Fibres, 



212 



[April 1907. 



16. What are the prospects tor maguey in the Philippine Islands ? 



A. The production of maguey in the Philippine Islands has more than 

 doubled during the past four years, and it is being more extensively planted every 

 year. There is practically no limit to the area in the Islands that is suitable for this 

 crop. Thousands of hectares of what is now waste land would grow good maguey. 

 Thousands of hectares of poor, stony land, now producing miserable crops of corn and 

 tobacco should be planted to maguey. 



Certain improvements are urgently required. The more careful selection of 

 suckers for planting ; an improved system of planting ; cutting only the mature 

 leaves ; and the introduction of fibre-extracting machines will give us more and better 

 fibre. In Yucatan, where conditions of soil and climate are very similar to those 

 found in parts of the Philippine Islands, more than 130,000,000 worth of sisal is 

 produced every year. Maguey now ranks fifth among our exported products, and is 

 exceeded in value only by abaca, copra, sugar, and tobacco. There is every indication 

 that, with the introduction of improved methods, the cultivation of maguey will 

 become one of the leading industries of the Philippine Islands.— Philippine Bureau 

 of Agriculture, Bulletin No. 8, 



FIBRE-EXTRACTING MACHINERY. 



The introduction and the use of fibre-extracting machines is the most vital 

 question affecting the maguey industry. Without such machines the cultivation 

 of maguey is confined to limited areas near the seacoast, where the tide water can 

 be utilized for retting the leaves. The fibre thus produced is inferior in quality 

 and can never rank with sisal in the markets of the world. The introduction of 

 machinery is, in fact, absolutely essential, if any considerable development of the 

 maguey industry is to take place. 



The principal obstacle to the immediate use of the large automatic machines 

 in the Philippine Islands is, that few of our maguey planters are in a position either 

 to purchase these machines or to use them to advantage. Maguey has been planted 

 in small and widely scattered fields, and the facilities for transporting a large 

 number of leaves to any one central point are extremely poor. An improved fibre 

 extracting machine, to be profitably operated, must have such a supply of leaves. 

 There are a few plantations, or localities, that will soon be in a position to use one 

 of these machines, and the number will undoubtedly increase as the industry 

 develops, What is most urgently needed at the present time, however, is a small 

 machine of limited cost, weight, and cleaning capacity, that can be used on the 

 sm farms. 



The old Mexican raspador has been brought into the Islands, and has been 

 given numerous trials and experiments. The results obtained have not been 

 entirely satisfactory. The quality of the cleaned fibre by the raspador is excellent, 

 but the amount of fibre obtained is hardly sufficient to justify the cost of operating the 

 machine. The use of the l-aspador in its present condition cannot be recommended. 

 A small machine, the " Pioneer," constructed on the same principle as the raspador 

 but with certain improvements, is soon to be introduced into the Philippine Islands. 

 If this machine does the work that it is claimed to do, it should be admirably suited 

 to the present needs of the Philippine maguey planter. There are a number of 

 different automatic fibre-extracting machines in quite general use in Yucatan. 

 While each of these machines has its partisans, the " Prieto " appears to be inmost 

 general use. Ordinarily these machines do not clean up to their full capacity 



