. in quantity and poor in quality.

Next to flax, hemp was the earliest The land for growing hemp must be
plant cultivated for fiber production of prepared by thorough plowing and re-
which we have a definite record. The peated harrowing so as to make a fine
Lu Shi, a Chinese work of the Sung mellow seedbed, as uniform as possible
Dynasty, about A. D. 500, contains a over the entire field. The seed is sown,
statement that the Emperor Shen at the rate of about 1 bushel or 44
Nung, in the twenty-eighth century pounds per acre (50 kilos per hectare),
B. C, taught the people of China
first as early in the spring as the land can
to cultivate "ma," a plant of two forms, be worked to good advantage. The
male and female, for the production of seed may be sown broadcast by hand
fiber. and covered with a light harrow, or it
Hemp is now
cultivated for fiber pro- may be sown with a grain drill. Most
duction China, Japan, Iran, and
in grain drills, adjusted for wheat or oats,
Turkey in Asia Russia, Italy, Poland,
;
cover the seed too deeply for hemp.
Rumania, Hungary, Yugoslavia, and The seeds of hemp ought not to be cov-
Spain in Europe and Chile, Argentine,
;
ered more than 1 inch (3 cm.) deep.
and the United States in the Western Roller-disk drills often give better re-

Hemisphere. Russia and Italy produce sults with hemp than

the more common
more hemp fiber than all the rest of the tooth Sometimes good results
drills.

world combined. are obtained with the tooth drills by

removing the teeth so that the seed will
Hemp for fiber production requires a
fall on the surface of the ground, to be
temperate climate and a rainfall of at
covered with a light harrow following
least 27 inches (70 cm.) per annum,
the drill. Rolling the land after seed-
with abundant moisture during germi-
nation of the seeds and until the young
ing is often beneficial. Good hemp-
seed should germinate at least 95 per-
seedlings are well established. Hemp
crops grown broadcast for fiber produc-
cent. It is always best to have samples
of the seed tested for germination
tion are rarely injured by windstorms
before sowing.
and rainstorms that beat down corn,
wheat, and oats. Storms sometimes Hempseed selected and grown for at
beat down hemp grown in checks for least three generations (3 successive
seed production. Hailstorms often years) in the country where it is to be
bruise the bark of young hemp plants, grown for fiber gives the best results.

causing serious injury to the fiber. Imported hempseed is less certain to

Light rains, heavy dews, or light snow produce satisfactory crops for fiber.

melting on the stalks aid in retting the After the seed is sown, the crop re-
bark where dew-retting is practiced. quires no further attention until har-
 FIBER PRODUCTION IN THE WESTERN' HEMISPHERE 65

V fe^t
*.>;.

rK-s •

Figure 55. — Harvesting hemp with a self-rake reaper. Kouts, Ii

vesttime, about 4 months after seeding. knives, somewhat like long-handled

Some early strains from Manchurian sickle-, and spread on the ground to dry
seed or other northern-grown seed may (fig. 53). In some place- the crop i-
reach maturity in 3 months, but the cut with self-rake reapers thai place the
yield of fiber will be smaller, as a longer stalk- on the ground in unbound gavels
time is required for the plants to lay (fig. 55). In other place- self-binders
down cellulose in the fibers. used for harvesting wheat and other
The largest yield of fiber of the best small grain- are modified so as to har-
quality is obtained if the hemp is har- vest the hemp, but are not satisfactory
vested when the staminate flowers are if the hemp is more than feet (1.5 m.)
,">

beginning to open and shed pollen. In tall, especially if it is to be cut at the

some legions it has been customary to proper time, before it is too ripe and
permit the hemp to become fully ripe dry. Hemp harvesters, designed espe-
so as to obtain fiber and seed from the cially lor harvesting hemp, cut the
same crop. When this is done, how- stalksand -plead them on the ground
ever, the fiber i- harsh and brittle and for dew retting at one operation. These
the seed lacks vitality. are used in limited area-.
Most of the hemp throughout the A man cutting by hand may harvest
world i- still harvested by slow and and -plead lor drying about '
;!
acre
laborious hand methods. The >ialk>. 3 (one-eighth of a hectare) in a day. A
to 10 feet (1 to ;5 m.) tall and growing man with a self-rake reaper and -pan
thickly, are cut usually with hemp of good horses may harvest > acre- ( •_'
66 MISCELLANEOUS PUBLICATION 518, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE

hectares), leaving the stalks in unbound Water practiced most ex-

retting is

gavels. Two men with a self-rake and in some parts of

tensively in Italy
reaper and tractor may harvest and Russia, Hungary, and Yugoslavia.
bind in bundles' about 7y2 acres (3 The stalks are tied in bundles and
hectares) per day, and two men with a placed in slow-running streams or in
hemp harvester and tractor may har- shallow water near the shores of larger
vest 10 acres (4 hectares), leaving the rivers. With water at a temperature of
stalks spread on the ground for dew 60° to 70° F. hemp will ret in 10 to 15
retting. Where hot sunshine at the days. Higher temperatures result in
time of harvest may sunburn the hemp more rapid retting. When the bark,
stalks lying on the ground, they are including the fiber, separates easily
left to dry only a short time and then from the wood}' inner portion of the
are set up in shocks and spread for stalk the retting is completed and the
retting later. bundles of stalks are taken out of the
The term "retting" is a technical water and set up to dry.
form of the word "rotting." It desig- In some parts of China and Japan
nates the process of rotting or decom- hemp fiber is prepared by steaming the
position of the green coloring matter stalks, after which the bark, including
(chlorophyll) and the thin-walled tis- the fiber, is peeled off' by hand and then
sues surrounding the fibers in the inner scraped to remove the thin outer skin,
bark by means of which the bark the coloring matter, and most of the
and fibers become free from the inner thin-walled tissues surrounding the
woody shell Some of the
of the stalk. fibers. The fiber thus prepared is in
gums and elements cement-
pectose flat ribbons with a parchmentlike stiff-

ing the fibers together are also dis- ness, very strong but too stiff and rib-
solved and the strands of fiber are bonlike to spin well in ordinary hemp-
partly freed from each other. If the spinning machinery. Attempts to split
retting is continued too long, it causes it by hackling result in too much waste.

too much of the cementing materials to Chemical retting has received much
be destroyed, and the fibers become attention in the press during the past 50
weakened. A series of certain groups of years. Numerous chemical treatments
bacteria that are always present are have been tried, but none of them can
the active agents in the process of be regarded as satisfactory on a com-
retting. mercial scale.
Most of the hemp is retted by spread- Hemp fiber is separated from the

ing the stalks on the ground in thin retted stalks and prepared for market
uniform layers, or swaths, and leaving by two mechanical processes, breaking
them exposed to the weather 3 to 8 and scutching. The stalks are first
weeks. Warm
moist weather hastens dried, then the woody interior portion
retting, and cool dry weather retards isbroken into short pieces called hurds.
it. Light snow melting on the stalks is This process, performed by various
favorable for retting, but if the stalks methods in different countries, is called
are buried under a heavy snow for a breaking. The loosened fiber is sep-
month or more they are likely to be arated fromhurds by various
the
overretted and the fiber ruined. methods of beating and scraping, a
 FIBER PRODUCTION IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE 67

Figure r>6. — Hand brake by means of which retted hemp .stalks are crushed and the w ly In-

terior portion broken into small pieces that are removed by whipping the fiber across the
top of the brake. Kouts, Ind.

