January i, 1884.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



461 



ing ; therefore I am prepared to hear that it is of in- 

 ferior value. But I want to kuow whether the stuff possesses 

 quality which might be brought forth by a better proces3,aud 

 I shall be glad of distinct informatiou on this point. 



4. This fibre is inferior in quality to that extracted from 

 the Fourcror/a Giganteu, a green-leaved aloe. I am about to 

 send yon IOC) lb. of this last article, which I take _ to be the 

 same stuff as is now being exported from- Mauritius ; and if 

 you can procure distinct information for me a.s to its identity 

 with the Mauritius fibre, I shall be much obliged to you. 



5. I shall send you shortly 500 lb. of the Sagar nar (Ban- 

 seviera Zeyl(itiica) for transmission to London. 



Bead— file following letter from Messrs. Arbuthnot 

 & Co., Madra.s, to the Secretary to the Board of Revenue, 

 dated Madras, 2f)th August 18S2 :— With reference to the 

 Board's proceedings, No. 4730, of the 2 '-vi June, and our 

 reply of the 30tb, we have the honor to subjoin copy of a 

 report received by us from our correspondents on the sample 

 of fibre Saiiseviera Zeijlanica forwarded to them. If the 

 sample fairly represents the average quality of fibre which 

 could be obtained, it would appear to be encouraging. In 

 continuation of our letter of the 30th June, referred to above, 

 we would suggest that the Collector of Vizagapatam should 

 place himself in communication with our agent at Bimli- 

 patam, forwarding him enough of the fibre to be pressed into 

 a bale at our Jute Factory. From it we could calculate the 

 cost of bahng, shipping, &c., and form an estimate of the 

 cost of freight. 



London. 29th .July 1882.— Beport and valuation of Overland 



mple of Fibre on account of Messrs. Arbuthnot ^c Co. ; — 

 <rood fibre, well cleaned, good color, but rather short. There 

 is a little roughness, but is mostly soft and would be a very 

 useful fibre if a .steady supply could be depended ou. Value 

 about £20. Discount 2i pir cent. 



Resolution dated 2nd September 18S2, No. 2206.— Com- 

 municated to the Collector of Vizagapatam. He is requested 

 to arrange for the supply to Messrs. Arbuthnot & Co., 

 agcntfibre s of suflicient for one bale.. 



The official list of fibre yielding plants inchules 

 many which have been attracting a geod deal of 

 attention of liite, and the report of experts on the results 

 of the trials at the Calcutta Exhibition, will be looked 

 for with In erest. Meantime, however, if M. 

 d'Humieres ha.s made . the cultivation and pre- 

 paration of fibre pay in Xorth Italy, we may be 

 asked why not go to Avork at onee in Ceylon. It 

 wovild certainly be worth while cultivating an aera 

 systematically and testing the crop ■ of raw material 

 taken off, and perhaps when th's was reported to 

 M. (VHumieres with the conditions of this colony, 

 as regards climate, cheap labour and facilities of 

 transport, he or M. Favier might be tempted to es- 

 tablish a factory here and buy raw produce. 



There can be no doubt as to the great interest at 

 present taken in the fibre as in other latent resources 

 of India. District officers vie with the Presidency 

 Governors in their enquiries and reports, and nearly 

 every week lately, an official paper of some kind on 

 the subject has been issued in Madras. Here is a 

 specimen : — 



Read — the following letter from Messrs. Hinde & Co., 

 to the collector of Malabar, dated Calicut, 17th .January 

 \?-tf6, anil endorsement by Sv. Logan, Esq., Collector of 

 Malabar, dated Calicut, 26th .January ISSiS : — 



Referring to your letter of the 17th November last 

 we beg to hand you, herewith, six copies of a i>amphlet 

 giving a brief description of Ekman's process for pre- 

 paring cellulose, fibres, &c., and specification of the 

 patent. 



2. We have ordered from London an experimental 

 boiler and all the necessary apparatus, chcmicaJs, &c., 

 for preparing paper pulp and preparing fibres, and we 

 hope to have the machinery set up and at work before 

 May next. 



