466 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[January, r, 1884. 



Cost of production of 11,250 maunds @ 6 5 per maund E. 



73,125 

 Carriage to sea port of „ „ @ 10 „ 11,250 



Carriage to sea port of 7,500 



@ 1-0 



EE)1,875 



This would fetch, according to valuation given in a former 

 para, as follows : — 



11.250 maunds of long staple at R8 per maund E90,000 

 7,500 „ tow, etc., at E3 „ ... 22,500 



Total ... 1,12,500 

 According to this, the surplus of receipts over expend- 

 iture would equal about R20,000. In this calculation the 

 cost of production has been taken at a maximum, and 

 with suitable apphances this should not exceed E6'25 or 

 6'0 per maund. 



Would cultivation improve the quality and yield of the 

 fibre ? Hemp, flax, etc., have been improved in India by 

 judicious cultivation. The yield and quahty of cereals 

 depend on the care bestowed on the plants. Napoleon 

 pei-e's " Kdict " prohibiting the import of English sugar 

 etc., into France and other continental countries, 

 however short-sighted a measure in itself, had 

 one result — it compelled the growers of beetroot in 

 France to devote their energies to develope the cultiv- 

 tion of that plant, and it endeil in their raising its per- 

 centage of saccharine matter, from 5, to 10 and 11 per cent. 

 With these facts before us, it is not too much to anticipate 

 similar l>eneficial results in the case of ihe aloe. 



Deboisement and destruction of forests seem to go hand 

 in hand with civilization, in India as well as in other coimt- 

 ries, and would seem to be one of the uuqualifled (?) bene- 

 fits inseparable from the introduction of British rule. Aud 

 even if nothing else were to be done to reboise the Lower 

 Himalayas, perhaps long deep zones of aloe, planted along 

 Bome of the present bare and desolate " Eevers" of the 

 Punjab Siwaliks, would do a great deal to check, if not 

 ■who! ly mitigate, the terrible evil which threatens to make 

 certi'.in parts of this glorious province as bare and wild as the 

 Sahara itself. 



Before concluding, it might be as well to remark that in 

 Mexico tlie aloe sap is evaporated, and the residual substance 

 nscd as soap. Also, further experiments might show that 

 th<' green sap is capable of being used as a dye. 



Annexed is a memo, showing some trials made with a view 

 to ascertain the breaking strain of aloe rope — 



Rope used was 1-5" circumference 



lb. 

 Trial No. I It was loaded, and broke with ... 5S7 



II ,. „ 890 



III „ „ 728 



There was a wide difference between each result, and 

 these trials were not accepted as conclusive, on that ac- 

 count. The rope was of three strands, laid up by a '* sainsar" 

 or native rope-maker, and twisted by a small English rope 

 twisting machine. After trial No. I., the rope was carefully 

 examined, aud the point of fracture in the three strands 

 was found ??oi to be in the same horizontal plane. The por- 

 tion subjected to strain was cut off and the weight suspended 

 from the other end. Ou the second trial the fracture of all 

 three strands was simultaneous, aud in the same horizontal 

 plane. In Trial No. III., a fresh portion of rope was used, 

 &nd, as stated before, gave way under a strain of 728 lb. or 9 

 inauuds Again the three strands did not part simultane- 

 ously. Aecort-ling to the best authorities the breaking strain 

 for ordinary rope is expressed by the formula — 



B=C2 K 2 CB being breaking weight, in tons) which would, 

 with the rope used, give us about 1,00' lb Trial No. II., 

 gave results approximating to this the closest theoretical 

 value. 



From a recent report on Mauritius and Manila 

 published by an Australian paper, we quote as fol- 

 lows : — 



Next to our main staple of sugar is that of aloe fibre, of 

 ■which the production for some time past has made much 

 progress here. Our best qualities find a ready sale in the 

 London market for £4,5 and even £48 per ton. In the 

 neighbouring island of Reunion, or Bourbon, as we still persist 

 in colliu^ it, this industry is making rapid progress, as the 



following extract from the last annual report of the British 

 consul there will show: — 



*' A new industry has quite lately spruug into existence in 

 this colony, the fir^t impulse to which was given by British 

 firms or individuals from the neighbouring island of Mauritius. 