process called scutching. Formerly through the more expensive processes of

much of the scutched hemp fiber was hackling and being kept straight for
further cleaned and split into finer spinning into finer and better yarns.
strands by being drawn by hand over Numerous machines have been de-
hackles, or sets of upright steel pins. vised for breaking and scutching hemp
Most of the work of hackling is now and similar fibers, but none have been
done with machine hackles in the spin- found to be fully satisfactory in actual
ning mills. commercial work in the United State-.
In many hemp-producing regions the One type of machine has been used in
hand brake (fio-. 56) is still used to the hemp-scutching mills in Wisconsin
crush and break the stalks. The and llinois since about L915. At these
I

loosened hurds are then removed by mills the bundles of dew-retted stalks
whipping handfuls of fiber across the brought from the Farms are stored in
top of the brake. This rarely removes stack- or Large sheds to await the work
all of the hurds, and most of the fiber of scutching. This work i- carried on
thus prepared must be drawn over a when there
inside buildings in winter,
coarse hackle before it is made up into is demand for labor on the farms.
less
hands (fig. and baled for market.
.">7) The hemp -talk- first pas- through a
Some of it. without hackling, goes di- steam-heated drier about 100 feet 30
I

rect to the Spinning mill, where it is in.) lotiir : then endwise between s or
carded, making a tow suitable for spin- 10 pairs of fluted breaking roller-..
ning into coarse yarns. Some goes w Inch crush and break into -mall pic i
-
68 MISCELLANEOUS PUBLICATION 518, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE

carrying chains or grooved belts, •which

carry it past large revolving drums
with projecting bars that beat off the
remaining hurds and most of the short
and weaker fibers. After the fiber has
passed the first scutching drums, a sec-
ond pair of carrying belts grasps it at
one side so that the center is scutched
by the next scutching drum. The fiber
comes from the machine straight and
clean except that the ends are often
tangled, and these are drawn by hand
over a coarse hackle. Short hemp or
tangled stalks are put through the
breaking rollers, and, together with the
short and tangled fiber beaten out by
the scutching drums, they are put
through a tow machine consisting of
fluted rollers, beating cylinder, and
shaker, a process that produces a clean
soft tow. The hurds are carried by a
blower to the furnace and are used as
fuel to produce steam heat for the
driers and power to operate the ma-
chinery. Twelve to fifteen men are re-
quired to operate each machine to full
capacity. The machines have not been
regularly manufactured but have been
built to order in each scutching mill as
needed.
A portable machine made at Bo-
logna, Italy, is used extensively for
breaking and scutching water-retted
hemj) in that country. This machine
has fluted rollers for breaking and re-
volving cylinders for scutching. It
does very good work with water-retted
hemp, but has proved a complete fail-

Figure 57. —Hand of rough hemp ready to be ure with American dew-retted hemp.
baled for market. Kentucky. It requires 20 or more laborers to op-
the dry woody shells of the stalks. erate it to full capacity.
Most of the hurds drop out in this Other machines have been used, and
breaking process. The fiber coming new ones are brought out at frequent
from the rollers is turned sidewise and intervals, but thus far none of them
grasped near the middle by a pair of has proved to be as efficient as the ma-
 )

FIBER PRODUCTION IX THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE 69

chines used for preparing sisal and Hemp fiber is used chiefly in the man-
henequen. ufacture of twines, including t\

In theform of scutched fiber, hemp twines, seine twine, sacking twine, mat-
is composed of groups of strands in fhit tress twine, upholstery twine, hat
ribbons Vko to Vs n n ,( '-"' tu mm.)
'
'' •"'
twine, bookbinder's twine. Lashings for
wide and 40 to 200 inches (100 to 250 suspending telephone cables, soles for
cm.) long. It is split into finer strands alpargatas (sandals) , shrouds in .stand-
by hackling. Dew-retted hemp is ing rigging, houselines and marlines on
gray, and water-retted hemp is shipboard, and ropes up to inch in 1

usually cream white. Fiber of good diameter, usually tarred. Hem]) is still

quality is lustrous and has a decided used in Europe for cordage, and until
snap in breaking. The ultimate cells it was superseded by abaca ("manila
composing the strands of hem]) are y5 hemp"), about tlic middle of the lasl
to 2y5 inches (5 to 55 mm.) long by lG/t century, hemp was used more than all
to 50/j. in diameter, rather blunt-pointed other fibers in marine cordage.The so-
but some with ends forked. They are called"hemp ropes" are no longer made
composed of pectocellulose, with about of hemp but of hard fibers. Hemp tow
77 percent cellulose. Hemp is more is used extensively in oakum, for pack-

nearly like flax than any other com- ing in pumps, engines, and pipe fittings,
mercial fiber, and it may be hackled and for calking boats.
so as to be as fine as the coarser grades The prices quoted in the New York-
of flax. It is not linen, however, as is market for hemp fiber in recent years
sometimes claimed. In a series of com- have ranged from 10 to 15 cents a
parative tests for strength the ratios pound from G to
for scutched fiber, '•>

were as follows: Hemp 29, flax 36, jute cents a pound for tow of American
20. Hemp endures heat, moisture, and dew-retted hemp, and from 12 to 18
friction with less injury than any other cents a pound for scutched Italian
soft fiber except flax. water-retted hem]). There ha- been a
The total world production of hemp tendency toward an increase in market
fiber in recent years has ranged from quotations and a decrease in use.
275,000 to 350,000 metric tons per an-
CADILI.O
num. The largest quantity is produced
in Russia, mostly for home consump- (Mallow FAMILY
tion. Italy exports from 40,000 to L00,-
Urena lobata L.
000 metric tons of hem]) annually,
The cailillo which i- widely
plant,
chiefly toGreat Britain and Germany. distributed Tropics and sub-
in the
The importations into the United tropics of both hemispheres, ha- many
States, which is the principal hemp-
local names, some of which are a- fol-
consuming country in America, for lows: aramina, carrapicho, and guax
1930-39 were as follows:
una vermelha in Brazil: cadillo, gui-
iii in/) //. nip
) . ./ i imiy i Tear {tons) za/.o,and malva blanca in Cuba:
1930 1,457 I'.t:',-!. _ !>L'T
Caesar weed in Florida; cousin rouge
1931 1,018 1936 _ t:;:.

TSJ
and grand cousin in Guadeloupe;
1932 508 1937 .

1!):::; 600 1938. 157 grand mahot cousin in Martinique; can-

1934 (>72 1939 (ITS dillo in Venezuela; culut eulutan in
70 MISCELLANEOUS PUBLICATION 518, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE

ments in the Philippine Islands, it was

found that 50 ordinary branching
plants gave 1*4 pounds (0.522 kilo)
of fiber and 50 of the less branched
plants gave 2y2 pounds (1.127 kilos).
Cadillo grows best in fertile, well-
drained soils and is sometimes a trou-
blesome weed in cultivated crops in the
Tropics. Many attempts have been
made to cultivate cadillo for the pro-
duction of fiber. From about 1900 to
1910 this plant was cultivated on a large
Sao Paulo, Brazil. The fiber
scale near
produced was called aramina, meaning
''little wire," and was used as a substi-
tute for jute in the manufacture of
sacks for shipping coffee. More re-
cently the production of this fiber has
been carried on in Cuba, where it is

called malva blanca, and in Madagas-

car, where it is called paka. These ef-
forts have not resulted in continued
commercial success, because the methods
Figuee 58. —
Cadillo (Vrena lobata), left, for preparing the fiber have not been
guaxima rosa {U. sinuata L.) right. Both
efficient enough for cadillo fiber to com-
,

species yield fiber and both are called

pete with jute imported from India.
malva blanca in Cuba. Photograph from
Sr. Gonzalo M. Fortun, Director of Experi- The seed of cadillo is sowed in drills,
ment Station, Santiago de las Vegas, Cuba. the young plants are thinned, and the
weeds are pulled or the land is hoed
the Philippine Islands; paka in Mada- between the drills. The crop is har-
gascar ;
ake-ire, bolo-bolo, ototo grande, vested about 4 months after seeding, or
subive and toja in West Africa. when the plants are in flower. The
Cadillo an annual herbaceous plant,
is stalks are retted in water 8 to 20 days;
3 to 15 feet (1 to 5 m.) tall, branching then the bark, including the fiber, is
if not crowded but with few or no separated from the wet stalks or, in
branches if grown thickly in cultiva- some places, from the dried stalks. Ma-
tion. The stalks sometimes attain a chines have been devised for this work,
diameter of 1% inches (30 mm.), but but they either wasted too much fiber
slender stalks yield more and better or did not clean it well enough. Ma-
fiber. The leaves are ovate and three- chines have also been devised to sepa-
lobed to nearly round and irregularly rate the fiber and bark from the green
toothed. The seeds are borne in small stalks as they are cut in the field to
burs (fig. 58). The plant is propagated avoid the transportation of the entire
from the seeds. The fiber is obtained stalks and shorten the retting process.
from the inner bark of the main stalks. Bark in strips, in which the retting
In some carefully conducted experi- bacteria are able to reach the tissues
 FIBER PRODUCTION IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE 71

