332 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[Nov. 2, 1885. 



feet, which is in about a month or six weeks. The 

 young plant autl weeds are then cut, by hand, down 

 to a height of about three inches from the ground, 

 with a curved implement called guadatui, and during 

 this time the water is dammed up and the field is 

 diy. Tlie cut-off portions of the plant, and weeds, 

 are left on the ground to rot; the field is again 

 put under running water, after which, the rice grow- 

 ing rapidly, it is left to itself until the time of har- 

 vest, in November or December, when the cutting 

 commences, with a species of sickle caMed the r a sadera. 

 The farm labourer is provided, in addition to the 

 rasadera^ with a common straw or rush mat, about 

 two feet square, which he spreads on the ground, and 

 upon which, having cut as large a bundle as he can 

 hold in one hand, he strikes the ears a couple of 

 times for the ripe grain to falf out on the mat. 

 "When this mat is covered with the grain, it is taken 

 up, and the grain emptied into sacks which are brought 

 to an open platform near the houses of the hacienda, 

 made up of a kind of cement or hydraulic mortar, 

 upon which the uushelled rice is spread out and exposed 

 to the sun to dry. When dry, it is again put into 

 sacks, and stowed until tlie proper time for hulling 

 bas arrived. The hulling and cleaning of the rice is 

 performed in the following piimitive manner. Under 

 a shed, or in the hacimda, are placed at intervals 

 of about three feet, in single or double rows, from 

 ten to fifty round wooden trunks cut from the stems 

 of gooil-sized trees, about two feet and a half high 

 by two feet in diameter, firmly set into the ground. 

 In the centre of each trunk is carved out an in- 

 verted cones-haped hole, upper diameter about ten 

 inches, and twelve to fifteen inches deep. In this 

 biile is placed some unhiilled rice to within about 

 one inch of the top, and a labourer, with a heavy 

 wooden mallet in his hnnds, hulls the rice by pound- 

 ing it for a considerable time. Th** rice, together 

 With the loose husks, is then taken uut and put in 

 baskets. The hole is refilled with unshelled rice, and 

 the laborious hulling goes on from daj' to day and 

 week to week. The rice is cleaned or separated by 

 lifting the baskets up in the air above the head, 

 and jetting it slowly fall upon a mat, whereby the 

 hght husks are carried off by the wind. This oper- 

 ation is repeated once or twice if neces.^ary. The 

 rice is then put into sacks of about 175 lb. each, 

 and is ready for market. Occasionally, instead of 

 single trunks or mortars being pbced separately in 

 the ground, there is used a long, hi-avy, square log 

 of about two feet square and tlurty to forty feet 

 lon^, wiMi a number of holes carved out at certain 

 intervals. — Journal oj the Socitty of Arts^ 



UTILISATrON OF INDIGENOUS FIBRES. 



A few weeks ago Mr. Price, Acting Director of 

 Revenue Settlement, submitted a report to Govern- 

 ment on some small tibre experiments in Cuddapah, 

 Tinnevelly, Tanjore, Vizagapatam and Kuvnool, and 

 he took advantage of this opnortunity to submit, 

 for consideration, the futility of the amateur experi- 

 ments with fibres which are, from t'me to time, 

 carried out by Revenue officers in different parts of 

 this Presidency. He said: — 



The results, as far as my knowledge goes, have 

 invarialily been financial failure. It could hardly be 

 otherwise when the fibre has to be prepared by 

 hand and by unskilled workmen. I most fully concur 

 with the Board of Revenue in the remarks made 

 in para2;raph 3 of their Proceedings, No. -,).%', 

 dated I7th July last. We know most of the fibres ; 

 we know the value of a large number of them. 

 "What is now required is certainly as to the sup- 

 ply — naturally or by cultivation — of tlie raw material 

 and means for the cheap, rapid and eflicient prepar- 

 ation of the fibres. As re<^ards the former point, it 

 is, in the case of certain fibres, c. (/., aloe, the 

 Calotropis. Fourcroya, 8ansievera, &c., assured. The 

 latter is that which still awaits a satisfactory solution. 

