822 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[May I, 1884' 



another column, disease among the silkworms had ahnost 

 destroyed the silk production of France and Italy. The 

 discoveries of M. Pasteur, and their application as remedial 

 measures have almost entirely restored the silk production 

 of these couutries to its former ilimensions. The method 

 now so successfully adopted in Europe is to examine all 

 the seed with a microscope, and to separate from the healthy 

 eggs all those which show symptoms of their containing 

 the corpuscle which forms the elementary part of the disease. 

 This, we understand, can be readily detected. A further 

 protection against the increase of disease is to set aside 

 certain places exclusively for the rearing of silkworms, the 

 products of which are solely used for the grainage, or for 

 breeding. This industry has of late yeara become a special 

 business, and has attained such an extent that it has super- 

 seded the old system of suttin;^ aside a portion of the stock 

 of each silk-rearer for reproduction. It is now quite 

 customary for the Italian sericulturists to repair to well- 

 known estabhshments in France, conducted on the system 

 of M. Pasteur, for their supphes of eggs. This, no doubt, 

 accounts to a large extent for the excellence and amount 

 of the European silk crop in late years and also for the 

 low prices at which cocoons can be sold in Italy. The risks 

 of silk culture are very much diminished by this newly 

 adopted system, for a rearer now is less exposed to loss from 

 defective or diseased seed ; from which causes he might 

 formerly have seen half his crop destroyed. The adoption 

 of similar scientific methods in China is scarcely te be hoped 

 for ; unless under the fear of a still further decline in revenue 

 and trade. The memorials to the Throne of high officials 

 in this province have shown that they fully recognize the 

 critical condition of the silk industry. But they attribute 

 the falling-off in the crops in recent years to climatical 

 causes only, and Li Hungchang, to whom a representation 

 on the subject was made by a connection of a foreign firm 

 here, has merely commanded that his approval be notified. 

 At the present time the mandarins have enough on their 

 hands with foreign affairs, and will certainly not now trouble 

 themselves about an inferior matter like the silk crop. 

 But it is to be hoped that foreigners will continue to give 

 their attention to the subject and bring it before the notice 

 of the Chinese. 



One gentleman here, whose opinion is entitled to the 

 highest respect, has given us his views on the effect of 

 disease on the crops. He does not attribute the diminution 

 in the production of silk to disease, but to atmospheric 

 causes, and says: — 



In my opinion the last bad crop in China has been the 

 result of most unfavourable atmospheric circumstances, and 

 has not been caused by an increase of the disease by which 

 the Chinese worms are to a certain extent affected. The 

 best proof of the correctness of my assertion, is, I think, 

 that the eggs of the same season sent to Italy have given 

 there a most satisfactory result, as the worms have distin- 

 guished themselves by the greatest regularity in their moult- 

 ing, and their beginning to spin cocoons three days earlier 

 than the yellow race, which is considered the best now 

 in Europe. The cocoons produced have turned out brilliantly 

 in spinning. Fiu-ther, this year's cocoons produced in China 

 do not show a great faUing-off in quality compared with 

 other years ; the proportions between best cocoons and in- 

 ferior sorts have been the same, if properly bought, and 

 even the outturn in spinning .showed only a slight difference. 

 The falling-off of the crop during the last four years, is 

 I think, easily accoimted for by the low prices which have 

 been ruling. That the Chinese eggs are diseased is no 

 secret, and has been known as long as Europeans have 

 been in Shanghai, and it is likewise known, that the Chinese 

 have till now successfully controlled this disease by their 

 method, in giving the eggs a salt bath, by which the weak 

 eggs are killed. 



He gives also a quotation from the Dictionnaire de. 

 S^ricoloyie of Dr. Luppi, a translation of which is: — 



The jiresence of corpuscules (or minute germs in the blood 

 of the silkworm which generate disease), indicates nothing 

 good but it does not indicate anything that is at all irremedi- 

 able — as their absence is not a guarantee that is not an 

 absolute incontestible proof of an extremely bad crop. 



