June I, 1883.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



949 



ute for lantana or old coffee, and eeema worth 

 thoroiigli eni|uiry in all quarters. 



The outla\ for such a culture in Ceylon appears to 

 be very small. UuliUc coffee and otlier products 

 grown by planters, the Urtica gives a speedy return, 

 and ap|iareutly promises 11 .arge one, but it remains 

 to eucjuire more closely into figures. If the Urtica 

 gave only K200 worth of fil)re per aere, the profit 

 would be very large, as from the conversation 1 have 

 had with M. d'Humierea I believe it to be, but I 

 hope to get more information shortly, and send it to 

 you. My object is to direct attention to this apparently 

 good new product, as a remedy for absndoried or 

 worn-out coffee to take the place of lantana and 

 scrub, if not as a regular new product for new lands. 



Wages here are Rl -50 for men R075 for women, 

 and if in this comparatively dry climate with such 

 wages as tlicse the cultivation is profitable, can we 

 not witli chi^ap labour and a forcing climate {jrow 

 what is so profitable here and in Java ? It could be 

 worked by contract, the attention reijuired being 

 mejely to cut tlie shoots at the riglit times, and 

 bring them to the store, care being taken not to 

 injure the younger shoots. 



But I hope to send more detailed information shortly. 

 This letter must be looked on merely as an iutro- 

 duction 10 the subject, and 1 hope ihat it may prove 

 useful to my fellosv planters, who may perhaijs get 

 more loc.il information from Java, China, India, etc., 

 and enquire carefully into the subject individually. 



o. 



San Kemo, Italy, Nov. 25th, 1S82. 



It may be as well to give at once here what is 

 said of the Rheea in the '-Treasury of Botany" : — 



Bohmeria. This genus oftheorderof nettleworts (f/rit'e- 

 acece) contains numerous species distributed throughout 

 tile tropics aud .subtropics of both hemispheres. They are 

 herbaceous plauts or shrubs, closely aUied to true nettles 

 ( Urtica), but differing from them in not having stinging 

 h.airs. The male and female flowers are produced in se- 

 parate spikes on the same plant : the males having a 

 four-parted calyx and four stamens, the females a tubular 

 calyx dii'ided into four teeth at the top, and a slender 

 style with hairs along one side. Several of the species yield 

 valuable fibres. The most interesting of them is B. uivea, 

 the Tchou-ma of the Chinese, the Kheea of Assam, and 

 the Oliinese Grass-cloth plant of Euglish writers. It is a 

 small shrubby plant about three or four feet high, throw- 

 ing up nu-iicrous straight shoots, which are aliout as thick 

 as the httle finger and covered with short soft hairs. Its 

 leaves gi'ow upon long hairy footstalks, and are broadly 

 heart-shaped, about six inches long by four broad, terminat- 

 ing in a long slender point, and having their edges cut like 

 a saw. They are of a deep green colour on the upper side, 

 but covered on the under .side with a dense coating of white 

 down, which gives them an appearance, like that of frosted 

 silver. The beautiful fabric known in England as Grass- 

 cloth, aud rivalling the best French cambric in softness and 

 fiucncss of texture, is manufactured from the fibre obtained 

 from the inner bark of this shrub, which is a native of China 

 and Sumatra, aud has long been cultivated in those countries 

 and also in India, where it has recently been recognized as 

 idi.-ntical \vith the Kheea of Assam. The Chinese bestow 

 an immense amount of care and labour upon its cultivation 

 and the preparation of its fibre ; they obtain three crops of 

 the stems annually, the second being considered the best. 

 To obtain the fibre the bark is stripped off in two long pieces 

 anil carefully scraped with a knife, so as to get rid of all 

 useless matter, after which it is softened and separated into 

 fine filaments, cither by steeping it in hot water or holding 

 it over steam. The fibre is of different degrees of fineness 

 accortling to the age of the plant, and the part of tiie bark 

 from which it is taken: the inner bark of young quickly 

 grown .stems yielding the VjeautifuUy fine delicate fibre from 

 which the best fabrics are manufactured, while the outer 

 portion affords a coarse fibre only fit for making ropes, can- 

 vas, etc. Kxperimeiits made with the view of testing the 

 strength of this fibre liave proved it to possess nearly double 

 the tenacity of Russian hemp. 