surrounding the fibers, rets more

quickly than the unbroken bark on the
stalks. The fiber has to be dried and
cleaned after retting.
Cadillo fiber resembles jute in color,
texture and strength. It is light cream
white, somewhat ribbony, and 3 to S feet
(1 to 2."> m.) long. The ultimate cells
are y8 inch (3.5 to 4.."j
to |
,-, mm.) long
and about 19/t in diameter. Under the
microscope the surface of the cells often
shows roughness or minute transverse
ridges. The pure fiber contains 71 to
7.1 percent cellulose, which maybe com-
pared with 63 percent in jute. In a
series of tests at the Escola Polytech-
nica de Sao Paulo, Brazil, cadillo was
found have greater tensile and tor-
to
sional strength than jute.
The native uses for cadillo have been
chiefly in hand-made twines and occa-
sionally in woven fabrics. Where the
fiber has been produced in larger quan-
tities it has been used chiefly a> a sub-

stitute for jute in sacks and similar

Figube 59. —Round-pod jute, with rough,
spherical seed I>"'ls.
articles.
Samples
of cadillo from various
have been reported on by the availability in quantity and uniform
sources
Imperial Institute in London as being quality, it i- now used more than all
other vegetable fiber- combined, excepl
equal value to India jute, provided
in
cotton.
the fiber is well cleaned. There seems
Jute i- a soft, long, multicellular
to be no serious difficulty in growing
fiber, obtained from the bast or inner
the plant- in suitable soils, but more
bark of two closely related plant-,
efficient methods for scutching and pre-
round-pod jute {Corchorus capsula Is)
paring the fiber are needed if it i- to
(fig. 59), and long-pod jute (C olitor-
be produced cheaply enough to compete
with jute from India.
ius) (fig. 60). The two plant- are so
nearly alike that it is difficult to dis-

JUTE tinguish between them except by the

-eed pod- and -eed-. The name- juta
( I.IMn \ FAMILY) in Portuguese, jute in English, French,
Corchorus capsularis L. and C. olit- and German, and yute in Spanish are
orius L. commonly used to designate the plants
Jute has been in commercial use only and liber- of both species.
aboul 100 year-, hut because of its Both species are herbaceous annual
cheapness, ease of manufacture, and plant-. They have -lender cylindrical
72 MISCELLANEOUS PUBLICATION 518, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE

In Bengal and adjacent provinces in

India, where practically all of the jute
commerce is produced, the rain-
fiber of
fallfrom the time of seeding jute, in
March, to harvesttime, in August or
September, ranges from 60 to 100 inches
(150 to 250 cm.), and the mean daily
temperatures from 75° to 90° F.
A
requirement quite as important as
soil or climate is an abundance of
cheap labor willing to work under dis-
agreeable conditions. It is said that
a working population of at least 1.000
per square mile is required to produce
jute as it is produced in India.

Both round-pod jute and long-pod

jute are cultivated in the provinces of
Bengal, Bihar and Orissa, and Assam
in areas near the Ganges and Brahma-
putra Rivers in northeastern India.
They are also cultivated in Burma,
French Indo-China, southern China,
Figure 60. —Long-pod jute, with smooth,
the southern islands of Japan, espe-
elongated seed pods.
cially Taiwan, and French West
Africa. However, no country except
stalks G to 12 feet (2 to 4 m.) tall and
India produces the fiber in sufficient
% to % inch (10 to 20 mm.) in diame-
quantities for export on a large scale.
ter. The stems and leaves are light
Many attempts have been made to
green, and both plants have small yel-
cultivate jute in America, especially in
low flowers. The round-pod jute has
Brazil, Cuba, Mexico, and the United
rough seed pods nearly spherical. % to
States. The plants have grown fairly
% inch (15 to 20 mm.) in diameter,
well in some places, but, without effi-
containing small brown seeds. The
cient mechanical methods for prepar-
long-pod jute has nearly smooth, cylin-
ing the fiber, it cannot be produced
drical, or five-angled seed pods about
cheaply enough to compete with that
2 inches (5 cm.) long containing much
produced by hand labor in India.
smaller bluish seeds.
Many machines have been devised to
The round-pod jute is grown more ex-
prepare jute fiber, but they have not
tensively than the long-pod jute. It en-
been efficient enough for practical
dures inundation and is grown in broad
work. The preparation of fiber by
river valleys where much of the land is
The long-pod hand has not attained commercial suc-
subject to overflow. jute
does not endure inundation and is cul-
cess in any new locality within the past
tivated on higher ground. Both species 100 years. The most promising con-
require a very fertile sandy loam or ditions for jute-fiber production by
silt loam soil and a warm wet climate. hand methods in the Western Hemi-
 FIBER PRODUCTION IN THE WESTERN" HEMISPHERE 73

sphere may be in the Guianas, where

there are many immigrants from In-
dia, -(line of whom arc doubtless fa-

miliar with the work of preparing jute -c

fiber in the Orient.
In India the land for growing jute is

prepared very thoroughly, but generally

with rather crude tools, such a> wooden
plow-, wooden harrows, and mallet- to
break up clods of earth. The seed is
-own broadcast by hand at the rate of
about 18 to 22 pound- per acre (20 to
25 kilos per hectare) for the larger
lirown seeds of round-pod jute and
about half as much for the smaller
blue -ceils of long-pod jute. The seeds
are covered -.-, inch (2 cm.) deep oi

le-s by drawing a bundle of twigs or

a light bamboo harrow over the field.

The plants are thinned and the weeds

pulled by hand, usually twice before Figuhe61. —
Round pod ju'>' read) for harvest.
the jute plant- are 40 inches high, and The plants here shown are growing in r i

the growing stalks are left about 4 to soil and consequently in a thin stand.

apart. The) are less than feel (2 m.) high and

»',

6 inches i ID to 15 cm.)
ha\e leafy branches half way down from
When the stalk- are 6 to 12 feel (2 to
the top. Arlington Experiment Farm. Ar-
4 m.) high and beginning to produce lington, Va.
(lower-, about month.- after seeding,
•">

they are harvested ( lie;. Mi dry

01). < in September. After the stalk- have
land they are cut with a and on
sickle, been retted 10 to 20 day- and the hark.
o\ erflowed land t hey arc pulled and the together with the fiber, slip- easily
root- are cut off afterward. The -talks from the woody interior of the -talk.
are tied in bundles with hand- near the the workmen wade into the slimy, ill-
top and bottom, and the leafy top- are smelling retting pool- and work all day
(ait oil'. waist deep in the water, separating the
All of the jute <>f both species is fiber from the stalks and cleaning it 1>\
water-retted. In some districts the whipping on the surface of the water.
it

bundles of -talk- are placed in water The fiber is dried on the bushes or any
immediately after they are cut. and in convenient support. Much oi it i->

other places the -talk- are lir-t dried washed later in clean running water.
in shocks and then placed in water. An expert workman can clean 65 to x ">

They are weighted down in the water pound- (30 to in kilos) <>\' dry jute fiber
to keep all of
submerged. the -talk- a day.
The temperature of the water in the The nverage yield of jute fiber is
shallow pools of the Ganges Valley is about 1,300 pound- per acre 1,500 Kilos (

