886 



THE THOPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[May I, 1883. 



A [jai-cel of these uucler four ounces ami marked by 

 Miscellaneous Post will come for G cf.nts, and under 8 

 ounces for 12 cents. Collect specimens with leaves, 

 flowers, and fruits on, if possible. Lay a bit of 

 any kind of paper on a table, lay out your speci- 

 mens on this as flat as you can, and do not put 

 one over the other ; lay imother bit of paper above 

 the plants, and any number of layers if you are 

 going' to send several kiud^ aud :i large packet. Then 

 begin at one cud of your mass and roll it up in a line 

 with the stems of the specimens, aud if the roll is too 

 long double it, or keep your specimens short enough 

 to make a handy roll to come by post. The separ- 

 ation of the specinieus by the paper will enable them to 

 come all right for botanical purposes. — W. F,] 



NEYA^■DA FIBRE (SANSEVIERA ZEYLANIGA). 



Royal Botanical Garden, Peiadeuiya, 9thApril 1SS3. 



!SiR, — The following valuation of the fibre from the 

 Neyanda plant — Saasev'wm zeijlanica — is taken from a 

 report obtained fr^'m London, by Messrs. Arbuthuot 

 & Co., Madras, upon a sample from Vizagapatam, 

 fcirwarded to them by the Board of Revenue of the 

 PiL-sidency. As so much interest is being taken in 

 fibre-yielding plants, it may be worth giving this 

 further publicity :— 



Letter from Messrs. Arbuthnot & Co., Madras, to the Secretary 

 to llie Board of Revenue, dated Madras 29tli August 18S2: — 



With refereuce to the Board's proceetliugs, No. 4,7.30 of the 23rd 

 Juue, .and our reply of the 311th, we have the honour to subjoin 

 copy of a report received by us from our coriespoudents on the 

 sample of fibre Sansevicra 'Zct/lanica forwai'ded to them. If the 

 sample fairly represents the average quality of fibre which could 

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

 of our letter of the 30th Juue referred to above we would sug- 

 gest that the Collector of Vizagapatam should place himself iu 

 communication with our agent at Bimlipatam forwarding him 

 enou'Th of the libre \a be pressed into a bale at our Jute Factory. 

 From it we could calculate the cost of baling, shipping, &c., &c., 

 and form an estimate of the cost of freight. 



Copy. 

 London, 29lh July 18.^2.— J?e;Jor(:— Good 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 on. Value per ton about £20. Discount 2* per cent. 



The "Neyanda" is a very common small aloe-like 

 plant with mottled leaves found iu most of the lower 

 parts of Ceylon, especially iu dry, stony, or sandy 

 districts, near the sen, usually under bushes. In 

 old botanical books it is called Aloe liyacinthoklex 

 and Aloe zeylanica. The Tamil name is "Marool" 

 and the Telugu " Chaga " or "Saga." The fibre 

 is cotmnonly used here for making ropes and whips, &c., 

 but especially for sleeping mats. Of the latter, those 

 m.adein Dumbara by the low-caste people, .lud dyed 

 yellow, red, aud black with n.ative quickly-fading dyes 

 arc well known sofa-ornam'"nt3. 



Good accounts of the uses of the plant in India are 

 to be read in Roxburgh's "Flora Indica ' (II. pp. 

 161-164) and Royle's " I'lbrous Plants of India" (pp. 51- 

 56). The former states that iu cultivation tlie leaves 

 reach three or four feet, and I have seen wild Ceylon 

 epecimens as long. The above price is scarcely such as 

 to attract the planters' favourable attention, but native 

 cultivators might make it answer well. It ia probable 

 that the fine soft fibre would give an excellent pulp lor 

 paper-making.— I am, sir, yours faithfully, 

 ^ '^ HENRY TRIM EN. 



