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USES. 



Kapok fibers are chiefly used as filling material for mat- 

 tresses, pillows, cushions, and life preservers. It is an 

 excellent material for filling mattresses, as the fibers do 

 not mat and will make lighter mattresses than any other 

 good filling fiber known. As a filler in life-saving appli- 

 ances it can sustain 20 to 30 times its own weight while 

 horsehair and cork can only hold up 11 and 6 times their 

 own weight, respectively. Even after being thoroughly 

 water-soaked it maintains its favorable ratio to horsehair 

 and cork. 



Kapok oil is of value for soap, fuel, fodder, and manure. 



COTTON. 



(Gossypium spp.) 



The species of cotton most cultivated in the Philippines 

 are Gossypium br^asiliense and G. paniculatum. 



The chief cotton region in these Islands is the Province 

 of Ilocos Norte. The method of gathering the cotton and 

 preparing it for weaving is extremely simple; the various 

 processes being performed by hand with the aid of crude 

 and most primitive kinds of machinery. To a less extent, 

 yarn is also made from home-grown cotton in the provinces 

 of Ilocos Sur and Union. 



The value of cotton cloths woven on the foot looms of 

 the Ilocano Provinces is considerable. The Ilocano weaving 

 is the most persistent survival of a Philippine cotton in- 

 dustry which was at one time very large and general. 

 Though in many ways inferior, the imported machine-made 

 yarns are lessening the amount of yarn spun from home- 

 grown fiber. Isolated remnants of the weaving industry 

 exist in such districts as Taal and Lemery in Batangas 

 Province and on the islands of Cebu, Bohol, and Panay, 

 where some locally made yarn is used, and in Leon, Iloilo, 

 where all the yam woven is imported. 



(6) IRAQ AND BANBAN. 



Though widely separated botanically, two fibers are here 

 brought together that could not be included in the chapters 

 on ferns, grasses, and other plants. The outer parts of the 



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