October t, 1884.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



2<J(J 



( Translated /or tlie. 

 Van Gorkom's 



KAPOK. 



' Ceylon Observer " from K. W. 

 " Oost-Indiache Cultures.") 



If the export of Netherlands East India cotton 

 is of such small imp irtanoe that the official reports 

 of Java and Sumatra do not even mention the article, — ■ 

 of kapok, it was stated, there were exported, in the 

 years 1875-9, from Java, 305,027, 419.7S2, 865.973, 

 aud 1,009,239 kilograms, which was taken for 

 the most part hy the Netherlands. The exports 

 from Netherlands India (customs department) was 

 inthe years 1877-8 successively 1,038,696, and 

 1,001,274 kilos, the value of which was estimated 

 respectively at 40 and 36 cents per kilo. According 

 to the commercial reports there were hrought to mark- 

 et at Amsterdam and Rotterdam, in the years 1877-9, 

 14,093, 10,519, and 12 050 bales. The exports con- 

 sisted largely of uncleaned kapok, which does not so 

 readily meet with buyers, and for which, also, natur- 

 ally, less favorable prices are offered than for tlie 

 cleaned product. 



Although the kapok is a handsome, white, tine 

 wool, it has hitherto not been po-sible to utilize it in 

 the spinning and weaving establishments, but it is 

 more and more valued as a stuffing for cushions and 

 mattresses iu substitution of the costly down. 



The kapok or randoe tree ( Eriodcndron anfractuosum) 

 belongs to the family of the -St rculiacese, and, 

 although originally a native of South Africa, is met 

 with extensively in Java aud Sumatra. Teijsmann 

 found it also in Timor, and it is certainly more 

 generally distributed. It is 50 feet high and more, 

 and forms a thick straight s'em with few branches, 

 which stretch far out perfectly horizontally iu the 



form 



crown, The tree has few leaves, looks 



very bare iu the dry season, and produces long dry 

 fruits, which when fully ripe split open and show 

 the pure white wool iu whic i are enveloped the black 

 seeds above the siz- of a pea. 



The tree is found distributed throughout Java, in 

 the gardens and along the roads. The natives have for 

 ages past used the wool as stuffiuj for their cushions. 

 The tree had special attention paid to it at the time of 

 the telegraphic communication being projected in Java 

 (1^53 56), A'heu suitable trees for posts were sought for. 

 After many experiments the kapok tree nppfaredto 

 be the most suitable, and it has, with excelL nt results, 

 been also used for the enteusion of the Hues in Java 

 aud Sumatra. 



Although the tree i not deeply rooted it stands 

 pretty firm, as its crown offers little obstruction to 

 the wind. Moreover, it is not particular as to 

 soil, and thrives well at 4,000 to 5,000 feet above 

 sea. It. is grown as easily fro ■■ cuttings as from seed, 

 and the natives assert that it attains to an age of 

 5 to 50 years. Even large stems, such as are used 

 or telegraph posts, can be cut and planted with hope a 

 good results. If in dry weather the ground is kept moist, 

 such a sump will will send out roots speedily and urow 

 uninterruptedly. Twenty-five yearsago the telegraphic 

 service in [Netherlands] East linl a rpcorm n l> d ihe 

 kapok stems on account of this facility of growth : this 

 fact speaks for itself. Since iron has bed me cheaper 

 iron posts have come into use, Batavia, th - capita', 

 setting the example, and following the example of 

 our Au-traliau neighbours eucalyptus st- ins will 

 also have a trial. The needs of the telegraphic 

 service gave a great push to the increase of kapok 

 trees. A'ong the roads and on waste patches uear 

 the d'.ias [villages] have risen everywhere in Java 

 small plantations. Within three to five years' tim ■ 

 from seed or cuttings are raised stems which cau be 

 used as wire-bearers. The exteusion caused a consider- 

 able increase of wool production, and «itre th" kapo'; 



