Director s .hnina/ Report. 55 



low tenacit}- render it unsuited to most mauufacflures, except that 

 of paper ; but whether the installation of fibre-extra<5ling machinery 

 would prove remunerative is a problem that only experience will 

 prove. On the whole the evidence goes to show that it would not, 

 unless a more fibrous and longer-leafed variety of plant could be 

 secured — a quality probably detrimental to the fruit ; and the alter- 

 native appears to lie between either the simultaneous growth of 

 poor fruit and poor fibre or an excellent quality of either produced 

 separately. 



PITA. 



Endogen. Structural Fibre. Amaryllidacca. Furcraca 



giga7itea. 



Furcraea gigantea is closely allied to the agaves and occurs 

 throughout Central America. Its valued fibre, known as "Pita," 

 has given rise to much confusion among authorities as to its origin; 

 both Watt and Balfour attribute it to Agave amej-icana, and a host 

 of later waiters have helped to perpetuate the error. This confu- 

 sion may in part be attributed to the loose manner in which the 

 word "pita" (as our ovvn term "hemp") has been misused and ap- 

 plied to fibres of widely divergent origin ; but it is highly desirable 

 to restrict it to its legitimate use. In Mexico the cultivation of 

 this plant antedates the Spanish conquest, and its fibre is still in 

 use there for various cordage purposes, coarse cloth and sacking, 

 and excellent netting hammocks and harness. In Mauritius its 

 introdudlion has proved very successful, its yield there being about 

 one and one-half tons of fibre per acre. I^ittle attention has been 

 given to this plant in the United States, although its excellent 

 commercial possibilities merit it greater recognition. Specimens 

 of the leaves of Furcraea gigantea about ten feet long were obtained 

 from Professor Brigham's residence in this city, and yielded fibre 

 of great length and excellent quality, of a beautiful glossy white 

 color, well adapted to the better class of cordage manufa(5lure. 

 The fibre was prepared in a similar manner to other strucflural ones 

 and resembled sisal in appearance, although its general qualities 

 were perhaps superior to the latter. F. gigantea will flourish 

 readily in these Islands, and in view of its success in Mauritius, 

 Tobago and Trinidad, there appears every reason to believe that its 

 cultivation on poor lands in Hawaii would at least be as remunera- 

 tive as that of sisal. 



