826 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[April 2, 1883. 



ing to the Thames Achertiser of January 2S, such was the 

 enthusiasm among the gentlemen present that some four 

 hundred shares were subscribed for in the room. It may 

 be as well to note, however, as illustrative of the slowness 

 with which new ideas spread, that this ebullition of seri- 

 cultm-al ardour took four years to develop, as the moving 

 spirit and secretary, Mr. Albert J. AUom, of Parawai, Thames, 

 N. Z., began his advocacy of the undertaking through the 

 Colonial press as far back as 1877. Possibly somewhat of 

 this pleasing issue may have been owing to the interest 

 which for the past few years has been taken in the pro- 

 motion of the industry by many in the parent country. 



That the tea farmiiig industry has also lately received 

 considerable attention in New Zealand, one has only to 

 glance through a file of local papers to be convinced. In 

 testimony of this improved attitude towards the " cup which 

 cheers," I shall only quote a paragraph which appeared 

 in your journal of August 11 : — " Some time since the 

 Acclimatisation Society of New Zealand invited Mr Reid, 

 a gentleman connected with the cultivation of tea in India, 

 to make experiments ivith tea plants gromi in the gardens 

 of the society of Auckland. Mr. Reid has lately made his 

 report, which is eminently satisfactory, and shows that 

 the plant can be most succe.ssfully cultivated in that 

 district." 



These various items of news cannot, I think, but prove 

 welcome to those of your readers who feel interested in 

 the subject and in the progre.ss of New Zealand. They 

 may also have the desirable effect of stimulating such well- 

 wishers and others to lend their a.ssistance to an enter- 

 prise which seeks to combine the two industries of tea 

 and silk farming there as being the most likely form for 

 commercial success in a country where at present labour 

 is scarce and expensive. 



Among the (Ustingui-shed Colonists to whom the advocates 

 of this combined enterprise are indebted is the Hon. John 

 Bathgate, M. P. for the Roslyn district in Otago, author 

 of one of the best descriptive pamphlets on the resources 

 and pro-spects of New Zealand which have recently appeared. 

 This gentleman took occasion, on July 19 last, from his 

 place in the Colonial Parhament, to ask the Government 

 if they intended taking steps to give practical effect to 

 any suggestions lately offered in connection with the culture 

 of tea and silk in the North Island. The reply, though 

 not altogether satisfactory, contained the important words 

 — " The subject had been before the Government, and was 

 now before them, and probably, when it took a more sub- 

 stantial shape, might yet be considered." 



There are, of course, different aspects in which the word 

 " substantial " may be considered. In the case of the pro- 

 posed sericultural enterprise it means the formation of a 

 company with a capital of not less than 1.50,000/., accord- 

 ing to extent of field to be developed, with power to acquire 

 eligible lands, forests, and running streams for water power, 

 the erection of suitable buildings and machinery within 

 the province of Auckland and elsewhere in New Zealand, 

 for the purpose of conducting the farming and production 

 of tea and silk, and any other articles of commerce found 

 suited to the climate and locality. The offering of bonu.ses 

 and other material encouragement for the development and 

 stimulation of new industries, hail long ago been a pro- 

 minent feature in the policy of the New Zealand E.\ecutive, 

 in common with the Governments of some of our other 

 Colonies, so it was considered not unlikely that something 

 of this kind might also be extended to sericulture and tea- 

 planting. Accordingly, about two years ago the following 

 openings for State aid 'were suggested to the Government : — 

 For the Tea Indnstri/. 



1. The necessary supply of one-year-old tea plants and 

 fresh seed from t'hiua, Ceylon, Assam, the Neilgherries, 

 and Darjeeling, delivered at the nearest port to the pro- 

 posed plantations at cost price or free. 



2. Fai-ilities for the inq)ortation of labour from China, 

 India, or elsewhere, and reasonable legal protection to the 

 planter against the non-fulfilment or evasion of labourers' 

 t^ngagements. 



3. A proportion of forest-land to the acreage purcha.sed, 

 or rented, at a reduced cost or free. 



4. The admission, without duty, of aU material, imple- 

 ments, tools, and machinery necessary in tea cultivation, 

 manufacture, and packing, for a short term of probably 

 ten years, 



5. Freedom from duty or excise imposts for all tea gro^vn 

 and prepared in the Colony for the first ten years. 



