ually for about fifty or sixty years.

[Banana substitute unsatisfactory.] In tropical countries there
is scarcely a hut to be seen without banana trees surrounding it;
and the idea presented itself to many to utilize the fiber of these
plants, at that time entirely neglected, which might be done by the
mere labor of obtaining it; besides which, the little labor required
for their proper cultivation is quickly and amply repaid by their
abundant fruitfulness. [230]

This idea, however, under the existing circumstances, would certainly
not be advantageous in the Philippines, as it does not pay to obtain
bast from the genuine abaca plant as soon as it has borne fruit. The
fiber of the edible banana might very well be used as material for
paper-making, though obtaining it would cost more than the genuine
bandala.

[Fiber-extracting machinery.] In the Report of the Council of the
Society of Arts, London, May 11, 1860, attention was called to a
machine invented by F. Burke, of Montserrat, for obtaining fiber from
banana and other endogenous plants. While all the earlier machines
worked the fiber parallelwise, this one operated obliquely on it;
the consequence of which was that it was turned out particularly
clear. With this machine, from seven to nine per cent. of fibrous
substance may be obtained from the banana. The Tropical Fiber Company
have sent these machines to Demerara, also to Java and other places,
with the design of spinning the fiber of the edible banana, and also
to utilize some portions of the plant as materials in the manufacture
of paper. Proofs have already been brought forward of fiber obtained
in this manner in Java, the value of which to the spinner has been
reckoned at from L20 to L25. It does not appear, however, that these
promising experiments have led to any important results; at least,
the consular reports which have come to hand contain no information
on the subject. In the obtaining of bandala in the Philippines this
machine has not yet been used; nor has it even been seen, though the
English consul, in his latest report, complains that all the hitherto
ingeniously constructed machines have proved virtually useless.

The bast of the edible banana continues still to be used in the
Philippines, notwithstanding that the plants, instead of being grown,
as in many parts of America, in large well-tended gardens, are here
scattered around the huts; but the forwarding of the raw material,
the local tr