3 6 ° 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[November i, 1884. 



vered with long black spines ; as it ripens it becomes tinged 

 with red, and the- spines fall off, the fruit splits open 

 and exposes a rich red juicy pulp with small black seeds. 

 The fruit is decidedly better than that of Cereus giganteus, 

 but is used in every respect for the same domestic pur- 

 poses. The Papajo Indians in transporting earthen vessels 

 filled with syrup or fruit to market, cover their jars with 

 a thick coating of mud, which renders them less liable to 

 waste in handling and at the same time keeps the con- 

 tents cool and prevents evaporation, the crockery used being 

 very porous. 



The fruit is eaten in enormous quantities, and being very 

 nutritious, the consumers quickly acquire an extraordinary 

 increase in bulk. In making wine or syrup the seeds are 

 easily separated from the pulp by the use of water. They 

 are carefully collected, dried, parched, and pulverised, after 

 which process they are digestible and nutritious. 



The last species to be noticed is Echinocactus Wislizeni. 

 This singular species of Cactus is commonly called by the 

 Spaniards hiznacha, and, being 20 inches or more in diameter, a 

 section of the stem is often employed as a cooking vessel. 

 The seeds are small and black, but when parched and pulv- 

 erised make good gruel and even bread. The pulp of the 

 fruit is rather sour and not much eaten. Travellers in 

 passing the Cactus wastes often resort to this plant to 

 quench their thirst, its interior containing a soft, white, 

 watery substance, of slightly acid taste, which is rather 

 pleasant when chewed. It is a common sight to see on 

 each side of the road these plants with a large perforation 

 made by the thirsty traveller. An Indian when travelling 

 and wishing to make a meal selects a large plant 3 feet 

 or more long and 2 in diameter, cuts it down and hollows 

 it out so as to form a trough. Into this he throws the 

 soft portions of the pulpy substance which surrounds the 

 central woody axis, and adds meat, roots, seeds, meal, 

 fruits, or any edible thing on hand ; water is added, and 

 the whole mixed together. Stones are then highly heated 

 and dropped into the mixture, and as they cool are taken 

 out, licked clean, re-heated, and returned to the cooking 

 vessel until the mixture is thoroughly boiled. This is a 

 favourite dish with the Indians of Arizona. The Tapajo 

 Indians pare off the rind and thorns of large plants of this 

 species of ( 'actus, letting it remain several days to bleed, 

 when the pulp is poured down to the woody axis, cut up 

 into suitable pieces, and boiled in syrup of the (''reus 

 giganteus or Cereus Thurberi. If a kind of sugar which is 

 made by the Mexicans is attainable it is employed instead 

 of the syrup, thus forming a good preserve. These pieces 

 when taken out of tlie liquid and dried are as good as cand- 

 ied Citron peel, which they very much resemble in taste 

 and substance. — 1*. L. 8. — Gardeners 7 Chronicle. 



^ FIBRE INDUSTRIES IN INDIA. 



That we are sadly deficient in directing power for the 

 guidance of future fibre industries, there can tie no sort 

 .if doubt. The trade in jute has seen great prosperity. It 

 has grown within lialf-a-eentury from very small beginnings 

 to huge proportions, and tens of thousands of cultivators 

 now tarn a good livelihood by the growth and preparation 

 of this fibre. It is beyond doubt well suited to large tracts 

 of land in Bengal, and it is an industry which the ryots 

 take to very readily. A million of acres are now 

 under jute cultivation in Bengal, extending throughout 

 various parts of the presidency; and being grown for the 

 most part within easy distance of rivers, the transport 

 of the raw material to Calcutta is not a very difficult or 

 costly affair- the freight down usually being only eight 

 annas a mau"d. When we remember how. from a small 

 beginning in jute exports of the value of £62, in 1828, the 

 shipments have attained to the enormous value of £8,000,000 

 sterling, and that a very large part of this gross amount 

 goes to the cultivator, we see how much the grower and 

 the owner of the soil stand indebted to thetrade. But 

 unfortunately the fibre trade has at length fallen upon evil 

 times. Over-production of the raw material and a dimin- 

 ished demand for jute bagging have reduced the value of 

 the article in first bauds by nearly one-half. The finer 

 qualities we find stood at K5-2 in 1880, whereas they are 

 now quoted at R8-6, and common sorts which were worth 

 1! 1-2 in 1880 will now command only R2-S the maund. 