For the Silk Iiulustry. 



6. The necessary supply (400 plants per acre) of five- 

 year-old white mulberry bushes grafted on black mulberry 

 stocks, or other approved kinds and seed, from Sydney or 

 elsewhere. Also the needful quantities of any other silk- 

 worm-feeding shrubs, such as the castor-oil plant, the ter- 

 niinalia, jujube trees, the ailanthus, &c., dehvered at the 

 nearest port to the proposed plantations at cost price or free. 



7. Facilities inj-egard to labour, land, and freedom from 

 duties, as in the tea industry. 



8. And such encouragement generally as might lead to 

 the speedy settlement of skilled reelers from France and 

 Italy, silk-throwsters from England, and the purchase in 

 time of the mechanism required in the higher branches 

 of the silk industry. 



Such is the present po.sition of this sericultural proposal. 

 Its advocates having indicated to the New Zealand Govern- 

 ment what they propose to do, and having .specified as 

 above several channels, in any one or more or all of which 

 official aiil might usefully be rendered, now respectfully 

 await a decision. It is surely for the Executive to say, 

 \vithout further delay, in what direction, and to what ex- 

 tent, if at all, their assistance may be expected. 



Meanwhile a manuscript pro.spectus of the proposed 

 company is in circulation for additional suggestions and 

 criticism, and I shall be happy to receive and register the 

 names of well-wi.shers to the enterprise who may desire 

 to co-operate in carrying it to a practical issue. — I remain, 

 sir, Your obedient servant, 



"William Cocheav. 



Overdale, Dunblane, Perthshire, November 1, 1882. 



ALOE FIBRE. 



The depressed condition of planting enterprise in Ceylon 

 has awakened there an anxious interest in the commercial 

 possibilities of new products, and the climatic suitability 

 of plants hitherto untried in the island. The cultivation 

 of the aloe in the Mauritius has attracted attention in this 

 connection. There the preparation of the fibre now takes 

 second rank among the leading industries of the colony, 

 and is rapidly extentUng; and though it has been advanced 

 that there is some reason to fear that the limits of con- 

 sumption for the quality now pi'oduced may soon be reached, 

 when prices would necessarily suffer, there is the certainty 

 of the demand stimidatiug the supply, when the fitness of 

 the fibre had been determined for finer purposes than the 

 manufacture of rope, in which it is now chiefly employed. 

 It is a question of chemical malleability, and the extraction 

 of the fil)re by an improved method. The last is as yet 

 most crude, and the former untried. Given such encourage- 

 ment, as the requirements of India now offer in respect 

 of the development of country manufactures by theutiUz- 

 ation of indigenous products, and the accomplishment of 

 the necessary desiderata, it goes without saying, must be 

 quickly achieved. The description of aloe grown ui the 

 Mauritius is the Fovrcroi/a i/ii/antea, better known as the 

 "yucca" or Adam's neeiUe of .tamaica. It is of very hardy 

 growth, requiring no attention, and mil continue an abundant 

 yield of leaves for several years. Drought has no effect 

 upon it, and it gross luxuriantly in arid land that has been 

 thi'own out of cane cultivation. It is propagated either by 

 seeds planted at stake, or by means of young plants from 

 twelve months to three years old; they are put into the 

 ground five feet apart. If gi-own from seed, they require 

 five years to attain then' full size; but if plants, 18 inches 

 high are put in, they mature in three years. On an average 

 they blossom in seven or eight years; they can therefore 

 be cut only four or five times. There is another description, 

 the Allafo/is, common everywhere in India, and familiar 

 from its' formidable array of long hard flattened leaves, which 

 tipped with a needle-like horn, bears in the rains countless 

 white flowers, hanging most beautifully like little bells from 

 its neat growing stem. The American aloe is more of a 

 garden plant, luxuriating in leaf mouM, and from a richer 

 soil derives a superior fibre. But there is a conflict of state- 

 ments with regaril to its marketable value. Messrs. Cantwell 

 & Co., of Calcutta, who bring to the notice of the public 

 that they have an inexpensive and simple method of extract- 



