449 
The waste was submitted to the same process as the wood now being used, 
except the caustic-soda solution was one-half the strength, the time of digest- 
ing four and one-half hours, the pressure 100 pounds, and 325° Fahrenheit 
temperature. 
The cooking was done by indirect steam—that is, the heat was produced by 
a steam coil in the digester, and not direct steam as we use it. 
The fiber reduces very easily, and, after being washed in hot water, bleaches 
to color of sample, with the same amount of bleaching powder as required by 
the wood pulp. 
The loss in the process from the dry, crude material to the dry, bleached pulp 
is 64 per cent, or, the crude material will produce 36 per cent by weight of fiber 
ready for the beater. 
Under the microscope the fibers are long, slender, and smooth, tapering to a 
point at the ends; some have small hairs on the sides. 
The bleached fiber contained 6.8 per cent ash, while wood fiber has less than 
2 per cent and in most instances when well cooked has only 0.3 per cent. 
, This however, does not detract from the value as a paper-making material. 
Owing to the small amount of material received, it has been impossible for 
me to try any experiments along the line of obtaining the same results by the 
use of cheaper chemicals. It might be possible to do the work with a solution 
of lime, the same as straw is treated. 
In my opinion this abac&é waste can be reduced to a fine, silky fiber, suitable 
for the best of paper, making a sheet equal to the best linen, or without being 
bleached, made into a light-gray wrapping paper, which would excel in strength 
any paper on the market. 
In the meantime, the Bureau of Agriculture of the Philippine Islands 
conducted a series of experiments in stripping abaca by the customary 
hand process-for the purpose of determining the relative amounts of dry 
cordage fiber saved and dry fibrous waste lost."° 
San Ramon,| Paete, La- 
Weight. Mindanao.| guna. 
Weight of green stalk _---_------- Dect: saisdiat ait sal dicdey nibtsins i kilos. 9, 525 15. 876 
Went Or ereeD Ober 65 o3 6 ie, as elt wn bee. Wiese . 4586 . 680 
Wetec or Ory Tbe? . 22. 5555 eee a 8 lbh enon dou. . 163 . 2268 
Weight of green fibrous waste «t~ Osa. 1.814 2.494 
Weight of dry fibrous waste 2: Levees ee Be eave ee Gia .1769 . 199 
Percentage of dry waste in stalk 1.85 1.25 
Percentage of dry fiber in stalk os ey | 1.48 
The importance of the above data because they seriously influence our 
judgment of the supply of this waste material, justifies their repetition, 
particularly as we also subsequently desired to learn the effect of machine 
stripping on stalks under the same conditions. 'The following table gives 
a comparison between the hand and machine stripping processes; the 
stalks used were from Paete, Laguna, and had been harvested about two 
” Report of H. T. Edwards, Fiber Expert, Bureau of Agriculture, Manila, 
P. I. (1904). 
