September, 1909,] 



285 



MISCELLANEOUS USEFUL PRODUCTS, 



THE PANAMA HAT INDUSTRY. 



(From the Philippine Agricultural 

 Review, Vol. II., No. 4, April, 1909.) 

 Owing to the large demand for Panam a 

 hats, Americans may be desirous of en- 

 gaging in the business. I see no reason 

 why the "palmicha" palm would not 

 grow readily in the Philippines. Any- 

 one desiring to start this industry there 

 can get an expert boiler and hatter 

 in Colombia at small cost to teach 

 the art. 



These hats are made from the common 

 fan-shaped palm, called " palmicha," 

 which grows wild in abundance, gener- 

 ally in moderate climate and fairly moist 

 ground. Young shoots, uniform in size, 

 are cut from the plant and boiled to a 

 certain stage, being softened thereby 

 and brought to a light yellow colour. 



The process of boiling appears to be 

 an art in itself, and only a few people 

 can turn out good straw. The boilers 

 sell the straw at so much a pound, ac- 

 cording to the quality and the prevailing 

 prices of hats. 



When the proper boiling point is 

 reached, the shoots are put up to dry 

 and the leaves quickly separated. This 

 is done indoors where there is a current 

 of air but no sunshine. When the leaves 

 are nearly dry they are split with a 

 little V-shaped wood instrument, so that 

 every good leaf is the same size. When 

 left alone to dry the leaves curl in at 

 the edges and are then ready for use. 

 At this point the straw is carefully 

 wrapped in clean cloths, as the light and 

 dry atmosphere spoil it. When finished 

 the straw is carefully pared with a 

 pocket knife and then battered all over 

 with a small band maul, after which it 

 is washed with common yellow soap and 

 a little lime juice and left to dry, away 

 from the sunlight. 



In the Suaza district they make the 

 hats on solid wooden blocks, two to four 

 persons— generally women—sitting op- 

 posite each other and working steadily. 

 Four women can make an average quality 

 hat in six or seven days, while a fine one 

 requires three to six weeks. The hats 

 made in the Suaza district in Colombia 

 are considered much superior to those 

 made in Ecuador. About a year ago an 

 average Suaza hat cost 45 cents first 

 hand, a good one $P50, and a very fine 

 one $3 ; but prices have varied according 

 to the demand, and during the last two 

 years they have been rising steadily, and 

 now, at times, as high as $5 and $6ispaid 

 for them, and not the very finest at that. 



The manufacture of these hats is 

 effected to a great degree by climatic 

 influences, an expert hatter being un- 

 able to make as good a hat in the dry 

 summer weather as during the raining 

 season ; probably on this account hats 

 in some parts of the Suaza district are 

 superior to those made just a short 

 distance away. 



Long training is necessary to become 

 a good hatter, and the girls are started 

 at the work at the very early age of ten 

 years, and must practise constantly. 

 Hatters work every day, from early 

 morning, wasting very little time in eat- 

 ing, and often carrying on their work by 

 candlelight so as to finish in time for 

 market, for an hour may mean to them 

 the loss of a market day, and the corre- 

 sponding inconvenience caused by failure 

 to receive the money -which would 

 have been acquired from the sale of 

 the hat. 



Consul P. P. Demers states, in a letter 

 from Barranquila, that one of the im- 

 portant industries of the Republic of 

 Colombia is that of making palm hats, 

 known as Panama hats, of which 

 nearly $400,000 in value are exported 

 annually. 



This industry follows in importance 

 those of coffee, gold, hides, cattle, tobac- 

 co, and rubber, in the order named, and 

 is carried on in the departments of Cun- 

 diuamarca, Tolima, Antioquia, and San- 

 tander, but mostly in the latter where it 

 is the breadwinner of more than one- 

 half the population. There are no re- 

 gular factories, but the hats are hand- 

 made by thousands of peasant women 

 in almost as many households and sold 

 or traded in the local stores in exchange 

 for provisions or articles of clothing, the 

 hat being in these regions a convenient 

 medium of exchange, the housewife 

 exchanging the product of her labour 

 for so many pounds of flour, sugar, etc. 



How Panama Hats are Made. 

 Panama hats are made with the veins 

 or fibres of palm leaf, the tissues of 

 which are scraped off or combed in much 

 the same way as hemp. The palm 

 (Carludovica palmata), called locally 

 " jipijapa," is very small in appearance 

 and grows in great quantities on the low 

 and swampy lands of the upper Magda- 

 lena. It grows wild but is also cultivated, 

 although to a limited extent, in the 

 largest hat districts, the palm producing 

 in a little over a year. The preparation 

 of the fibre after the tissues have been 

 combed off consists of boiling the same 