Divi Divi ought to flourish specially in those arid re- 

 gions of the north and east of Ceylon, where the scrub is 

 composed of mimcsa or acacia plants. Tlie pods are of 

 considerable economic value, as is made evident by iuform- 

 atiou we fiud in a paper received from the Bladras Go- 

 verument. We quote as follows ■.—"The board having learned 

 that Mr. Oardozo had a small Divi-Di\'i plantation that was 

 turuing out very well. Messrs. Whiteside and Wilson risited 

 and inspected 'it on the nth November 1883. Bfr. (^ardozo 

 has about seven acres planted with l>ivi-Divi, all produce 1 



from seed from two parent trees, which are about 25 

 years old. These two trees produced last year 560 lb. of 

 pods, which when sold reahsed Kl.^-10-0 (nett). Mr. Car- 

 dozo stated that the price in the London market varied 

 from .£13 to £19 a ton. During the three hottest months 

 of the year, the trees are occasionally irrigated, but they 

 are extremely hardy and thrive best on the soil that suits 

 the Babul {Acacia Ambica), The trees are planted iu rows, 

 22 feet apart.* Blr. Cardozo has had offers for the seed 

 at the rate of E12 an ounce, and for seedlings natives are 

 now offering him Ii6 a hundred. So far as information is 

 available at present, the Divi-Divi is of great value iu 

 tanuing, dyeing aud making ink ; for each of these pur- 

 poses a different part of the pod is used. Mr. Oardozo 

 showed the ink made from Divi-Divi. It is extremely black, 

 does not clog or corrode the pen and does not fade. The 

 board are decidedly of opinion, in view of the success 

 that is attending Jlr. Cardozo's experiment, that it is very 

 advisable to encourage the cultivation of Divi-Divi as widely 

 as possible. There are immeu.se tracts of laud throughout 

 the Presidency on which the tree would grow well. It 

 requires very little attention, and the price that the pods 

 and seed command in the market, even now when the 

 great value of the product is not sufficiently known, is 

 very remunerative. The board recommend that Collectors 

 be instructed to endeavour to stimulate the cultivation of 

 Divi-Divi. The demand for it in the London market would 

 increase, no doubt, with the supply." 



Tea Sowing and JIandfactcbe in Japan.— Mr. Eobert 

 son, of the British Consular Service in Japan, has re- 

 cently translated a native work descriptive of the growth 

 and manufacture of tea in that country. It appears that 

 the preparation of the ground for the reception of the 

 seed is as follows : — 



"A hole about two feet in diameter is dug and well 

 manm-ed, earth sprinkled over this, and the seed can then 

 be sown, the best kind of earth for this purpose is good 

 black soil or what is known as hill soil, it should not be 

 clayey, but friable. The ground should have a south 

 easterly du-ection, and locahties should be chosen with a 

 due regard to a warm temperature, the great object is to 

 guard agaiust northerly and westerly winds. The land 

 should be laid out in the .same way as for vegetables that 

 is iu ridges and well manured. 



The time for sowing is just about tho break-up of 

 winter and commencement of spring, when the snow is 

 disappearing from off the ground. 



Tlie lid of a tub, about eight or nine inches in diameter, 

 is taken (or what will do as well, the straw top of arice 

 basket) aud in this is mixed as a small quantity of tea seed 

 and guano — the guano is used to keep off the moles — 

 the seed is then sown over the plantation, and the sowings 

 covered with a little earth. 



The ground is prepared in the winter in the manner as 

 above described, and when sowing, it is as well to cover 

 the seed with a little rice brau. 



The plant shows up well in about fifty days. 

 The first year the plant attains to about two inches, 

 grows to nine or ten inches iu the second year, throwmg 

 out a couple of branches, and in the third year grows to 

 about a food aud a half with five branches. It is only 

 in the fourth year that the first year's leaves are picked." 

 The treatment of Japan leaf after picking seems to 

 dilfw more from the Indian method of curing than any 

 other process in the two systems of tea culture : 



" 1 he process of steaming the tea is as follows ;— As 

 soon as picked it is at once steamed, all damp or wet 

 leaves being thrown ou one side, excepting those that may 

 be a little wet with dew. In order to obtain the proper 

 application of heat, a few leaves are put into a shallow 

 basket, spread out evenly, and tlie lid put ou, the basket 

 is then placed over a charcoal fire box or stove, a per- 

 fume is at once perceived. When the greeny sniell has 

 subsided, the leaves are removed, spread ou a a piece of 

 new matting, and fanned briskly so as to draw out the 

 heat. After the Lapse of some little time the tea is 

 placed in a tray, aud then undergoes a firing process, the 

 length of which is regulated either by the ruiuute hand 

 of a watch or the beats of a pulse, aud depends a good 

 dealou the manipulator's own ideas." — Indian Tea Gazette, 



* Too wide apart by one-half, we should think, — Ed. 



