108 MOZAMBIQUE 



begun to expand. This wholesale stripping must 

 effect the output of the factory in the direction 

 of a general lowering of the quality of the fibre 

 as well as the percentage, as the new leaves are 

 still very succulent and immature. Nothing is 

 really gained by being too greedy about leaves, 

 as what is left from one cutting will come in 

 for the next. A plant giving twenty-five leaves 

 per cutting, those below an angle of 45 degrees 

 being left, at intervals of six or eight months 

 and poling at seven years will give about 210 

 leaves in a lifetime, the first cutting taking 

 place at three years. We don't increase the 

 total number of leaves a plant will yield by 

 cutting too many away at one time, though in 

 lowering the vitality of the plant we reduce the 

 length of subsequent growths and hence the 

 total weight of fibre produced. 



In German East Africa, on some plantations 

 100 kilos of stems give 1 J kilo of fibre ; 1 hectare 

 producing 6 to 8 tons of leaves ; on others, 

 66 tons of leaves produce 2 tons of fibre. On 

 one plantation 200 tons of fibre per annum was 

 obtained from 400,000 plants. Each hectare, it 

 is estimated, should give 7 tons of fibre before 

 plants pole ; the cost of fibre at the mill being 

 between 130 and 150 marks. 



The suitability of the district of Quelimane 



