101 
stems ina fresh state entailed heavier machinery than could be easily 
moved from place to place, and the idea was ultimately abandoned 
without any practical results being achieved. In spite of this, however, 
Dr. King is of opinlen n that plantain stems in India will eventually 
become available paper material, and considering the immense 
number grown for Cie. lter, shade, and food purposes, the subject is of 
a importance, both to the people of India, and to paper- 
ma 
XXXIV.—PLANTAIN AND BANANA FIBRE— 
continued). 
[K. B., 1894, pp. 289-293. ] 
i bone 
he fibre produced by the stems of various sorts of Musas has 
received attention from the pile times. Dampier noticed that at 
Mindanao, in 1686, “the ordinary sort of people wear cloth made of 
plantain-tree which the ey call Saggen, by which name they call the 
plantain.” To prepare this cloth they ¢ cut the plantain Bonk into four 
quarters, “ which, put into the sun, the mois ae ex oh they then 
take hold of the threads at the ends, and draw them out; they are as 
big as brown thread ; of this they make cloth, "which i is peaa when 
new, wears out soon, and when wet it is slimy.” About the beginning 
of this century ikë "Government of Jamaica offered rewards of 2007. 
“ for the best specimens of plantain hemp produced in each county of 
“ Jamaica.” Dr. Stewart West, then acting-botanist in pe arge of the 
Bath Garden, gained the premium for the best specimen produced in 
the county of Surrey. The particulars are given by Lunan, Abe i, 
pp. 75-76. The fibre was cleaned by being passed through a “ cramp 
fixed in the ground, and hung up to dry as soon as possible. T was 
pointed out that “the goodness of the fibre depends upon co mpletely 
Pe 
packed far use or exportation.” A nine- thread rope, ‘ inch diameter, 
of plantain fibre made at the Dockyard, Port Royal, broke with a weight 
of 728 pounds; whilst a simitar rope, erita as “the King’s nine-thread 
inch rope,” broke by a weight of 714 p 
The most T Dabl Musa fibre is undoubtedly that ae 7 rie 
textilis, known in commerce as Manila hemp. Ther out 
12 different vir rieties under cultivation al differing in habit. Ps in 
quality of the fibre yielded by them. They thrive best in fresh clearings 
f jungle on low hills, and under shade of trees left standing at 
distances of about 60 feet. They d o not do 50 well in Se plains, and 
aa exported from the „Philippine Islands, of the value of about 
It is i to bear in mind that the Manila hemp plant is 
exclusively inet in the south-eastern part of the Philippines. All 
attempts to successfully calisti it in the western and northern parts 
have hitherto proved abortive. The plants grew barely 2 feet high, 
