Philippine Mats / Philippine Craftsman Reprint Series No. 1

by Philippines. Bureau of Education

During the process of dyeing, the straw should be turned and moved about in the boiling water to insure an even color. The straw should never be boiled too long, or it will be cooked and become tender and weak. After the straw has taken on the shade desired, it is removed from the can and thrown on the ground. When the bundles are cool enough to be handled, they are untied and the straws spread out to dry, preferably in the shade. After it is thoroughly dried the material is rebundled and thus kept for weaving.

Before weaving, the straws are flattened by drawing each one separately between the edge of the knife and the heel of the weaver’s foot or the sole of the chinela. Damp days are best for this process. Weaving is done under the house or under trees. Evenings and nights are most suitable for this work on account of the dampness of the atmosphere. The embroidered mats of Bohol are decorated with split straws.

The mats of Bohol are bought by traders who exchange cloth and other goods for them. These men carry them to the towns of Bohol which do not produce mats, and to other islands, where they sell or exchange them at a good profit. When once the supply of mats on hand has been bought up in a mat producing town, several months elapse before the market there is replenished by a new supply. After completing a mat, the weaver has no immediate desire to begin another. It is quite probable that the output of mats could be increased considerably if the market and the price were better. It is estimated that the weavers earn not more than 20 centavos per day at the industry.

Other Tikug Mats.

Tikug also grows in large quantities in Leyte. Its chief use there is in the weaving of matting on a crude loom, an adaptation of the common textile loom.

Tikug is apparently generally used throughout Surigao in making mats. The best mats of this region come from the upper Agusan and the island of Dinagat. They are usually made for local consumption, though the people of Dinagat exchange their mats with Bohol traders. The sedge grows in great abundance in the lake of Talacogon near the town of the same name in Agusan.

Tikug is also found in many parts of the Moro Province. It abounds in the swamp lands of the Lanao region, from which mats are exported via Iligan. If it is to be colored, the straws are soaked in water for about two days, after which they are cooked in the boiling dye. Bleached straw is prepared by exposing it to the sun, after which the material is polished and flattened at the same time by rubbing the stalks with ashes, between the fingers.

The Cultivation of Tikug.

The question of the cultivation of tikug is one of considerable importance. It is a well known fact that the finest Leghorn hat straw is produced in Italy by sewing wheat closely and reaping the straw before the grain ripens. The best mat straws of China and Japan are produced from cultivated sedges. The Bureau of Education is therefore encouraging experiments in the cultivation of tikug, but as yet these have not been extensive enough to determine whether the sedge can be propagated for industrial purposes. There are no data as to cost. A quantity of seed was procured and forwarded to various parts of the Islands in which tikug had not been reported as growing. These were sent out to various persons with the idea of determining (1) soils suitable to the plant, (2) whether it could be cultivated in the rice paddies between harvest and planting, (3) how closely the seeds should be planted, (4) how old the plants should be at harvest.[28] No results have as yet been obtained from the seeds so sent out. Fair results, however, have been realized in Samar, where approximately 5,000 stalks were grown to the square foot in very rich soil fertilized with manure secured from the military stables. The straws obtained were 3 meters long. It was found that the thicker the seeds are planted the finer and longer are the straws obtained.

Reports differ as to whether tikug should be considered a pest or not. In Leyte it is stated that it grows in the rice fields along with the rice crop and appreciably diminishes the crop. There it is a weed pest; in Samar it is not so considered. In Bohol one teacher states that the plant is not a pest as it will not grow in dry localities, and hence does not interfere with crops. Where it is found in the rice paddies, a covering of earth will easily destroy it. It does not scatter quickly, for, while the roots will grow if transplanted, the sedge is mostly propagated by seeds and these are distributed principally by water and not by wind. No great chances are taken in planting tikug. On the other hand, some teachers state that the seeds are scattered by the wind and that the roots impede the plowing of the fields.