January i, 1883.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



549 



FIBRE MACHINERY. 



Another new machine for cleaning and separating fibres 

 in plants has been patented in the U. S. A. by Mr. 

 Beoviile, a Mexican. It is designed especially for the wild 

 pine apple and the American aloe. Tho inventor says 

 that his machine will treat -.'8,000 leaves an hour. The 

 Scientijic American of April 8th describes tho machine, 

 and illustrates it. 



As the subject of fibre separation has attracted much 

 attention here, we append the description given in the 

 ScKiitiJic American. It is stated that the fibres, after 

 undergoing the process, are clean, long and strong. 



The principal feature of this invention is the scutching 

 cylinder, which is provided with yielding scutching knives 

 or scrapers, and iutermediate yielding feeding blades, 

 which draw the leaves into the cylintii-ical casing sur- 

 rounding the cylinder, and push the refuse pulpy matter 

 outward through the opening, at the back of the cyliu- 

 drical casiug. These scutching blades beat and scrape one 

 side of the leaf as it is fed from the inclined feeder trough 

 to the cylindrical casing. 



The scutching cylinder revolves at the rate of aboat 

 2,000 revolutions per minute, and as the leaves are slowly 

 led to the machine by the fluted feeding rollers, they are 

 thoroughly treated on one side by the scutching or scrap- 

 ing blades, which press the leaf downward between roll- 

 ers, which carry the partly scutched leaf downward to a 

 second scutching cylinder, which revolves in the opposite 

 direction, and cleans the refuse pulpy matter from the 

 opposite side of the leaf, and the clean fibre is discharged 

 through rollers to an endless apron below, which moves 

 slowly and delivers it at a distant point to be dried and 

 baled. 



\Ve may add that fibre for paper-making has lately re- 

 ceived the _ consideration of the Eoyal Botanic Society. 

 At a meeting of the Society on March Ilth, Professor 

 Bentley directed attention to a number of paper-making 

 materials which had been presented, aud stated that ex- 

 periments were being carried on for the utilisation of 

 various kinds of vegetable fibres. It will indeed be strange 

 if the renewed investigation of the subject does not result 

 in rendering valuable for textile, paper-making and other 

 purposes, many of the fibres wliich now are so lamentably 

 wasted in tropical countries. — Planters^ Gazette. 



THE LABOUR QUESTION IN JAMAICA. 



TO THE EDITOR OF THE " PLANTEKs' G.^.i!ETTE." 



Sir, — I have read in your issue of 1st April a letter 

 under the heading of " The Labour Difliculty in Jamaica," 

 written with the view of makiug people believe there is 

 no labour difficulty in Jamaica. 



My experience as a planter in Jamaica is one of eight 

 years, four of which have been in the Blue Mountain 

 district of which Mr. Morris writes, aud where I now 

 reside, managing two coffee plantations with something 

 over 150 acres of coffee under cultivation, and having 

 charge of another of 90 acres in cultivation. My expe- 

 rience is .small, however, compared with that of many other 

 planters in the Blue Mountains of Jamaica, and if they 

 write to you in reply to Mr. Morris's letter, this one may 

 be put aside ; but as regards Mr. Morris's experience of 

 the district, I feel it no presumption on my part to reply 

 to him. 



It is well known that the negroes in this island are 

 almost all proprietors of more or less land from two-acre 

 to ten-acre lots ; this lot they invariably put into coffee 

 cultivation, and rent an acre of land from an adjoining 

 estate for 20s per acre, where they grow their yams and 

 cocoas : the latter feeds them, and the coffee buys their 

 clothes, &c. Now, the hurricane of 1880 destroyed, their 

 provisions and coffee crop, and forced them to flock out 

 to the plantations aud estates for work, but the crops of 

 these latter being also to a great extent destroyed there 

 was only a limited demand for their labour. The plant- 

 ations I'.ot ha\-ing recovered sufliciently by the spring of 

 1881, did not blossom well, and consequently the crop of 

 1831-82 Cjust published) was a failure, causing still a 

 small di'mand for labour, while the same cause puts more 

 labour than usual forward. These two years cover, I be- 

 lieve, the whole period of Mr. Morris's Jamaica expe- 

 rience. 

