Abaca

“ Abacá or Manila-hemp (q. v.) is best grown in the south-east of Luzon, in Samar, Leyte, and Bohol. Its cultivation requires little trouble, and the plantations, usually small, are each the property of a native family. Hand-labour and a few simple machines of native construction are all that is required in the preparation of the fibre. The abacá districts are generally very poor. Coffee was introduced, probably from Brazil, in the latter part of the 18th century, but the first plantation on a large scale was formed only in 1826. The cultivation is now pretty extensive. ”

“ I am submitting for consideration by this Congress measures to industrialize and stabilize our problem-beset abaca industry. The progressive decline in the price of this commodity, accelerated by the inroads of synthetics and current heavy disposals of foreign stockpiles, discouraged production, reduced incomes, and diminished export receipts. We should strive to maintain abaca prices at remunerative levels, discover new uses for the fiber, and undertake more domestic processing of the product. ”

“ Francisco’s father had a good many acres devoted to it, and his crop yielded him a good income. A field is planted by setting out, at regular intervals, shoots from old plants. Three years are required for these shoots to grow to maturity, and a planter must therefore be willing and able to wait a long time [25] before he can harvest his crop. An abaca plant grows to a height of ten feet or more, bearing long fanlike leaves that wave gracefully in the breeze and shut out the sun’s rays so completely that noontime in an abaca field is like twilight. ”

“ Coarse buri mats are almost exclusively used in wrapping abaca for the export trade. Since baling is carried on only in large seaports, particularly in Manila and Cebu, the weaving of these mats in certain localities where the buri palm is abundant [8] and their transportation to the hemp-producing towns are important industries. ”

“ In the Abaca Production Act of 1950, Congress declared that abaca, a hard fiber used in the making of marine and other cordage, is a highly strategic and critical material which cannot be produced in commercial quantities in the continental United States, and of which an adequate supply is vital to the industrial and military requirements for the common defense of the United States. ”

“ Some funds for such projects will be made available by the Rehabilitation Finance Corporation.
The National Abaca and Other Fibers Corporation and the National Coconut Corporation have both been extremely active in insuring to producers of these products the maximum benefits from the high prices now prevailing. The NAFCO and the NACOCO have established offices throughout the Philippines offering to buy abaca and copra at a minimum fair price. If the producers can obtain a higher price elsewhere, the Government is pleased to have the purchases made by private interests. ”

“ The Philippines have practically a monopoly on its production. Abacá culture is carried on in a very primitive way. The plants require well-drained soil and for this reason the Filipino often puts them out on steep mountain sides. The forest is felled, the timber is burned on the ground and the young plants are set before weeds have time to encroach. The bolo is usually employed for subsequent “cultivation,” which consists in the occasional chopping down of weeds. Fortunately the shade in an abacá plantation is so deep that it materially impedes the growth of other plants. ”

“ Slight industrial progress.With the exception of embroidery, the natives have made but little progress in industries, in the weaving and the plaiting of mats; and the handicrafts are entirely carried on by the Chinese.
Rice and abaca exported.The exports consist of rice and abaca. The province exports about twice as much rice as it consumes; a large [145] quantity to Albay, which, less adapted for the cultivation of rice, produces only abaca; and a fair share to North Camarines, which is very mountainous, and little fertile. ”

“ Enormous areas of good abacá land are as yet untouched, while the greater part of land already under cultivation might yield a greatly increased product if more careful attention were given to the various details of cultivation. The introduction of irrigation will make possible the planting of abacá in many districts where it is now unknown. The perfection of a machine for the extraction of the fibre will increase the entire output by nearly one-third, as this amount is now lost by the wasteful hand-stripping process. ”

“ The manila hemp, or abacá plant, is a nearer cousin of the banana palm. You [24] cannot make a sail or tie up a bag of potatoes, without using our manila hemp, or abacá. It is the strongest fiber known; it does not weaken in water. The great hawsers that are used to pull the great ships, are made out of it. ”

“ Abacá districts.The southern Camarines and Albay are favorably adapted for the cultivation of this plant, as are also the islands of Samar and Leyte, and the adjacent islands; and Cebu likewise, although a portion of the so-called “Cebu hemp” comes from Mindanao. In Negros the bast-banana thrives only in the south, not in the north; and Iloilo, which produces most of the hemp cloth (guinara) , is obliged to import the raw material from the eastern district, as it does not flourish in the island of Panay. In Capiz, it is true, some abacá may be noticed growing, but it is of trifling value. ”

“ Peculiar to the Philippines.The great profit which the Manila hemp has yielded in the few years since its production, however, has given encouragement to still further experiments; so that, indeed, it will shortly be shown whether the cultivation of abacá is to be confined to its present limited area, while the edible species of banana has spread itself over the whole surface of the earth within the tropics. On the volcanic mountains of Western Java a species of the Musaceae grows in great luxuriance. ”

“ They also pay as tribute white abacá mantas, which are called medriñaques, four brazas long and one wide, valued at three reals; and also abacá in fiber, at the rate of two reals per chinanta, which is one-half arroba. That abacá is used to whip the strands of cables of the ships and boats instead of hemp. ”

“ This lake is bounded on the west by high mountains; the level country is fertile, and is inhabited by a people of gentle manners: they employ themselves in manufacturing matting, cloth, and different fabrics, from the abaca. Perhaps the first monks who were sent to convert them were attracted there by the mildness of their character.
The Spaniards, in supplying them with a religion, have left their laws unaltered; in fact, their ancient usages are retained, and they are governed by an Indian of their village, nominated, however, by the Spaniards, and whose authority they acknowledge. ”

