The Competing Fibres.

Manawatu Herald, 15 September 1898, Page 3

The Competing Fibres.

THE MANILA PLANT.

The fibre plant is called Manila

because it is snipped from the port "of Maniiav tad in commerce its 1 l Bcietiiificnaiaa is never used. It is *fc *plMttfaat4ii height- equals some trees Tuna:, attains far three years' tim*^-*fit£tibtß growth, becoming more valuable with increased age. Tha fibre of commerce is in (he leavev In ihe third year the natives atrip 1 off the leaves and pull out the veins, scraping them with a bamboo atick until nothing but the fibre remains.. The leaves of one of these shrobs or t trees make altogether only about two thirds of a pound of fibre. One person can cut And aerape only twelve pounds of tht article a day, for which he receives 18 cents. The selected grades are pressed into bales weighing 170 pounda. The highest grade is spun into a kind of yarn, which is woven into a costly fabric, of which gar- . ments are made. The second grade U made into binding twine, and the third into coarse rope. The Manila dneropt is made from a variety of % plant. / X- THE SISAL PLANT. :^The Sisal plant is a species of osjotus grown in Mexico and Yucatan. Ijjjfke all plants of this kind, the oiiter rind of the main stem attains its full size at once, and ..then grows inward toward the centre, instead of forming in rings or layers, on the outside. Botanists have called it the sister of the century plant, although its leaves are much: longer, and instead of bending over stand straight out. Five years after planting the leaves are large enough to . cut, and a crop is cut off each year uirtil the, tenth year, when the plant shqots up into a huge stem or pole, after which it dies down to the roots.