7"> to 80 I'", at the time id' jute retting per hectare i. The green stalks yield
74 MISCELLANEOUS PUBLICATION" 518, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE

nearly 5 percent of their weight in dry German authorities on the properties of

fiber. This is a larger yield per acre fibers, jute has a stretch of 0.8 percent
and also a larger percentage yield from as compared with 1.6 percent for hemp
green stalks than is obtained from other and flax and 6 to 7 percent for cotton.
kinds of soft-fiber plants. Jute is used in the manufacture of
The flaggy lower ends of the fiber, burlaps, hessians, and various other
which cannot be well cleaned, are cut kinds of sacking for sugar, coffee, grain,
off in pieces 6 to 12 inches (15 to 30 stock feed, potatoes, fertilizers, wool,
cm.) long, forming the jute butts of and peanuts, sandbags for defenses
commerce. They are also called cut- against floods and against attack in
tings. wartime, and covering for bales of cot-
The long jute fiber after the butts are ton and other fibers and of yarn and
cut off cream white to brownish gray,
is woven fabrics for shipment. Special
changing to a dingy brown in age. It types of burlap supply the backing for
is in slender strands 5 to 10 feet (1.5 linoleum and oilcloth. Jute yarns are
to 3 m.) long, soft and flexible. The used in the manufacture of rugs and
ultimate cells composing the fibers are carpets. Narrow webbing to support
%5 to i/5 inch (1 to 5 mm.) long and the seats and backs of upholstered
14/x to 20fj. in diameter, with a mean furniture is made of jute, and these
ratio of diameter to length of about soon rot out because of the short life of
125, which may be compared with 1,000 jute fiber. Jute is used also in cheap
for hemp, 1,200 for flax, and 1,500 for flat belting for machinery, but because

cotton. The short, blunt-pointed ulti- of its lack of strength, lack of elasticity,
mate cell one of the weak charac-
is and especially lack of durability, it is

ters of jute fiber. Another weak char- not adapted for this purpose. Jute is
acter is its chemical composition. Jute well adapted for uses where cheapness
has a higher percentage of lignin than is more important than strength or dur-

any other commercial soft fiber, even but owing to its lack of durabil-
ability,
higher than that of most hard fibers. ity ought not to be used for any
it

Fibers with a higher percentage of cel- purpose where this property is im-
lulose are generally stronger and more portant.
durable or longer lived. Jute fiber has
RAMIE
only about 63 percent cellulose. This
may be compared with 77 percent in (Nettle family)
hemp, 82 percent in flax, and 86 percent
in cotton. The low percentage of cellu- Boehmeria nivea (L.) Gaud.
lose and high percentage of lignin in Vrtica nivea L.
jute result in a fiber lacking in strength The name ramie, with slight varia-

and durability. The chief defect of jute tions in such as ramio in

spelling,

is its lack of durability. Because the Spanish and rameh in Dutch, is used

action of oxj'gen on lignocellulose has a in nearly all countries to designate the

tendency to disintegrate the constitu- plant and its fiber. In China, Japan,
ents of the cell walls, oxidizing bleach- and India there are numerous local
ing agents weaken the fiber. names for the plant and the fiber, but
Jute fiber has very little elasticity. the name ramie is recognized at the
According to Heerman and Herzog, ports where the fiber is exported. The
 FIBER PRODUCTION IX THE WESTERN HKMI-l'IIERE (.)

term "ramie ribbons" designates the

bark, including the fiber, as it is peeled
off the stalk. When these ribbons are
scraped, the product is "China grass."
China grass is the hand-cleaned but
not degummed fiber, rather stiff, and of
a greenish or parchmentlike yellow, as
it is exported from China. The name
China grass is sometimes incorrectly
used to designate the plant. Degummed
ramie or ramie filasse is the fine, sofl
fiber prepared by degumming China
grass. The terms "filasse" or "combed
filasse" are sometimes used to desig-
nate the long straight fibers prepared
by combing the degummed ramie, and
ramie noils are short tangled fibers re-
moved as waste in combing.
The ramie plant (fig. 62) has peren-
nial rootstalks, which send up herba-
ceous cane- to 6 feel (1 to 2 m.) high
.")

and % to '- inch (10 to 20 nun.) in l'ii.in 62.

i Ramie, a dense growth of stalks.
diameter with few branches. The Arlington Experimenl Farm. Arlington, Va.
leaves are round or heart-shaped. 2 to
4 inches ('> to 10 cm.) in diameter, and As nearly as can he determined, the
woolly white on the under-urface. The ramie plant originated in the mountain
specific name nivea (snow) refers to
valleys in southwestern China. The
the white under-urface of the leaves.
iiher ha- been used many centuries in
I f the canes are cut during the <_v row in<:
China and more recently but to a less
season,new shoots grow up so that
extent in India. It was practically
two or three crops, or under e.xcep-
I i onally favorable condition- four crop-. unknown outside of eastern A-ia until

may be harvested in 1 year. The crop- after the middle of the last century.
are not equal, however, and three or In 1869 the Government of British
four crops in one season do not pro- India offered a reward of 25,000 for a
duce three or four time- ;i- much as one machine that would decorticate ramie
crop. Small green or greenish-yellow successfully. The interest aroused l>\

flowers are home in two clusters on

this offer resulted in the introduction ^l
the same -talk the st animate, or pollen-
in many place- to try out
;
ramie plants
bearing, flowers below, scattered in the
machine-. Many plan- for machines
axils of the lea f stem, and the pistillate,
wcii' submitted, and some machines
or seed-bearing, flowers above (fig. 63).
ovate
were actually built and tried, hut none
The brownish-yellow seeds an'
about '-j.-, inch (1 mm.) long and are of them did the work in a satisfactory
often partly enclosed in the persistent manner. The reward was not paid,
calvx. and the oiler wa- later withdrawn.
76 MISCELLANEOUS PUBLICATION 518, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE

Figure 63. —Ramie branch bearing clusters of seeds. Arlington Experiment Farm,
Arlington, Va.

Ramie lias been introduced into experimental plantings where the win-
nearly warm-temperate countries.
all ters are cold, the rootstocks may be
Numerous efforts have been made to protected by heavy mulching, but this
develop ramie fiber production in Ar- is not practical in commercial fields.

gentina, Cuba, Guatemala, Mexico, and Ramie grows best in a very fertile sandy
the United States, as well as in Europe loam soil not subject to drought. It
and Africa. Thus far, however, ramie will not endure prolonged inundation
fiber, has never been produced in com- and does not grow well where free
mercial quantities anywhere in the water in the soil is within 2 feet (60
American hemisphere. cm.) of the surface. After the plants
Ramie is not a tropical plant, but are well established they can survive
rather a plant of the warm-temperate
rather severe droughts, but they re-
regions. grows better at Washing-
It
quire abundant moisture to yield good
ton, D. C, where winter weather com-
crops. Ramie requires more moisture
pels a resting period, than in Puerto
than corn, cotton, or cowpeas, but not
Rico, where it continues to grow
throughout the entire year. Where as much as sugarcane; and unlike cot-

severe winter weather freezes the ton, a growth of stalk rather than
ground to a depth of 8 to 10 inches, the fruiting bolls is desired. Rich bottom
ramie rootstocks are likely to be killed, lands, rather than dry uplands, are
especially in poorly drained soils. In better for ramie.
 FIBER PRODUCTION IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE 77

Fertilizer,in the form of either the roots. Cutting- of rootstocks may

stable manure or commercial fertilizer, be planted either in the fall or in early
must be applied liberally if good crops spring, hut seedlings musl be sel out
of ramie are to continue and two or in early summer so that the root- may
three crops are to be removed each The
be well established before winter.
year for 5 years or longer. Ramie re- plants are killed down
ground to the
quires more nitrogen and potash than by frost, but the rootstocks -end up
wheat, but less phosphoric acid. new canes in the spring. Sometimes a
Ramie plants may be propagated by small crop of canes is harvested the
seeds, cuttings of the rootstocks, and first summer after the plant- are set
cuttings of the stems. Rootstock cut- out, but better results may he obtained
tings are used most often because they if the plants are merely cut off in mid-
give most certain results. They do not summer to induce a thicker growth and
require as much careful attention as the first crop of canes for fiber produc-
seedlings. If parts of entire crowns tion is not harvested until the second
with the roots are transplanted, they sin inner.
will produce large canes most quickly. The land between the rows i- culti-
Small pieces of rootstocks may grow, vated about four times the first season
and generally pieces 4 to G inches (10 and after that once after each harvest
to 15 cm.) long are used. They may of stalks. Hand hoeing is necessary ai
be placed in a slanting position against least once a year to clear out weed- in
the side of a shallow trench and cov- the iow. Fertilizer is applied after
ered so the upper end is about 2 inches each harvest. The number of crop-
(5 cm.) below the surface. The plants per year and the number of years that
are usually grown about 20 inches (50 the plants continue to yield good crop-
cm.) apart, in rows about 3 feet m.) ( 1 depend largely on the original fertility
apart. Stem cuttings are rarely used ex- of the soil and the care given to
cept in experimental work. .The plants maintaining it.
may be increased most rapidly by grow- In the principal ramie-producing re-
ing them from seeds, but this method gions in China the first crop i- cut in
requires special care. May or dune, the second in duly or
Seedlings are grown best in beds kept August, and the third in October. The
moist, but not too wet, by infiltration of stalks of the first crop are the tallest,

