228 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



fiber. A single freshly cut leaf is placed upon a smooth board and is 

 then scraped with an old plate or piece of earthenware. This scrap- 

 ing removes the pulpy material and lays bare a layer of fiber which is 

 deftly lifted with the finger or a small spatula. After the fiber has 

 been thus extracted it is washed in running water and dried in the 

 sun. Frequently the washing and drying are repeated several times 

 before the required degree of softness and fineness is obtained. It is 

 estimated that twenty-one thousand leaves are required to produce 

 fifty pounds of fiber. When it is considered that each separate leaf 

 1 must be slowly and laboriously scraped, the small production and 

 high price of pina fabrics are not surprising. Before pina can become 

 a product of any considerable commercial importance, a machine must 

 be perfected for the extraction of the fiber. 



Kapok {Tree Cotton), Ceiba pentandra. 



The white cotton tree with its tall straight trunk, its almost hori- 

 zontal branches, and large odd-looking seed pods is well known to any 

 one who has traveled through the Philippine provinces. This tree 

 is found in nearly all parts of the tropical world. In Java there are 

 extensive kapok plantations, but in other countries we usually find the 

 cotton tree growing along the roadsides, scattered through the forests ; 

 or, as in India, planted about the old Buddhist temples. There are 

 no kapok plantations in the Philippines, but the cotton tree grows in 

 nearly all of the provinces and the fiber is very generally used for 

 local purposes. 



Kapok is the floss obtained from the seeds of the cotton tree and, 

 in a structural classification, is one of the ' surface fibers.' The fiber 

 is too short a staple, and also too brittle and elastic, to be spun, but 

 these very properties make it the most valuable of all the vegetable 

 fibers as a stuffing and filling material. Its harshness and elasticity 

 prevent its becoming matted when used for cushions, pillows and 

 mattresses. For bandages and surgical dressings it is cooler and more 

 elastic than cotton. 



JNTot only does the cotton tree produce a valuable fiber, but it 

 has, also, a number of other economic uses. The tree itself, with its 

 horizontal branches, is used for living telegraph poles and as a shade 

 tree on coffee plantations. The wood, which is light and soft, is 

 utilized for tanning leather and for making toys. The sap and tender 

 leaves have a medicinal value. The bark yields a reddish fiber from 

 which cordage and paper are made. The roots, when powdered and 

 mixed with the sap, is a cure for dysentery. The fruit has some 

 value as a food product. The seed yields an excellent oil and the 

 seed cake is used both for cattle-feeding and as a fertilizer. 



In Java the production of kapok is rapidly becoming a leading 

 industry, and this fiber is getting to be more generally known and more 



