April i, 1884.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



705 



FIBRE MACHINERY. 

 It is rather a curious coincidence, tliat, as we were 

 writing iu despondent terms respecting the production 

 of a really cheap and efficient fibre-clearing machine, 

 the following statement should be ready to appear 

 in our morning contemporary. We give the details 

 as we find them, only remarking that information 

 is yet wanting as to the amount of work which Smith's 

 machine can do and the cost in labour, &o. Such 

 details are absolutely necessary before wo can arrive 

 at a final decision. 



FiiiRE-CLEAiiiNG MACHINERY. — We Usive bccu favorcd \vith 

 samples of various kinds of fibre which have lately been 

 ckaucd at Badclegama estate by one of tlie " Universal Fibre 

 Oleancr" machines invented by Mr. II. 0. .Smith and manu- 

 factured by Death and Kllwood, and commonly known I'y the 

 name of tliat firm. "We have already described the work- 

 ing of this machine in a former issue, Messrs. John Walker 

 Sc Co., having had one at work in their factory, which 

 was tried with aloe leaves in the presence of many who 

 took an interest in fibre-cleaning. As regards the samples 

 sent and their appearance, we have before us, as we write, 

 three samples of different aloe fibre, one of plantain, one 

 of pineapple, and of shoe-flower. They arc all of excep- 

 tionally fine appearance, being clean and perfectly free from 

 mucila^'inous matter. The threads of tbo fibre are well 

 separated and of good length. Of the aloes, the ordinary 

 green aloe is not nearly so clean and fine looking as the 

 other two, whilst the excellent sample of plantain fibre should 

 command a very high price, if shipped in good quantity. 

 Its threads are stronger and finer in texture than those of 

 the aloe and, and m this instance, much longer, but nothing 

 comes up- to the beautiful sjjecimeu of pineapple fibre 

 before us. We have seen several samples of this fibre, but 

 never one so perfect in every respect as (his. It is about 

 3 feet iu length, of snowy whituess and as soft and flex- 

 ible as "fairy flax." The sample of shoe-fiower fibre is not 

 at all in the same category, being short and coarse with 

 tlie threads adhering one to the other. Of course, the suc- 

 cess or failure of thi.^ machine depends not upou the prim- 

 ary fact whether or not it cau extract clean fibre from 

 plantain trees and aloe and pineapple leaves, for that fact 

 is aliuudantly proved by the excellence of those and other 

 samples we have seen, but upou the cost at which this can 

 be done. The inventor claims that his machine can turn out 

 from 140 to 250 lb. clean fibre per day of ten hours. We 

 quote as follows from a prospectus forwarded to us : — 

 ** The machines are sold iu pairs, and will turn out from 

 1 10 to 250 lb. of clean fibre per day of ten hours. The amount 

 of oul.-turu X'aries with the proportion of fibre in iliffercnt 

 plants, and with the more or less care nnd assiduity exer- 

 cised in feeding the machine, which is in itself so simple 

 that any unskilled person can readily work it after practis- 

 ing for a very short time." We presume that not more 

 than tliree coolies would be required to work the machine, 

 and, if they can tm"]i out as much as 150 lb. of dry and 

 d•/e(7/^ fibre a day, the res'.Ut would be most satisfactory. But 

 from what we ourselves have already seen of the machine 

 the fibre, of whatever kind, has to be washed and cleaned 

 of the gummy vegetable matter which the machine is unable 

 altogether to remove, and practical experience alone can 

 say how may coolies will be requirsd to keep the machine 

 going. The cutting and carrying will also have to be added 

 to 'those actually at work on the machine, but, even when 

 we tiike all these iuto consideration, there is a very large 

 margin of profit, if anything liKc the quantity described by 

 the inventor can be turne»T out bj* it. We do not know 

 whether the machine at Baddegama is being kept regularly 

 at work or not, but, if it is, we hope in the interests of 

 all, some one will come forward and give us particulars 

 of the actual quantity harvested in one day and the cost. 

