CH. X] FIBRE- YIELDING PLANTS 113 



Sisal Hemp. The cultivation of this plant (Agave rigida, 

 var. sisalana) is an industry of some importance in the Bahamas, 

 Mexico, and elsewhere, and it is sometimes used as a catch crop 

 or minor industry in India. It is cultivated in dry places, and 

 can be grown on poor soil. The large fleshy leaves are cut 

 after the third year, retted in water, and the fibre beaten out. 



Mauritius Hemp. This plant, Furcrea gigantea, is used 

 in Mauritius and elsewhere, like sisal hemp, and others of these 

 Agave-like plants are also used at times. 



Palm Fibres. The most important, coir, the fibre of the 

 nut of the coconut palm, has already been mentioned, but there 

 are many palms which furnish valuable fibres from the bases of 

 the leaves, e.g. Raffia (Raphia sp.), Piassaba (Leopoldinia sp. 

 etc.), Palmyra (Borassus flabellifer), Kitul (Caryota urens), etc. 

 These fibres are usually coarse, hard, and thick, and are largely 

 used for brushes, etc. 



There are many excellent fibres in many plants of the 

 tropics, and people often ask Why is not this or that fibre in 

 use ? Why do you (i.e. agricultural departments) not introduce 

 it ? and so on. They forget that a new fibre is perhaps the 

 most difficult of all things to introduce. The market has six 

 or eight good fibres, cotton, jute, flax, coir, hemp, Manila hemp, 

 etc., all of which can be bought at any time in large quantity, 

 are of uniform quality, and fairly cheap. One or other can be 

 used for practically any purpose to which a fibre can be applied, 

 and, before a new fibre can be established, it has to show that 

 it is at least as good and as cheap as (preferably better and 

 cheaper than) one of the old ones, and that it can at once be 

 got in sufficiently large supplies to be used instead of that old 

 one. It is this last condition that makes the establishment of 

 new fibres so particularly hard. Ramie, rhea, or China grass- 

 cloth fibre is at present a case in point. On the whole, perhaps 

 this is the finest of all fibres, being strong, long, and very silky. 

 For many years attempts have been made to introduce this 

 fibre upon the markets, but so far with little success. 



w. 8 



