COMMERCIAL FIBERS OF THE PHILIPPINES. 17 



elements essential to plants. The pineapple plant is capable of with- 

 standing long droughts. However,, if the soil is porous and well drained, 

 it will adapt itself to the more humid climates where rainfall is abundant. 



The pineapple pioduces seed, but it requires, according to Weber, from 

 ten to twelve year3 to mature plants from these. The best method of 

 reproduction is by replanting the suckers which grow out from the parent 

 plant near the ground. The plant may also be propagated by crowns, 

 slips, and suckers. These are slow to mature. Besides, the crowns are 

 usually left on the fruit, and the rattons are left to take the place of the 

 old plant. When the pineapple is propagated by the buds in the axils of 

 the leaves it requires a year or a year and a half longer for the plants to 

 reach maturity. In preparing land for a pineapple plantation it is well 

 to remove all stumps, brush, and weeds and plow deeply. If the subsoil 

 is hard and has a tendency to hold water, the land should be subsoiled. 

 The rainfall in the Philippines is so heavy that drainage, either by surface 

 ditches or by underground conduits, should be provided. This is quite 

 essential, for the plants will not thrive in a wet soil. 



As a general rule, but light surface cultivation is all that is needed, 

 and in such cases the plants are set from 30 to 36 inches apart in rows 

 each way. In localities where the climatic and soil conditions require 

 deeper and more thorough cultivation, they may be planted 30 inches 

 apart in the row and the rows 4 to 5 feet apart. This practice is 

 followed in the Hawaiian Islands. Pineapple plantations should not be 

 exposed to strong winds, as the leaves are easily chafed or broken, and 

 this, in turn, diminishes the yield and quality of the fiber. 



The plants from suckers will produce mature leaves in from nine 

 months to a year. When pineapple plants are grown for fruit the quality 

 is much improved by judicious fertilizing. 



EXTRACTION OF FIBER AND USES. 



In the provinces of the Philippines, where the plants are grown for 

 fiber, the fruit is cut shortly after flowering, in order that the leaves may 

 develop more fully. When the leaves are mature they must be cut before 

 they become old and worked as soon as possible after cutting. The fiber 

 is so fine that it can not be separated from the pulp when the leaves are 

 old and dry. As in the extraction of Manila hemp and maguey, the pine- 

 apple fiber is also extracted in a simple and primitive way. The fiber is 

 too light and fine to admit of being drawn as Manila hemp is drawn, so 

 the natives in Southern Luzon and Panay resort to a method of scraping. 

 The freshly cut leaves are spread upon a narrow bench, and with light 

 short strokes of an iron ecraper, the edge of which is not too sharp, the 

 epidermis is scraped off. Sometimes a bamboo or wooden scraper is used, 

 and while this method is slower, yet there is less waste, and a softer 

 quality of fiber is produced. This exposes a layer of fiber which is lifted 

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