324 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS? 



October 12, 1912. 



FRUITS AND FRUIT TREES. 



SILK COTTON, OR KAPOK. 



Much information concerning silk cotton, or Kapok as 

 it is usually known in commerce— chiefly the product of 

 the tree Eriodendron anfractuomm — hus been given in the 

 Agricultural News, and reference to the principal articles 

 dealing with the product may be found on page 117 of this 

 volume. It is intended now to supplement this information 

 by details taken from various sources which will be 

 mentioned. 



The chief producer of kapok is Java, where the trees 

 are grown systematically for their produce. A table showing 

 the exports of the fibre from that country, given in the 

 Philippine Agricultural Review ior August 1912, indicates 

 that these rose from 1,500 tons in 1890 to 3,500 tons in 

 1900; five years later the shipments were 6,300 tons, and in 

 1910' they amounted to 7,930 tons. The total export of 

 kapok from the Dutch East Indies in 1910 was 8,625 tons. 

 No such systematic cultivation of the plant exists in the 

 Philippines, where there is only a comparatively small pro- 

 duction—in 1905, 4 tons, in 1910, 30 tons, and in 1911 

 98 tons. 



Observations made by the Philippine Bureau of 

 Agriculture have caused it to be estimated conservatively 

 that the annual yield of silk cotton trees under seven years 

 old is 3^ to 5i lb. of fibre, older trees give 72 ft. or more. 

 Trees of the former age are considered to be giving a fair produc- 

 tion when they yield three to five hundred fruits in a year; 

 those that are older may give as many as 1,000 fruits, but this 

 is exceptional. There is much variation in the size of the 

 fruits, for sometimes it takes only sixty of these to give 1 ft. 

 of clean fibre; in other cases the number may be as high as 

 120, or even higher. The yield of the fibre is 58 to 65 per 

 cent, of the weight of the seed. These figures refer to 

 investigations in the Philippines. 



The value of kapok has risen gradually in recent years. 

 A table given in the article already mentioned shows that 

 this increased from 1213c. per ft. in 1905 to 20c. per ft. 

 (the approximate maximum value) in the present year, the 

 price being that of Dutch East Indian kapok. 



At present, kapok (from Java) enters the United States 



free of duty. 



The Board of Trade Journal for August 8, 1912, re- 

 views a recent report of the German Consul at Amsterdam 



which shows that 61,449 bales (of 40 kilos, or 88 ft.) of 

 cleaned kapnk and 2,335 bales of uncleaned kapok were 

 imported into Amsterdam in 1911, and 3,000 bales of cleaned 

 kapnk were received at Kotterdam in the same year; the 

 total importation into Holland was 66,784 bales, as compar- 

 ed with 67.175 in 1910 and 67,377 bales in 1909, The 

 prices per ft. for East Indian kapok were as follows: for 

 special cleaned, about 8rf.; for good cleaned, very little less 

 than this; tor cleaned, about ld.\ and for uncleaned, about 3d. 



The Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture has recently 

 received inquiries from London importers of the article, 

 Messrs. Kraft Brothers, 14 Bevis Marks, E.C., regarding the 

 possibility of obtaining kapok in commercial quantities from 

 the West Indies; they state that at present about 6rf. per lb. 

 is being paid for British East Indian kapok. It has been 

 explained before that the small number of isolated trees that 

 exist, and the absence of systematic cultivation, make 

 unlikely any useful export of kapok from this part of the 

 world 



It is recommended in the Bulletin of the Imperial 

 Inttitute, Vol. IX (1911), p. 121, that silk cotton trees should 

 stand in plantations so that there are about 144 to the acre. 

 If the figures given above for yield in the Philippines are 

 taken, the kapok on 1 acre of yielding trees less than seven 

 years old would, on an average return and at 6d per ft., be 

 worth about £16. Its value from trees older than this, taking 

 the minimum yield, would be about £28. 



In Java, the tree is not only raised in plantations, but 

 is commonly planted about 12 to 15 feet apart along 

 the roads in coffee and cocoa cultivations, which are 

 usually on a much larger scale than those in the West 

 Indies. Each tree above seven years old yields kapok 

 valued at nearly 4s., in England, taking the minimum figure 

 for the Philippines. The similar value of the fibre from the 

 trees along a mile of road, planted on both sides at the 

 greater distance, works out at £136. 



Nothing useful is known as to the cost of the 

 establishment of the trees and of picking and cleaning the 

 fibre, in the West Indies. 



In St Vincent, the silk cotton trees are being actually 

 destroyed, because they harbour an enemy — the cotton 

 stainer {Dysdercus delaunei/i) — of a fibre that is far more 

 valuable than kapok. 