“ It has a cool and healthful climate. The neighbouring country is hilly and sterile, but produces sibucao in considerable quantities. The weaving of fabrics of abacá (Musa textilis) , or Manila hemp, and pineapple fibre is the most important local industry. ”

“ Their usual way of taking game is to set strong nets of abaca in the woods in the form of a V, then the beaters and dogs drive the game towards the hunters, who are concealed near the apex, and who kill the deer or wild pigs with their lances whilst entangled in the nets. ”

“ It is distributed throughout the greater part of the Philippine Archipelago. The area of successful cultivation lies approximately between 6° and 15° N. and 121° and 126° E.; it may be successfully cultivated up to about 4000 ft. above sea-level. The provinces, or islands, where cultivation is most successful are those with a heavy and evenly distributed rainfall. H. T. Edwards, fibre expert to the Philippine bureau of agriculture, wrote in 1904:—
“The opportunities for increasing the production of abacá in the Philippines are almost unlimited. ”

“ In the lowlands and on the lower mountain slopes the forests are composed chiefly of broad-leaved trees, common among which are the bamboo, the coco and other palms, and the banyan tree; but on the higher mountain slopes pines are most abundant. About 750 species of wood are of commercial or local value, among them are woods well suited for structural purposes, inside finishing, cabinet work and carriage making. Plants valuable for their fibre number about 300, and among them is the abacá (Musa texilis) , from the leaves of which Manila hemp is made. ”

“ Abacaris, a settlement of Indians in the Portuguese possessions of the province of Amazon. These people derive their name from a lake, upon which they reside. It is a peculiarity of this lake, that it has its outlet into the river Madiera which, after flowing out of the province turns about and again enters it, forming, in this involution, the large and fertile island of Topanambes. This tribe is under the instruction of the Carmelites. They retain many of their early peculiarities of manners and modes of life. ”

“ On such a night we came to the Tucabaca, the only river of size between the Guapay and the Paraguay. I ordered a halt until the moon appeared, but clouds hid it, and we came perilously near losing a mule in forcing the frightened animals across. Frequently the Tucabaca rises in a few hours to a raging torrent that can only be crossed in a pelota, or in the dugout of a surly old Brazilian negro living in a cluster of huts on the further bank. ”

“ The name “Buquid” apparently simply designates them as dwellers in the mountain forests. The Italons—a name of the same signification, applied by the Gaddans to the Ilongots dwelling in the Caraballo mountains of Nueva Ecija and Príncipe (who are called Ibilao by their Isinay neighbors north of that range) —and Abacas lived on the headwaters of the Rio Grande and Rio Chico. ”

“ Abacas.—Heathen Malay people, who lived in the dense forests of Caraballo Sur (Luzon) . Warlike, probably head-hunters. In the last century they were Christianized, and in their territory the parish of Caranglan (province of Nueva Ecija) was founded, where their descendants lived as peaceful Christians. They have a language of their own, but appear now to be thoroughly Tagalized.
Abra-Igorots, Igorots of Abra.—Collective title for the head-hunters living in the province of Abra (Luzon) . Belong for the most part to the Guinaanes. ”

“ To discover the excellence of the ananas required no great skill; it recommended itself so much by its taste, smell, and colour, as to attract the notice of the first Europeans who visited Brazil; and we find it praised in the earliest writers on America, who give an account of it, as well as of tobacco, maize, and other productions of the new world.
Gonçalo Hernandez de Oviedo is, as far as I know, the first person who described and delineated the ananas. ”

“ This constant pressure, which can in a measure be followed in historic times, has had its effect in pushing southward peoples whose origin must be sought in the central region. Such a people are the Abipone—a group of tribes which owe their especial fame among South American Indians perhaps more to the fact that they were so faithfully pictured by Father Dobrizhoffer, during the period in which they were gathered in missions, than to their own qualities, striking as these are. ”

“ It is only by the introduction of true Christianity, that any permanent improvement in the character of these Indians can be hoped; and the Araucanians are the nation which, if rightly instructed in the truths of the Bible, seem most likely to become the missionaries and teachers of the red race.
The Abipones, [6] resident in Paraguay, are also a nation of horsemen, but in many habits, are more like the Araucanians than the Pampas Indians. They wear clothing, and are very industrious in manufacturing cloth, and utensils of various kinds.
They are a very healthy race, and long-lived. ”

“ The Spaniards early recognized their relation to the Apaches, although they differ totally from them in their industrious habits, being by far the most civilized of any tribe of Athabascan descent. They have evidently been quick to take advantage of their contact with the semi-civilized Pueblos and Moquis, and from them have acquired many useful arts—chiefly in learning to spin and weave. Their blankets, woven in looms, are of great excellence, and frequently bring from $25 to $100. They cultivate the soil extensively, raising large quantities of corn, squashes, melons, &c. ”

“ Abanakee, or Eastlanders, a distinct people, consisting of a plurality of tribes, who formerly occupied the extreme north eastern part of the United States. The word is variously written by early writers. See Abenakies, Abernaquis, Wabunakies.
Abancay, the capital of a province of the same name 20 leagues from Cuzco, in Peru. It is memorable for the victories gained in the vicinity by the king's troops in 1542 and 1548 against Gonzalo Pizarro. It lies in a rich and spacious valley, which was inhabited by the subjects of the Inca, on the conquest. ”

“ The papaw (Carica papaya) thrives luxuriantly on most soils. The natives are always fond of it, and I found it a most palatable fruit, but the Europeans in the East generally consider it a too coarse or common fruit to be placed on the table. It was evidently introduced by the Portuguese and Spanish from [86] the West Indies, and the Malay name papaya comes from the Spanish papayo.
At the height of one thousand feet ferns appear in very considerable numbers, and here also the useful bamboo grows in abundance, though it is found all the way down to the level of the sea. ”