B. Puf/a, which is a native of Nepal, very closely resembles 

 the preceding both in its botanical characters aud general 

 appearance. It is, however, rather taller, growing as high 

 ^s six or eight feet, and its leaves arc of a different form, 

 being broadly lance-shaped, and terminating in a sharp 

 point; but they have serrated edges, aud are silvery on the 

 under side as in the last. This plant is called Pooah or 

 Puya in Sikkim and Nepal, and its fibre has long been in 

 use among the natives ; but they have hitherto employed 

 clay or mud in its preparation, which greatly deteriorates 

 its value. AVhen properly prejjared it is very strong, ^and 

 makes good cordage and sailcloth. Of the other species of 

 this genus we may mention that the inner b.ark oi B.albida 

 is used in the .S.iudwich Isl.anils for making cloth ; and B. 

 rv^/''/fr^M's employed niediciually in Urazil. 

 T he ronthmcd. 



NEW AND OLD PRODUCTS IN CEYLON. 



For 30 years coffee reigned king in Ceylon ; no other 

 product was dreamed of by the enterprizing European. 

 There is now a danger of running into the opposite 

 extreme and producing merely a numerous array of 

 xainph'ji — athing that never pays. Well it would be for 

 all concerned if a few products could be fixed upon 

 at as early a date as possible and gone into on sound 

 commercial principles. An estate producing samples 

 of a dozen different products is less likely to pay 

 than one restricted to one or two. 



I am glad to note Mr. Cameron's opinions of Rak- 

 wana and Morawaka as tea districts. I had for 15 

 years better opportunities of knowing these districts 

 tlian most men, and have long been of opinion that 

 the only known products that would pay in such 

 localities are tea and aloe. 



It is of course difficult to speak particularly of 

 any district without trampling on some sensational 

 fellow's toes, but time and money will be wasted in 

 attempting cocoa or even cinchona in a district so 

 varied in soil, climate and shelter. Patches of any 

 tropical product may be grown, but patches do not 

 pay. With the ridges however planted with aloe, 

 now becoming so valuable for fibre, and tea in the 

 sheltered valley, the old Rakwana range might yet 

 rejoice. The aloe has the advantage over any other 

 plant of actually improving the soil in which it 

 gi'ows, and, while pointing its own hardy leaf fear- 

 lessly to the S. W. monsoon will help to shelter the tea. 



HISTORIC NOTES ON TEA. 



Some interesting information on this head is furnished 

 in a newly published work by the learned Swiss botanist, 

 professor A. de Oandolle. A legend, originally related by 

 the Dutch traveller Kcempfer, of a Buddhist monk, who 

 came to China from India some time during the fifth cent- 

 ury of the Christian era, and, in vexation at having 

 slumbered during a night of vigil and prayer, cut off his 

 eyelids, whence, forthwith, sprang up two teaplants, has 

 often been repeated in popular works as not only pre- 

 figuring the anti-somnolent properties of the leaf, but as 

 affording traditional evidence of the source and probable 

 period of introduction of the tea plant into the Flowery 

 land. I 'nfortunate ly for this riew, the legend, it seems, 

 is wholly unknown in Oliiua, whilst the plant it-self has 

 been known there from ages far more remote. Dr. Bret- 

 scbueidcr, physician to the Russian Legation, Pekin, who 

 has ma le many vahuable researches in Chinese literature, 

 states that tea is mentioned 2.700 B. 0. in a Chinese 

 compilation known as the 1'eiU San, and likewise in an- 

 other, Ihc Rhi/a, which dates from .500 ];. C. to 600 B.C., 

 whilst a native commeutator on the latter work, writing 

 A. D. 400, gives full details of the plant and of the modes 

 of infusion still in use. Its antiquity in China is there- 

 fore very great.* lu .Japan it may be of later introduction - 



* We should like to know what learned Sinologists have 

 to say to this assertion ? The Xort'i China HirtUd editor 

 has expressed scepticism regarding the alleged great ant- 

 iquity of tea in China. — Ed' 



