PREFACE. 



In putting forth this little pamphlet, I beg leave to state 

 very briefly the objects with which it has been written, and 

 the considerations which have induced me to publish it. 



It has often struck me, while engaged in my official 

 duties in the Indian Forest Department, that a large re- 

 venue might be derived from plants which are looked upon 

 as mere weeds plants which require no care in cultivation ; 

 which will grow in land utterly unsuited to any other crops ; 

 which yield fibre which has been practically proved to be 

 well adapted to the manufacture of paper, and textile 

 fabrics. 



At a time when famine has once more seriously em- 

 barrassed the finances of the Indian Empire, it seems to 

 me that I should be failing in my duty, if I did not draw 

 prominent attention to a source of revenue which has, for 

 reasons which I have attempted to give, hitherto remained 

 comparatively neglected. 



I have, in the following pages, advocated the cultivation 

 at first, if need be, experimentally, and on a small scale 

 of several different plants, and especially of one, the 

 Calotropis gigantea* The fibre of this plant has been 

 pronounced by paper-makers, and manufacturers of textile 

 fabrics, as excellent ; and I have shown, I hope, convincingly, 



* As this plant is mentioned in works dating as far back as 1839, it may 

 be imagined that there is some occult reason why it should not have been 

 used. The fact is that the idea of utilizing it was abandoned on the 

 strength of certain imperfect and inconclusive experiments, which tended 

 to shew that the cost of preparing the fibre was greater than its market 

 value. As I have said in the following pages, the substitution of 

 machinery for manual labour would greatly reduce the cost of the 

 preparation of the fibre. This has not yet been attempted. 



