Comparative Strengths of Ahaca and European Hemp. 323 



America, while from 30,000 to 60,000 cwt. is manufactured 

 into rigging for ships in the country itself, at the splendid fac- 

 tory of Messrs. Russell and Sturgis, an American firm, by whom 

 it is exported to Singapore, Australia, and China. This raw 

 material, as well as the various products manufactured from it, 

 has a magnificent future opening to it, and will ere long 

 compete advantageously with English and Russian hemp in 

 the European markets. The principal objection as yet made 

 to the use of the Manila hemp for rigging, viz. its contract- 

 ing in wet weather, can easily be obviated by more careful 

 treatment of the fibres in the process of manufacture. On the 

 other hand, in strength and elasticity the abaca sm-passes its 

 rival, as has been proved by repeated experiments, especially 

 over common European, and even Russian, hemp.* Messrs. 

 Russell and Sturgis have, it is true, monopolized the hemp 

 product of the entire Archipelago, but under their fostering 

 care it must sensibly increase and become perceptibly im- 

 proved. From the leaves of 3Iusa textilis^ like those of all 

 other species of the banana tribe, very excellent paper can be 

 made, and by the increasing cultivation of the musacew in the 



• The experiments made at Fort St. George near Madras in July, 1850, with Unes 

 and rigging made of abaca and European hemp, with the view of testing their re- 

 spective availabiUty, gave the following interesting results : a rope of Manila hemp, 



12 feet long, 3j inches in circumference, and weighing 2S|^ oz., required a strain of 

 4460 lbs. to break it : on the other hand a rope of English hemp of similar dimensions, 

 weighing 39 oz., broke with a strain of only 3885 lbs. A second smaller rope of Ma- 

 nila hemp, 1 1 inches thick, and 9| oz. weight, also 12 feet in length, required 1490 lbs. 

 to break it, while an exactly similar cord of English and Russian hemp, weighing 



13 oz. per fathom, broke with 1184 lbs., so that in the first instance the abaca line 

 was 13 per cent., and in the second nearly 22 per cent, stronger than ropes of similar 

 size of European hemp. 



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