 Until this is arrived at, it is, I submit, throwing 

 way time, trouble and money to produce by hand 



indifferent samples of fibres which are, owing to 

 the method of their preparation, costly, and which 

 being indifferently got up, are priced at considerably 

 below their proper value. There is, no doubt, a 

 mine of wealth in tlie fibres of this Presidency if 

 properly worked. I venture to throw out the sug- 

 gestion that the time has arrived when the subject 

 might well be placed under a specialist, and be 

 taken in hand as that of mineralogy has recently 

 been. The most energetic and zealous of Collectors 

 can really do very little. Tliey are overburdened 

 with other work and have to leave details much 

 with subordinates, and few if any have any but 

 the most superficial knowledge of fibres and the 

 proper methods of preparing them, even after the 

 native fashion. 



With reference to these remarks the Government 

 observes that "the problem of cheap, rapid, and 

 efficient preparation of fibres is not one which can 

 be solved by the creation of a special Government 

 agency apart from the Agricultural Department. It 

 is a question for inventive genius and enginneriug 

 skill, and the prospective profits of a successful in- 

 vention seem sufficiently bright to encourage private 

 investigation in this direction. It is noted that the 

 prize of R2,000 offered last year by the Government 

 of Bengal was awarded at the Calcutta competition 

 to Messrs. Death and Ellwood's Universal Fibre- 

 cleaning Machine, the working of which was found 

 to be ' rapid and effectual.' The Government concur 

 in the opinion expressed by the Bengal Government 

 that the further question, whether this or some 

 other machine can be profitably introduced in this 

 country, * may well be left to be decided by the 

 commercial public' "—Madras Mail. 



COCA AT THE SOURCE OF SUPPLY.* 



The Government org^uiaation of the United States 

 has been utilized to ascertain where the best varieties 

 of coca are found, the be>t moile of preparing it for 

 transportation, and how it cm be brouglit v-ithin 

 reach of the American pureiiaser. Dr. iSquibb has 

 had access to the reports reeeived, and has communic- 

 ated with his own correspond'.nts. He has received a 

 bale of coca from Bolivia by way of the tributaries 

 of the Amazon and Para, but it had been ill-packed 

 and was badly damaged. 



Messrs. V. Farfan & Co., of La Paz, Bolivia, is one 

 of the best and largest houses dealing in the article 

 at the centre of the coca trade of Bolivlia. Peruvian 

 coca is smaller, narrower, thinner, and more fragile 

 than the Bolivian; and small propnrticm of the leaves 

 want the characteristic faint iiuls forming a narrow 

 ellipse with bharp ends on the underside of the leaf. 

 Peruvian coca is bright green wlifu fresh, changing 

 to a "duller, lighter, yellowish green"; Bolivian is a 

 dull, deep, olive green on the upper !^ide, much 

 lighter beneath, and Tx'comes yellowish brown or 

 brown. The two varieties shade off into each other, 

 and both are divided into wild and cultivated, the 

 latter being most esteemed. 



The tree is cultivated on hill-sides 3.000 to 6,000 

 feet above the sea-level, on terraces on the sides 

 of deep narrow valleys. The seed is sown in August 

 in beds or boxes, transplanted in June to tho ter- 

 races about 3 feet apart. The soil must be rich 

 .■•.,id free from shade and weeds, aud is rapidly 



■ L.tusted. The shrub grows to the height of from 

 ■J to 6 feet, but the largest do not yield the host 

 i '.ves. The crop is gathered, leaf by leaf, by Indian 

 *omen and children. The first gathering, called tho 

 March crop, commences in January, the Saint John 

 crop begins in May (St. John's is Midsummer day). 

 All Saints' crop is collected in October, and then 

 the shrub is completely stripped of leaves. Great 

 care is taken not to touch tho top of the bush. 

 The leaves are dried in thin layers on hot pavements 

 exposed to the suu, four hours' exposure being 



* Condensed rom the KphemerU. 