water from furrows beside the beds. producing the largest yield, but the
Usually not more than 70 percent of liber is coarser than that of succeeding
the seeds germinate. The young seed- crops. The second and third crops con-
lings are very susceptible to attacks of tain more gum. The liber of the -e,
a destructive fungus of the genus ond crop is usually the finest.
Fusarium. The young seedlings may Various method.- of harvesting are
be transplanted to the field when two practiced in different place- in China.
or more buds appear near the base of In some place- the leave- are stripped
the stein 60 to 90 days after sowing. off, and then the bark, including the
The tops are cut oil' to reduce trans- is peeled nil from the bottom up.
lil>er,

piration, and (') to 8 inches (15 to 20 leaving the stalks standing in the field.
cm.) of the steins is left attached to In other place- the stalks are cut one at
78 MISCELLANEOUS PUBLICATION 518, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE

a time and the bark and fiber peeled off fibers. In China the fiber is degummed
in ribbons. These ribbons are drawn and bleached by repeated washing and
by hand between a bone knife and a drying in the sun. Ramie fiber in the
bamboo thimble worn on the thumb, form of China grass is regularly im-
and the thin outer bark, most of the ported into England, France, and Ger-
green coloring matter, and some of the many, where it is degummed by chemi-
gum are thus scraped away. Some- cal processes in the ramie spinning
times the stalks or the ribbons are mills in those countries. In America
placed for a short while in running many tons of China grass have been
water to keep them fresh until the degummed by chemical methods, but
treatment can be completed, but ramie thus far this work has not been estab-
is not retted like other soft fibers. lished as a permanent industry. De-
After the ribbons have been scraped gumming ramie fiber is not a part of
and the fiber washed and dried, it is in the work of the farmer who grows the
the form known as China grass, and in plants, but is either a part of the work
this form it is placed on the market. in ramie spinning mills or an inter-
In some parts of Japan the fiber is mediate step between the grower and
separated from the stalk and cleaned by the manufacturer.
decorticating machines. Improvements Many claims about yields of ramie
are being madein these machines, but have been based on the yield of a few
thus far has not been demonstrated
it by the esti-
selected stalks, multiplied
that they are efficient enough to be mated number of stalks per acre. Very
operated profitably except where wages few estimates based on actual acre
are very low. With either the hand yields are available. At the Louisiana
methods in China or the machines in Agricultural Experiment Station an
Japan, the fiber is separated from the acre of good land produced in the sec-
freshly cut green stalks and cleaned as
ond year 53,510 pounds of green ramie
soon as possible after being cut and
plants in four cuttings. Of this total,
before the gums begin to solidify. The
47,800 pounds were suitable for fiber
stalks and the leaves together contain
production and produced 1,231 pounds
about 80 percent moisture, and they dry
slowly and ferment more quickly than of ribbons (bone dry), or 535 pounds
other farm crops. No practical method of pure fiber. Other estimates, based
has been devised for drying them in a on actual weights, give the yield of
humid climate. A practical method of degummed fiber as approximately 1
decortication, including the separation percent of the Aveight of the green

of the fiber from the stalks and its plants.

preparation in the form of China grass, Ramie fiber is a multiple-celled long

is the most important unsolved problem fiber, but it differs from flax, hemp, and
in the production of ramie fiber. jute fibers in having only a few ulti-
Degumming is the process of remov- mate cells in a cross section of the
ing the gums binding the fibers together strand. The ultimate cells are very
and freeing the fiber from the sur- much longer than those of other fibers,
rounding tissues. It corresponds to and the cell walls are thin. Ramie is

retting in the preparation of other bast often subdivided to its ultimate cells,
 1IBEH PRODUCTION IX TI1K WESTERN HEMISPHERE 79

especially when prepared in the form wool, or cotton. The yarns are use in I

of combed filasse. upholstery fabrics, draperies, summer

Ramie liber in the form of China suitings, millinery, and trimming .

grass consists of flat fibers 2 to 5 feet Ramie thread makes beautiful and very
(60 to 150 cm.) long and yso to % 5 inch durable hand-made laces, and it is also
(0.5 to 3mm.) wide containing two or used in embroidery and drawn work.
more strands. The ultimate cells are The average annual production of
% to 20 inches (2 to 50 cm.) long, aver- ramie fiber in the form of China grass
aging about inches (15 cm.) and 20/*. is estimated at about 100,000 metric
to 70/x in diameter. They are three to tons. The exports China to
from
five times larger in diameter than silk, Europe range from 3,000 to 6,000 metric
cotton, or flax fiber. Degunimed ramie tons per annum. The total annual ex-
filasse consists of nearly pure pecto- ports to all of the countries in the West
cellulose, with a cellulose content of ei'n Hemisphere average less than <
about 78 percent. The cellulose ele- tons.
ments are arranged in spirals in the cell The market price of China grass in
wall, causing the fiber to turn clockwise Europe ranges from £30 to £40 per met-
when moistened and allowed to dry. ric ton, c. i. f. European ports.
All other textile fibers except flax turn
counterclockwise.
SHORT OR ONE-CELLED FIBERS
Ramie remarkably strong.
fibers are
Single ramie cells have a tensile The short fibers are % to 2 inches
strength of 17 to 20 gm., whereas the (15 to 50 mm.) long and most of them
average for cotton is about 7 gm. are one-celled. Unlike the long fiber-,
Ramie is less affected by moisture than which are, embedded in (he tissues of
most other fibers. It takes up and gives the plant, the short libers project out
off moisture quickly, but with almost from the surfaces on which they grow.
no shrinking or stretching. Ramie re- They are sometimes called plant hairs.
sists the action of chemicals more than One of the functions of long fibers in
most other fibers. 1( is resistant to the living plant is to carry plant juice-.
injury from sea water, and for this rea- and these fibers readily absorb water.
son it is used in Japan for making fish Important functions of short fibers in
nets. The thin walls of this relatively the plant are insulation and buoyancy,
nonelastic fiber do not endure rubbing and these filters in their raw state do
under tension. It is not satisfactory not readily absorb water. Nearly all
for tire fabrics, belting for machinery, of the short fibers are borne inside of
or similar fabrics. seed pods, either on the seeds, as in the
In China ramie is used largely in cottons and milkweeds (not included in
summer clothing, and much of it i- this publication), or on the inner sur
spun and woven by hand. Ramie grass faces of the seed pods, as in kapok,
cloth woven by hand with strands
is samohu, and related species. The cot-
thai are not spun or twisted. In Europe tons are the most important plant fibers
ramie is spun by special machine--, used in textiles: the other short fibers
either alone or mixed with mohair. are not adapted for spinning.
511742° 13 8
80 MISCELLANEOUS PUBLICATION 518, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE

Figure 64. —Kapok tree. Central Juauita, Bayanion, P. R.

KAPOK a trunk 6 to 10 feet (2 to 3 m.) in

diameter and with mostly horizontal
(BOMBAX FAMILY)
branches. The bark is smooth except
Ceiba pentandra (L.) Gaertn. for pyramidal spines % to 1 inch (2 to
Bombaos pentandra L. 3 cm.) in diameter and about the same
Eriodendron- anfractuosum DC. height. The leaves are palmately com-
The Spanish name ceiba is used in pound, with 5 to 7 leaflets. The leaves
many places to designate the kapok tree come out just after the clusters of pink-
and sometimes allied species. The mis- ish-white flowers and fall 8 to 10
leading English names "silk-cotton months later, before the seed pods are
tree" tor the plant and "tree cotton" fully developed. The seed pods (fig.
and "silk floss" for the fiber are often 65) are spindle-shaped, 4 to 8 inches
used in English publications. The (10 to 20 cm.) long and about one-third
name kapok is of Malay origin and is as thick, with weak walls that may be
applied to both the tree and the downy easily crushed by hand. The white or
fiberproduced in its seed pods. sometimes tawny fluffy fiber filling the
The kapok tree (fig. 61) is one of the pods is produced along the five seed-
largest trees in tropical forests, attain- bearing placentas extending lengthwise
ing a height of 100 feet (30 m.), with through the center of the pod. A very
 FIBER PRODUCTION IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE 81

small proportion is produced on the

seeds, but when the pods burst open at
maturity both seeds and fiber are free
from any attachment. The seeds are
dull brown, irregularly pear-shaped,
about if, inch (5 mm.) long, and have
a characteristic ''monkey face" on one
side.

