ABACA (MANILA HEMP) — EDWARDS 347 



In 1939 a second field planting of 1,000 acres was made, and the 

 water-knife machine was completed and installed on the plantation at 

 Almirante. Twenty bales of fiber that had been cleaned with this 

 machine were shipped to the United States for manufacturing tests. 

 This fiber was found to be of fairly acceptable quality, but continued 

 operation of the machine under plantation conditions demonstrated 

 the fact that it did not have sufficient cleaning capacity for profitable 

 use in the commercial production of fiber. Plans were prepared for 

 remodeling this machine, and the construction of a new machine was 

 started in the United States. 



In the meantime a large acreage of abaca had matured at Almirante 

 and no means of cleaning the fiber were available. It was decided, 

 therefore, to construct and operate at Almirante about 20 of the small 

 Hagotan machines that are used on the Davao abaca plantations in the 

 Philippine Islands. It was not expected that the use of these small 

 machines would be the final solution of the fiber-cleaning problem in 

 Panama, but it would at least furnish a means of salvaging a portion 

 of the abaca stalks that were rotting in the fields. These machines 

 were installed at Almirante early in 1940, were operated for nearly a 

 year, and several fairly large shipments of fiber were made to the 

 United States. This fiber was of different grades and qualities but, 

 in general, was of a quality entirely acceptable to the cordage manu- 

 facturers. It was determined, however, that because of high labor 

 costs the cleaning of abaca fiber with these small machines would not 

 be practicable in Panama. From an educational point of view this 

 cleaning project was definitely worth while, as it served to demonstrate 

 to all the larger cordage manufacturers in the United States that when 

 cleaned by the same method there is no essential difference between 

 abaca fiber produced in the American Tropics and that obtained from 

 the Philippine Islands. 



The first 11 months of 1941 was another depression period in the 

 Panama abaca project. Two thousand acres of abaca had matured and 

 were ready for harvesting, and no satisfactory method of cleaning 

 had been developed. It had been found that the use of the small 

 machines for the commercial production of fiber was not practicable 

 and the use of these machines had been discontinued. The new water- 

 knife machine had been installed and operated at Almirante, but this 

 machine was still in the experimental stage of development. In the 

 meantime war clouds were gathering and stock piles of Philippine 

 abaca fiber were being accumulated in the United States. It was evi- 

 dent that there was urgent need for positive action with respect to the 

 development of abaca production in the Western Hemisphere, but with 

 conditions in the Orient still in the "pending" stage neither the Gov- 

 ernment nor commercial interests were prepared to take this action. 



