June i, 1887.] THE TROPICAL AGRlCULTUklST. 



S05 



limidlos of 50 each. Thirty sucli humlles is a day''' 

 task. These l)uiidles are put out ou the edge of the 

 cart road, and are taken up by drays, carrying l.oOO 

 leaves to a load, to the works. Cutters, carters, and 

 machinists are paid so much per 1,000 leaves. 



The works are placed near a regular supply of 

 water. The power of the engine and the number of 

 machines required all depend on the size of the plant- 

 ation. One fibre machine is stated to be required for 

 every hundred acres of plants. 



After the fibre has passed through the machine 

 it is placed on a drying stand fully exposed to the 

 sun and thoroughly dried. If it is desired to bleach 

 the fibre to a high degree of whiteness it is left out 

 all night and dviring the next day and carefully turned. 

 The fibre is made up into bales by means of a screw 

 or hydraulic press ; care being taken to keep the fibre 

 straight and prevent " fringes." 



Each plant when matured yields 30 to So leaves per 

 annum, and the return of hemp is at the rate of 

 1,000 to 1,'JOii pounds per acre, or about half a ton 

 per acre per annum. The net return on a fibre plant- 

 ation in Yucatan is estimated at between 4/. or 5/. 

 per acre. 



Plants received at Kew from Yucatan marked 

 "Sisal Hemp" are now growing in the Succulent 

 House No. 5, and lately an experiment was made to 

 test tne (jualltv of the fibre yielded by tihem. 



The fibre was extracted by Mr. ^Y. K'. Death's fibre 

 machine, and the following report was received upon 

 it from Messrs. Ide and Christie, fibre brokers, of 

 Mark Lane : — 



"We are in receipt of the parcel containing a leaf 

 " of Arjave I.rlli and sample of hemp made from 

 " leaves grown in the gardens. These are most interest- 

 " ing to us, and we have much pleasure in reporting 

 " favourably on the hemp. The quality and strength 

 " are very satisfactory, while in respect of colour, 

 " lustre, and fineness of fibre, your sample is superior 

 '• to the average Sisal hemp that comes to this country. 

 " The value of this article is excejjtionally high at 

 "present, 27/. per ton in London. You will see from 

 " the statistics given in enclosed circular that this 

 " material is an important one and is extensively used 

 " both in England and America. It enters into com- 

 •' petition with Manila hemp and was regarded as an 

 " adulterant of the latter in rope; but as its price 

 " is now nearly as high as that of Manila the rope- 

 " makers have not the same inducements to mix the 

 " hemps." 



VI.— MAURITIUS HEMr. 



A hemp industry was started at Mauritius to 

 utilise the large number oi \>\a.\\iti ol Ihirvvtni (lifiantea 

 Yent., which had spf>ntane<>usly established themselves 

 on low lying lands near the sea coast. This is one 

 of the oldest and best known species of Furcyno, 

 and is now universally spread throughout tropical 

 America and also in India, Ceylon, Mauritius, and St. 

 Helena. The trunk below the rosette of leaves reaches 

 a height of 2 to 4 feet. The leaves are 4 to 7 feet 

 long, 4 to G inches broad at the middle, unarmed, 

 bright green and channelled down the face. The scape 

 or terminal flowering stem reaches a height of 20 to 

 ' SO feet. Like all the other Furor;eas this species pro- 

 duces copious oblong bulbilhi? in place of or in addition 

 to flowers, which falling take root and reproduce the 

 plant. It has often flowered uniler cultivation in 

 England ; the last time at Kew being the autumn of 

 1874. 



A full account, with description, of the various 

 species of Eurcrrea is given by l\Ir. J. G. Baker in 

 Gardener^' ('hroniclr (1870, pp. fi-3, 624). Furcrwa 

 gif/ctiitcfi is figured in the Botanical Magazme, t. ^'250 : 

 Wight Ictab. 2025: Decandolle, Tlantes Grasses t. 12(;. 



Although Furcrffa. qi(/'(iitea, known locally as Aln'is 

 vert, is the chief fibre plant in ilauritius, there is 

 evidence that Fv.rcrca ciihens\si is also found there as 

 well, as species of Agaves such as A. (inuricaxa and 

 others. 



