3i8 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[Nov. 2, 1885, 



consisting of vavious liinds of tea — are sent to the 

 broker. He disposes of it to the large retailers or to 

 the jobbers, who ill turn sell in lesser quautities to 

 the smaller retailers. The broker receives oue per cent 

 commission on all sales effected by him. The tea 

 taster acts in the interests of the broker, to whose 

 advantage it is to have a correct estimate as to the 

 qualitie.s and values of the different teas he is hand- 

 ling, in order to meetthe requirements of his customers. 

 — lieit' York HeraUl. 



EXPERIMENTS WITH MANILLA HEMP, 



PLANTAIN AND THE WILD PLANTAIN 



OF SOUTHERN INDIA, 



cleaned in Death & Elwood's machines, are recorded 

 in a paper sent to us by the Madras Government, 

 and are of the usual unsatisfactory nature: — 



Rciid—'.he lollowjng letter from J. W. Jlinchin, Esq. 

 MaiiHtser, Glenrnck Onmpany (Limited), to the Ooilectur 

 of Nilgiiis, dated Puudalur, l.--t April 1885: — I have 

 DOW the honor to inform you that a trial in the treat- 

 ment of Manilla plantain hemp was made here in the 

 Death & Ellwood machines, belonging to the Com- 

 pany, on 31st January last. Mr. Guard sent from 

 Captain Cox's Naiken Shola estate well-grown Manilla 

 pl.«ntain stems obtained from Manilla hemp stock re- 

 ceiveil from Mr. Ballard, Collector of Malabar, in 18C3-64, 

 and since growing on that estate. One hundred and 

 seventy-nine large stems were delivereil at the mill, 

 which weighed 10,973 lb or about fiO lb. each stem, and 

 after passing these through the Death & Ellwood 

 machines there was produced 159 lb of clean fibre, 

 say 1-49 per cent of the green stuff. The cost of treat- 

 ing this fibre, drying, .'■orting, and preparing for market, 

 was R4-3 0, or at the rate of RH3-8-0 per ton of clean 

 fibre valued in London at £28 per ton at present de- 

 prtssel rates. I enclose statement of the outturn. There 

 is 00 per cent of water in the green plaintaiu stalks, of 

 the remaining dry vegetable matter we saved 15 per cent 

 of good fibre. 



In the Philippine Islands the cost of preparing the 

 fibre is calculated at one-half the value realized on the 

 coast, and the people employed at this work are paid 

 accordingly, an expert hand being able to prepare about 

 12 lb. of fibre \->tt day ; and the average produce is one 

 pound of fibre from each stem said to average 100 pounds 

 in weight. 



Wild plantain stalks have also been treated here at 

 this Company's mills ; some being sent to England with 

 the Manilla plantain fibre from Naiken Shola estate 

 fur valuation and comparison. The sialks of the wild 

 plantain are not so large and well grown as those of 

 the Manilla plantain, very few attaining to 50 lb. in 

 weight ; but there seemed little difference in the 

 strength or appearance of the two fibres. 



I find the Khea fibre most worthy of consideration, 

 and hope to have 250 acres under this cultivation shortly. 

 Outturn of Manilla Plantain from Mr. Guard. 



January 28th 1885, number of stems, 179 ; weight, 

 10 973 ; number of machines worked, li ; time occupied, 

 5 h. 2b m. ; good fibre, 140J ; discolored, 4J ; waste or 

 beatings, I4J ; total 159^ lb. 



Result 1-49 per cent, clean fibre ; say one raachme in 

 32J hours. .S37 lb. green stuff per hour 4—9 lb. Fibre 

 perhour.* Labor cost R4-30 or RC.S-S-O port ion of fibre 

 for treatment in machine .and preparation drying. 

 « Eight men machine. I Six women drying and sorting. 



One boy carrying. | Two men beating. 

 (True Copy) 



(Signed) 0. J. L.MIGE. 



( „ ) J. W. MiNCHIN. 



Endorsement by J.F.Price, Esq. Acting Director of 

 Revenue Settlement and Agriculture, dated Madras, 

 9th July 18S5. 



