January i, 1884.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



SOI 



of land would produce three-fourths of a ton of clean 

 fibre. 



Mudar tarn, zercum (Calatropis giyuntea) is common on 

 all waste places m India. Mr. G. AV. Strettel, of the In- 

 dian Forest Department, iu his pamphlet, "A New Source 

 of Revenue for India," published iu 1878, m-ges the value 

 of this product on the attention of the Inchan Govern- 

 ment. It comes to maturity in a year, is perennial, and 

 requires no care. Mr. Strettel estimates the cost of bring- 

 ing an acre into cultivation, planting four feet apart, at 

 £2 9s. Sd., after which the only recurring expense would 

 be for harvesting and treatment. He estimates that it 

 will yield a crop of from five to seven hundredweight 

 per acre yearly, and the fibre is pronomiced equal to good 

 flax, and therefore worth £40 to £50 per ton. 



The treatment of green fibre has now been successfully 

 accomplished by the following machines and processes: — 



1. The macliine of Messrs. Death and EUwood, of which 

 over one thousand are now in use, for extracting fibre 

 from all kinds of aloe, plantain, and pine-apple, &c., in 

 Mauritius, Canary Islands, Africa, &c. It is almost the 

 only machine in use for extracting Henquin fibre or Sisal 

 hemp, and Ixtle or wild pine-apple fibre, in Central America, 

 of which 17,000,000 lb. weight are now exported annually. 

 It is being tried in Manilla for the treatment of Manilla 

 hemp. The jet of water which acts as an elastic cushion 

 on which the iibre is beaten, to clear it of boon and use- 

 less particles, acting also most satisfactorily in remo\'ing 

 the gummy matter which causes the principal difficulty 

 iu the treatment. 



2. An ingenious invention of M. Roquet, a Frenchman, 

 for crushing and scutching vegetable fibres at one oper- 

 ation, which has been patented by Mr. "W. M. Adams in 

 this couuti-y and elsewhere. It treats all kinds of dry 

 fibres most thoroughly, and has also successfully treated 

 green rhea fibre from Kew Gardens. 



i. M. Favier, a Frenchman, has suggested a process 

 of treatment lor rhea fibre, by steaming the gi-een stems 

 iu the field. This enables the easy decortication of the 

 bast by cheap hand labom-, at a very small expense, and 

 saves the cost of carriage of the woody portion of the 

 stems, these being used for the fuel of the boiler that 

 creates the steam. The stem ashes can be at once re- 

 turned to the field as manure, together «ith the leaves 

 and waste, so that only the fibre itself is removed from 

 the soil ; by this process it is calculated that the fibre 

 thongs can be obtained at a cost of 30s. per ton. 



4. The process which is known as Ekman's patent, for 

 the manufacture of cellulose or ultimate fibre from raw fibres, 

 by treatment with the bisulphite of magnesia. This pro- 

 cess consists in boiling the fibrous substance under a press- 

 ure ff iiO lb. of steam, iu water containing sulphurous 

 acid, in combination with suificient magnesia to prevent 

 the oxidation of organic matter. This chemical ti-eatment 

 produces an ultimate fibre from the rhea plant, which 

 is worth £168 per ton, or three times the value of the 

 best cotton. 



Seeing that it takes 100 lb. of green rhea stems to 

 make 5 lb, of raw fibre or filament, worth at the rate of 

 £45 per ton in the English market. M. Favicr's steaming 

 process, which saves the carriage of the woody portion 

 further than the field in which it is grown, is an economical 

 consideration of the highest importance. 



This raw fibre or filament, after treatment in M. Ekman's 

 boilers, is reduced from 5 lb., worth at the rate of £45 

 per ton, to Sg lb. of ultimate fibre, worth £108 per ton. 

 When this process is undertaken by the grower in India, 

 as soon as possible after cutting and decortication iu the 

 field, the fibre is saved from the damage that is constantly 

 going on from fermentation, as long as the tannic gum 

 is attached to it; it being impossible thoroughly to dry 

 the fibre while this gum remains. There is no trouble 

 in at once drying and packing the ultimate fibre. The 

 cost of carriage to the manufactmiug market is reduced 

 to a minimum, and the pure fibre is iu no way damaged 

 by pressm'e in packing under screw or hydraulic press. 

 At the same time the cultivator obtains the full manufact- 

 uring value, which is otherwise intercepted by the mill 

 men, who scutch, comb, and prepare the fibre for textile 

 uses. 



It seems that for dicotyledons, or exogenous plants, such 

 as rhea and Keilghcrry nettle, M. Favier's steaming process, 



in conjunction mth M. Ekman's bi-sulphate of magnesia 

 process, have attained the desired object, economical and 

 thorough treatment. 



