582 
Philippine Journal of Science 
1919 
hardly be considered to have attained commercial si^ificance. 
Even in India, where the plant is very abundant and where, 
since its discovery by Roxburgh in 1801, the greatest efforts 
have been exerted to make it of commercial importance, the 
results have not been successful. 
Cultivation experiments with two lots of seed, performed 
at the Forestry School and on the farm of the College of Agri- 
culture at Los Banos, Philippine Islands, were unsuccessful. The 
first lot gave a germination percentage of only 4, and the second, 
20.5. At the end of a year the plants were 2.1 meters high 
and averaged 4.4 centimeters in diameter at the base. These 
plants were blown over during a storm eight days prior to their 
having attained an age of one year, but were subsequently 
righted. No details are given regarding the later progress of 
the plants or the quality and yield of the fiber produced. Men- 
diola suggests the suitability of Abroma fastuosa for reforest- 
ation, since it grows on cogon areas and can check the growth 
of grass within a year. Aside from these experiments Abroma 
fastuosa has never been cultivated in the Philippines. It grows 
wild in at least fifteen provinces, and the fiber used locally is 
procured from this very uncertain and limited source. On one of 
the Bureau of Science herbarium sheets on which a specimen of 
Abroma fastuosa is mounted it is stated that this bast fiber is 
used in Cotabato as a substitute for abaca and that it sells for 
from 6 to 8 pesos per picul. It is stated also that in Cebu the 
fiber is quoted at 6.50 pesos and that it sometimes is sold for 
10 pesos per picul, and that considerable quantities are brought 
to Cebu from Dipolog and Dapitan. 
Tests and discussion of results. — Two samples of Abroma 
fastuosa rope were tested, photographs of which are shown 
in Plate III, figs. 1 and 2. Although these are from accurately 
identified plant specimens their physical appearance is suffi- 
ciently different to lead one to doubt their identity. That shown 
in fig. 1 was taken from a coil of rope collected by me at Sap- 
paac, Abra Province, May, 1916. The fiber was prepared by 
retting for about ten days in fresh water with subsequent mani- 
pulation. It is sulphur yellow, soft and glossy, and makes a 
very pliable and attractive-looking rope. It has a high uniform 
tensile strength which compares favorably with machine-made 
abaca rope, and in breaking length it is only second to Gnetum sp. 
” Mendiola, Nemesio Blanco, A study of Philippine bast fibers, Philip. 
Agr. and Forester 6 (1917) 6-38. 
” Loc. cit. 
