246 



USEFUL FIBER PLANTS OF THE WORLD. 



purpose alone at a considerable profit. Dr. Royle suggested utilizing the plant for 

 this purpose in India nearly forty years ago. 



As to the strength of plantain fiber, experiments by Dr. Royle gave most satisfac- 

 tory results. Fiber from Madras bore a weight of 190 pounds, while a specimen 

 from Singapore stood a strain of 360 pounds, and Russian hemp bore 190 pounds. 

 "A twelve-thread rope of (India) plantain fiber broke with 864 pounds, when :i 

 single rope of pineapple broke with 924 pounds.'" Compared with English hemp and 

 manila (see experiments in tenacity, under head of Musa textilis), a rope 3£ inches 

 in circumference and 2 fathoms long, made in Madras in 1850, gave the follow- 

 ing results: The plantain, dry, broke at 2,330 pounds alter immersion in water 



^_^ twenty-four hours; tested seven 



/ j8 <l ;ivs after. 2,387; and after ten 



ip jgljf days" immersion, 2,050. Manila 



'~~>x J| jjlr rope and English hemp dry, gave 



^lIlBk ^ Jll 4,669 and 3,8*5 pounds, respec- 



tively. Though common plan- 

 tain fiber is not possessed of the 

 strength of manila hemp, yet it 

 is fitted for many purposes of 

 cordage and canvas, and some of 

 the liner kinds for textile fabrics 

 "of fine quality and lnster." 



ECONOMN < ONSIDERATIONS.— 



The correspondence with the De- 

 partment regarding the utiliza- 

 tion of banana fiber in Florida 

 has been quite large, many speci- 

 mens have been sent in, and inter- 

 esting statements regarding the 

 possible production of the fiber 

 have been made that I regret can 

 not be produced in this limited 

 space. In 1891 Mr. St. Hill, of 

 Trinidad, sent specimens of both 

 forms of fiber to the Department, 

 and states that from 5 to 6 pounds 

 can be produced from each stalk. 

 The stalks grow 8 to 9 feet high, 

 and 800 of Them maybe produced 

 on an acre of ground. Muta 

 paradisiaca grows \ toSfeethigb, 

 produces 2 to 3 pounds of fiber to 

 the stalk, 800 stalks to the acre. 

 It is the same as the plantain, except that it is less in size and quantity, and is pre- 

 pared in the same way. 



J. H. Hart, director of the Trinidad Botanical Gardens, says that the fiber can be 

 prepared from the stems by any of the ordinary scraping machines now in use. '1 'he 

 chief difficulty with the extracting is the large percentage of water in the stem. 



Extraction of the fiber. — Forty years ago or more the production of banana 

 and plantain liber must have been a considerable industry in Jamaica. In the < !om- 

 mercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom, by P. L. Simmonds London, 1854 . is 

 given an exhaustive accountof the cultivation, harvesting, and extraction of banana 

 fiber, furnished by a Jamaican correspondent, from which it is gleaned that 100 

 pounds of stalk will give about 15 pounds of fiber, net weight, and when a whole 

 tree furnishes 1 pounds of fiber one-fourth <>f the quantity is derive 1 from the stalks. 

 < toe hundred plantain trees can l>e crushed in twenty minutes with one horse, allow- 



Fig. 85. — The banana, or plantain. Mia a tapu ntum, 



