ABACA (MANILA HEMP) — EDWARDS 333 



familiar with abaca, were of the opinion that this plant could be 

 grown successfully only in the Philippine Islands. As abaca can be 

 propagated from seeds, and as the seeds are readily available and 

 easily transported, it is probable that this method of propagation 

 was used in most of this experimental work. The fact that abaca 

 usually does not come true to type when grown from seeds was either 

 unknown or failed to receive consideration. There are reports of 

 abaca introductions into India, the Andaman Islands, New Guinea, 

 the Federated Malay States, Ceylon, Fiji, the Solomon Islands, and 

 the West Indies, but the commercial production of abaca fiber did not 

 become an established industry in any of these countries. 



A short time after American occupation of the Philippine Islands 

 the Office of Fiber Plant Investigations of the United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture attempted the introduction of abaca, into the 

 United States. In April 1901, a consignment of seeds of four differ- 

 ent varieties of abaca was received in Washington from an abaca 

 planter in the Island of Negros. These seeds were planted in the De- 

 partment greenhouses in Washington and also in Florida, but none of 

 them germinated. Early in 1902 abaca seeds that had been received 

 from the Philippine Bureau of Agriculture were sent to Puerto Rico 

 for planting, but none of these seeds germinated. In October 1902, a 

 second lot of seeds received from the Philippine Bureau of Agriculture 

 were planted in Washington and 89 seedling plants were obtained. 

 These plants were distributed early in 1903 to Jamaica, Trinidad, 

 Puerto Eico, the Hawaiian Islands, and Florida. It was subsequently 

 reported that the plants sent to Puerto Rico and Florida were growing 

 well, but apparently they ultimately disappeared. 



This introduction work was continued, but from six different lots of 

 Philippine abaca seed received in Washington during the period from 

 1904 until early 1911 not a single plant was obtained. In March 1911, 

 abaca seeds of the Maguindanao variety, which had been carefully 

 packed in charcoal in tin mailing tubes, were received from the Philip- 

 pine Bureau of Agriculture. These seeds were planted in the Depart- 

 ment greenhouses in Washington, and from this planting about 1,200 

 seedlings were obtained. A distribution of these plants was made to 

 Cuba, Puerto Rico, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Mexico, and the 

 Hawaiian Islands. It appears that with one or two possible excep- 

 tions all these plants were later destroyed or abandoned. Abaca plants 

 now growing at the Agricultural Experiment Station, Mayaguez, P. R., 

 are said to have come from this distribution. In 1925, two or three 

 "mats" of old abaca, plants of the Maguindanao type were found in a 

 somewhat isolated place near Almirante, Panama, and it is possible 

 that these plants came from the introduction of Maguindanao seedlings 

 made in 1912. 



676212 — 46 22 



