320 



The World's Commercial ^Products^ 



a fine, white, lustrous fibre known as " filasse." The fineness and strength of ramie suggests 

 its use for the manufacture of many materials for which cotton, wool, and flax are now 

 employed. It is woven into goods of various descriptions such as lace curtains, handkerchiefs,, 

 damasks, tablecloths, etc., affording a material of exquisite texture, and it has also been used 

 for plush and carpets. 



Pine-Apple Fibre 

 Although the pineapple plant (Ananas sativa, Natural Order Bromeliaceae) is usually 

 grown for its fruit, in some parts of the East, notably in the Philippines and the Malay Peninsula, 

 the fibre yielded by the leaves is the object of the cultivation of the plant. The plant is low- 

 growing, and the leaves are about three feet long and one to two inches wide. To obtain the 

 fibre, the leaves are scraped with a bamboo instrument resembling a plane, or in the Philippines 

 merely with the sharp edge of a piece of pottery. Modern machinery, however, is also nowadays 

 employed. The fibre obtained is washed in water and then dried in the sun. It is white, 

 soft, flexible, and very durable, even when exposed to the action of damp. The celebrated 



Piha Cloth of the Philippines 

 is prepared from this fibre, 

 and the Chinese employ it 

 in the manufacture of a 

 coarse, strong fabric. The 

 inhabitants of Formosa also 

 use it in making some of 

 their clothing. 



ROPE, CORDAGE, 



AND MATTING 



FIBRES 



Manila Hemp, often known 

 as Manila fibre or abaca, is 

 obtained from the leaf- 

 sheaths of a non-edible ba- 

 nana, Musa textilis, found in 

 the Philippines. Until quite 

 recently it was supposed 

 that this valuable fibre was 

 yielded by one species, but the researches of the United States Department of Agriculture 

 have lately shown that there are probably several distinct but closely related species, all of 

 which yield the commercial fibre. 



The plant is cultivated in a comparatively small portion of the Philippines, the chief 

 districts being Luzon, Mindanao, Negros, Mindoro, Cebu, and Samar, where the humidity 

 of the atmosphere is relatively high. The best localities are the sides of hills of volcanic origin, 

 where good natural drainage exists, for it has been found impossible to cultivate the plant 

 in swampy water-logged soil, or, on the other hand, in soil which rapidly becomes dry. 



The plant is propagated chiefly by the suckers or plantlets which spring from the roots of 

 the mature plants. About three years are required for the suckers to reach maturity, but 

 seedlings take a considerably longer period, generally about five years. The plants attain a 

 height of from eight to twenty feet, the " stem " being composed of overlapping leaf-sheaths. 

 When the flower-bud appears the whole plant is cut down close to the ground ; the leaf- 

 sheaths are stripped off, sliced horizontally into layers about £• of an inch thick, and these 

 in turn split into strips about two inches wide. While still fresh the strips are drawn under the 

 edge of a blunt knife-like instrument held against the surface of a board, the process freeing 

 the fibre from the pulp of the leaf-tissue, and leaving it clean and white. 



By permission of Mr. Titos. Barraclough 



PORTABLE SCUTCHING MACHINE 



