May 2, 1908.] Agricultural Gazette of N.S.TF. 375 



These figures sliow an increase in the value of the imports of this fibre of 328 per cent. 

 in ten years. 



Tlie Philippine exports of Maguey fil>re have increased from 87o tons in 1901 to 2,3"28 

 tons for the first nine months of UKJO. 1'his fil)re is now tlie export product of fifth 

 importance in the Islands. 



The essential feature of the Maguey industry, and that which recommends it to the 

 Philippine planter, is its adaptability' to the conditions prevailing in many parts of the 

 Islands. Maguey flourishes in localities where there is insufficient rainfall for abaca" ; 

 it can be profitably grown on soils tliat will not grow sugar, rice, or corn ; its cultivation 

 requires but few draft animals, and comparatively little labour ; and there are several 

 improved machines for the extraction of the fibre. 



Maguey has an advantage over Abaca in that it cannot be blown down or uprooted by 

 violent winds, and it has no known insect enemies of importance. These plants will grew 

 well even in fissures of bare limestone rock, and the ideal Maguey soil is a liglit loam 

 composed of leaf mould and decomposed limestone. If fragments of undecomposed lime- 

 stone are present in abundance, so much the l)etter. Splendid Maguey plants are growing 

 in pure beach sand on the coasts of Mindoi-o and Talilas. The cultivation of the soil is 

 not necessary before planting. It suffices to clear away the brush and grass with the 

 bolo, and after planting to repeat this operation two or three times a year. While the 

 plants will, without suffering severely, stand periods of drought longer than any which 

 have ever occurred in these islands, they reach their best development if watered Ijy 

 occasional periods of rain. 



Our rainy season not only renders it certain that young plants newly set out will 

 speedily and firmly establisli themselves, but assures the production by old plants of large 

 crops of long leaves ; while the occurrence of a well-marked dry season renders it equally 

 certain that these leaves will produce a good percentage of high-grade fibre. 



Maguey is propagated either from suckers or from the small bulbs produced on the 

 flower-stalk. It should be planted in the rainy season in rows 4| by 12 feet apart, or 

 about 800 plants to the acre. The first crop of fibre can be harvested in three years 

 from the time of setting out sucker plants. The average annual yield is twenty leaves 

 per plant, or 16,000 leaves per acre. The yield of fibre is from 40 to .lO lb. of fib.re per 

 thousand leaves, or from 640 to 800 lb. per acre. The New York quotations for Maguey 

 on 1st May, 1907, were, for No. 1, 7g cents per lb. ; and for No. 2, 63 cents per lb. 

 Maguey plants continue to produce leaves for a period ranging from seven to twenty 

 years. 



The cultivation of Maguey offers inducements to the small farmer and to the planter 

 with large estates. This fibre is a staple commodity, the use of which promises to 

 increase quite as rapidly as the production. The development of this industry during 

 the past few years indicates that Maguey will become, at no distant date, one of the 

 leading agricultural products of the Philippine Islands. 



In 1899 a small plantation was formed of Agave sisalana at the AVoUong- 

 bar Experiment Farm, and from time to time cuttings of leaves have been 

 made and fibre extracted from same by means of the Faure Decorticating 

 machine, originally imported for the purpose of making Ramie fibre. 



According to a re^jort liy Mr. A. 11. Haywood, Acting- Manager at the 

 Wollongbar Farm, in December, 1907, these plants had reached the poling 

 stage ; that is, from tlie heart of the plant a pole or flowering stem had 

 grown up, showing that the plants had about readied their term of usefulness. 



Mr. Haywood states that in August, 1907, when cutting the leaves some 

 ninety leaves were harvested from one plant, nine leaves being left on the 

 plant uncut : the weiglit of the ninety leaves was l-l-t lb. ; an average leaf 

 weighed 1 J lb. It would appear therefore that the growth and weight of tbr 

 leaf at Wollongbar does not materially differ from the weight in other 

 countries, excepting that it may be somewhat heavier in the green state. 



*' Abaca-fibre made from the Manila hemp-plant. — MiLsa textilis. 



