170 



CORDAGE FIBRES 



In the Philippine Islands the produc- 

 tion of Sisal hemp or " Maguey " fibre 

 constitutes a comparatively small but 

 gradually increasing industry. The ex- 

 ports, which are consigned chiefly to the 

 United Kingdom and the Continent of 

 Europe, amounted to 875 tons in 1901 ; 

 1878 tons in 1905, and 4,484 tons in 191 1. 



In the three following years the quantity 

 and value of the exports were as fol- 

 lows : 



1912. 1913. 1914. 



Quantity, tons 7,038 6,958 5,440 

 Value, . 114,436 123,115 86,887 



The Sisal hemp plant was introduced 

 into East Africa in 1893. I n that Y ear 

 the German East Africa Company ordered 

 i ,000 plants from Florida, but only 62 of 

 them survived the journey. These were 

 carefully tended in a plantation at Ki- 

 kogwe, and new plants were propagated 

 from them, so that in 1 898 the number 

 had increased to 63,000. In 1899, ma " 

 chinery was introduced for extracting 

 the fibre. By the beginning of 1900 

 there were as many as 1 50,000 plants 

 established, of which 4,000 were more 

 than three years old and were ready for 

 cutting. The first shipment of fibre was 

 made in 1900, and consisted of 7! tons, 

 of value 155. From this time forward 

 the industry progressed at a remarkable 

 rate, as is shown by the accompanying 

 table, which records the quantity and value 

 of the exports of the fibre from German 

 East Africa during the years 1905-1913. 



In British East Africa, the cultivation 

 was started in 1903, experiments being 

 made first in the Nairobi District, and a 

 little later in other districts. The plants 