Submitted for tlie information of Governnient. This 

 paper has been delayed in view to obtaining the re- 

 sults of the valuation of the fibre ; these have now been 

 received. , . . 



The account of the experiment, though interesting, 

 contains no details of the number of the plants carried 

 oa an acre of ground, or of the number of cuttings 



of ich can annually be made, or of the cost of carriage 



11 < raw material from tlieplace where itwasgrown 

 to that where it was prepared, or of the charges con- 

 nected with the carriage, &c. of the fibre to England. 



The valuation of the Manilla fil-re is given at not more 

 than £10 per ton, sayR125. The cost of treating, dry- 

 ing, sorting and preparing it for the market was, at the 

 place of manufacture, alone R(>'?-8-0 per ton, or rather 

 more than half of the value of the fibre in the English 

 markets. When other charges come to be deducted, 

 there wouldb e, ifay margin of piofit, but a very small 

 oni indeed. 



Alibough the stems used for the experiments were 

 evidently of conciderable age, the plantation from which 

 they were obt;nned havuig been put down so far back 

 as 1863 04. the outturn ot fibre as compared with the 

 stem used was not quite 1| per cent and this is described 

 by the experts who examined it as containing a very 

 considerabh' pr<»])ortiou of exceedingly indifferent stuff, 

 so poor as tor' nder the price per ton of the whole far 

 below th it meetif'ned by Mr. Miuchin. The wild plant- 

 ain fibre was still worse. 



It seems clear that unle-s much improvement, both 

 in the method and cost of preparation of this fibre, can 

 be made, cultivation of it cannot possibly be made 

 remunerative. 



A copy of the report of Messrs Collyer & Oo. on the 

 fibres transmitted to them by the Glenrock Company is 

 enclosed. 



Ciipy of Messrs. f'ollyer & Co.'s Report. 

 ll'dd l^hntoin. 



Very mixed and irregular, mostly very weak, a small 

 portion fairly strong, a good deal being flaggy refuse 

 with scarcely any fibre in it. When the fibre is fairly 

 strong, it is fairly well cleaned, but apparently a good 

 dealisir.tritisically too poor to br ar cleaning efficiently. 

 The proi'ortion of stronger fibre may be too small to be 

 worth separating, otherwise it would appear desirable to 

 ship that portion only in future, and then it might 

 reahze £15 per ton and upwards mixed as it is ; the bulk 

 is too poor for use alone, and for mixing purposes it 

 will only realize very low prices, say £7 or £8 per ton. 

 Manilla Plnntnin. 

 From Captain Cox's Naiken Shola Estate. 



A somewhat similar fibre to above, with a larger pro- 

 portion of strong, a small part being good, useful, clear 

 fibre of good color, somewhat approaching ordinary 

 Manilla hemp, but the great bulk is poor, weak, flaggy 

 stuff ; the same remarks as to cleaning apply ; where 

 the fibre is suflnciently bold and strong result is satis- 

 factory, but on the whole, unless the stronger fibre can 

 be kept separate, the price must be very low, say about 

 £10 per ton the best alone should be worth £25 upwards. 



" CEYLON AS A FIELD FOR 

 INVESTMENT." 



Reading the pages of a work called " Tea and 

 Other Planting Industries in Ceylon, in 18S3,'' has 

 opened a field for argumcut and thought, which I 

 feel inclined to step into, and I fain would touch 

 upon some of the subjects in a desultory sort of 

 a way. In a report of the coffee industry of 

 Ceylon, in 1875, emanating from the Ohxcrver 

 Oliice, the following sentence occurs : — " The 

 export of coffee in 1875 was 924,266 cwt, 

 and, as the value in the consuming markets was 

 probably five millions sterling, we have here a 

 proof of the overshadowing importance of coffee 

 in Ceylon. Take it away, and exports dwindle to 

 a small sum.'" 



Things have altered very much since 1875, 

 for I find, on reference to the statistics of 

 1883-84 that the exports, other than coffee, do 

 nnt dwindle away to a small sum. On the con- 

 trary I find the export of cinchona, oil, tea, iVc, 

 so large, that one is surprized at what a few years 

 has brought forth. The following quantities and 



* Quite correct at the time,— Ed, 



