Show HAS WEALTH OF FIBROUS PLANTS decline of coffee and rubber trade brings revival of old industry in brazil government AIDS JH IN TESTS more than varieties furnish ma aerial for jute bushes brushes hats ana cordage country has enor resources brazil braell although covered with fibrous plants imports 5 worth of jute arid and indian hemp annually the traveler tia veler who watches a long line of adores staggering under the weight of bags bagg of coffee in the lie port of if santos hsia has only to turn his glasses toward the lie neighboring hills to see pee some of the lie best specimens of fiber yielding plants the answer ansier is simple the country Is so hu huge e and nt at the hie same time 8 der populated that all of its resources will not be developed for years to come the recent announcement that the federal government was wag ready to fo receive immigrants will give some gome idea of the ratio of the population of this south american state to its area lately with nith the decline of the he rubber ber industry caused by the difficulty in competing with fill the rubber plantations of the far east and since coffee raising raisin has become less profitable because of over planting the country has turned its attention to the commercial value of fibrous plants and their development has begun to attract the attention of investors nearly every bra ellian Is familiar with their fibers and an insistent propaganda has begun for their exploitation the government Is us assisting and experiments have developed several fibers of assured commercial value some of which are described in a bulletin of the ran pan american union ns as follows only fiber exported the only fiber that figures among brazilian exports to the united states la Is piassava plas sava a kind of hairy pliable bark one company has trees on its property north of bahia city another important source of supply Is the valley of the rio preto in northern leahla babaa the fibers measure from 8 to 15 feet in len gili the longer 0 ones nes being used in making ropes arid and twine and the heavier coarser kinds cut into short strips for a number of uses chief of which are the manufacture of brooms brushes hats and to a limited extent sandals the exportation of this fiber from bahia and to the united states state s and europe as well as other parts of brazil and south america is increasing yearly as new applications are found tor for it in the united states it Is used only in tho the manufacture of snow know sweepers that are supplied to street car companies the traveler sailing up the straits that lead into the picturesque little day bay of victoria will notice what at first glance appear to be bundles of huge broadswords broad swords tied to together gether at the handles and pointing in every direction A closer examination reveals these bundle as green bushes the roots of which must certainly be past ed d against the sides of the cliffs to keep the plant from falling into the water A common stalk cannot be detected and in tact fact does not exist the bush being simply a collection of mammoth leaves from ten to twelve feet long that sprout independently from a single root it Js Is the pi piteira teira a cousin of the famous agave of the philippines which has the distinction of being the first fibrous plant to be cultivated by europeans in brazil where the tha first portuguese colonists found the indians gathering the leaves of this plant for use in the making of moccasins the plants require from four to six years to mature but live from twelve to sixteen years in comparison with sisal which lives from ten to twelve years the fiber Is lighter than indian hemp and finer than hennequin henn equen from yucatan spectacular history aramina Aram lna or has a rather spectacular history repeated experiments in africa india and brazil so encouraged botanists in the latter country that an intense propaganda for the manufacture of coffee bags from this plant was begun and resulted in the building of a factory in sao paulo for that purpose although the factory attained nn an output of bags a year and found ready enthusiastic buyers difficulties so increased that after a few years of operation the factory was devoted exclusively to the manufacture of bags from jute the failure was not due to the poor quality of the bags but rather to the lack of operation cooperation co among the planters plante ii in addition to aramina which Is 14 superior to jute brazil can boast of another fibrous plant growing wild in the central part of the country which if cultivated and used in the manufacture of bass bags would eliminate the indian product from the list of her ku rn ports it Is the papoula de sao francisco sometimes called fiber from its once supposed discoverer the fillers fibers have the qualities of linen and hemp with certain advantages in printing and dyeing these represent only fibers of high commercial value andio not include a hundred other species that grow in brazil uses for the others will be found later |