 Of course to this, in order to arrive at a practical test of 

 its payiug capabilities, we should add the cost of producing 

 the fibrous plants acted upon, but as many planters have 

 thousauds of aloes on or near thi'ir estates which have cost 

 absolutely nothing to [>roduce we need not do this to prove 

 that it would pay them to cut down their aloes and con- 

 Vert them iuto fibre. Transport is after all the heavy 



item in the bill, and it is made more grevious than necess- 

 ary by the want of railway relief in various parts of the 

 country. That a remunerative cultivation of fibrous plants 

 is but a question of time in the East, we are perfectly con- 

 fident of, and, if so, Ceylon should lead the van in any 

 such project ; but we must be first assured by practical 

 proof on a small scale that there is' money in the vent- 

 ure. As regards the machine we have been referring 

 to, Messrs. Clark .and Co., of No. 17 Philpott Laue, Lon- 

 don, have been appointed sole Agents for its sale here, 

 and Mr. T. S. Clark of Galle will be glad to forward 

 any orders for it. 



NORTH BORNEO : ITS POSITION AND 

 PROGRESS. 



Sandakan, Mth Feb. 1SS4. 



Since the country was first started, soine 200,000.icr( s 

 of foiest lauds have been selected by Cmtonese, Eur- 

 opi'an and Australian pl.anters. Of this land, some 

 40,000 acres have iiow^ been surveyt^d in blocks vary- 

 ing in size of i acre to 12,000 acres. In all about 

 1,000 acres have been cleared, and ah >nt 100 acres 

 planted up The gardens .at Silam are, I hear, look- 

 ing very encouraging, especially as regards wliat you 

 call "new products." A trial of cacao and Lib riau 

 coffee on a smull scale here, and plai ted in (Jeylon 

 style, is looking well, as also the few Liberiau trees 

 " put in " by the Cantonese, whoso estates, owing to 

 having "gone in for" extravagant cleaning-up (much 

 beyond that which is usu.all.v done), will take a long 

 time to pay. The place requires some of your Cey- 

 lon men to make it a success. With our splendid 

 and well-proportioned rainfall, everything grows ex- 

 tremely well, especially cacao and Liberian coffee, for 

 which our soil and climate seems to bo well suited. 

 A great many of ihe clearings here owned by botji 

 Kurope.ans and natives are managed by nmn who have 

 scarcely ever seen jungle and hold extraordinary ideas 

 as to " clearing-up " and weeding and tldnk as the 

 Malaya do : " Man plants ("sticks in' it is appro- 

 priately called here), and Providouco looks after the 

 plants. " It is hoped that some of these people will 

 soon see the error of their ways and obtain practical 

 assistance. 



We are fairly well supplied with labor from Brunei, 

 Labuan, Singapore nnd Hongkong for thirty dollar 

 cents per day (which we hope to reduce) ; the coolies 

 from tlie latter place are, however, " at sea " in the 

 jungle or on plantations, and cousniuently nut much 

 u.se, but may, perhaps like their employers, with the 

 aid of practical assistance and advice, become better in 

 time. 



Our timber trade with China is likely to be a good 

 one, the drmand thrre being great and the supply 

 of all sorts of timber here almost inexhaustible. 



I may add that the greater part of your correspond- 

 ent's letter on "The Ups nnd Downs in Noitli Borneo " 

 is untrue and likely to mislead as to the true state of 

 the Government dep-irtrnents, &c., espi oially the survey 

 department, everything here working much more 

 smoothly than is usu 1 in countries U'lder similar cir- 

 cumstances, and with but one exception the '* weed- 

 ing-out" of cithcials has be^ n a deeded beni fit. I 

 write this, as tlie truth shiiu'd be known, and am a 

 private individual. In conclusion, I c nsafely iidvis'- 

 that practical men (who arc not afraid of work), .aided 

 by caiiital, could do well here, but tboae with capital 

 only without practical advice or practical men with- 

 out capital should ml come here, A. 



THAT HUSBAND OF MINE 

 Is three times the man he was before he began usiug 

 "Wells' Health Renewer." Druggists. B, S. Madon & Co., 

 Bombay, General Agents. 



