148 JUTE AND SIMILAR FIBRES 



" Okra " plants cut after the first crop of fruits had 

 been gathered. 



A sample of the fibre of Hibiscus esculentus, received 

 at the Imperial Institute from the Southern Provinces, 

 Nigeria, was of uneven quality. The best portion 

 was almost white, lustrous, rather harsh and not very 

 well cleaned and prepared ; the remainder was of 

 darker colour and of irregular staple. The product 

 was valued at 18 per ton (with " medium " jute at 

 23-^25). The harshness of the fibre suggested that 

 it had been prepared from old plants, and it had 

 evidently been insufficiently retted. 



Hibiscus guineensis. This species occurs in the 

 Southern Provinces-, Nigeria, and is known to the 

 natives as " Ramo." A specimen of the fibre for- 

 warded to the Imperial Institute from Olokomeji 

 in 1907 consisted of well cleaned, nearly white fibre, 

 of good lustre and fair strength, but was rather 

 harsher than jute ; its length varied up to a maximum 

 of 7 feet. The fibre would prove valuable as a jute 

 substitute, and would be saleable in large quantities 

 at 17 per ton (with " medium " jute at i 5-^17 per 

 ton). 



Hibiscus lunariifolius . It is stated that this plant, 

 which is known in the Northern Provinces of Nigeria 

 as " Ramma," is, with the exception of cotton, the 

 only one systematically cultivated in that country 

 as a source of fibre. An account of the cultivation 

 has been given by Mr. Gerald C. Dudgeon on pp. 138- 

 140 of the handbook of this series, entitled The 

 Agricultural and Forest Products of British West 

 Africa. Fibre was exported from the Northern 

 Provinces in large quantities in 1908 and 1909, and it 

 is believed that these consignments consisted mainly 

 or entirely of the product of H. lunariifolius. The 

 exports in 1908 amounted to the value of 1,382, and 

 in 1909 to the quantity of 755,690 Ib. of value 4,050. 

 In the following year, the exportation of the fibre 

 seems to have ceased and has not since been resumed. 



A sample of " Ramma " fibre from the Northern 

 Provinces, examined at the Imperial Institute, con- 

 sisted of brownish-white fibre which was on the whole 



