422 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[November i, i88a. 



planted, four or five years would elapse before the 

 planter would get any appreciable returns, the Chair- 

 man of the Victoria Association naturally objected 

 to tlie diversion of attention from sugar, about which 

 they kuew, to an experimental and costly enterprise 

 like this. When their sugar grounds were exhausted, 

 the case might be different. From the fifth to the 

 eighth year the return of leaves per acre would be 

 about 40 to 75 tons, yielding about IJ of clean fibre, 

 which would realize about £40 per ton. Other 

 estimates of fibre run up to twice the quantity in- 

 dicated, but we suspect the more moderate estimate, 

 is the more reliable, both in the case of leaf and 

 fibre. We have had a good deal of personal experi- 

 ence of the green aloe, and we know that it 

 grows readily in most soils, growing of course most 

 luxuriantly in good soils. It yields large quantities 

 of leaves, but the more frequently they are cut, 

 the more ia the flowermg, seeding, — and dying stages 

 in the plant's life history hastened. A gi'een aloe 

 left untouched might make twelve years of growth 

 before the flower stalk (which shoots up at the rate 

 of half-an-inch an hour or faster) appeared. But the 

 same plant rigidly pruned of its lower leaves would 

 have its life shortened to seven years. On the other hand 

 the reproductive powers of the plant are wonderful and 

 the mode of perpetuation very curious. The stalk of an 

 aloe in flower somewhat resembles that of the talipot 

 pahn, the flowers along the stalk being of a delicate 

 primrose colour. We have talked of the seeding stage, 

 but there are really no seeds. The flowers gradually 

 turn green, the petals assuming the form of leaves 

 springing from a bulb, which as it enlarges becomes 

 loosened from the stalk, until a breeze of wind or a 

 shake sends do'ivn a shower of miniature but perfect 

 plants, wliich root the moment they touch the ground. 

 Wc should think that one flower stalk would yield 

 a full thousand of such little plants. But when the 

 whole of the young plants have matured, the old 

 plant has to be rooted up and replaced and it might 

 bt a question whether a good second crop would 

 flourish on the same soil. Perhaps some of our readers 

 — say Mr. John Stephens, of the Diggings, near Gam- 

 pola, whose estate at one time was fenced with 

 splendid green aloe hedges — can give definite inform ■' 

 ation on this point. It is claimed for the green aloe 

 that not only will it flourish on dry sandy soil, but 

 that it is unaffected by disease or Insects. We shoidd 

 have agi'eed to this, as far as our personal observation 

 goes, but that about a dozen years ago, we heard of 

 the result of an experiment on patena land belonging 

 to Meddekumbera estate, the great Dimbula property 

 of the Ceylon Company Limited. A patch of patena 

 land was properly hoed and planted with aloes, but 

 the plants were exterminated by grubs. So that 

 to these destructive insects the most delicate Led- 

 gerianas and the most fibrous aloe leaves seem to 

 be alike acceptable. The possibility of damage and 

 destruction by insects must therefore be taken into 

 account. If all that Mr. Christy of London says in 

 favour of Ekman's patent process of dealing with 

 fibrous plants is sustamed on trial, then, probably, 

 the objection to the extent and the cost of machhiery 

 can be obviated. But it might not be easy at once 

 to obtain large supplies of plants and there would be 

 at least three years to wait for the first returns from 

 a plaut, the life of which would be shortened in pro- 

 portion to the extent to which it was deprived of 

 its leaves. M. de Chazal of Natal states that : — 



" The kind of aloe cultivated by preference in Mau- 

 ritius is the cif/inK Ja-'ida, called foiircroya gigantea, 

 or roughly called green aloe. Aloe is plauttd in any 

 season of the year, in furrows 5 ft. distant irom each 

 other; 1,600 or 2,0UO aloe plants will cover an a re 

 of land. Young plants, or those having two or three 

 years' growth, might be taken for the plautatiou ; 



however, seeds are much better, but in this case 

 the crop can only be done when they are five years' 

 old. The aloe arrows when it is seven or eight years' 

 old, and can be cut four or five times before it stems ; 

 when it has reached this period, the plant must be 

 renewed. 



"Comparing aloe plantation with cane plantation, the 

 former can be done with less expense. A simple 

 tilling would do ; moreover, sandy, or loamy lands 

 would do perfectly well. I think that as soon as 

 the plant has grown it might be left to itself, with- 

 out weeding, until the crop takes place. 



" The produce of the fibre in one acre of aloe would 

 be about one ton and a half, the price of which 

 varies from £30 to £40 the ton, and still tends to 

 rise. Nothing is certain concerning the real richness 

 of the fibre in the leaf of the aloe, the estimates 

 vary from 3J per cent to 8 per cent. With the last 

 improvements brought in to Mauritius, they have 

 succeeded in getting three pounds of fibre to 100 

 pounds of leaves ; but according to the system of 

 counting in Mauritius an average of five pounds has 

 been reached." 



Four or five annual crops of leaves, therefore, ap. 

 pear to be the returns which can be safely calculated 

 on, provided the cochchafer grubs or other pests do 

 not interfere. We do not know that weeding would 

 be necessary, but as a, general rule the liability to 

 fungoid or insect pests is in proportion to weediness. 

 Dr. Sutherland of Natal gave some valuable infonn- 

 ation respecting the green aloe as existing in Natal, 

 Mexico and elsewhere : — 



" The letter from Dr. Sutherland stated that the 

 plant known by various names, had been established 

 in this colony for years ; it thrived in the coast 

 districts. The leaves were smooth, the only spine 

 or thorn on them being the solitary one at the tip. 

 The seeds germinate on the parent stem, and strike 

 their roots into the soil as soon as they fall. The 

 leaves attain to their maximum growth in about six 

 years, and are then from six to ten feet long. A 

 full crop would yield probably 75 tons an acre. The 

 yield of fibre is about two per cent an acre, thus 

 yielding about IJ tons of marketable fibre, varying 

 according to demand and supply, in value, about 

 £60. The fibre is known in commerce as ' Sisal 

 Hemp,' and is exported abundantly from Mexico, the 

 chief market is the United States ; it is only of late 

 attention has been drawn to it in Mauritius and St. 

 Helena. The cost of working the machinery best 

 adapted for scparatinj; the fibre from the cellular 

 pulp and the other results have not, so far as he 

 was aware, beeu determined on a thoroughly reliable 

 basis. After numerous experiments with the plant con- 

 ducted through a good many years, he came to the 

 conclusion that sooner or later ttie fibre would fifure 

 largely in our exijorts. The great difficulty is ma- 

 chinery to work off large quantities. The hand scrap- 

 ing process applied in Mexico is too degrading for 

 the progressive communities of our colonies. He tried 

 the effect of steam with a pressure of 60 lb. to the 

 inch, and believed he had succeeded ; but his process 

 slightly discoloured the fibre, which naturally is a 

 pure white. Notwithstanding the creamy tinge the 

 heat and moisture imparted, he sent some of the 

 samples to London, and they were valued at £40 a 

 ton, while the pure white hand-scraped samples were 

 valued at £50 aud ranked with the 'Sisal Hemp' 

 prepared from the sime aloe in Central America. 

 He looked forward to valuable results to agriculture, 

 when by means of machinery thousands of acres 

 could be cleared with the facilities at present ap- 

 plicable to sugar cane. The plant grows best in good 

 soil, taking up a fair share of moisture, but it would, 

 grow luxuriantly in dry sandy soil. There are,hovv- 

 evcr, other fibre yielding plants whioh merit atten- 