The tree is propagated by either seeds

or cuttings. Seeds are preferred be-
cause they develop a better root system,
but cuttings about 3 feet (1 in.) long
grow more rapidly at first and produce
an earlier crop of seed pods.
Kapok tree- grow best in a moist but
well-drained soil of loose
moist tropical climate.
when the seed pods are mature is best
for the work of preparing the fiber.
This species is native to
A
texture
dry season

southern
in a

v
Mexico and Central America. It was
introduced into Malaysia by the early
navigators, and now most of the kapok
of commerce comes from Java. Kapok
trees have been widely introduced in
the Tropics of both hemispheres.
Kapok fiber is produced in the Nether-
lands Indies, the Philippine Islands, Figure 65. —Kapok seed pods and ->•>,]-.

Tahiti.
Ecuador, and tropical West Africa.
There are many areas in the American
There are several large kapok plan-
Tropics where the tree- grow well, but
tations in Java where trees of selected
the production of the fiber has not been
developed on a large scale because it
strains are set out and cultivated like

requires much hand labor to collect the orchards of fruit tree-, but more than
seed pods and prepare the fiber. '.in percent of the kapok produced in
Kapok trees in .lava and most other Java come- from trees growing along
oriental Tropics have branches in roadsides and borders of fields or
whorls and do noi have large trusses around the hou-e- id' the natives.
at the base of the trunk as do most
The trees begin to produce seed pods
kapok tree- in the American Tropic-.
5 to 7 years after they are set out. and
The oriental variety is called ('< iba />< n-
the crops increase tor several year-.
tandra indica (DC.) Bakh. to dis-
tinguish it from the American form, The tree- may live for a century or
called C. pentandra caribbea (DC.) more, but it is difficult to collect the

Bakh. pod- from very tall t rees.

82 MISCELLANEOUS PUBLICATION 518, TJ. S. DEPT. OP AGRICULTURE

The seed pods are picked after they thin, nearly smooth, and impervious to
have attained full size but before they water or air. The cells are filled with
pop open. The fiber must not fall on air, and until crushed or broken each
the ground, where it may be soiled and hairlike fiber is a diminutive elongated

discolored. The harvesters use ladders gas bag. This construction is respon-
and long poles with hooks. They also sible for its valuable properties of
climb up in the large trees, but such buoyancy and resiliency and its useful-
climbing is dangerous because the limbs ness in insulation for heat and sound.
are brittle. It is more buoyant than cork or other
The seed pods
are taken to a central materials used in life preservers. It is

station where they are spread out on a more than cotton or similar
resilient

clean floor like a floor for drying coffee. soft materials used in cushions and

These floors are surrounded by walls of mattresses, and as it is a vegetable fiber

cotton cloth similar to tobacco cloth, like cotton, not eaten by moths,
it is

to keep the fiber from being blown which eat wool and feathers. It breaks
away. The drying floors are open to down under repeated beating or crush-
the sun, but many of them have covers ing and therefore is not as durable as
that may be drawn over quickly in case cotton, feathers, or wool. Careful tests
of showers. The seed pods pop open have demonstrated that it is one of the
as they dry in the warm sunshine. The best insulators for heat and sound. Its
fiber and seeds are picked out by hand value for any of these purposes is
and separated by means of simple ma- greatly decreased if the fibers are
chines in which the mass is stirred broken or crushed.
while a blast of air blows the light fiber Because of its superior buoyancy
out at the top and the heavier seeds combined with lightness, kapok is used
fall to the bottom. In many places the in life preservers and life jackets. Be-
seeds and fiber are separated by a three- cause of buoyancy combined with re-
its

or four-tined bamboo paddle operated siliency, it is used in mattresses and

by hand. Severe beating must be pillows on shipboard and cushions in
avoided, for if the fibers are broken or pleasure craft, especially in canoes.
crushed their valuable properties of re- Because of its resiliency and free-
siliency and buoyancy and their use- dom from by moths, it is
injury
fulness for insulation are destroyed. used in sofa pillows and also in bed pil-
After fiber is separated and
the lows and mattresses, but for the latter
dried, graded and packed in bales
it is purpose it is not as durable as is de-
of 110 pounds (50 kilos) each for ship- sired. Because of its insulating prop-
ment. Packing at the rate of more erties, it is used in the walls of refrig-
than 300 pounds (140 kilos) per cubic erators and ice-cream storage contain-
meter is likely to crush the fiber. The ers. As a filling in quilts and
fiber is ruined also if packed while comfortables it is almost as warm and
moist. light as eiderdown, but it must be
quilted rather than tied to be held in
Kapok fibers are cylindrical cells

pointed at the ends, % to 1% inches (15 place. It is used in the walls of air-
to 30 mm.) long, or about the same planes as an insulator for both sound
length as cotton fibers. The walls are and heat.
 FIBER PRODUCTION IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE 83

im.
*•'

Figure 66. —Pochote tree, also calledmosmote, hearing pods that yield liber similar to kapok.
Cercanlas de Tepecoacuilco, Guerrero, Mexico.

Kapok filters do not cling together and the fiber of four or five fiber-pro-
and are not readily spun into yarns. ducing species of the bombax family
These fibers have been spun by means native to that country. It is doubtless
of special treatment and special ma- applied most frequently to the species
chinery, but the yarns and the woven now known as (\-iba aesvulifol'm be-
fabrics made of the yarns are weaker cause this is more widely distributed
and less durable than those made of and more abundant than the others.
cotton. Kapok fabrics may have a spe- In Yucatan it is also called by the
cial value because of their superior in- Mayan names piini and yaxche. The
sulating properties, but thus far they name mosmote is used in Guerrero.
have not been produced in sufficient The pochote tree attain- a height of
quantity to demonstrate their uses. 30 to 50 feet (ID to l."» m.). usually
diffusely branching above the compar-
POCHOTE The gray
atively short trunk (fig. 66).
(BOMBAX FAMILY) trunk and branches and even the young
wood are armed with numerous sliorl
Ceiba aesculifolia (II. B. K.) Britt.
conical -pine- (fig. 67). The leaves are
and Baker.
palmately compound, with five to -even
Bombax <t c s c u 1 i
f o 1 i a Ilumb.,
lea lets, similar to those ^( a horseehest -

Bonpl., and Kunth. I

Ceiba grandiftora Rose. nut (AescvJus) and suggesting the spe-

Ceiba schottii Britt. and Baker. cific name a< s< ulifolia* The Leaflets art 1

The name pochote «>r pochotl is used smooth or have sparse simple hairs on
in Mexico to designate both the trees the under side. The large showy
84 MISCELLANEOUS PUBLICATION 518, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE

