676 



1904, pp. 48-50. "Manila Hemp in Burma," Tropical Agri- 



culturist, XXV. 1906, pp. 556-559. "A Study of the Varieties 



of Abaca (Manila Hemp)," Saleeby, in The Philippine Agric. 



Review, ii. March, 1909, pp. 165-170. ^Abaca (Manila Hemp), 



Edwards, Philippine Bureau of Agric, Farmers' Bull. No. 12, 



1904 (Revise, 1910), pp. 1-29, illustrated. '* Abaca (Manila 



Hemp)," Saleeby, in The Philippine Agric. Review, iv. No. 6, 

 June, 1911, pp. 298-307. " Manilahanfkultur," in Der 



5-6 



pp. 506-582. "Manila Hemp from the Solomon Islands, 



>> 



Inst 



"Abaca Fiber," 



Espino, in The Philippine Agriculturist & Forester, iv. Jan.-Feb. 



1916, pp. 200-216. "Manila Hemp," in Cotton and Other 



Vegetable Fibres : Their Production and UtiUsation, Goulding, 

 pp. 156-163 (John Murray, London, 1917). 



' ri 



BROMEUACEAE. 



' ANA:>rAS, Tourn. 



w 



Ananas sativus, Schult. f. Syst. vii. p. 1283. 



Root fibrous with a rosette-hke head of leaves arising from 

 the ground. Leaves 30-50, 3-5 ft. long, about 2 in. wide at 

 the middle, with prickly edges or smooth (as in " Smooth 

 Cayenne "). Inflorescence a strobile. Fruit (syncarp) ovoid or 

 pyramidal i-l ft. long, with a tuft of leaves (coma) at the crown, 

 greenish to yellow w^hen ripe. 

 . Pine Apple. 



Native of Tropical America ; cultivated in many tropical coun- 

 tries, Asia, Africa, America, East and West Indies, Queensland, 

 and some sub-tropical countries, Natal, Florida, and California. 



Commonly grown for the fruit; but in certain countries, 

 PhiHppines— for " Pina Cloth," and Formosa— for "Grass 

 Cloth," Hainan and Java, the fibre from the leaves is of local 

 value only, or as in Formosa exported only to China or neigh- 

 bouring countries ;' there is no trade in this fibre with this country. 

 The preparation of the fibre is a tedious hand process. In 

 Hainan, 12 leaves or so gathered the first or second year from 

 each plant are scraped on both sides, to remove the green tissues ; 

 the fibres are then alternately macerated in cold water for six 

 hours and dried in the sun several times — lasting about 3 days. In 

 the Philippines each layer of fibres is removed as it is exposed 

 by the scraping— 50-60 lb. of fibre is obtained per ton of green 

 leaves. The combings from the fibre are said to give excellent 

 results for paper making (see Kew Bull. April, 1887, p. 8; 1893, 

 p. 208; Morris, Comm. Fibres, 1895, p. 19; Bull. Imp. Inst. 1916, 

 pp. 437-460; Journ. Roy. Soc. Arts, 1917, p. 728; Goulding, 

 Cotton & other Veg. Fibres, pp. 197-200). Attempts to use 

 the leaves in Florida for fibre production have not (1907) given 

 results that would warrant taking up the work on a commercial 

 scale (Cycl. American Agric. ii, p. 292). A sample of fibre 6 ft. 