These are the views, and the experience in egg and cocoon 

 buying this season, of the manager of one of the filatiu-esnow 

 working here. A\'t' give them in order tb!\t ;ill oi>ininus on 

 this important subject may be made public. He admits the 



existence of disease; and the fact that certain shipments o' 

 eggs to Italy turned out well does not amount to much- 

 Those who beUeve that the faUing-off in the silk crop is 

 mainly attributable to disease, hold their opinion just as 

 strongly as our correspondent does his, but the question of 

 the progress of disease in silk worms' eggs is too important 

 to be settled by the outturn of a few shipments to ISurope, 

 or by observations made here unsupported by scientific in- 

 vestigation.^jVorZA-C/ii'na Herald. 



FIBRE PLANTS IN JAMAICA. 



BY D. MORRIS, M.A., F.L.S., OF JASIAICA. 



Great interest is being taken in the development of Fibre 

 industries in Jamaica, and several important projects are on 

 foot for utilising the large supplies of pinguin, aloe, sansi- 

 riera, and other fibre plants with which the island abounds. 

 One important factor in this revival of interest in filire 

 plants in Jamaica is the invention by a local engineer of 

 a very portable and compact machine, for which it is claimed 

 that it will clean and prepare all kinds of fibre in a most 

 expeditious and economical manner. 



Whether this mac'uine will fully answer the expectation 

 raised concerning it remains to be proved. The subject has, 

 however, been taken up by the Government, and a special 

 committee, consisting of Dr. Phillipo, Mr. Valentine Bell, 

 O.E., Mr. D. Morris, M.A., F.L.S., and Mr. L. Mackinnon, 

 has been appointed to test its capabilities upon local fibre 

 plants, and report the results for the benefit of the community 

 at large. 



The information given from time to time in the columns 

 of the Planters' Gazette respecting Rheea and Kamie fibre 

 has stimulated attention also to this important fibre plant; 

 and we are glad to learn that many cultivators have al- 

 ready begun to estabUsh niu'series, and to grow the plant 

 on a large scale. 



In order to assist in the establishment of plantations of 

 Rheea or Ramie, the Director of Public Gardens and 

 Plantations has compiled some useful practical notes on 

 the subject, from which we make the following extracts: — 



The plant known as China Grass, Ramie or Rheea, be- 

 longs to the natural order Urticace.-e, and hence, strictly 

 speaking, is not a grass but a species of nettle (without 

 stinging hairs) closely resembling in appearance and habit 

 of growth the common nettle of Emope. It is generally 

 supposed ■ that there are two species of Bcehmeria yielding 

 fibre. That a native of China is known botauically as 

 Jju'hmeria nirea, the specific or trivial name being derived 

 from the whitish appearance on the underside of the leaves. 

 The local Chinese name for this plant is OAii or Tchoi'-lfa 

 and the Malay Bamie. 



The Rheea of Assam, at one time supposed to be diflferent 

 from the rWiow-.'/a of China and the Ramie of Sumatra and 

 the Malay peninsula, was named by Dr. Roxbiirgh Uahmeria 

 (T'rtica) tenacissitna, because be considered it to yield one 

 of the strongest fibres he had ever met with. 



Dr. Royle, however, exjiresses an opinion that " the proof 

 is very complete of the identity of the plants from which 

 these differently name fibres {China Gi'ass and Kheea) are 

 obtained." Hence we may look upon Ramie, Eheea and 

 Tchou-Ma, as respectively the Malay, Assam and Chinese 

 local names for one and the same plant, viz. that known 

 botanically as Beehmeria nivea. The plants with green 

 underside to the leaves instead of white constitute, prob- 

 ably, only a variety of the typical species. 



The genus Tiahmena is very widely distributed through- 

 out all parts of the world. In the We.st Indies and .Jamaica 

 there are three species of Bcelimeria, viz., B. cnndata, a 

 common, rnnk weed, 3 feet to 15 feet high, frequenting 

 damp corners in the Blue Moimtain.'districts ; B. cylindrica, 

 a small plant inhabiting similar locahties with stem only 2 

 feet to 3 feet high ; and B. ram (/fore, with alternate leaves 

 and stem 6 feet to 8 feet high. All these contain fibre 

 more or less valuable, but neither can compete with that 

 produced by the China Grass or Ramie plants B. nirea. 



As already pointed out in my Annual Report on the 

 Public Gardens and Plantations for the year 1880. p. 22, 

 the Ramie was cultivated by the late Mr. Nathaniel \ViIson 

 in 1857 at the Old BotaniV Garden at Bath with great 

 success, and Mr. ^Vilson drew particular nttpution tu its 

 capabilities as an uiduStri.il plant of great value. 



