FIBER PLANTS 



FIBER PLANTS 



287 



A heavy and evenly distributed rainfall, sixty 

 inches or more, and a continuous warm temperature 

 are essential to the successful growth of abacd. 

 A rich, deep, well-drained, mellow soil, containing 

 plenty of humus, is necessary for well-developed 

 plants. The best abacS lates (plantations) are on 

 the southern and eastern coasts, and on the lower 

 slopes of old volcanoes. Abaci is grown on the 

 same land ten years or longer, without rotation or 

 the application of fertilizer. While the plants 

 sometimes persist in low land, they will not make 

 a good growth in swampy ground or where the soil 

 remains saturated about their roots. 



AbacS plants may be propagated by seeds, root- 

 cuttings or suckers. In practice, suckers are used 

 almost universally, except when they must be trans- 

 ported long distances. Good seed is difficult to 

 secure, since cultivated plants are cut before the 

 seed is ripe ; and, furthermore, it is of very un- 

 certain germination. Seeds must be germinated in 

 a carefully prepared and protected seed-bed, and 

 the seedlings transplanted to the field. Suckers or 

 root-cuttings are set out directly in rows nine to 

 twelve feet apart each way, or about 225 to 530 

 plants per acre. Sweet-potatoes ("camotes") or 

 some other crop are sometimes grown with abacd. 

 The grass and weeds must be cut every two or three 

 months, and the soil immediately around the abacS 

 plants kept loose to allow a free growth of suckers. 

 Experiments on the San Ramon Government Farm 

 indicate that abaca plants make a much better 

 growth on land plowed before setting and then kept 

 well cultivated by horse-power cultivators, than on 

 land merely cleared and burned over, then culti- 

 vated with sweet-potatoes, as is the usual custom. 

 Unless shade trees have been left at intervals of 

 twenty to thirty yards, corn should be planted 

 between the rows to serve as a partial shade and 

 protection from the wind. 



The stalks are cut between the flowering and 

 fruiting stages. If cut earlier or later the fiber will 

 be of inferior quality. The first stalks are ready to 

 cut twenty to thirty-six months after planting, and 

 afterwards the fields are cut over about once in 

 eight months until the plants become unproductive 

 at the end of fifteen to forty years. The new plants 

 continue to grow as the older ones are cut. The 

 plants are cut with a sharp bolo, leaving the stump 

 three to six inches high, slanting so as to shed 

 water. 



Immediately after the stalk is cut the leaves are 

 trimmed off. The outer fiber-bearing surface of 

 each successive leaf-stem composing the trunk is 

 then stripped off with the aid of a bone knife. The 

 fiber is cleaned by drawing these fresh green strips 

 between a knife and a block of wood, the knife be- 

 ing pressed against the wood by means of a spring 

 pole. The work requires strength and skill. Twenty- 

 five pounds of clean dry fiber is a fair day's work. 

 The annual yield of fiber varies from 300 to 1,000 

 pounds per acre, the average being probably not 

 far from 500 pounds. 



Abaca fiber is used in the Philippines for making 

 hand-woven cloth, known as "tinampipi" and "sina- 

 may." The fiber for this purpose is selected and 



tied end to end, not spun into yarn. It is also used 

 for domestic cordage. Nearly all of the abaca 

 fiber exported is used in making twines and cord- 

 age. It is used for the best grades of binder twine, 

 well-drilling cables, power-transmission rope, hoist- 

 ing rope, and for nearly all marine cordage. Old 

 manila rope, especially worn-out marine cordage, is 

 used to make " rope manila paper." AbacS rope of 

 the best quality has a working strength about 

 twice as great as sisal. Standard or current abaca 

 is about one and one-half times as strong as sisal. 

 It is also lighter and more durable. 



AbacS fiber constitutes about three-fourths of 

 the total exports of the Philippines. The principal 

 markets are the United States and Great Britain. 

 The importations into the United States during the 

 past ten years are shown in the following table: 



Sisal or henequen. (Pigs. 399, 400 ; also Pig. 22.) 



The fiber known in our markets as sisal is ob- 

 tained from the leaves of two closely related plants, 

 henequen. Agave rigida, var. elongata. Baker, and 

 sisal. Agave rigida, var. Sisalana, Engelm. These 



Fig. 399. Sisal {Agave rigida, var. Sisalana). No leaves 

 are cut above an angle on the stem of 45°. 



plants belong to the Amaryllidacex or Amaryllis 

 family, and are somewhat similar in appearance to 

 the century plant. They are both native in Yucatan 

 and there, as elsewhere in Spanish America, both 

 are called henequen. The varieties are distinguished 

 in Yucatan by the Maya names, " sacci " for var. 



