Miscellaneous Useful Products. 236 



[September, 1909. 



in water containing salt and lemon juice 

 for whitening and rounding its surface ; 

 this operation takes a few hours. The 

 straw is then exposed to night air for 

 three consecutive nights, after which it 

 is ready for use. The material employed 

 in the making of a hat is marked at 

 from 15 to 40 cents, or the equivalent 

 thereof, per hat, according to the fine- 

 ness and whiteness of the straw, the 

 youngest leaves generally giving the 

 best quality. It takes a woman four 

 days to make an ordinary hat, eight 

 days for a good one, aud as many as 

 fifteen days for the finest hat made in 

 Colombia. The salary of the peasant 

 woman employed in the making of a 

 " jipijapa " hat is reckoned at 10 cents a 

 day, including her food, which can be 

 calculated at 10 cents additional. 



The best hats exported from this 

 country are those called " Suaza," made 

 in the city of that name in the Depart- 

 ment of Cundinamarea. The next in 

 order are the " Antioquenos," made in 

 the Department of Antioquia. Then 

 follow the ones made in the Depart- 

 ment of Santander, called, respectively, 

 "Zapatoea," " JBarichara," "Bucara- 

 manga," and " Giron," from the various 

 cities in which they are made, and vary- 

 ing in quality and price in the order 

 named. But the '* Zapatoea," although 

 the most expensive from Santander, are 

 supposed to be less durable. 



Method of Shipping. 



The best Suaza hat exported costs on 

 the premises $5, the cheapest of all being 

 those from the Department of Santander, 

 which range from 50 cents to $2, accord- 

 ing to the quality. Indeed, some 

 Panama hats, made at the rate of one a 

 day, sell for less than 50 cents, but these 

 are made exclusively for home consump- 

 tion and are not exported. 



Hats are generally exported by the 

 local merchants, mostly through the 

 agency of a commission house at the 

 port of shipment. In some cases foreign 

 houses buy direct, whereas a few indi- 

 viduals take their own merchandise to 

 the foreign country where it is marketed 

 by them personally. The hats are 

 packed in boxes weighing 132 pounds 

 and containing from 40 to 50 dozens each. 

 The shipping costs, per box, are as 

 follows : — Packing and boxing $2, mule 

 freight to river port $1, river freight to 

 port of shipment, $1, plus one per cent. 

 ad valorem, f reight to New York, three- 

 fourths of one per cent., or 20 cents per 

 cubic foot, plus 5 per cent., should 

 measurement be more than value ; com- 

 mission, etc., about $1 per box. The 

 box containing 40 dozens of the best $5 



Suaza hats, and the cheapest kind ex- 

 ported, 50 cents, will cost in New York 

 the following : — 



Item - X»»L Cheapest. 



Purchase price ... 1 



&o <4aa.aa 

 TZ,4UU UU 



<£04 A.AA 

 $Z±U UU 



Packing and boxing ... 



2.00 



2-00 



Mule freight to river . . . 



1-00 



1-00 



River freight to port 







of shipment 



25-00 



3-40 



Commission, etc. 



1-00 



•50 



Freight to New York 



18-00 



1-30 



Total cost of 40 dozens . . 



. 2,447-00 



248-20 



The cost per dozen in 







New York 



. 01-17 



6-20 



Panama hats exported from Colombia 

 to the United States may then vary in 

 value from §6'20 to $61-17 per dozen. It 

 is absolutely impossible, without examin- 

 ing the contents of each box, to put the 

 right value on an average shipment, as 

 it is the custom here to include many 

 classes of hats in the same box. It can 

 be rightly supposed, however, that the 

 average hat exported to the United 

 States from this country is at least of a 

 fair quality. 



Growth op Exports to America. 



The first Panama hat sent from this 

 port to the United States was in 1899, 

 and the trade to the present time has 

 increased, as the following statistics of 

 Panama hats exported to the United 

 States from Barranquils, alone will show, 

 for the fiscal years which ended June 

 30: in 1899, $536; in 1900, $518; in 1901, 

 $14,425 ; in 1902, $84,342 ; in 1903, $112,649 ; 

 in 1904, 1111,103 ; in 1905, $79,448 ; and in 

 1906, $151,676. The figures given repre- 

 sent the declared value in the consular 

 invoices, averaging approximately 75 

 cents per hat, a very low estimate. 



As above explained, Panama hats are 

 made in a most primitive way. Accord- 

 ingly, any machinery invented which 

 could increase the output materially and 

 at the same time reduce the number of 

 employees would be a great benefit to 

 the industry which is very attractive, 

 since it needs but a small capital and 

 promises good returns to anyone engag- 

 ing in it systematically. 



[Ten plants of this species (Carludo- 

 vica palmata) were recently imported 

 from Ceylon and planted about March 

 6, 1909, at the Lamao experiment station, 

 for trial and propagation, if satis- 

 factory . —Editor. ] 



