Cultivation of the Plant. —The cultivation of the plant is simple. In Albgy and CamarInes, the finest growth is obtained on the elopes of the volcanic mountains, in open glades of the forest, whore shade falls from the neighbouring trues. On exposed level land, the plants do not thrive so well ; and in marshy ground, not at all. The necessary conditions seem to be shade and abundant moisture, with good drainage. Too rich a soil tends to produce luxuriant leaves with a diminution of fibre. In laying out a new plantation, use is generally made of the young shoots, which very quickly throw up suckers from the roots. In favourable situations, 10 ft. is the usual distance between the plants; in poor soil, 6 ft. During the first season, weeds and undergrowth must be kept down; afterwards, the vitality of the plants serves to exterminate other growths. The forest shade also is no longer necessary, the leaves protecting the buds from the sun. In exceptional instances, the plants are raised from seed. The ripe (but pot over-ripe) fruit is cut off, and dried. Two days before sowing, the kernels are removed, and steeped in water over-night. Next day they are dried in a shady place ; and, on the following defy, are sown in holes 1 in. deep in fresh, unbroken, and well-sbaded forest land, allowing 6 M. between the plants and between the rows. After n year, the seedlings, then about 2 ft. high, are planted out, and tended in the same way as suckers, care being taken to keep the soil heaped up around the stem. The plants raised from suckers require 4 years before producing fibre of any value; those raised from year-old seedlings need at least 2 years. At the first crop, only one leaf-stalk is cut from each plant ; but subse quently, the growth is so rapid that the operation may be repeated every 2 months. A plantation of mature shrubs will yield about 30 cwt. of fibre an acre annually. The fibre is in best condition just before the flowering time, but this period is not always waited for in taking the crop, in which case, the fibres are shorter and finer. The plant is severed near its roots, and the leaves are cut off just below their expansion. The petioles of the leaves are the fibrous portions sought for, and exist in layers : the outer is harder and stronger, and furnishes the bandala fibre, fit for cordage; the inner is fine, and yields the lupin fibre, used for most delicate textiles; the intermediate layers afford fibres of varying degrees of fineness, used for coarser textiles. Immediately the plant is cut down, the fibre must he extracted, otherwise the latter assumes a reddish tint, and becomes of less commercial value.
Extraction and Preparation of the Fibre.—The leaf-stalks of the cut plant are divided into strips, 3-4 in. wide, and 5-10 ft. long. These strips are subdivided, and are then subjected to a scraping process. The scraping is effected by drawing the strips by hand under a knife, 6 in. long by 3 in. broad, fastened to one end of a flexible stick, suspended perpendicularly over a smooth wooden block, and capable of having its pressure adjusted by means of a treadle. The strips are placed midway between the block and the knife, aud are drawn each way. This operation is repeated 2-3 times, when the whole of the watery and pulpy portion of the plant is removed, leaving the clean fibres. One man at the knife, and one cutting down and transporting the plants, and cutting the strips, may together elean about 25 lb. of fibre in a day, though this is above the average. A full
sized tree may afford 1-1/ or even 2 lb. of fibre, but many yield only a few ounces ; the average would not equal 1 lb. a tree; perhaps about 3200 trees may be reckoned to produce 1 ton.
Numerous attempts have been made to substitute machinery for the laborious and expensive manual operation above described ; but as yet, no machine has been found efficient, at least none has been able to establish itself in the Philippines, though it seems strange that none of the stripping machines used for dressing Agave sp. div., and Ananassa sativa, can be adapted to this plant.
The cleaned fibre needs only to be hung up in the sun till dry.
Characters and Uses of the Fibre.—Fig. 689 represents a section of the leaf-stalk of the plant ; e, epidermis ; f, fibre-vascular bundles, coloured yellow by test H ; c, centre of the bundles, which assumes no colour under the test, and contains vessels and tissue in course of formation ; mag. 100. The bundles are irregularly arranged, and the fibres composing them are closely packed. The fibres aro shown in Fig. 690 : a, section of a bundle of fibres ; b, fibres seen longitudinally ; c, ends ; mag. 300. The fibres are always colour ed distinctly yellow by test F. The filaments are white, lustrous, very light, and remarkably strong. After washing, the bun dles are easily separated into flexible threads of even diameter. The cen tral cavity is large and very apparent, the walls are of uniform thickness, and the ends taper gradually and regularly. The dimensions of the filaments are :—length : max., 06472 in. ; min., 06118. ; mean, 06236 in. ; diameter: max., in.; min., 0600064 in. ; mean, 0600096 in.
As before noted, the quality of the fibre varies much, according to its position in the stalk. The edges of the petioles contain the finest fibre, which is called hipis, and is formed into the finest native textile fabrics. Above 5 tons per annum were once imported into France, at a cost of 1001.
a ton, for making special under clothing, but none is received now. The hipis fibre is classified, according to its fineness, in the following descending scale : totogna, sogotan, and cada clan. The last is no longer used for weaving, and is sold with the banddla, which is the coarsest and strongest fibre, and is the only kind exported in an un manufactured state. Only a small proportion of this sort is used up locally.
Manilla hemp is imported into Europe, America, and other countries, almost exclusively for rope-making, for which purpose, its combined lightness and strength have procured for it a pre-eminent position, and enabled it to rule the market value of all fibres applicable to a similar end. Some samples of the fibre exposed for 2 hours to steam at 2 atmos., then boiled for 3 hours, and again steamed for 4 hours, lost 6607 per cent. of their weight, phormium lost 6614 ; hemp, G• 18-8644 ; and coin, per cent. Worn-out rope affords excellent paper-stock. As minor applications of the substance, it may be mentioned that imitation horse-hair goods are produced from It, according to the process of H. B. Ungethnm, of Lorintz, Schneeherg, Saxony, by dyeing with logwood and copperas, and imparting brilliancy by mechanical means. Rough and short fibre is used in brushes, as a substitute for bristles. The fibres, carbonized, are said to be used as carbon rods for electric lighting.