292 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[October i, 1883. 



seeds of this plant have been mtroduced before on several 

 occasions, but that they have always either failed to germin- 

 ate or damped off afterwards, and I think that in this case 

 also the coast climate is not suited to the plant ; but I have 

 distributed the seeds widely, and hope to hear that others, 

 besides the two I have mentioned, have been successful in 

 rearing it. The "Liberian Coffee," about which so much 

 has been said and written, appears to me to be uusuited to 

 our chmatc. The plants flower and bear fruit, but the berries 

 remam so long upon the trees before ripening, as to lead me 

 to think that the plant requires a climate both hotter and 

 moister than that of Natal for its successful cultivation. 



The trees of Tfachylohium Hornemannianam, which yield 

 the gum copal of commerce, look remarkably vigorous ; one 

 of them bore a moderate crop of legumes, a large number 

 of which failed to matui-e, still there remain a few from which 

 I hope to raise plants for distribution. The plant appears 

 well suited to the sandy soil around Durban, but how its 

 cultivation would answer commercially I have at present no 

 means of ascertaining. The trees of Manihot Glaziovii, the 

 plant yielding the indiarubber known as "C'eara Scrap," also 

 seem to floxirish, and I hope during the coming season to 

 rear a few specimens of this valuable plant for distribution. 

 1 am sorry to say that the attempt we made last season 

 to rear plants from cuttings was a total failure; but with 

 the information obtained from Mr. Home, of Mauritius, as 

 quoted in the Kew report for 1881, I hope to be more 

 successful in the coming season. 



The herbarium belonging to the Gardens is not in a state 

 which renders it of much use to the student. The specimens 

 are unmounted, and old newspajiers supply the place of both 

 species sheets and genus covers ; but I have gone carefully 

 over it and arranged the specimens in botanical order, and 

 hope at no distant date to have them all poisoned and pro- 

 perly mounted. The collection has been increased by the 

 receiiJt from Kew of a donation of a large parcel of South 

 African plants, all of which have been intercalated with the 

 collection, and I am slowly adding to it specimens collected 

 by myself. Sc far, I cannot say the herbarium has been 

 much consulted by anyone but myself, only two persons have 

 expressed any desire to see it; but I hope as time goes on 

 and students of botany are more numerous, that the collection 

 of South African plants, at any rate, will prove to be of 

 considerable value, and some proof that this hope is not 

 without foundation, I may here state that I have during the 

 year uamed upwards of 200 dried plants which have been sent 

 to me for that purpose, and I propose by this means to 

 increase our collections, as I shall expect for the future 

 that .sufficient material be sent to enable me to retain for 

 ourselves one specimen of each species sent for identification. 

 And it should also be remembered that the herbarium will 

 always be of considerable value to the Curator of the Gardens, 

 even though the public should not consult it at aU. Numer- 

 ous additions both of plants and seeds have been made to 

 our stock dming the past year, as will be seen by the fol- 

 lomug list. I notice that it has beeu the custom in some 

 prerious years to enumerate the plants received in this way as 

 additions to the collection, and as a large number of the plants 

 60 enumerated are not now to be found, and no record of them 

 exists except in these reports, I have come to the conclusion 

 for the future not to take credit for any importation of plants 

 until in my opinion they are fairly established. In ray next 

 report, therefore, I projjose to furnish a list of those plants 

 we may have successfully iutroduced during the year 1S82. 

 I am much indebted to the proprietors of the Tmjncal 

 Af/ricxltnrlst for the numbers of that very useful pubUc- 

 ation which have reached me regularly through the post, 

 aud to E. M. Hohnes, Esq., Curator of the Museum of the 

 Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, for the copies of 

 the Pluinnacentical Jo^'i-iuil, which arrived in due course, 

 and often contained information of much value in carrying 

 on the botanical work of the institution. 



The meteorological observations have been taken with 

 regidarity and care, and abstracts have been forwarded each 

 month to the two local newspapers. 

 Abstract of Jfcteorohr/ical Observations for the I'car 1SS2. 



The Mean Barometric Pressure ... 30'168 



Do. Temperature in Shade ... 68S 



The Total Evaporation ... ... 47C3 in. 



Do. llamfsU 3621 ,, 



Do. Number of Days on which rain fell 93 

 Po, do. Hiunderstorms ... ... 31 



J. MsfiiEx Wwp, C«i«te;, 



OOOOA-NtFT FIBRE. 



