52 ANNUAL EEPORTS OF DEPAETMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



BINDER-TVVINE FIBERS. 



Some 3'ears ago coopeiTitive work was organized by the office of 

 fiber investigations and the Philippine Bureau of Agriculture, the 

 purpose of which was to encourage the increased production of sisal 

 and maguey fiber in the Philippine Islands. In view of the rapidly 

 increasing consumption of abaca (Manila hemp) for binder-twine 

 purposes, this cooperative work has been expanded to include nec- 

 essary work with abaca. It is entirely possible, if not probable, that 

 the ultimate solution of our binder-twine fiber problem will be an 

 increasing substitution of abaca for henequen in the manufacture of 

 binder twine. 



In cooperation with the Philippine Bureau of Agriculture a.nd 

 with the bureau of science and the college of agriculture, preliminary 

 steps have been taken during the present year to organize this work. 

 An increased use of abaca for binder-twine purposes will benefit 

 both the United States and the Philippine Islands, and should be 

 encouraged in every way possible. 



Continued improvement has been made in the quality of the Phil- 

 ippine machine-cleaned maguey fiber. American manufacturers 

 report that this fiber is now entirely satisfactory for binder-twine 

 purposes. 



IMPORTANT MANUFACTURING AND HANDLING. 



Work on production of cane sirup of uniform quality was carried 

 forward, as a result of which farmers producing cane sirup were 

 enabled to consolidate their output on a sufficiently large scale and 

 into such a uniform product as directly to interest brokers and whole- 

 sale grocers in the distribution of their product in a systematic 

 manner. A central blending and canning plant, with a daily maxi- 

 mum capacity of 5,000 gallons, equivalent to 500,000 gallons for a 

 100 days' operating season, was designed for the Texas Farm Bureau 

 Ribbon Cane Growers' Association. This plant was erected at 

 Lufkin, Tex., and operated during the season of 1922-23. Cane 

 sirup from various sections of eastern Texas was shipped by mem- 

 bers of the association to the Lufkin plant, where it Avas graded, 

 mixed to insure uniformitj^ of grade, treated by the invertase process 

 perfected by the department to prevent crystallization, canned, 

 labeled, crated, and marketed. Technically the operation was an un- 

 qualified success. A study was made of the manner of producing 



