455 
MAGUEY. 
Agave cantula. 
After abaca, maguey or sisal hemp may well be ranked as the second 
most important fiber-producing plant of the Philippine Islands. The 
maguey plant is widely distributed throughout the Archipelago and has 
long been used for local purposes.*! 
The structural fiber of this and of other species of Agave is used for 
cordage and like abaca, it finds its way to the paper mills in the form of 
old rope, binder twine, etc. The following figures were obtained on a 
specimen of machine-stripped maguey fiber: 
Ash, alkaline hydrolysis, and cellulose calculated on dry weight. 
Per cent. 
Moisture 9, 23 
Ash 1. 96 
Hydrolysis («) 13. 78 
Hydrolysis (+) 15. 70 
Cellulose 77. 05 
The corresponding data on Agave keratta from the West Indies, given 
by Cross, are: 
Per cent. 
Moisture 15.5 
Ash : 1.4 
Hydrolysis («) 10 
Hydrolysis (6) 20 
Cellulose 75.8 
Composition of the raw fiber. 
Per cent. 
Cellulose 70. 09 
Fat and wax .71 
Aqueous extract 1.54 
Lignin and pectous substances 16. 84 
Water 9.03 
Ash 1.79 
MAGUEY WASTE. 
The waste fiber employed for the following digestion experiments was 
taken during some machine-stripping tests which were made on maguey 
leaves from Vigan, Ilocos Sur, by the Bureau of Agriculture of the 
Philippine Islands. The possibility of materially reducing the weight 
and bulk of this waste material by boiling it with lime in the localities 
where it is produced suggested itself, and experiments to decide this ques- 
tion were first undertaken, 
Eaperiment No, 1.—One kilo of partially cleaned, dry waste was boiled in an 
open kettle for twelve hours with 20 per cent of quicklime caleulated on the 
weight of the material. The washed, dry residue weighed 685 grams, or 68.5 
“ Report of the Bureau of Agriculture (1904), 82. 
