Word: abac
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1942-1942
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Abacá-90% of it from the Philippines (a lot of it from around Davao, one of the first towns the Japs took)-looks like the banana plant (see cut, p. 63) and belongs to the same family. Bananas may grease the ways for a Victory ship launching, but abacá makes the rope for the world's navies. There has been little abacá since Manila fell, and there will be little if any more till Manila is retaken...
...henequen, sisal, and every other known western fiber but sansevieria, which grows wild in Cuba, lack the resistance to salt water that makes abacá a naval necessity. Moreover, while it takes only four months to get a usable hemp crop, it takes three years to produce sisal, five to seven years for henequen. And low world prices for jute and abacá have kept Hemisphere acreage...