Within the last twenty years a vast extension of the 

 economic uses to which this valuable fibre is put has taken 

 place. The term '*coir,'' usually appUed to this material, 

 is the Anglicized form of the South luilian "kayaru" cord or 

 twine, and not apjilied in India to the raw fibre, which 

 is called in the Tamil language "savmi." The fibrous husk 

 or rind of the cocoa-nut is easily stripped from the nut 

 while yet green, by striking it on the point of an iron 

 spike, and then is steeped in salt or brackish water, where 

 it lies for several months, until the softer portions of the 

 husk rot away, and the strong fibre alone remains. This 

 is taken out, beaten with a stick to seperate and clean 

 the fibre and twisted with the required number of strands 

 into rope, or woven into matting, while the stiffer fibres 

 are made into brushes aud other articles of domestic 

 utihty. The fibre is pressed for shipping into bales 

 weighing 2001b. each. The attempt has been made to 

 prepare the fibre from the dried husk in England, but 

 without success. 



Much of the coir fibre used in England is brought from 

 Ceylon; but a large and increasing quantity is now ex- 

 ported from Bombay and the "Western Coast of India. 

 The supply is not inexhaustible ; but as prices rise, cultivation 

 is encomraged, and as the growth of this palm is along 

 the sea coast, where other crops cannot be grown, the 

 trade is a profitable one. 



Factories for the weaving of con- matting have been 

 opened by EngUsh and American firms at Allepy,Quilon, 

 Oolachel, Cochin, &c., and torn out a considerable quantity of 

 goods. Spinniug is not attemped here, being more cheaply 

 done by hand at the places where the fibre is produced. 

 Along the coasts of the back^vater^ aud canals many 

 people may now be seen busily engaged in scraping and 

 cleaning the fibre and twisting it into yarn. In the 

 factories the yarn is first sorted to its various shades 

 and qualities. The warp is made by boy running back- 

 wards and forwards, then it is flattened and smoothed 

 for weaving, by being run thi-ough heavy rollers. The 

 weaving is laborious work, performed by men, who earn two 

 or three rujiees a week at it. The web is again rolled 

 to give it some finish, wound securely in a roll, aud 

 marked. Large profits have been made in this manufacture 

 in India. But it can now be carried on so much better 

 in England, mth the machinery and apphances available 

 here, that large quantities of the yarn are exported. One 

 firm in Lancashh-e have introduced steam loom weaving 

 of this material. The various shades of fibre — cream- 

 coloured, reddish brown, aud blackish — which vary greatly 

 according to care and skill in preparation, are first cai'efully 

 separated, and cocoa-nut matting is now made of fine 

 quality, with pretty shades of colour and in pleasing 

 patterns, so as to be available for higher uses than the 

 very coarse makes, and the material is most diu-able. The 

 yai-n is also plaited by machinery into cinnet or belting. 

 Cables made of con- bear exposure to salt water better 

 than anything else, the tannin which it contains preventing 

 the fibre from rotting ; they are exceedingly light and 

 buoyant, as well as elastic. Even the refuse and broken 

 fibre can be turned to account for stufling mattresses, and 

 is used in horticultme, kc, as no insect will touch it. 

 The exports from Travancore of this material form 

 a large proportion of the trade of the district, and 

 amounted in 1879-82 to nearly 150,000 cwt., valued 

 at 13} lacs of rupees (say 137,2y0.pd. St.) and paying to 

 the Government a duty c f (58,000 rupees Of the cocoa-nuts 

 themselves, nearly 9,000,000 valued at nearly 260,900 rupees, 

 were sent away. Other products of this palm exported, 

 as oil and copra or dried kernai, were valued, the former 

 at 322,100 rupees, and the latter at no less than 26J lacs of 

 rupees, makuig a total value of the export of products 

 of the cocoa-nut pahn, from Travancore alone, of 46j 

 lacs of rupees (nearly half a million sterUug). Some thou- 

 sands of tons arc also exported from Cochin. That trade 

 certainly is very profitable for India. — I)ulia Mercury. 



MOTHER SWAN'S WORM SYRUP. 



Infallible, tasteless, harmless, cathartic; for feverishness, 

 restlessness, worms, constipation, is. B. S. Madou & Co., 

 Bombay, Qeueial Agents. 



