220 
BULBS GROWN IN MOSS. 
" The guinarras are four yards (varas) long, 
half a yard wide, and differ in fineness and 
value. The coarsest sell for the eighth part 
of a Spanish dollar ; but others are so superior 
in quality as to bring five dollars : a shirt 
made of this fine sort may be inclosed in the 
hollow of the hand. 
" The stuffs when woven are soaked in warm 
water for twenty-four hours, after which they 
are washed in cold clear water ; then put, for 
the same space of time, in rice-water, and 
lastly washed as at first, by which means they 
acquire lustre, softness, and a white colour ; 
which last, however, the natives do not under- 
stand how to preserve, for by dint of time 
and frequent washing the cloth becomes of a 
reddish hue. 
" The cultivators of the abaca bind up the 
fibres as the Spanish peasants do hemp. Each 
of the bundles generally weighs one arroba : 
if they are bandald they sell at the rate of the 
forth part of a dollar a piece, the bunches of 
tupoz at three-eighths, and those of lupis at 
five-eighths each. These bundles are brought 
to market, and sold to the women who manu- 
facture them. I had an opportunity of seeing 
the looms of Nabua, where I was told that a 
woman cannot weave more than one piece 
of stuff in seven days. Those of the coarsest 
sort, called tinagsad, sell at the rate of one- 
fifth of a dollar the piece ; they are four 
yards (varas) long, and made use of by the 
rather superior quality, called handoy, are 
likewise used for garments, and are sold for 
the fourth part of a dollar when plain ; the 
dyed ones are somewhat dearer. The sort 
called mdbao, requiring more labour to be 
worked in stripes, is still more expensive. 
Two other sorts of superior quality are binatol 
and piring '-pitting, the latter of which sells 
for a dollar. Other stuffs, of fine colours and 
exquisite quality, called cambayes, I saw 
manufactured at New Caceres, that are made 
use of by very rich ladies for shifts ; in these 
cotton and silk are mixed in certain propor- 
tions with the Abaca. 
" They manufacture several patterns of the 
abaca, different in design and colour accord- 
ing to the different uses for which they are 
destined, such as for dresses, shirts, curtains, 
table-cloths, sofas, &c. The abundance is so 
considerable, that, as I am credibly informed, 
the villages Cagsava, Camalig, Guinapatan, 
and Legao furnish yearly 1,500 arrobas each. 
In this district of Camarines they manufac- 
ture 1,200 arrobas of cordage annually, and 
nearly the like quantity in the district of 
Albay, all which the king receives for one 
dollar and a half the arroba. With these the 
natives pay their tribute, parish due, &c; 
they clothe themselves, and purchase neces- 
saries of life. In the manufactories of New 
Caceres, an astonishing quantity of cordage is 
produced. 
" It is a matter of surprise that neither Lin- 
nasus, nor subsequent botanists [published 
1805] have mentioned a plant which is so 
very well known and used in the Philippine 
Islands, though Rumphius, in the llerbarum 
Amboinense, gives some account of it : he 
mentions its fruit as being very small, hard, 
and useless, and saj^s that at Mandanao they 
are skilled at manufacturing ropes of the outer, 
and clothes of the inner fibres of its trunk. 
This author gives to our tree the name of 
si/lvestris, from a supposition that it is neither 
cultivated at Mindanao nor Luzon ; but as the 
fact is quite otherwise, at least at the present 
time, I thought it proper to alter the name, and 
to call this species of plantain Musa text/Us, 
especially as it is the only one of which the 
fibres are converted into such exquisite articles 
of manufacture." 
BULBS GROWN IN MOSS. 
In the Garden Almanack this was recom- 
mended some years ago, and practice has 
reconciled many persons to it, as a clean and 
pretty mode of bringing forward the beauties 
of the spring, such as hyacinths, narcissus, 
and early tulips. Unless, however, the vessels 
were deep enough to hold the roots pretty 
firm, they were apt to fall over, and we are 
not sorry that this fact has brought forth a 
very useful kind of stand or support for 
bulbous plants. Whether they are grown in 
water, sand, or moss, the stands are equally 
applicable, and as the price is too small to be 
any object, they are becoming very general. 
They are formed of three thin brass wires 
fastened in a ring about one-third of their 
length from one end, and two-thirds from the 
other. The short ends form legs, and the long 
ones supporting the long ends are bent out- 
wards, and then upwards again, so that the 
bulbs rest in a kind of cradle ; but another 
ring larger than the bottom one is fastened 
two inches above the small one, and a third 
ring slips up and down the uprights, so as to 
confine the flowers and leaves in an upright 
position. When used in hyacinth glasses, the 
short ends of the wires go down into the 
water; when used in sand or in moss, they 
form legs for the support to stand on. so that 
in any case they are really simple, valuable, 
and ornamental. If the vessel is shallow, the 
legs may be bent outwards to any extent, so 
as to bring the seat of the bulb lower — indeed, 
as low as you please. With the help of these 
stands we have seen hyacinths well flowered 
in a moderate sized breakfast saucer, and 
several of them in a shallow dish ; but it is 