For the monocotyledons, or endogenous plants, such as 

 plantaiu, Manilla hemp, aloe, pine-apple, he, the machines of 

 Messrs. Death and Elhvood, or M. Roquet, are required. 

 For the coarser fibre obtained from these plants, no 

 further treatment is necessary; these coarser fibres are 

 used for rope-making. The finer fibres, such as tho.se 

 obtained from the Bromelias, and the selected finer por- 

 tions from other kinds, may be advantageously treated in M. 

 Ekman's boilers; while from the waste and inferior stuffs 

 a paper pulp may be obtained which will be an important 

 item in the receipts of the estate. In the cultivation of 

 the fibre plants I have eniunerated, the planters on the 

 hill districts of South India will have varieties suited to 

 every exigence of their soU and climate. For their ex- 

 hausted fields, which are no longer suited tor the cultivation 

 of coffee, cinchona, or tea, there is aloe, mudar, or moorga 

 available, which will floxurish on the poorest and most 

 exposed hill-sides. For their low lying rich valleys, at 

 elevations too low for coffee or cinchona, such as the 

 lower slopes of the Ghats, the cultivation of rhea fibre 

 can be carried on ; on the level land, where ploughing 

 is possible, the Neilgherry nettle can be sown to advantage. 

 The undrained swamps can be planted with the Broiudia 

 ai/lveitrls, and the borders of the streams and steep forest 

 hills can be cultivated with plantain and Blanilla hemp. 



The store houses and water-power generaDy found on 

 the coffee estates that have been erected for the -pre- 

 parations of the coffee crops, and which are unused for 

 nine months in the year, will supply the motive-power 

 for the scutching machinery, and drying accommodation 

 for the fibre. It is probable that the cost of Ekman's 

 boiling and chemical i^rocess may be too considerable for 

 each individual planter ; but som(^ couvenient central factory 

 established in each district, or on the coast, may enable 

 the planters to obtain the benefit of this process, on 

 the same prmciple as is now in use for the ultimate 

 preparation of their coffee. It therefore seems that good 

 hope is afforded, that the cultivation of fibre plants may 

 relieve the Indian and Ceylon coffee planters of much 

 of the troubles that have befallen them, from the per- 

 sistent attacks of the HcmUein xastatrix, or leaf disease. — 

 Jouraal of the Society of Arts. 



Gatheeinx; Caoutchouc in Equatorial Ameeica. — The 

 tapping of the trees they had discovered was being actively 

 carried on. The adventm-ers, clad in ragged pantaloons, 

 the body naked, were behaving like demons under the super- 

 vision of their chief round the gigantic Figs (Ficus), whoso 

 bark they were tearing off by slashing it off with their 

 hatchets. The operation reminded me of the process of 

 gathering resin in the Landes of Gascony. But here, in- 

 stead of zinc cups to receive the resmous juice, the caucheros 

 placed Heliconia leaves, on which the precious latex flowed, 

 white as milk. The liquid was collected and poured into 

 calabashes (totuTnas), where it soon coagulated and formed 

 caoutchouc, ready to be packed and exported. — Ed. Andee, 

 " Le Tom* du Monde," p. 399. — GanUntn^ Chronicle. 



TiJCBER Teees fok Singapore. — The Government of the 

 .Straits Settlements has recently indented on the Govern- 

 ment of India for a supply of seeds of various Indian 

 timber trees. Sir F. 'Weld, the Governor of that Colony, 

 intends to make experimental timber nurseries at or near 

 Singapore, and the Ust of trees, amounting to nearly 50 

 kinds, includes most of the common timber trees, such as 

 sal, sissil, chir, pine, the terminalias, tun, ebony, and others, 

 but strange to say- omits teak. "Where it is thought that 

 seed will not survive the jomuey, it is suggested that 

 "Wardian cases should be sent; but wc fancy that the 

 estimated cost (about R500) will not allow many AVaidian 

 cases to be sent, as they are rather expensive articles. 

 The amount of seed asked for is more than 12 maunds. 

 ■While admiring the energy of Sir F. Weld iu endeavouring 

 to 1 iMcure good timber trees from Singapore, we should 

 like to know more about the natural resources of the colony 

 in that direction before awarding high praise to this measure, 

 as the first step in rational forestry is to husband ancl 

 utilize the indigenous material of the country. A\^e ho])e to 

 lie able to place some accoimt of the forests of Singapore 

 before our readers at au early date.— .S. — Indian Forester, 



