594 
Philippine Journal of Science 
1919 
inflated capsules containing few seeds ; ultimate branchlets much 
thickened; widely distributed in the forested areas of Luzon. 
Sterculia crassiramea bast makes a rope which when dry has 
a medium tensile strength and breaking length. Wetting de- 
creases the tensile strength about 23 per cent. The dry spec- 
imens gave uniform breaks with a maximum variation from 
the mean of 8 per cent. Only one test piece in the series of 
flve dry specimens failed in an eye-splice, and the value given 
by this specimen is not the minimum. Whereas the tensile- 
strength results obtained from the dry test pieces show a maxi- 
mum variation from the mean of only 7 per cent, the wet ones 
show a maximum variation of 16 per cent from the average. 
Three out of the five specimens failed in eye-splices. 
The strands of the rope tested average six strips of bast 
thick. These strips vary from 5 to 15 millimeters in width and 
from 0.31 to 1.04 millimeters in thickness, and their mean length 
is 1,890 millimeters. The residents of Disdis state that this 
fiber is readily attacked by an insect called “bucbuc,” which 
quickly destroys the rope by honeycombing it. Expei'ience has 
shown that all bast-fiber ropes are extraordinarily susceptible 
to attack by insects and molds. Molds grow luxuriantly on 
these fibers if they are allowed to remain exposed, particularly 
during rainy and damp weather. The molds discolor the bast 
and in some cases permanently stain it by the secretion of pig- 
ments. It was necessary to preserve the museum specimens of 
bast rope in a large covered glass jar containing a wad of cotton 
saturated with formalin, in order to inhibit the growth of fungi 
and to prevent the attack of insects. 
A summary of the tests made in the Bureau of Science is 
given in Table XIV. 
Table XIV . — Physical tests of rope made from the bast of Sterculia 
crassiramea. 
[Rope made at Disdis, Benguet Subprovince.] 
Mean diameter: 
Millimeters 
Inches 
12.7 
0.50 
Mean perimeter, or girth: 
Millimeters 
Inches 
40 
1.58 
True mean sectional area: 
Square millimeters 
Square inches 
121.3 
0.188 
