32 SIERRA LEONE 



in districts which are quite useless for agricultural pur- 

 poses, renders it important that the methods of extraction 

 should be more carefully studied. 



Among the other fibres of this class which have shown 

 promise, Hibiscus quinquelobus, to which the Mendis give 

 the name of " Korwey," is found in a wild state in variable 

 profusion throughout the country. Unlike the last, which 

 produces erect stems growing close together, this plant 

 has stems of an almost scandent character, growing under 

 the shade of moderately large trees and perforating the 

 upper branches, so that the flowering stems are often 

 seen fifteen feet or more above the ground. Under culti- 

 vation the experiments seemed to show that the elongated 

 character of the stems was not maintained, and this 

 defect requires to be remedied if the fibre is to be prepared 

 upon a commercial scale. The extraction is easily done 

 by retting, and experimental shipments to Europe of 

 several tons have shown that the product is quite market- 

 able and is classed with, or a little below, medium jutes 

 (ibid. p. 39). 



Recently experiments were carried out in the extraction 

 of fibre from Hibiscus esculentus, the " okra " of tropical 

 countries. A specimen of the fibre having been exam- 

 ined at the Imperial Institute and favourably reported 

 upon (ibid. p. 35), a plantation was made at Kangahun, 

 in order to endeavour to produce a crop, which should 

 have the additional advantage of yielding a marketable 

 supply of the vegetable okra pods before being cut down 

 and made into fibre. In order to do this, the seed was 

 sown at close intervals, thereby introducing a straight 

 growth of stem, and care was exercised not to permit 

 the fruiting to continue long enough for the stems to 

 become coarse. The fibre was extracted in the same 

 manner as that of jute, except that the stems were 

 immersed in a solution of caustic soda before retting to 

 remove the thin outer bark. The marketed fibre from 

 the first of these experiments realised an unsatisfactory 

 price, but it was estimated that the crop of pods yielded 

 3 per acre. 



Corchorus capsularis, one of the Indian jutes, was intro- 

 duced and planted out in 1906, but the existing native 

 methods of cultivation and the absence of manure ren- 

 dered the conditions so different from those obtained in 



