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ABACÁ Growers in Abacá (Manila hemp), which is one of /\ Philippines Face the so-called "hard"fibers,is produced Â. \, Outside Competition by a plant that closely resembles the well-known banana plant. With the ex- ception of small quantities produced in the Dutch East Indies, the entire world supply of abacá is obtained from the Philippine Islands. The approximate annual consumption of abacá fiber in the United States is 150,000,000 pounds. This fiber is used principally for the manufacture of the superior grades of cordage. Its remarkable strength, elasticity, and resistance to the action of salt water make it a particularly suitable material for marine cordage. Manila rope is also used in large quantities for well drilling, heavy constriiction, transportation work, and for many other purposes where cordage of superior quality is required. During periods when there is a shortage of henequén fiber, or when the price of this fiber is unduly high, there is an increased use of abacá fiber for the manufacture of binder twine. The fact that there is no entirely satisfactory substitute for abacá fiber, and the further fact that practically the entire world supply of this fiber is now produced in the Philippine Islands, indicate very clearly the need for maintaining the Philippine abacá industry in at least a reasonably healthful and prosperous condition. During the period of American occupation of the Philippine Islands, and particiilarly during the last 15 years, there have been changes and developments in the abacá situation that promise to alter very materi- ally the conditions under which this fiber is now produced. For nearly a century the Philippine Islands enjoyed a natural monopoly in the production of abacá, and there has existed a somewhat general opinion that abacá fiber of good quality could not be produced in any country other than the Philippines. In recent years, however, the production of abacá has been established on a commercial basis in the Dutch East Indies. It has also been demonstrated during the last two years that abacá fiber equal in quality to that produced in the Philippine Islands 91 92 YEARBOOK OF AGRICULTURE, 1931 can be produced in the American Tropics. It is probable, therefore, that within a relatively short time abaca fiber will no longer be an ex- clusively Philippine product. It is also probable that, with the intro- duction of the competitive factor, it will become necessary for the Philippine planters to make some improvement in their present meth- ods of production. During the period from 1901 to 1907 abacá fiber was the leading ex- port product of the Philippine Islands and constituted more than 66 per cent of the total value of all exports from the islands. Subsequently other agricultural industries, and particularly the production of coco- nuts and sugar, developed much more rapidly than the abacá industry. In 1928 the value of the abacá exported was only 17.1 per cent of the total value of all Philippine exports for that year. Antiquated Methods Continued With no direct competition from other countries, and with but rela- tively little competition from other industries in the islands, the Philip- pine abacá planters have been able to continue the use of anti- quated and wasteful methods of production and still make a reasonable profit. In the older abacá provinces, in the southern part of the island of Luzon and intheVisayanlslands, abacáhas been grown for generation after generation without cultivation and without the use of fertiliz- ers. But little attention is given to the selection of the superior varieties, and the fiber is cleaned by the same old hand-stripping process that has been in general use for at least a century. In these provinces, and with these methods of production, the abacá industry is barely hold- ing its own. Fortunately for the future of Philippine abacá, the production of this crop has been established during recent years on a rela- tiA'^ely eflacient basis in the Prov- ince of Davao in the southern part of the island of Mindanao. FlGURE 1.—A well-equippL'd abacá piantalion in the Province of Davao, Philippine Islands (Figs. 1 and 2.) About 25 years ago a small group of American pioneer farmers came into this Province and started the development of abacá plantations. These men were determined to improve the con- ditions under which abacá was then being produced, and they imme- diately made improvements. The different varieties of abacá were observed and studied, and only the superior varieties were planted. A new system of planting was introduced, and an effort was made to obtain a machine that would satisfactorily clean the fiber. After experi- WHAT'S NEW IN AGRICULTURE 93 men ting for several years, a small fiber-cleaning machine was per- fected, and this machine is now in general use throughout this Province. Some years after the American plantations were established a group of Japanese planters became interested in the production of abacá, and the Japanese now control a large part of this industry in Davao. Numerous changes and improvements have been introduced by them. They have established an auction system that has greatly improved conditions for the local marketing of fiber; they are now conducting field experiments with different systems of planting, and with the use of cover crops and commercial fertilizers ; and they are developing the production of machine-cleaned fiber. The one thing that is now most urgently needed in the abacá, in- dustry is improvement in the present method of cleaning and drying the fiber. The small machine that is now used in Davao, although better than the old hand-stripping process, requires a large amount of labor and wastes about half of the product. FiGüHE 2.—Bundles of abacá fiber that have been brought from the plantations to the market in the town of Davao Fiber-Cleaning Tests ' ■ Experimental fiber-cleaning tests made several years ago by the Bureau of Plant Industry of the United States Department of Agri- culture indicated that abacá fiber could be cleaned with the large automatic machines that are used for cleaning sisal and henequén fiber. The preliminary experimental work of the Government was followed by a more elaborate series of tests, and subsequently a ma- chine was installed on an abacá plantation in Davao. The production of machine-cleaned abacá fiber is now established on a commercial basis, with a current average monthly production of about 170,000 pounds. This machine-cleaned abacá is an excellent binder-twine fiber, and it has been used to some extent for the manufacture of the medium grades of cordage. Undoubtedly improvements wUl continue to be made not only in the cleaning but also in the methods of drying and handling this product. With these improvements it should be possible to produce machine-cleaned abacá fiber that will be entirely 40442°—31 7 94 YEARBOOK OF AGRICULTURE, 1931 satisfactory for cordage purposes and that can be produced much more cheaply than the hand-cleaned product. During the 15-year period from 1915 to 1929 there was an increase of 377,393 bales in the annual production of abacá fiber in this one district of southern Mindanao. The total annual increase in produc- tion for all of the other Provinces of the islands combined was only 201,011 bales of fiber. The Province of Davao, with exceptionally favorable climatic and soil conditions, with 5,000,000 acres of agricultural land of which only 325,000 acres are now under cultivation, and with a group of abacá planters who are improving each year the conditions under which this crop is produced, should be able to furnish in the future any supply of abacá that may be required to meet a normal increase in the world demand for this fiber. H. T. EDWARDS, Senior Technologist, Buremt of Plant Industry. y^BORTION-DISEASE Tests Infectious abortion is probably Give Information on the the most troublesome and costh' A Presence of this Malady disease with which dairymen and cattle breeders have • to deal. Since it may spread rapidly throughout a herd, accurate means for its early detection are highly desirable. One would suppose that the ap- pearance of its principal symptom, an abortion, would be sufficient for this purpose, but that does not imply definitely that the disease is present; neither does its absence insure that the herd is unaffected. All abortions are by no means caused by what is known as infectious abortion, also called Bangos disease in recognition of the scientist, Bang, who discovered the causative organism. Some abortions are due to other infections, some possibly to deficiencies in iodine or other substances, and others to causes not yet understood. Any abortion should, however, lead to suspicion and the aborting animal should be kept in isolation and all the products of the abortion and the discharges following it destroyed. Immediate steps should then be taken to deter- mine whether the herd is infected with the abortion microorganism. To the trained eye the appearance of the afterbirth gives some indication of whether the abortion is due to Bang's disease, but this indication is not entirely dependable. Several abortions occurring in succession strongly indicate the presence of this disease, but even such evidence is not conclusive. The Nature of Abortion Tests How, then, can the stock owner determine whether the disease is or is not present? Nearly all are familiar with the tuberculin test, by which the injection of a minute amount of tuberculin detects tuberculosis even in its very beginning. Eft'orts have been made to find a like sub- stance, the injection of a small quantity of which w^ould detect animals infected with abortion disease, but up to the present time substances of this kind have not proved wholly reliable for this purpose.

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