DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE. 249 



long time, and were cool and agreeable in the use. But it is especially in France 

 that tissues of this material are best made and of the greatest beauty. They receive 

 all colors with equal perfection. Veils, crapes, neckerchiefs, robes, and women's 

 hats — all of great beauty and high cost, as well as of wonderful durability — are 

 among the manufactures from the fiber of abaca. Besides these are various articles 

 of men's wear, such as shirts, vests, pantaloons, etc. 



Cultivation. — The cultivation of the plant is simple. In Albay and Camarines 

 the finest growth is obtained on the slopes of the volcanic mountains, in open glades 

 of the forest, where shade falls from the neighboring trees. On exposed level land 

 the plants do not thrive so well, and in marshy ground not at all. The necessary 

 conditions seem to be shade and abundant moisture, with good drainage. Too rich 

 a soil tends to jiroduce luxuriant leaves with a diminution of fiber. In laying out a 

 new plantation use is generally made of the young shoots, which very quickly throw 

 up suckers from the roots. In favorable situations 10 feet is the usual distance 

 between the plants ; in poor soil, 6 feet. During the first season weeds and under- 

 growth must be kept down ; afterwards the vitality of the plants serves to exter- 

 minate other growths. The forest shade also is no longer necessary, the leaves pro- 

 tecting the buds from the sun. In exceptional instances the plants are raised from 

 seed. The ripe (but not overripe) fruit is cut off and dried. Two days before sow- 

 ing the kernels are removed and steeped in water over night. Next day they are 

 dried in a shady place, and on the following day are sown in boles 1 inch deep in 

 fresh, unbroken, and well-shaded forest land, allowing 6 inches between the plants 

 and between the rows. After a year, the seedlings, then about 2 feet high, are 

 planted out and tended in the same way as suckers, care being taken to keep the 

 soil heaped up around the stem. The plants raised from suckers require four years 

 before producing fiber of any value; those raised from year-old seedlings need at 

 least two years. (Spon's Enc). 



Extracting the Fiber. — The abaca is cut when 2 to 4 years old, just before its 

 flowering or fructification is likely to appear. If cut earlier, the fibers are said to 

 be shorter but finer. It is cut near the roots, and the leaves cut off just below their 

 expansion. It is then slit open longitudinally and the central peduncle separated 

 from the sheathing layers of fibers, which, in short, are the petioles of the leaves. 



The fibrous coats, when stripped off, are left for a day or two in the shade to dry, 

 and are then divided lengthwise into strips 3 inches wide. They are then scraped 

 with an instrument made of bamboo until only the fibers remain. When sufficiently 

 scraped, the bundles of fibers maybe shaken into separate threads, after which they 

 are sometimes washed, then dried and picked, the finest being separated by women, 

 with great dexterity. After the fiber has been cleaned in this manner, it is ready for 

 the manufacture of cordage and for all purposes where a coarse fiber is employed. 

 The fine fiber, however, which is to be used for weaving, undergoes a still further 

 operation of beating, which is performed with a wooden mallet, which renders the 

 fiber soft and pliable, it having first been made up into bundles. The separate fila- 

 ments are then fastened together at their ends by gumming, it is wound into balls, and 

 is then ready for the loom. Sometimes it is dressed like flax, on a kind of hackle, 

 and afterwards washed many times in running water until perfectly free from all 

 extraneous matter, after which it is hung over poles or ropes to dry. Two men will 

 cut and scrape about 25 pounds of the fiber in a day, the man that cuts the trees 

 transporting them, stripping the layers, and cleaning the scraped fiber, though it is 

 thought this is above the average. "From 150 to 200 trees are required to produce 

 1 picul, or 140 pounds of fiber, or 3,200 trees for a ton of 2,240 pounds." Thus an 

 Indian prepares only about 12 pounds of fiber per day, for which he receives his half 

 share, 18 cents, which is the value of 6 pounds of the hemp, "yet this insignificant 

 pittance suffices for the wants of himself and family." Spon states that a plantation 

 of mature shrubs will yield about 30 hundredweight of fiber per acre annually. For 

 further information relating to the fiber of this and other species of plantains and 

 bananas, see summary in the Kew Bulletin for August, 1894, previously referred to. 