has begun to be valued in Europe more care has 

 b-en taken for a periodical aud thorough gathering, to 

 meet the increasing demand. Meanwhile, it will never 

 enter the mind of a Europeau planter to undertake 

 a special culture of kapok trees. The trees require 

 too much room and yield too little in proportion. Along 

 roads and also in tea and other plantations, however 

 they might well tiuda place, and might. serve as land-mark, 

 from which at least for domestic use, a valuable pro- 

 duct ca a be got. From the seeds de Vnj obtained 

 by expression S'S) per cent, aud by extraction with benzo- 

 18'6 per cent of a yellowish oil, clear as water, with a 

 pleasant taste, and which, according to Oudemans, who 

 differs from Ma er, is nota drying one. Oudemans found 

 in this oil75pT cent of oleine and 25 per cent of tri- 

 palmitine and tri-stearine. 



Clo ely resembling kapok wool is the silky seed 

 down of the Galotropis giyantta, belongiug to the family 

 of Ascepiadeat, aud known in [Netherlands] East 

 India as widoeri, badoeri, sidogori, &c, aud in British 

 Iudia mudar or moddar. The w idoeri wool is also used 

 at present solely as tilling for cushions and mattresses, 

 which are in great request on account of their coolness 

 aud fetch high prices. The widoeri s met with pleuti- 

 fnlly in [Netherlands] East India, growing wild ; espes 

 cially on dry grasy tracts on the slopes of the mountains 

 aud along the shores. The plant attains to a respect- 

 able girth, has broad, copper-green leaves and rose- 

 violet rloweis, on high, thick stalks, which yield a 

 very strong fibre adapted for all kinds of weaving ; 

 it is a perennial and yearly ripens the fruits which 

 • outan. long, soft, silky down ; the so-called widoeri 

 wo 1, as appendages ot the seeds. It is a serted that 

 a plant will yield annually 3 to 4 pounds of clean 

 wool ; the quantity of down from a single fruit is 

 said to be O'S to 15 grams. Thus the plant yields 

 considerably more wo< 1 than the cotton, aud the 

 cleaning of the seed-down is very easy. The widoeri 

 is found plentifully wild and in all soils even the 

 poorest; it is therefore not very sensitive nor choice, 

 and its systematic culture would cost little care or 

 trouble. 



In each case we think that more attention might 

 well be paid to the gathering of the wool of wild 

 plants. 



C.u.otkopis.— A genus of Asclepiads, consisting of 

 three species, which form shrubs or small trees, and aie 

 natives of the tropics of Asia and Africa. Their Hewers 

 have a somewhat bell-shaped corolla, expanding into five 

 divisions, the tube being composed of five angular swel- 

 lings. The coronet of the starueus is composed of five 

 narrow leaflets, which are united to the central column, 

 but freo and recurved at the base, with their edges 

 rolled inwards. The fruits are produced in pairs re- 

 sembling the horns of an animal, each being swollen or 

 bulged out on the inside ; they contain numerous seeds 

 surmounted hy tufts of beautiful silky hairs. C. gigantea, 

 the largest of the genus, forms a branching shrub or 

 Mnall tree about fifteen feet high, with a short trunk 

 four or five inches in diameter. Its leaves arc about 

 six inches long by two or three broad, and egg-shaped 

 covered on the under-surlace with soft silky down, and 

 they are arranged on the stem in pairs, each pair being 

 at right angles with that above ami below ; its flowers 

 are of a pretty rose-purple colour, anil have the seg- 

 ments of the corolla bent downwards. The plant is 

 called Mudar or Ak in Northern and Yercum in Southern 

 India. The inner bark of its young branches yields a 

 valuable fibre, capable of bearing a greater strain than 

 Russian hemp. All parts abound in a very acrid milky 

 juice, which hardens into a substance resembling gutta 

 percha ; but in a fresh state it is a valuable remedy 

 in cutaneous diseases. The bark of the root also pos- 

 sesses similar medical qualities; and its tincture 

 mudarine, a substance possessing the property of gelati- 

 nizing upon the application of heat, and returning t.. its 

 fluid state when cool. Attempts have been made to ispiu 