 Seeing that all the expenses of freight from up-country 



baling and other charges are much the same now as four 

 years ago, it follows that the chief reduction is in the 

 amount that the grower receives, so that the prob ability 

 is that he finds it a difficult matter to pay rent and sup- 

 port his household. No doubt this state of things will 

 throw a good deal of land under jute out of cultivation, 

 which must signify lack of employment for large numbers 

 of people, and the price of the article, once depressed, 

 cannot easily be raised to its former standard. The 

 statistics of the current season will show to what extent 

 we are right as regards the area under cultivation, and 

 what we are now concerned with is the course for unem- 

 ployed cultivators to adopt. In an emergency of this kind 

 the need for some guiding influence is much feit : and it 

 is now that the office of an agricultural association might 

 be of the utmost value in making suggestions for the future 

 efforts of ryots. Such a body would have it in its powre 

 to iustitute comparisons as to price of the various fibrer 

 in the markets of the world, and would be in a position 

 to tell the landlord and the cultivators that their laud and 

 their labo-ir might be devoted to the growth of other 

 fibres commanding a far better value than jute. In the 

 Londou market, for instance, jute in the raw state rarely 

 realises more than £18 the ton, audit drops down occasionally 

 as low as £5 and £6, — the ordinary price of the common 

 kinds being £8. These figures necessarily leave a very 

 small margin for profit after deducting all charges, and 

 it therefore behoves those who have a care for the interests 

 of landlord and labourer to introduce other plants, the 

 product of which will command better figures. 



The value of a fibre in the markets of the world depends 

 largely upon the uses to which it can be applied. Jute 

 makes excellent sacking, but is not suitable for rope-making 

 or the better kinds of cordage, as it will not stand any 

 strain, while there are few higher purposes to which it can 

 !"• applied— at least to any great extent. In order to ob- 

 tain a higher range of prices, fibres must be found capable 

 of being employed for the finer cordage or the most power- 

 ful rope, or, on the other hand, for the manufacture of 

 delicate and valuable fabrics. With some agency or inter- 

 mediary capable of puttiug the matter before the native 

 cultivator it might well be said to him: Substitute the 

 rearing of some fibre that will pay you better, a fibre 

 which may be grown in the same soil as jute, and which 

 may be prepared in very nearly a similar manner. Of 

 these there are two, the Rhea and the Marool. or Moorva, 

 or as it is known botanicallv, Sansivera Zeylanica, from 

 having been originally noticed in Ceylon where it grows 

 wild over large tracts of country and where its uses are 

 well known. This useful and prolific plant is met 

 with in the Madras Presidency. Dr. Forbes Watson iu a 

 recent lecture at the rooms of the Society of Arts shewed 

 some of it worked up into cordage and rope, and said 

 that manufacturers value it at £40 a ton as it is stronger 

 and lighter than Manilla hemp, and of a beautiful light 

 color. It grows so freely, where it lias once taken root, 

 as to require no cultivation, and its preparation is as simple 

 as that of jute. Here then is a fibre which is worth 

 double the price of the best jute, and it must be evident 

 that if some of the jute lands where put under this plant, 

 it would relieve the Calcutta market of the excessive 

 production of the lower-priced fibre, and would pay the 

 grower far better for cultivation and preparation. 



There is nothing connected with the growth of these 

 two plants or the preparing of their fibres for market 

 that give any more trouble than in the case of jute, 

 except that the rhea requires a little more careful handl- 

 ing, and the weight oi the proposed fibre will not lie so 



i h per Acre of ground as in tie' case of the lower-priced 



litis! . A very little experience would suffice to enable 

 the ryot to succeed as well with tbi' China-grass fibre as 

 the Chinese, who experience no difficulty with it. As re- 

 gards market-value, careful preparation has much to do 

 with the figure it brings, but there is a wide range in price 

 between it and jute, seeing that rhea rarely sells for less 

 than £35 and usually up to £50 and £60 the ton. Iu the 

 cultivation of rhea, though much more has to be done than 

 for the marool, which needs literally no care, it requiri s 

 no more attention than is necessary for jute, the ground 

 for which has to be ploughed up three or four times. The 

 rhea or China grass has a tap-root which descends at least 

 two feet iuto the soil, and to enable it to do this freely, 