 I refer to the extraction of the fibre from the 'yucca,' known 

 in the "West Indies as ' Adam's Needle,' and I believe im- 

 properly called an aloe. There are four species of this plant, 

 all of which grow here abundantly without cultivation 

 worthy of the name, the scientific denominatious of which 

 are: — l, A</ave Americana; 2, Af/avc angustifoUa; 3, Fuur- 

 croya yigunte'i; 4, Fourcivi/a fatida. The two last kinds 

 have only hitherto been used for the production of fibre, but 

 it is known that a nuicb fiuer fibre, although of shorter 

 leugth, and consequently of less marketable value, can be 

 obtained from the Agave August if olia. The Fourcroyce 

 are believed to have been introduced into Reunion from 

 Brazil about the middle of last century. The production of 

 this fibre promises to have important results here, judging 

 from the rapid development of this enterprise iu Mauritius. 

 At present the fibre plantations and mills are wholly in the 

 hands of Mauritius British subjects ; but the Credit Foucier 

 of Reunion and several Creoles of the colony are beginning 

 to devote their attention to this profitable undertaking, 

 which they have so long neglected to turn to account, aud 

 they are even now only stimulated to this new source of 

 commerce by the example set to them by British enter- 

 prise. It is certainly remarkable that the inhabitants of the 

 island do not take advantage of this industry, which can be 

 carried on with so little outlay. The number of mills ac- 

 tually at work is two (others biing in course of construction), 

 capable of producing about one ton and a half of fibre per 

 diem, worth in London (for fair average quality) about £38 

 per ton, or net about £30 per ton. Manilla hemp is worth 

 about £10 above this value per ton. The cost of the pro- 

 duction of the aloe fibres here is understood to be about 

 £20 per ton. 



A friend resident in Dundee calls our attention to 

 the following paragraph from the Textile Trade Reokw : — ■ 

 The plant nmsacac has recently been found to contain a 

 fibre which, if utilised for textile purposes, for which it is 

 well adapted, would create an industry involving a circula- 

 tion of millions of pounds. The penguin, aud the various 

 species of the pine-apple plants, also appear as eligible 

 candidates for a place in textile manufactures. In France 

 experiments are being made to extend the use of the pine- 

 apple fibre, and these have been used more or less success- 

 fidiy iu the Kast Indies, South America, aud Africa. The 

 cost of production is — in a country of suitable temperature — 

 exceedingly small, and it only wants working to become a 

 staple industry. The other textile material is the product of 

 an insect, a kind of spider, whose home is on the East 

 Coast of Africa. This foreigner has been discovered by a 

 member of the French Society for Practical Climatisation, 

 aud is expected to supersede the silkworm. It manufactures 

 a yellow silk, long, strong and fine ; and can produce more 

 weekly than a cocoon of the ordinary silkworm. It is 

 thought that this little labourer would agree well with a 

 change of air, and that Spain or Italy, or even France, 

 would suit its constitution, oven better than its native land. 

 It is unfeelingly described as *' an exceedmgly ugly creat- 

 ure," of about five inches long, and one broad, with legs of 

 six to seven iuches long ; but, in the largeness of our hearts, 

 if its products contribute to the adornment of ourselves, and 

 add to our comfort, we can, with our usual generosity, freely 

 forgive— even enjoy — its ugliest aspect. 



As regards the planters. *"Old Colonist" says: — No 

 country in the world could compete with Ceylon in 

 this, 100.000 acres now uH.eriy valueless in the low 

 c'uintry might grow this to perfection. 



FIBRES AND THRIK PREPARATION : 



A NKW* INDUSTRY FOR CEYLO.V. 



A new intei-est has recently been given to the 

 preparation by the comparative success of machinery 

 recently invented for that purpose. Go the foregoing 

 pages will be found a great deal of interesting and 

 instructive information on the subject specivally ap- 

 plicable to the case of Ceylon, which can supply 



