289 
Amongst the specimens shown in the Kew Museum are the leaves of 
Musa Fehi dried for use as a packing material. The texture of these 
leaves is stouter than in the ordinary banana. Neat little cups woven 
from plantain leaves, as well as a native rope from the same material, 
are shown from Madras. Siamese * burees," or cigarettes, sold in Bang- 
kok at 8s. 4d. per 1,000, with wrappers made from banana leaves, were 
received from Mr. F. W. gg un Banana chutney, se red at 
Natal, was shown at the Col.-Ind. Exhibition, 1886, soon ane of 
banana vinegar was received from Fiji at the same Exhibiti 
PLANTAIN AND Banana FIBRE. 
e fibre produced id the stems of various sorts of Musas has 
vention Dam 
plantain-tree which they call Saggen, by which name they call the 
plantain.” To prepare this cloth they cut the plantain stem into four 
big as brown thread; of this they make cloth, „Which i is stubborn when 
ears out soon, and when wet it is spen my." About the beginning 
of this century the Government of Jamaica offered sm of 2901. 
* for the best specimens of plantain hemp produced in each county of 
Jamaica.” Dr. Stewart West, then acting-botanist in charge of the 
Bath Garden, gained the premium for the best specimen produced in 
fixed i in the ground, and hung up to dry as soon as possible. It was 
pointed out that *the goodness of the fibre depends upon completely 
evaporating ga sap, otherwise the least fermentation greatly impairs 
its strength ; it cannot therefore be too rime hly dried before it is 
acked for in or exportation." A nine-thread rope, 1 inch diameter, 
of plantain fibre made at the Dock yard, par Royal, broke with a weight 
of 728 pounds ; while a similar rope, known as “the King's s nine-thread 
inch rope,” broke by a weight of 714 pounds 
The most valuable Musa fibre is ibed that bee by Musa 
teatilis, known in commerce as Manila hemp. ‘There are about 12 
different varieties of plants under cultivation all diftering in habit and in 
quality of the fibre yielded by them. They thriv fresh clear- 
ings of jungle on low hills, and under shade oft trees left standing at 
distances of about 60 feet. They do not do so well in open plains, and in 
swampy lands not at all Manila hemp takes the chief place as a 
material for making white ropes for rigging and other purposes, and old 
opes made of Manila hemp make excellent paper material. The mag- 
nitude of the industry connected with the Abaca or onm hemp plant 
may be gathered from the fact that about 50,000 tons of fibre are 
atirtidiy exported from the Philippine Islands, of the vais of atout three 
millions sterling. ‘This subject is more fully discussed in Kew Bulletin, 
1887, April, pp. 1-3. The fruit of the Abaca is green and hard and 
unfit for food. 
t is important to bear in mind that the Manila hemp plant is 
exclusively produced in the south-eastern part of the ipee tuis All 
attempts to successfully cultivate it in the western and northern parts 
have hitherto proved abortive. The plants grew barely 2 feet high, 