 70 



It can bo easily understood that the negro being a 

 coffee proprietor, wants labour himself at the most crit- 

 ical period — that of picking coffee, and I have actually 

 known a man who was working in my fields before coffee 

 was ripe, come in croij-time and take away four of my 

 cofl'ee pickers to his own coff'ee piece, oft'ering them greater 

 inducement. I have no doubt labour could bo got at 

 present to do what Mr. Morris states, but where would 

 the planter be in crop time without the <iuiet, thrifty, 

 steady-working coolie? The present small cultivation on 

 most plantations is as much as the labour market war- 

 rants our raaiutainnig unless we import coolies. The negro 

 is a good workman, but we must not forget he is a 

 proprietor and has his own wants. — I am. Sir, yours faith- 

 fully, Geoege Massey. 



Richmond Vale Plantation, Jamaica. 



DANJWE, CASSIA TORA OR FCETIC CASSIA ; 

 The new jyofessed aubstitate for Cojf'ee. 



TO THE EDITOR OF THE " INDIAN AG EICULTITHIST." 



SiK, — A favorable report, made of it by the Commis- 

 sioner of Arakan, has called public attention to that plant. 

 All the shrubs (annuals) I have seen were dried up. 

 Their height varied from 2 to 4| feet. They bad from 

 10 to 24 branches, with some 10 little pods each, con- 

 taining 18 small, hard, elongated seeds (of which 1,825 

 are required to make one ounce in weight), having a 

 bitter taste not unlike the cofl'ee bean when roasted and 

 ground. They emit a smell very much like that of coffee 

 also when similarly treated. And lastly when the powder 

 is used with boiling water in a cafttiere, aud the infusion 

 is drunk either by itself or mixed with milk, it is most 

 agreeable, and 1 have no doubt 95 people out of 100, 

 especially in England, would not suspect it was not coffee, 

 although a connoisseur might find it a trifle bitter. I 

 have tried it at night on my younger son and myself, but 

 its effect was opposite to that of coffee ; it promoted 

 sleep. As a fact, the Burmese use the leaves instead of 

 tea in cases of insomny. They also use them internally, 

 mixed with jaggery, as a remedy against ringworms. In 

 times of scarcity — fortunately very rare in this land — they 

 mix the seed and boil and eat it with their rice. 



As I have just said, I have only si-en dried and denuded 

 shrubs, but the leaves are said to resemble those of the 

 Piai/hampio with this difference, that their smell is con- 

 sidered by some as unpleasant : hence Danpve or the Cassia 

 tora is sometimes also called Fcetid Cassia. 



Mr. Gladstone's propo.sed measm'( s to exclude from the 

 Engli.->h markets all substitutes for coffee, except chicory, 

 does not promise well for the future of Ihtnjwe in Eng- 

 land. But Coutinental dealers may adopt it as a possible 

 improvement on chicory, or some bo!d speculator in Eng- 

 land itself may try and succeed in launching JJanjire into 

 fashion as a new aud distinct drink, having valuable effects 

 on the human system. 



Should Ihni.jne thus become popular, Burmah could sup- 

 ply the world with it. One acre would easily contain 

 20,000 sln-ubs (I allow a distance of neaily 18 inches be- 

 tween the trees, which is much above that in which I 

 have found them in a wild state), n hich multiplied by 1§ 

 ounce, the average yield per shrub would give 17 cwt. 

 seeds per acre. 



Now very inferior coffee sells in London for 4-s. a cwt_ 

 Allowing for Danjwe one-third only of the price, viz , 14s 

 (li penny a pound), and reckoning all local and carriage 

 expenses up to London as follows: — 



s. d. 

 Cost of cultivation per acre producing 17 cwt. ... 24 



Cost of IT gunnies at G4s. per 100 ... ... 10 10 



Bagging and shipping on the spot dune by the coo- 

 lies on the plantation ... ... ... 00 



Carriage to Rangoon at 10s. per ton ... ... 8 6 



Transhipping charges at Rangoon, say ... .. 8 4 



Freight to London at G5s. per ton ... ... 55 3 



Insuriince and other charges, say 10 per cent on value 



in London, 23t}s. ... ... ... 23 10 



Total cost.. 



By sale 17 cwt. at 14s 



130 9 

 238 



Net Profit... 107 3 



