230 POPULAR SCIENCE .MONTHLY. 



flower stem yields an alcoholic beverage known as tuba or nipa wine. 

 Hats, mats, rain coats, sails and various other articles are woven from 

 the leaves. 



Burri, Corypha umbracullifera. 



Another member of the Palmacese that has a great variety of uses 

 in the Philippines is the burri, or talipot palm. This palm grows in 

 abundance in nearly all parts of the archipelago. It is a large orna- 

 mental tree crowned with gigantic fan-like leaves. These leaves, like 

 those of the nipa, are composed of numerous slender leaflets. In the 

 burri, however, all of the leaflets radiate from the end of the long 

 stem. Preparatory to use, the leaves are gathered and dried, often 

 for several weeks. They are then split into narrow strips and in this 

 form are woven into hats, mats, bags, baskets, fans and other similar 

 articles. 



Local Fiber Plants. 



More than four hundred Philippine plants have been reported, the 

 fibers of which have some local economic use. It is difficult to select 

 from among this number the few that may be considered of first im- 

 portance. The rattans (Calamus sp.,) which are found throughout 

 the forest regions of the islands are of great value and are used for 

 many different purposes. Malobago, or balibago (Hibiscus tiliaceus), 

 is a valuable bast fiber obtained from a tree growing near the seacoasts. 

 Pangdan (Pandanus sp.), the plant known in the United States as 

 ' screw pine,' yields a fibrous leaf from which are made hats, mats 

 and sugar-sacks. Idioc, or cabonegro (Caryota urens), is a coarse 

 black fiber well known in the commercial world and used in the Philip- 

 pines for making a coarse resistant cordage. Anabo (Abroma alata) 

 is a strong fine bast fiber produced in all parts of the archipelago and 

 largely used as a cordage material. 



The Development of the Fiber Industry. 



The methods now employed in the production of the leading 

 Philippine fibers are slow, wasteful and a century behind all ideas 

 of modern agricultural development. Certain definite lines of im- 

 provement such as the more careful selection of plant varieties, a more 

 thorough system of cultivation, and the extraction of fiber by means 

 of machinery are urgently needed. A development of the fiber in- 

 dustry along these lines, that shall result in carefully managed abaca, 

 maguey and cotton plantations, and in the introduction and general 

 use of fiber-extracting machines, will be a long step towards the ful- 

 fillment of the first and greatest need of the Philippine Islands, the 

 establishment of the country on the solid basis of material pros- 

 perity. 



