[ .105 ] 



doubtful. Amongst sucli articles may be instanced the ground 

 nut (Arachis hypogcea), already referred to, and careful enquiries 

 having been made, a paper has been circulated recommending it to 

 the attention of cultivators and merchants. 



Malachra capitata is another indigenous article in which experi- 

 ments have been made expressly at the instance of the Department. 

 This fibre has been pronounced to be equal to jute, and growing 

 as it does without particular care and capable of cultivation at less 

 cost than jute, it is a fibre which will probably prove of great 

 economic importance to Bombay. 



The improvement of the indigenous paper manufacture, and the 

 provision of cheap fibres suitable for paper-making, has engaged 

 much attention in this Department. A treatise on the subject has 

 been for some years in course of preparation, and would long since 

 have been published but for the necessity of awaiting the results 

 of the experiments now being carried out in Bengal, Burmah, &c. 

 in regard to bamboos, at Mr. Routledge's instance, and on a 

 variety of coarse reeds and grasses. 



Other fibres, too, have engaged attention, such as the Agave, the 

 wild plantain fibre of the Andamans, and the Musa textilis, produc- 

 ing what is known as Manilla hemp. But chief of all the fibres of 

 India, the best fibre in the world in fact, is the vteea, or ramie. 

 This Department has, since 1871, perseveringly tried to obtain a 

 machine adapted for the separation of the fibre from the bark, the 

 existing manual process making the fibre too expensive for ordi- 

 nary use. A reward of 50,000 rupees was offered for such a 

 machine or process, and the best machine produced having been 

 found, though meritorious in some respects, not adapted for ordi- 

 nary use, the offer of a reward was renewed, further competition 

 invited, and a public trial is to be held in September, at which it 

 seems probable that the question at issue will be solved. 



Besides sorgho, successful trials have been made of another 

 valuable forage plant (Beana luxurians), which may be said to be 

 now completely naturalised. The solid- stemmed comfrey, another 

 capital cattle food introduced by this Department, seems to be 

 doing admirably in the Himalayas at elevations of from 3,000 to 

 7,000 feet. 



Great attention has been given to the cultivation of ipecacuanha 

 (another invaluable specific for one of the most fatal of tropical 

 diseases), the introduction of which into India this Department 

 was the first to take vigorously in hand. 



Tobacco, to which allusion has already been made, has been 

 carefully tried in many places, and good exotic seed repeatedly 

 imported from Havana, Manilla, and the United States, and 

 widely distributed. Arrangements have also been made for a 

 regular series of analyses of Indian tobacco by the Government 

 Quinologist at Calcutta. 



