35 



USES. 



Abaca is, primarily, a cordage fiber. Its most important use is in the 

 manufacture of various classes of cordage, ropes, and cables. Enormous 

 quantities of the fiber are used in the United States for making binder 

 twine. Because of its lightness, strength, and durability manila hemp is 

 considered superior to any other fiber for ship's ropes and cables. From 

 the old and disintegrated ropes is made the well-known and valuable 

 manila paper. 



In the Philippine Islands a considerable quantity of abaca cordage is 

 manufactured, and the raw fiber is used without being twisted for all 

 purposes where a tying material is required. Its most important local 

 use, however, is for the manufacture of cloth. The native dress of both 

 sexes in nearly all parts of the Archipelago is made from '^sinamay," or 

 abaca cloth. Looms are to be found in nearly every town in the Islands. 

 The abaca fiber is frequently woven with either cotton or silk, in an 

 almost innumerable variety of patterns. The fabrics made are of every 

 degree of fineness, from delicate silk-like tissues to the coarse material 

 used for fishing nets. With the introduction of fiber-extracting and 

 textile machinery there should be a largely increased demand for abaca 

 as a textile fiber. 



UTILIZATION OF ABACA WASTE. 



In the extraction of abaca by the methods now in use it is estimated 

 that from 25 to 30 per cent of the fiber is wasted. At each cleaning 

 shed we find large piles of waste which is filled with fibrous material. 

 In 1887 samples of this waste were delivered to Messrs. Gonzales' Sons, 

 paper manufacturers of Barcelona, Spain. Their report upon this mate- 

 rial was as follows : 



Observations made in the course of manufacture permit us to state that abacfl 

 waste as a raw material for the manufacture of paper is not only utilizable, but 

 surpasses esparto and hemp, and. in its treatment for conversion into paper, excels 

 rags and other material knoAvn in the industry. 



Investigations to determine the value of abaca waste as a paper-making 

 material and the practicability of exporting this product have been made 

 by the Bureau of Agriculture and the Bureau of Science in Manila. 

 The results of these investigations, which have already been published, 

 show that this waste is a valuable paper-making material. The practi- 

 cability of exporting the waste, however, is largely a question of supply 

 and demand — demand for material of this kind and supply of old manila 

 rope waste, which is a competing product. Inasmuch as the limited sup- 

 ply of rope waste is insufficient to meet the rapidly increasing demand, 

 it is probable that abaca waste, either in its raw state or as a partly 