full maturity neither fiber nor seeds are

attached.
This species grows in Mexico, from
the State of Sinaloa to Oaxaca and
Yucatan, and also in Guatemala. It is
reported to be so abundant in some
localities that, when the seed pods
ripen, the ground is covered with the
white flossy fibers to a depth of 4 to 8
inches (10 to 20 cm.). The trees are
not cultivated.
The fiber has been collected and pre-
pared for market to a limited extent,
but the industry has not been suffi-
ciently well developed to place the fiber
on the market in good uniform quality.
The large, spherical, smooth seeds may
be separated from the fiber more easily
than the small, rough seeds of kapok.
The fiber is slightly coarser and
stifferthan kapok fiber. When well
prepared, it is fully equal to kapok in
buoyancy and resiliency. It is adapted
Fiuuise 07. — Poehote tree trunk showing
kapok in cushions,
spines. Meritla, Yucatan, Mexico. to the same uses as
pillows, mattresses, and life preservers,
and for insulation.
flowers with petals 6 to 614 inches (15
to 17 cm.) long, white on the face and northern pochote
covered with yellow hairs on the brown (Bombax family)
backs, are produced just before the
Ceiba acuminata (S. Wats.) Rose.
leaves in early spring. The seed pods,
reaching maturity after the leaves have Eriodendron acuminatum S. Wats.
fallen in autumn, are 4% to 7
late Ceiba tomentosa Britt. and Baker.
inches (12 to 18 cm.) long and 2 to 2% This tree and its fiber, like some re-
inches (5 to 7 cm.) in diameter, usually lated species, are known by the names
oblong, with blunt rounded ends (fig. poehote, ceiba, and silk cotton, but
68). The walls of the seed pods are this species extends farther north than
nearly % inch (5 mm.) thick and of a any of the other species, suggesting the
hard, brown, woody texture. The seeds name northern poehote.
are nearly spherical, dark brown or The northern poehote tree, which
nearly black and usually shiny, and 14 attains a height of 15 to 30 feet (5 to
to % inch (7 to 10 mm.) in diameter. 10 m.), has a widespreading top and a
The fiber is white, tawny, or grayish, comparatively short greenish trunk
lustrous, and 1 to 1% inches (25 to 30 12 to 16 inches (30 to 40 cm.) in diam-
mm.) long and borne on the five seed-
is eter, covered with broad conical spines,
bearing ridges with the seeds, but at as are also the older branches, but the
 FIBER PRODUCTION IX THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE 85

Figube 68. —Pochote seed puds, with section of pod and seeds. Guerrero, Mexico.

young wood i- usually unarmed. The tral placenta, have no attachment at ma-
leaves an- like those of the pochote tree, turity. The seeds are nearly spherical.
except that they are covered on the 1
,
to % inch i 7 to 10 mm.) in diameter,
under surface with branching (stellate) dark brown or black, and usually shiny.
hairs. The flower.- an- smaller, having The seeds yield oil similar to cottonseed
petals 2y2 to 4 inches (0 to 10 cm.) oil. amounting to nearly 20 percent of
long, white on the face, and densely their weight.
covered with yellow or brownish hairs The liher i- lustrous, white or slightly
on the hack. The >fi'i\ pods are 4 to tawny. •"•, to 1% inches (20 to :'..'.
mm.)
12 inches 1 l<> to 30 cm.) long, generally Long, ami usually longer ami straighter
blunt-pointed or narrowed toward the than kapok from Java. The yield of
apex, hut showing a wide variation in filler ranges from 7 to 15 percent of

form. The five woody sections of the the weight of the seed pod. Oval pods
-ceil pod break away at maturity by thick in proportion to length yield the
well-defined sutures, leaving the fiber highesl percentage of fiber.
mass intact, hut this soon puffs out Northern pochote grows in northern
(fig. 69). The fibers and seeds, borne Mexico, from Baja California through
on the five ridges of the paperlike cen- Sonora, Chihuahua, and Zacatecas to
86 MISCELLANEOUS PUBLICATION 518, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE

Tamaulipas. It is most abundant in

"well-drained gravelly soils in the foot-
500 to 1,300 feet
hills at altitudes of
(150 to 400 above sea level.
m.)
Throughout most of its range it is sub-
ject to frosts in winter. Under favor-
able conditions it grows rapidly and
is sometimes planted as a roadside
hedge. It may be propagated from
either seeds or cuttings. The young
trees begin to produce flowers and seed
pods 3 to 5 years after they are set out.
The fiber is resilient and more buoy-
ant than kapok. Ten grams of clean
fiber from northern pochote, in a cheese-
cloth sack weighing 1 gm. and carrying
a weight of 150 gm., when placed in a
jar of fresh water sank at the end of
259 days (fig. 70). The weight was
then removed and the sack of fiber,

without extra weight, floated an addi-

Figdee 70. —
Buoyancy test of northern pochote
liber. Ten grams of fiber, in a cheesecloth
sack carrying a weight of 150 gm., begin-
ning to sink at the end of 259 days. Fiber
from Sonora, Mexico.

tional period of 925 days, or 3 years 2

months and 29 days in all.
The fiber from northern pochote is
used locally for stuffing pillows, cush-
ions, etc., but thus far it has not been
produced regularly for export.

PALO BORRACHO
(BOMBAX FAMILY)

Chorisia insignis Humb., Bonp., and

Kunth.
This tree is called palo borracho and
yachan. The fiber, produced in seed
pods, is called samohu or samuhii and
Figure G9. —
Fiber masses from the acuminate
paina, names that are used also to desig-
pods of northern pochote beginning to puff
out after the removal of the woody cover-
nate other species of Chorisia. The
ing. Alamos, Sonora, Mexico. fibei's of this group are often called ka-
pok, which they closely resemble.
 FIBER PRODUCTION IX THE WESTERN HE.MI.-PHERE 87

The palo borracho tree is 30 to 50 her or January or sometimes as lal

fed (10 to 15 in.) high. The leaves are March. The seed pod-. 1 to 6 ii

palmately compound, with leaflets hiny i

(10 to 15 cm.) in diameter, reach ma-
on the upper surface and dull below. turity in different area- from July to
The showy white or partly yellow flow- November, yielding large quantities of
er-,produced in great abundance, are white flossy fiber.
followed by nearly spherical or pear- This tree i- native to humid areas
shaped seed pods 3% to -1 inches (8 to in the La Plata valley. It i- a very
10 cm.) in diameter. attractive tree in form, foliage, and
The tree is native to dry lands in flowers and is often planted along the
Peru. Ecuador, and the northern part streets and in and town-.
parks in cities
df Argentina. The fiber i- kapok and is
similar to
The fiber, like kapok, is produced used for the same purposes. The fibers
chiefly along the seed-bearing placenta 3 cling more firmly together than do the
extending through the center of the kapok fibers and are sometimes spun
seed pod. The fiber is white or -lightly by hand into rather coarse yarns, which
tawny, consisting of single hairlilce are woven into cloth. The fibers do not
cells about 1 inch (25 mm.) long. Being cling together firmly enough to be
buoyant and resilient and a good Insula- spun successfully on ordinary spinning
tor for heat and sound, it may be used machinery.
for the same purposes as kapok.
The fiber is regularly collected from MISCELLANEOUS FIBERS
September to December from the palo Some of the minor fibers, chiefly
borracho trees growing in the forests roots, stems, or entire are not
leaves,
in Ecuador. It is prepared by freeing
readily classified in the groups of hard
it from seeds, pieces of seed pod-, and fibers, soft fibers, or short fiber-: until
other trash, and i> packed in hale- for
there more complete classification,
is a
shipment. The amount of this fiber these may be grouped together as mi>-
exported from Ecuador ranges from 'MO cellaneous fiber-.
to 900 tons per annum.

broomroot
s \MOHU
(Grass family)
i
BOMBAX I AMILY)
Muhlenbergia macroura (Benth.)
Chorisia speciosa St. Hilaire. Hitchc.
This specie- is generally called by Epicampes macroura Benth.
the Guarana name samohuor zamohu, In Mexico broomrool is called zaca-
or sometimes palo borr&cho and arvore tdn, elsewhere sometimes bunchgrass.
de paina. Both name- are commonly applied to
The tree i- L5 to 30 feet (5 to 10 m ) other tall grasses, especially those grow-
tall, of a round symmetrical form, with ing in dense bunches. The fiber is

abundant dark-green foliage. The called raiz de 2acat6n, corrupted into

trunk and larger limbs hear abundant the English riceroot, and in the market
broad gray spines. Large purple or i- called Mexican broomroot, Mexican
rose-colored flowers are borne in Decern- whisk, and riceroot.
88 MISCELLANEOUS PUBLICATION 518, U. S. DEFT. OF AGRICULTURE

mass about half as large as the bunch

of leaves and stems above ground (fig.
71). The grass is propagated and dis-
tributed by its abundant seeds and
grows year after year from the roots.
It is found from southern Texas to
Central America and is most abundant
in sandy soils in open pine forests at
altitudes of 1,000 to 1,600 feet (300 to
500 m.) above sea level in the region
around Orizaba and Mexico City, where
there is a fairly heavy rainfall, together
with warm days and cool nights. It
grows abundantly under similar con-
ditions in Guatemala. It is not reo-u-
larly cultivated, although attempts
have been made to cultivate it in the
State of Veracruz. The grass increases
rapidly under favorable conditions, be-
coming a troublesome Aveed in corn-
fields. The roots of old plants are
coarse and brittle and of little value
for brushes. Cattle graze on the young
leaves of the grass, but the older leaves
are too tough and fibrous for even
hungry It has been demon-
cattle.
strated experimentally that the leaves
make excellent paper similar to that
made from esparto.
The roots are collected from broom-
root plants growing wild, often as a
part of the work in clearing fields
for cultivated crops. The ground is
loosened around a clump of grass, then
a pointed lever is pushed through the

Fiouee —Broomroot. roots, and the entire bunch is pried out.

