66 MANILLA HEMP INTRODUCED INTO INDIA. 
tries, where there is some similarity of soil, and warmth with 
moisture of climate ; as in India in the province of Travancore, 
and on the Malabar coast, also in that of Arracan, in Chittagong. 
Assam, in parts of Bengal, and in the northern Circars, This 
was one of the plants subjected to experiment by Dr. Roxburgh, 
in the beginning of the century. His specimens are still in 
the East India House. Mr. Leycester, one of the founders of 
the Agricultural Society of India, called the attention of its 
members to its fibres as early as the year 1822, when he pre- 
sented the fibres of three species of Musa. ‘These were Musa 
sapientum, M. ornata, and the present species, M. tevxtilis. 
That of the latter he describes as having been formed from a 
coat stripped off about sunrise on that day, and having been 
brought into the house about ten o’clock, had received no 
further bleaching from the sun or in any other way; and that he 
had had some of it made into a neat cord, which was in no way 
inferior to English whipcord. He concludes his letter by con- 
gratulating the members on the fibre of their common over- 
grown plantains being sufficient for all the purposes of twine 
required in their gardens. Some time after this was written 
we find it stated in the ‘ Proceedings of the Agricultural Com- 
mittee of the Society,’ Ist October, 1836, that “a row of the 
Musa plant, from which the China grass cloth is made, is 
in a flourishing condition.” But, on 12th August, 1840, the 
Committee notice the favorable appearance of some plants of 
the Manilla hemp-tree (the Abaca or Musa textilis). 
Musa textilis is the Abaca of the natives of the Philippine 
Islands. It is found both in a wild and cultivated state, but 
the natural groves are considered as property. The fruit is 
green and hard, and of a disagreeable taste. Several villages 
formerly furnished yearly 1500 arobas each of the fibre, and 
others exported nearly as much cordage. With the produce of 
this plant, the natives of these villages pay their tribute, parish 
dues, purchase the necessaries of life, and clothe themselves. 
The Abaca is cut when about one year and a half old, just 
before its flowering or fructification is likely to appear, as after- 
wards the fibres are said to be weaker. If cut earlier, the fibres 
are said to be shorter and finer. It is cut near its roots, and the 
leaves cut off just below their expansion. It is then slit open lon- 
gitudinally, and the central peduncle separated from the sheath- 
