Chapter X.— PLANTS WITH LEAF OR PETIOLE FIBERS 

 OF COMMERCIAL VALUE. 



There are various species of plants belonging to different 

 families that have fleshy leaves or fleshy petioles from which 

 excellent fibers are extracted. Examples of leaf fibers are 

 maguey and pineapple; and of petiole fibers, abaca and 

 banana. Maguey fibers are usually extracted by retting 

 and pineapple fibers by scraping the leaves with broken 

 pieces of pottery; abaca and banana fibers are obtained 

 by drawing the stalks under a dull knife on which consider- 

 able pressure is exerted. 



MAGUEY. 



(Agave cantula.) 

 Maguey (E.). 



There are several species of Agave that yield the fiber 

 known to commerce as maguey or sisal. Of these, Agave 

 cantula is the species commonly cultivated in the Philip- 

 pines. Agave rigida sisalana from the Hawaiian Islands 

 was introduced into the Philippines a few years ago and its 

 cultivation has spread to many provinces throughout the 

 Archipelago.^ 



The species all agree in being rather coarse plants and 

 in having usually very short stems. They thrive in poor 

 soil where other plants would not even get a start. The 

 leaves persist for a number of years and are thick and 

 fleshy and provided along their margins with sharp, stout, 

 prominent spines. 



Maguey, especially the species A. americana, was for- 

 merly supposed to bloom just once in a hundred years and 

 received on that account the name of century plant. It is 



*"The Cultivation of Maguey in the Philippine Islands," B. of 

 Agri., Bulletin No. 13. 



103 



