e floor or bath. In price they
range from P0.50 to P5.00. The usual price of the decorated mats is
P1.50. The demand continues brisk and prices have recently risen. The
weakest point in the mat at the present time is in the colored buri
straw used to decorate it, for this tears long before the pandan shows
signs of wear. If colored sabutan straw is substituted for the buri,
a much stronger and probably more pleasing article will result. [21]

Karagumoy. [22]

The pandan P. simplex, known as "karagumoy" or "carogumoy," is the
economic pandan of the Bicol peninsula in southern Luzon. It is usually
found growing in well drained soil under the shade of banana and abaca
plants and areca palms. It needs this protection because the leaves are
easily broken or ruined by hard winds. The leaves are generally longer
than those of sabutan (they are 2 meters to 3 1/2 meters in length)
and are but from 6 cm. to 10 cm. wide. They are very thick, being
practically as coarse as the leaves of P. utilissimus. They bear stout
spines on the midrib and along the margins, from two centimeters to
three centimeters apart. A fungus disease often attacks them, causing
dry hard patches, and not only spoiling the color but also making
the material so brittle that it breaks in the preparation of the straw.

The plant is propagated by means of suckers in patches seldom over a
half hectare in extent and often consisting of a few plants back of
the house. The suckers are set out in rows and are probably one year
old when the first leaves are taken, though the workers disagree on
this point. At a specified time, from eight to fifteen leaves are
cut from the plant each year; at other periods, two or three may be
taken from the same plants. Most of the leaves are harvested during
the rainy season. Karagumoy leaves have a commercial value in many
of the places in which the plant occurs. In Tabaco, Albay, women cut
the leaves and carry them in large bundles to the market, where they
are sold at prices usually varying from 8 to 12 centavos per hundred.

Throughout the Province of Albay mats are made from karagumoy, and in
some towns the industry is of considerable importance. For instance,
in the barrio of San Lorenzo in Tabaco, mats may be found in the making
in nearly every house. In Sorsogon, too, the industry is widespread
though not so important commercially. In Balusa the production is
large enough to supply the local demand and leave a surplus