—- +. 
E. Plaiting and rough weaving fibers. 
1, Articles for attire; hats, sandals, ete. Abacé, palms, bamboo. 
2. Mats and mattings; also thatch materials. Grasses, bamboos, palms, 
ete. 
Forms of filling. Wapok, straw, grasses. 
G. Paper material. 
1. Textile papers. All waste from A, including old rope. 
ty 
a 
2. Bast papers. 
3. Palm papers. From the fibrous material of palms and similar mono- 
cotyledonous plants, including rattans. 
4. Bamboo and grass papers. This includes all material from gramina- 
ceous plants, including bamboos, cereal straws, and true grasses. 
5. Wood pulp papers. Philippine soft woods, Lauan (Shorea), Cupang 
(Parkia), Grewia, ete. 
It will be seen from this scheme of classification and from the native 
plants selected to exemplify each division of use, first, that a compara- 
tively small number of plants supply fiber for all the present require- 
ments; for instance, plantains, grasses, bamboo, rattan, and palm fiber 
are made into fabrics, fish nets, hats, baskets, mats, twine, rope, thatch, 
brushes, and brooms; second, that those plants which find. such general 
use are without exception monocotyledons and their fibers are of the class 
termed structural; third, that with the exception of maguey and pine- 
apple they are either plantains, grasses, or palms; fourth, that, leaving 
out of consideration native woods as a possible source of paper stock, the 
available supply of material for any future paper industry in the Phil- 
ippines must come from one or more of these three sources.® 
Chemical examination of raw material—tIn making a study of an 
unknown, fibrous substance with the view of determining its possible 
utilization for paper stock, the three most important points to be consid- 
ered are, first, its cellulose content, namely, the percentage of pulp which 
a given raw material will yield; second, the ease with which it responds 
to the ordinary cooking and bleaching processes necessary for its con- 
version into paper pulp; and third, the physical characteristics of the 
individual fibers—that is, the nature of the fiber bundles and the 
dimensions of the ultimate fibers of which they are composed. If the 
above information is fayvorable—namely, if the raw material is relatively 
high in resistant cellulose; if it is easily reduced and readily bleached, 
taking into account the strength of liquors required ; if the ultimate fibers 
are found to be long and thin, with tapering, curly ends—then the ques- 
tion of distribution, availability, and cost of collection of that raw 
material is well worth careful consideration. While a quantitative deter- 
mination of cellulose on a 5-gram sample of material affords some basis 
for estimating the amount of paper pulp it will produce, the results thus 
* Maguey culture is rapidly increasing in northern Luzon, and the waste from 
the stripping of the plant may become an important factor in paper making. 
