MUSA 



TBXTILIS 



THE MANILA HEMP PLANT 



Medicine. 



Manila 

 Hemp. 



Cultiva- 

 tion. 



Soils. 

 Plantations. 



Yield. 



Separation of 

 Fibre. 



Strength and 

 Lightness. 



Paper. 



Supply of Fibre. 

 Price. 



to the factory. Profitable results are only likely to be attained with large 

 plantations. 



In MEDICINE, the unripe fruit is considered cooling and astringent. 

 The young leaves are used as a dressing for blisters, burns, etc. The root 

 and stem are reputed to be tonic, antiscorbutic and useful in blood dis- 

 orders and venereal disease. 



\Cf. Baber, Memoirs, 1519 (Leyden and Erskine, transl.), 324 ; Acosta, 

 Tract, de las Drogas, 1578, 73-7 ; Prosper Alpinus, De PL JBgypti., 1592, 33 ; 

 Linschoten, Voy. E. Ind., 1598 (ed. Hakl. Soc.), ii., 40 ; Pyrard, Voy. E. Ind. 

 (ed. Hakl. Soc.), 1601, ii., 364, etc. ; Piso, De Med. Bras., 1649, 75 ; Terry, Voy. 

 E. Ind., 1655 (ed. ' 1777), 91 ; Boym, Fl. Sin., 1656, B. ; Mandelslo, Travels, 

 in Olearius, Hist. Muscovy, etc., 1662, 138 ; Herbert, Travels, 1677, 333 ; 

 Hunting, Phytographia Curiosa, 1696-1702, 2, ff. 4, 5 ; Labat, Nouv. Voy. aux 

 Isles de VAmerique, 1724, i., pt. 1, 219 ; (Musa Enscte) Bruce, Travels in Africa, 

 1790, v., 36-41 ; Buchanan-Hamilton, Stat. Ace. Dinaj., 1833, 190-1 ; Paulus 

 Mgineta (Adams, Comment.), 1847, iii., 465-6; Royle, Fibrous PL Ind., 1855, 

 61-90; Asa Gray, Sc. Papers, i., 1889, 344; Sen, Kept. Agri. Stat. Dacca, 1889, 

 39-40; Nicholls, Textbook Trap. Agri., 1892, 159; Banerjei. Agri. Cuttack, 1893, 

 119; Pharmacog. Ind., 1893, iii., 443-9; Cox, Man. N. Arcot, 1895, i., 266-7; 

 Duncan, Monog. Dyes and Dyeing in Assam, 1896, 36 ; Dodge, Useful Fibre Plants 

 of the World, 1897. 245-7 ; Kew Bull., 1898 (add. ser. ii.), 97-105 ; Woodrow, Gard. 

 in Ind., 1899, 485-6, 489 ; Foreman, Philippine Islands, 1899, 323-6 ; Ind. 

 For., Feb. 1900. xxvi., 90 ; Mukerji, Handbook Ind. Agri., 1901, 334-5 ; Basu 

 Cult, of PI. in Assam Valley, Agri. Dept. Assam. Bull., 1901, No. 7 ; West Ind. 

 Bull., 1901, ii., No. 4,265-70; 1904, v., No. 1,53-61; 1905, vi., No. 2, 99-103; 

 Vencatraman Aiyar, Plant Fibre Indust., 1902 ; Proudlock, Machines for 

 Extract, of PL Fibre, in Dept. Land Rec. and Agri. Mad. Butt., 1902, ii., No. 47 ; 

 Ind. Agrist., March 1906, xxvi., 140-2 ; Drieberg, Banana- flour, in Trap. Agrist., 

 1906, xxvi., 140-2.] 



M. textilis, Nee ; Fl. Br. Ind.,vi., 263 ; Manila Hemp. A native of 

 the Philippine Islands and experimentally cultivated in India for its fibre, 

 especially in the Andaman Islands and in the Arakan hills. By the 

 Natives of the Philippines both plant and fibre are called Abaca. 



It is said that the plant thrives best on soils largely composed of decayed 

 vegetable matter. Hilly land, about 200 to 500 feet elevation, is considered more 

 suitable than low-lying land. The Manila hemp plantations are situated where 

 there is a rich volcanic soil and where the climate is hot and humid with a heavy 

 rainfall. Plantations are usually established by means of suckers put out when 

 about 3 feet high and placed 8 to 9 feet apart. The land is cleaned of weeds twire 

 a year and the first crop is reaped at the end of the second year after planting, 

 though a full crop is not obtained till the fourth year. The stems are ready to 

 be treated for fibre just before the trees begin to flower, when they are cut about a 

 foot from the ground and the leaves removed. Each stem is then stripped into 

 its component layers (or leaf-sheaths). In other words, each leaf-sheath is usually 

 cut lengthwise into three strips about 3 inches wide. The outer leaf-sheaths 

 contain a coarser and stronger fibre than the inner, while the fibre from near the 

 middle is of a fine silky texture. 



In preparing the fibre, each strip is taken by hand and drawn between a 

 blunt knife and a smooth board attached to a light frame. This process removes 

 watery particles and pulp. The fibre is then dried in the sun and packed in bales 

 for shipment. The chief characteristics of the fibre are its great strength and 

 extreme lightness. Hence it is eminently suited for rope-making. The waste 

 materials and worn-out ropes afford the much-prized Manila-paper. The im- 

 portance of the Manila fibre in the commerce of the world may be judged of 

 from the fact that in official statistics it is stated the annual production comes to 

 close on 1,000,000 bales, which go to the United States and Great Britain in about 

 equal proportions. In the trade returns of Great Britain, the Philippine and 

 Ladrone Islands are shown to have supplied hemp on an average (1902-6) of 

 over 50,000 tons, valued at fully If millions of pounds sterling. It is stated 

 that Manila rules the market of white fibres and that it has ranged from 14 to 

 60 a ton, the average price being from 25 to 30 a ton. 



[Cf. Royle, I.e. 64-9 ; Mason, Burma and Its People (ed. Theobald), 1883, 



790 



