THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS 267 



In starting a plantation thq timber and undergrowth are cut 

 down and allowed to lie until dried by the sun, when they are 

 burned and the young sprouts or suckers are planted. Nothing 

 more is ever done in the way of cultivation except to cut down 

 weeds and extraneous growths to allow access to the plants and 

 to replace those that may die from accident or old age. They 

 reach maturity in about three years, and should then be cut, as 

 at that age they yield the best fiber. If they are cut earlier the 

 fiber is short and lacking in strength, and if allowed to grow too 

 old before cutting it becomes harsh, woody, and brittle. A large 

 quantity of land is required to form a successful plantation, as 

 the plants occupy considerable room, and it requires the product 

 of five or six acres to produce a ton of fiber at each cutting. 



The method of decortication is as rude as the agricultural pro- 

 cess. It is true that many machines constructed on scientific 

 principles have been experimented with, but none so far have 

 proved satisfactory, and the crude native implement is still the 

 only one in use; it consists of a rough wooden bench with a 

 long knife-blade hinged to it at one end and connected at the 

 other to a treadle. Strips of the plant are drawn several times 

 between this blade and the bench, which removes the pulp and 

 outer skin, leaving the fiber, which is then cleansed by washing, 

 dried in the sun, and packed for shipment. 



It is one of the most useful fibers known to commerce. Beside 

 its value for making rope and cordage, it is extensively used in 

 the United States for binding twine for harvesting machines. 

 Nearly one million bales are exported annually, of which forty 

 per cent comes to the United States. 



Sugar is grown very extensivel} 7 . The cane, Sacckarum viola- 

 ceum, is not of the same species as that cultivated in the Western 

 hemisphere, but it is of the kind common throughout Malaysia 

 and Polynesia. It is either a native of the archipelago or was 

 introduced in prehistoric times. Several varieties are raised on 

 the islands, some of which are used as food for man and animals 

 and others for sugar-making. They are all rich in saccharine 

 qualities, but the greater part of the sugar produced is coarse and 

 of poor quality, and brings a low price in consequence of slovenly 

 methods of cultivation and manufacture and the lack of high- 

 grade machinery, such as is used in Cuba and the United States. 

 The quantity produced, however, is very large, supplying all that 

 is used for home consumption and furnishing for export annu- 

 ally an average of 250,000 tons, which could be indefinitely in- 