Bojer (Hortus Mauritiarus, p. 353) mentions the 

 Aloi s vert {Fourcraea f/iaantea) as common in 1837, and 

 gtates Oroit eur la Moutague Languo dans les enclroits 



vides et les basilages des habitations dans t )us Iq.; 

 ((uartiers d'ile." He does not mention Fi'.rci'a-uf. 

 <:Hlien,.'-i< at all, so the latter must be a later i>>-uduc- 

 tioti. P.'ants of both species have bjea received at 

 Kew from the ]\rauritius 1 titanic (Tirdeas. 



Fi'rcnea rjigantca is supposed to h-ive been introd- 

 uced from South America t-) Miuritius ab nit 1700. 

 It has evidently found a congeniil home there for 

 without any effort oa the pT,rt of man it has cDvered 

 waste lands aad abandoned sugar estates to such an 

 extent as to lay the foundation of a c lusiderable fibre, 

 industry. The leaves are oftea 8 feet in leuGfth aud 

 from 6 to 7 inches in breadth. The pulp of the leaves 

 when crushed gives of! a strong pungent odour, and 

 hence this species is sometimes cilled i\\& foetid aloe. 

 '{'he juice is strongly corrosive ami sooi acts upon 

 wrought iron ; it is said to produce less effect ou 

 cast iron, while it is practically inoperative ou brass 

 and copper. 



The plant grows in all soils and up to an elevation 

 of 1,800 feet about the level of the sea. It has, 

 however, more generally disseminated itself on the low- 

 lauds near the coast, and on a few of the ab- 

 andoned sugar estates that have bi'come too dry for 

 cane cultivation. 



A fibre industry was started at Mauritius about 12 

 years ago when the wet or retting system was 

 tried. The cut leaves were first passed through the 

 rollers of a sugar mill and steeped in water 

 for some days. The fibre was then washed 

 and beaten out by hand in running water. 

 This process was soon found unsuitable as the fibre 

 was discoloured and rendered weak ; consequently it 

 obtained comparatively low prices. Attention was 

 then directed to extraction by means of i/rattense or 

 scotching machines. Many machines have since been 

 tried, and it is believed that the purely mechanical 

 difliculties connected with cleaning the fibre have been 

 for the most part overcome. The amount of fibre 

 obtained from leaves of the A Iocs vert was at the 

 rate of 3 per cent, by weight of green leaves. The 

 yield of fibre was at the rate of about Ij tons per 

 acre. A set of six machines driven by a steam engine 

 of 8-horse power (nominal) cleaned 1,15,") pounds of 

 fibre per day, which is at the rate of 197 pounds 

 for each machine per day. 



At one time there were eigli.t fibre or hemp com- 

 panies fornied with a total capital of Kl, 182, 500. The 

 total quantity of fibre exported in 1872 was 214 tons, 

 of the value of 4,934(!., which would be at the rate 

 of 2U. 13*-. per ton. In 188<) it had increased to 

 062 tons, which sold in England at 287-. to 32^. per 

 ton. Some samples in 1883 sold as high as 38*'. per 

 ton. Since that time low prices have rul(;d, and this 

 added to the fact that the cost of production was 

 considerably increased tended to discotu-age the 

 industry. It is evident the industry was first started 

 to work off the leaves of self-grown plants which 

 were ready at hand in great abundance. AYhen these 

 leaves were exhausted it remained either to wait 

 until the plants were regrown or to procure supplies 

 of leaves at increased cost from the surrounding countrj'. 

 This latter course being adopted at a time when the 

 market value of fibre was low rendered the enterprise, 

 unremunerativc. In the returns of 1885 we find 

 that Mauritius hemp imported to this country 

 amounted to 255 tons of the value of 39/. per ton. 

 In Messrs. Ide and Christie's monthly circular, Dec. 

 1886, Mauritius hemp is quoted "in good demand" 

 at 28/. per ton. 



The following extracts taken from Mr. Home's 

 Keport on the Agricultural llesourccs of IMauritius 

 will sutticiently explain the circumstances mider which 

 the fibre industry was started aud the causes which 

 have operated to produce the present depression, 

 which in the interest of the island it is hoped will 

 be only of a temporary character: — 



"The industry of extracting fibres from the leaves 

 " of the alnl'n vei't is by no means exhausted. There 

 " is ground for believing that it has yet a future in 

 " Mauritius. The fall in the price of this fibre in 

 " the European markets broke several local companies 

 '• that were formed for tho working of tlie aloa 



