112 AGRICULTURE IN THE TROPICS [PT. II 



Sunn Hemp. This fibre, the product of Crotalaria juncea, 

 is grown upon perhaps 150,000 acres of land in India, as a 

 summer crop. The fibre is somewhat similar to jute, and is 

 obtained in the same way, by retting the stems in water, 

 washing and drying. 



Manila Hemp. Attempts without number have been 

 made to grow this very valuable and important fibre in other 

 countries of the tropics, but so far without success, and this 

 industry remains a monopoly of the Philippine Islands, from 

 which 169,260 tons were exported in 1918, valued at 12,000,000. 

 The plant, Musa textilis, is a close relative of the banana or 

 plantain, and the fibre is obtained from what look like the 

 stems of the plants, but which are really, as explained under 

 the banana, the rolled-up overlapping bases of the leaves. 



The plant grows best on the Pacific slopes of the southern 

 islands of the Philippine Archipelago, but, with the continual 

 demand for this fibre, which is one of the very finest of all, and 

 is almost the only fibre that can for instance be used in the 

 self-binding reaper, now so largely employed, the planted area 

 is continually extending. The plants, which are known in the 

 Philippines as Abaca, are cultivated under shade at a distance 

 of a few feet apart, and when one plant is cut down another is 

 at once put in its place, so that the field contains plants in all 

 stages. The field is weeded about once a week, but otherwise 

 there is but little cultivation and the same land is used un- 

 intermittedly. The plants grow to a height of about ten feet, 

 and are considered ripe at about three years old. 



The plant is severed at the ground by a blow of a cutlass, 

 the leaves removed, and the "stem" brought in. The rolled-up 

 leaf-bases are then separated, and the outer fibrous layer of 

 each is separated from the fleshy inner layer, the leaves being 

 drawn under an adjustable knife in a very primitive way, 

 but one which has not yet been successfully replaced by any 

 machinery. 



A plant gives about a pound of fibre. The fibre is bought 

 by merchants and graded, being packed into bales of about 

 28 Ibs. Its average value is about 50 a ton. 



