Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-06-16

leaves. varying from Two to FIVE feet long
and from one to tAFAS inches broad 1t
takes about 10000 green leaves to weigh a
ton. and they produces from fifty to sixty
pounds of dry fber.,, worth about 81 a
pound. This is a smah price when the Ia
Dor and time are taken into consideration
1t Is not produced In sufficient quantities
to give it. commercial value, although
there is a growing demand for the fiber in
France and Germany for embroidery and
lace work; but before it can be grown with
profit somebody must invent a machine for
separating and cleansing the fiber
Some people insist that the pineapple is
the strongest of all vegetable fibers and it
is especially adapted for small cordage
where great strength is required Not long
ago In Calcutta rope one inch in diam
eter bore the strain of 500 pounds.
The Nipaa Plant.
The natives say that, next to the bam-
boo. the nipa plant Is the most useful to
them. 1t belongs to the palm family. grows
wild everywhere In marshy land along the
shores and In the deltas Of the rivers
throughout the islands, and need not be
cultivated. When the leaves are mature
they are cut and packed away like hay or
straw for whatever use the owner may de-
sire to make of them. The juice may be
distilled into wine or alcohol called tuba;
the young leaves are used for making hats,
mats, cloth of all kinds, sails, rain coats
and hundred other things, while the ma
different purposes, and are the chief build
ing material of the natives, who lay them
on the roofs and sides of their houses as
we place shingles. An acre of marsh land
will produce $4,000 leaves annually, so that
1t costs very little, and house can be built
entirely of nipa, with the exception of the
frame work, which is made of bamboo.
Several species of rattan are found grow
ing wild in great abundance throughout the
mountains and forests of the Philippines,
but it has never been cultivated, and has
never been gathered except for local uses,
although 1t might be made valuable arti-
Gle of export. Rattan Is a vine. 1t grows
to the length of go to 900 feet To the
Filipino it is very important. He uses 1t
wherever we use rope; he makes furniture,
baskets, beds mats and all sorts of other
articles from 1t; he uses it for 1ashings in
constructing houses and other buildings for
binding bags of sugar, cacao and copra 1t
is indispensable to the fisherman as well as
to the farmer. for when he needs new rig
ging for his boat 1t Is only necessary for
him to go into the forest and cut much
as he likes.
The Century Plant.
The maguey is as plentiful here as in
Mexico, but the people have not yet learned
to make pulque and mescal from the juice.
That was an invention of the Aztecs. The
maguey is supposed to be a native of Mex
leo, and was introduced here with several
other varieties of cactus by the friars, prob
ably for ornamental purposes. 1t is best
known as the century plant. and there is a
popular delusion that 1t lives to great
age and bears beautiful flower once every
hundred years, but that is q mistake. 1t
never flowers but once. however, usually
at the age Of twenty or thirty years, and
then dies, but 1t can be grown from seed
and suckers in almost any soil and under
almost any conditions and in almost any
kind of climate. for it Is rugged, hardy and
f1ourishes in dry. sandy, rocky soil. The
fiber is produced from the long. feshy
leaves which reach maturity in about three
years Each plant will produce about
twenty five leaves a year and each y!eids
about a pound of fiber 1t Is not so fine
and silky as the other fibers l have mem
toned. but is longer and very elastic, ana
there is a growing demand for 1t both in
Europe and the United States. Our supply
at present comes from Mexico and Central
America, and the imports into the United
States amount annually to 100000 tons,
sorts of purposes in which coarse fibers are
adapted. for cordage and cables. lines, nets.
hammocks, upholstery. mating gunny
sacking and for adulteratfng coarse fabrics.
AS the maguey is staple and as 1t can
be produced with little trouble at almost
any point in the Philippine Islands, its cul-
tivation ought to be a great source or
wealth to our new possessions. yet very
little attention Is paid to 1t, and only rev
hundred tons are shipped from the islands
each year. 1t does not require the labor
necessary to make other fibers marketable,
for machines have been used extensively In
Mexico, Central America and the West In
dies which clean from 1900 to 10000
leaves a day The leaves are first crushed
and then thrown into watts of water, where
fermentation takes place and continues I'M
til the pulp Is reduced almost to liquid
state and the fibers can be easily separated
from it. 1t is worth about 800 a ton In the
New York market, and the demand Is I'M
limited.