PHILIPPINE MAGUEY

The Philippine Agricultural Review

The Philippine Agricultural Review
Vol II No 7
Julu 1910


EDITOR G. E. NESOM, M. S.,
Director ofAgriculture


PUBLISHED BY THE BUREAU OF AGRICULTURE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION GOVERNMENT OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS
MANILA BUREAU OF PRINTING 1910

PHILIPPINE MAGUEY.


By M. M. SALEEBY, Fiber Expert.





pp 429-430








The yield of maguey from a given area depends upon soil conditions, the distance the plants are set apart, the amount of care and cultivation given them, and the time and method of harvesting. Often two adjoining fields differ considerably in their yield. Overcutting, though it gives a larger crop at first, always results in a decrease in yield of subsequent crops. Experiments with maguey and sisal leaves show that the latter contain a higher percentage of fiber, the maguey fiber being whiter, finer, and'lighter than the sisal. The percentage of fiber in a sisal leaf ranges from 4j to 6 per cent, while that of maguey does not exceed 4 or 41 per cent. Some sisal leaves have been known to give as high as 6 or 7 per cent of dry fiber, but such yield is unusual, and considerably above the average. In experiments made in Naga, Cebu, the average weight of one leaf of Philippine maguey was found to be 700 grams and the average amount of fiber in each leaf 23 grams. On this basis every 1,000 leaves would average about 700 kilograms in 96309 weight and contain about 23 kilograms of fiber; or 1 hectare of 1,500 plants producing 45,000 leaves should give an annual yield of 1,035 kilograms or about 16 1/2piculs of fiber