The board's resolution with enelosures and a copy of 

 tlie pamphlet enclosed will be communicated to the Gov- 

 ernment of India with reference to their letter, No. 15 

 f F. and S., dated 6th March 1882, and Messrs. Hinde & 

 Co. will be requested to favor Government with a report 

 IS to the practical working of Ekman's machines after trial 



Again as to pL.iXTAi.v fibre, which, we fear, can 

 never be extracted so as to pay, .Mr. P. Guard, of 

 Cherauibadi, has reported to the Madras Government, 

 as follows : — 



" Captain Cox has been in England for the last two years 

 and I, as his Manager and Attorney, opened your commun- 

 ication to him. I can inform you, however, that he has 

 quite failed in extracting the fibre from the musa textiles 

 by machineiy, and that the process by hand, although 

 simple, is so expensive as to render this method prohibitive . 

 The Natal planters have also of late taken a good 

 deal of interest in the cultivation oi fibrous plant, 

 and onS of them has been interviewing the veteran 

 Mr. P. L. Simmouds, who certainly ought to be an 

 authority on the commercial aspect of the subject, 

 which, after all, in its "will it pay?" form, is the 

 most important. The result of the iiiterview is given 

 as follows in the N'Ual Mercury : — 



Report of a committee appointed to enquire as to the 

 cultivation and preparation of fibres and their suitabiUty to 

 this colony. 



Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, — Your Committee, for 

 obvious reasons, have thought it best to confine their 

 enquiries to those fibres which have a more or less known 

 commercial value, and therefore selected the Sansiviera. 

 indigenous ; the Phormium TenaXj exotic ; RIk^u, exotic , 

 hemp, exotic, but almost naturahsed ; and aloe (as it is 

 commonly called here), two varieties. Eventually, it will be 

 seen that it is to the last we should, at present, chiefly 

 direct our attention, and therefore the others may be dis- 

 posed of first. 



An application, through the public prints, for inform- 

 ation, brought no reply. The Committee, however, have had 

 the papers of M. E. de Chazal before them, and received 

 much valuable information from Dr. Sutherland, who has 

 made numerous e.-qjeriments, and given much time and 

 thought to the subject. They have also received some 

 valuable communications irom Mr. W. Peace, covering in- 

 formation from Mr- P. L. Simmonds, whose authority on this 

 antl similar subjects is well-known. 



Replies, on the subject of machinery, have been received 

 from Mr. Dealtin (of Jlessrs. Deakin and Oradock) ; and 

 also from Mr. Hillman (of Messrs. Pontifex and Wood). 



With respect to &tasiviera, Dr. Sutherland says it is not 

 practically available, as the yield per acre isnotsuflicient, 

 and no machinery has been adapted for it. Mr. Simmonds 

 says ' the yaasiciem requires technical skill in its prepar- 

 ation to such an e.vtent that it is a (commercial) auccess, 

 nowhere.' We need not, therefore, further consider it 

 here, though the quality of its fibre is known to be of a 

 high class. 



As to Phormium Tenn.v, the information obtained is a 

 little better, but not very encouraging on the whole. Dr. 

 Sutherland says that it yields about 10 per cent, of fibre ; 

 that he lias a quantity growing, and tliat it grows very 

 luxuriantly ; matures in about a year, and can be cut 

 twice a year afterwards ; that it is worth about £30 per 

 ton, and that he calculates the profits at about £iO per 

 acre on an average. On the other hand, he had written 

 to two brothers (McWilliam) formerly if Natal, respecting 

 it; but they replied, that though in New Zealand it grew 

 wild in certain districts, and the produce was obtained from 

 a radius of fifteen miles, enough could not be got to keep 

 the factory established there supplied. Dr. Forbes Royle 

 i.< very minute iu his description of this plant in his work, 

 " The Fibrous Plants of India." published, however, nearly 

 thirty years ago. He estimates the yield at about !& cwt. 

 per acre, and states its strength to be twice that of flax, 

 and half as strong agaui as hemp. Thirty years ago a 

 large factory for this fibre was built at Grimsby, in 

 Yorkshire, and nearly a century back (1708) it was intro- 

 duced and cultivated in the south of Ireland ; but iu spite 

 o f every sort of encouragemnnt given by the Imperial 

 G overnment it does not seem to have made any great pro- 

 gress. At St. Helena more recently it succi^eded better, 

 but has been at length abandoned. One of the members 

 of yom' (Committee who visited St. Helena made m.-iny 

 en(Juiriesas to this; and considers that the reason which 

 caused it to be a failure there would not apply here. 

 Captain Young, however, of the Grantidly Oastle, who was 