71. The stiff resilient
roots of this grass are used in brushes. The soil clinging to the roots is beaten
Specimen from Sayula, Jalisco, Mexico. off ; then the roots are chopped off. The
roots arewashed in running water and
"Broomroot" is the name applied rubbed on a rough stone to remove some
more particularly to the roots of this of the barklike covering from the
large bunchgrass. The plant grows to tougher inner part. Thus cleaned, the
a height of 3 to 5 feet (1 to 1.5 m.) and roots are dried in the sun and then
has long slender leaves. The long wavy taken to a receiving station, where they
roots extend down into the soil in a are weighed and the collectors are paid.
 FIBER PRODUCTION IN THE WESTERN 1 1EAI .-I'HERE
I 89

The small bundles from the receiving ing moss, ha ilia de palo. musgo negro,

stations are taken to the factory, where and igan. In the upholstery market it
they are piled loosely in a closed room is generally called just moss, but this
and bleached by being subjected for name is also applied to other commer-
about 24 hours to the fumes of burning cial products.
sulfur. The roots are again washed, Treebeard is a flowering plant, not
sorted according to size and quality. even distantly related to the true
tied in small bundles, and bleached mosses. It belongs to the same family
again in sulfur fumes -24 to 48 hours. as the pita floja and pineapple. It is

They are then brought out, separated not a parasite but a true epiphyte, or
into four grades, made up into bundles air plant, obtaining its nourishment
of 110 pounds (50 kilos) each, and from the air, not from the tree- on
baled for shipment. which it hangs (fig. 72 i.
The prepared broomroot is light to Treebeard consists of slender, branch-
deep canary yellow, 8 to 1G inches (20 ing, gray stems 10 to 80 inches (25 to
to 40 cm.) Long, and about ^5 mrU 200 cm.) long, bearing short, awl-
(1 mm.) in diameter, wavy or crimped. shaped, recurved leaves and small yel-
and resilient. It has the defeci
stiff, low-green flowers in summer, followed
of becoming brittle when thoroughly about 10 months later by brownish seed
dry. pods %
to l § inches (2 to 3 cm.) Long.
1

Broomroot is used in stiff brushes, The steins and leaves are covered by
such as scrubbing brushes, and espe- small gray scales capable of absorbing
cially butchers' brushes to scrape off moisture. Through the action of these
chopping blocks. It is also used in scales and the plant food dissolved from
whisks that are stiffer than those made dust in the air and washed under them
of broomcorn. by rain, the plant receives it> nourish-
Germany and France were formerly ment. The numerous seeds are covered
the principal markets for broomroot, with barbed hairs that may cling to
and the shipments to those countries birds and squirrels or to the bark of
ranged from 2,000 to 3,000 metric tons trees. The plant seems to be propa-
a year at prices ranging from 15 to 30 gated chiefly by pieces of the stems that
Mexican pesos per 50 kilos. The de- are blown from one tree to another.
mand has fallen off, chiefly owing to the Treebeard is widely distributed, and in
competition of palm fibers from India
many places is abundant. Ii is found
it

and West Africa.

in swamps or where there is much mois-
ture in the air. from the Dismal Swamp,
treebeakd
in southeastern Virginia, along the
( (Pineapple family) Atlantic coast to Florida and along
Tillandsia usneoides L. the Gulf coast to Texas and Mexico.

Dendropogon usneoides (L.) Raf. It i> not cultivated or propagated b\

Treebeard is a gray fibrous plant man but reproduces it-elf rapidly. Se-
hanging from trees and is called also vere hurricanes sometimes blow down
southern moss, Spanish moss, Florida so much of it that it- growth i- cheeked
uioss, Louisiana moss, black moss, hang- for a year or two.
90 MISCELLANEOUS PUBLICATION 518, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE

. • liSL As

Figure 72. —Treebeard, hanging from cypress trees. Photograph from J. C. T. Uphoff,
Orlando, Fla.

Treebeard grows on many different •sell the freshly collected raw material
kinds of trees, such as cypress, tupelo, to the local dealer, but many of them
live oak, and hickory, that grow either cure it so as to obtain a higher price.
in the swamps or where there is abun- The curing process rots off the outer
dant moisture in the air. It sometimes gray covering.
grows on dead trees or even on tele- In some places treebeard was form-
graph wires, but less vigorously than erly placed in pits and covered with
on living trees, where the foliage tends water to simulate conditions in the
to conserve moisture and affords more swamps. The term "pitting" is still
surface from which the dust may be used, although the material is now gen-
washed onto the treebeard. Although erally piled in long heaps about 5 feet
the treebeard does not take plant food (1.5 m.) high and soaked with water
from the trees, it sometimes becomes so (fig. 73). A fermentation is induced
abundant as to smother the trees and that rots off the gray outer covering
prevent the normal growth of foliage. so that it may be easily removed from
Treebeard is collected chiefly in late the threadlike fibrous inner part of the
fall and winter, when the fiber is of stem. This process is commonly called
the best quality. After severe wind- curing. The fermentation produces
storms it is picked up from the ground; heat in the interior of the pile, and if
in swamps it is often left in the water the temperature gets too high the fiber
several weeks to rot off the outer cov- is injured. More water is thrown on
ering. Most of it is collected directly to keep down the temperature or the
from the trees by means of hooks on heap pitched over and repiled by
is

the ends of long poles. Some pickers placing the unrotted material from the
 FIBER PRODUCTION IX THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE 91

Figure 73. —Treebeard in long piles kept moist to cure, that is. to rot off the gray outer cover-
ing. Photograph from J. ('. T. Uphoff, Orlando, Fla

outside in the inside of the new pile, The prepared fiber is brown to nearly
which is again soaked with water. The black, and if well prepared it is lustrous
curing process requires about 3 weeks and resilient. A lustrous dark seal-
in summer or nearly 3 months in win- brown fiber is preferred. It is some-
ter. The cured material is hung on times dyed with iron sulfate.
poles or wires to dry (fig. 71). When Treebeard is used most extensively in
dry, it is taken to the moss gin. It is upholstering furniture. It is also used
there put through
machine consist-
a in cushions for automobiles, railway

ing of and a beating

(luted rollers cars, and airplanes and in mattresses.
cylinder or picker, and afterward It is one of the best substitutes for
shaken or raked to and fro over a horsehair, which it resembles, the chief
screen to remove dirt. It is often put difference being that treebeard is

through the ij'in a second time and in branched and horsehair is not.
some places through another gin with It is estimated that an average work-
finer teeth closer together. It is then man may oat her 100 to 600 pound- of
sorted into about three grades based on green treebeard in a day. and for this
color, uniformity, and
freedom from he is paid about 30 cent- per 100
dirt. packed
It in
is hales of aboul 70 pounds; for well-cured material deliv-
kilos each and covered with burlap to ered at the gin he is paid about $3 per
keep it clean. The final yield of the !00 pound-. The market price for the
finished product is only lo to L5 per- finished product fluctuates with suppl)
cent of the weight of the green and demand, and this depend- to some
i reebeard, extent on the changing fashions that
create a demand sometimes for over
92 MISCELLANEOUS PUBLICATION 518, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE

Figure 74. —Treebeard "cured," hanging on wires to dry. Photograph from J. C. T. Uphoff,
Orlando, Fla.

stuffed furniture and sometimes for price for medium-grade treebeard is

carved-wood furniture. The average about 10 cents a pound.

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. 117 11' 13 T
\
V)