Cultivation.—The plant is grown in various kinds of soil. In Bengal, high, rich land is pre ferred, well ploughed, and freed from weeds ; in the N. Circars, a strong clay suits it best ; in the Deccan, any soil seems to suit it, and it kills out weeds. The season for sowing depends upon the rains. One crop, sown in June, is generally harvested about August-September ; another, sown in October, is gathered in April. The quantity of seed used varies between 80 lb. and 125 lb. an acre. It is sown very thickly, during showery weather, and 'is covered by harrowing, or other rough means. It grows very rapidly, and, if sown thick enough, keeps down weeds. Scarcely any attention is necessary. The yield of fibre averages about 700 lb. an acre. When required for flue purposes, the plants are gathered in flower ; when greater strength is sought, they are left till in seed, or even until the seed is ripe. The harvesting is effected by uprooting the plants, and reaping is very rarely resorted to. After the plants are gathered, they are laid in ridges for 5-12 days, which causes the leaves to decay and fall off.
Extraction and Preparation of the Fibre.—When the stems have been cleansed of leaves, &c., they are submitted to a retting process, of varying duration, according to the season. It is usual for the first day to submerge only the lower portion of the stems, which, being thicker, require longer maceration than the more tender parts. It has been suggested that the fibre would be improved by first sun-drying the stems for 2 days, and by reducing the term of retting. The latter is con tinued till the fibre separates easily from the stem, when it is cleansed almost exactly in the same manner as already described with jute (p. 943). After thorough washing, it is dried, and combed.
Characters and Uses of the Fibre.—The dimensions of the filaments are :—length : max., 0.472 in.; min., in. ; mean, in. ; diameter : max., in. ; min., in.; mean, 0.0015 in. The dressed fibre varies in length from 3 ft. 6 in. to 7 ft. Experiments made upon its strength gave a breaking strain of 407 lb. Samples of the fibre, exposed for 2 hours to steam at 2 atmos., boiled in water for 3 hours, and again steamed for 4 hours, lost only per cent. by weight, as against flax, 3.50 ; Manilla hemp, 6.07 ; hemp, 6.18-8•44. The average weight sustained by slips of sized paper, weighing 39 gr., made from the " raw " fibre, was 64 lb., as com pared with Bank of England note pulp, 47 lb. One batch was reported to make a nice, clean, smooth paper, of good colour, but not taking ink well ; another worked " wet " during pulping, but bore ink well. The fibre is remarkably well adapted for cordage and netting. Large quantities
are shipped for the English market, and it forms the bulk of the so-called " hemp " exported from India.
C. tenuifolia—Jubbulpore Hemp.—Botanists now consider this a mere variety of the preceding. Tho plant ie cultivated in precisely the same way, and the fibre it affords is similar in character and application.
Others of the many species of Crotalaria deserve attention for their fibre-yielding qualities. C. dissitiflora, C. linsfolia and C. crispata, occur wild in Australia.
Cryptostegia grandiflora.—Exogen. Native of Malabar and Coromandel. Yields a fine strong fibre, resembling flax, and which may be spun into the finest yarn.
Cyperus Papyrus—Papyrus.—Endogen ; sedge, 5-10 ft. Grows on the marshy banks of rivers in Abyssinia, Sicily, and Palestine; it formerly abounded on the Nile, but is now almost extinot in Egypt. The fibrous stem has been used for making sails, cordage, cloth, mats, and sandals. Strips of the stem, plaited, and treated with gum-water, constituted the papyrus of the ancients.
C. tegetum.—Very common in Bengal. The stems or oulms are split, while green, into 3-10 pieces, and largely used for making mate.
C. textilis.—Widely dispersed over the Australian continent, but not yet noticed in Tasmania or New Zealand. Occurring also in South Africa. It is restricted to swampy localities. It is the beet indigenous fibre-plant in Australia, and is likewise notable as being with ease converted iuto pulp for good writing-paper. Its perennial growth allows regular annual cutting.
Cytieus ecoparium [Genista scoparia]—Broom.—Exogen. This plant is probably best known as affording a dye (see Dye-stuffs), yet it yields a fibre which may at least he used for paper making, even if there be no truth in the statement that it was formerly employed for textile fabrics in Italy and S.
France. A section of a portion of the stem of this plant is shown, mag. 100, in Fig. 656 : a, bark ; b, lignose ; e, epidermis ; f, bast fibres, ooloured blue by tests F H. The fibres are short, uniform, fine, and supple. Their dimensions are :—length : max., 0.354 in. ; min., 0.078 in.; mean, 0.2 in. ; diameter : max., 0.001 in. ; min., 0.0004 in. ; mean, 0.0006 in. Paper-makers have hitherto found some difficulty in utilizing the plant, by reason of the presence of a small proportion of woody fibre in the branches, which has the effeot of making little lumps in the pulp. The plant deserves attention, as it can be grown on arid and waste land.