Nuhou, Volume I, Number 18, 25 ʻApelila 1873 — THE HEMP BANANA. [ARTICLE]

THE HEMP BANANA.

We liear of an enterprise on the part of Mi\ G. Armstrong of Wailuku to eultivate this valuable fibrous plant, whieh we liope will succeed. This is one of the chief sources of pn>hperity \ -11 il>elago, aml ' t#yBßme JrjLa ?r ' V: -int artic!e df is!anas, 'iliī-i>l&nty-the botans, aue! nameel by tbe PliiUplne - and ards dc is ffi%e"popiilous |>rovir t ees (1v 1 t.»ci\;. i ia Liiu gv<'at of litiron. About half a million of people are devoted to the culture of the abaca. It is planted by the liien, but the women are the chief operatoi*s in its manufacture. i Our soil and climate are well suited to its ; prodiiction. It will grow at any point, even with a very moderate supply of moist'ure, but it will succeed best in lands that are somewliat sheltered from the violence of the winds, and at an elevation of from I I one io two thousand feet. The cultivation ; may be of the modest kind, as in Albav, J where a crooked, unsliod stick dragged by! a bufTalo ? tears up very imperfectly tlie j ground, and Ayill suffice for this plant; but of course witli superior implements and skill the result must be t>ettei\ After tlie! plant is onee establislied in llie ground it continues like other bananas to propagate itself by suckers/ According to Crawfurd, an accurate observer, Mly 500 plants that attain to a -heighth of 18 to 14 feet exftusive of the leaves, will stand well upon an acre of grounu. Tlie fruit of the abaca is unpalaleahle and' not fit lbr food. Just wlien it is about to form., the plant is.cut elown, and its stem is| divided *lengtliwise, when you diseover a ! perfect bundle of iliaments of diflcrent de-: g'rees of tenuity, and about six feet in ( length. Tliese are liackled- like flax, and! ihen carefully sorted out by tho deft iin-' gers of the women ; some being laidasidel for cloth and otliers fbr cordage, A littie; over a pound of iibre is from a plaut, and you miglit from a goo\i aere get at least one thousand i>ounds ol' raw hemp. Kow tliis does not present a very tempting sliowing to a planter wlio ean produce | four to six thousand pounds of sugar on an j acro of ground; lierein is the desir-! ability of the liemp banana. It is one of | the sure^things ? 11 ke eane and castor palm, | to grow in tliese islands, It does not reqniro ■ any more work than the tirst eultivation of eorn to start it ? and when ohee established | in the ground, you ean eonlinue to crop| perennially. We only require the eheap! labor of fhe Pliilipine to find a ready*pros- j perity iu this plant; l)iu as we have it not| we must do tlie best we ean ; and skill and j enterprise may sūpply to souie extent the laek of this4ibunda?it, rude labor. . j Mr. Armsirong lias, we helieve, sent to! ihe Coionies It>r a ilax maehine, aiul it he suceeeds f as we hope lie will, in produoini*: a <|uantity of libre, and that shall be bought | bv sonie of our intelligent and enterprising merehants then we shall have a startiug point and get some sthnulUH fbr farthor.opt rations. The lands !hat are untīt for favōrab!e eultiva(iou of eane, suei\ as ravines t j glens ? sina!l vallt\Ys, aud hill sides of the ? mouniuins, wiii be tHe best adapted to th<> ; i -e( ! 'u m < uol! >tartedw uh

| lhe |>lant, aud you ean eoMlinue to gn(lter | with littJe omo larther lal>or of caltivatio]]. | It woulei be a most clesirable thing to | have all our elevated lancls ? henehe* and j ravines filled with plants eontributing ma- | terial fcr commerce ; "sueh as the textile ' ha-na-na, tliej>i/7a, und Ihe ramie ; and there ; is an o]>portuTiity {or llie enip]oynient of i the *niall ap]>ro|>riation l"or the eneouragei menl oi agrieulture, by aiding Mr, Arm- = strong anu other uBeful experimenters with | new iibre produeing plank^