701 



Tnore or less suitable for the same purposes as " Sisal " {Agave 

 sisalaiia) and ^* Mauritius Hemp" {Furcraea gigantea); but the 

 cultivation does not seem to have gathered the importance 

 of either- The cultural and climatic requirements are approxi- 

 mately the same, excepting perhaps, the plant under consideration 

 is easier, if anything, to propagate^from seed, division of the 

 Toot-stocks and by leaves or pieces of leaves, that planting may 

 T^e done more closely, about 3 ft. by 3 ft. for moist, shady situations, 

 ^and that the plants once established would spread and cover 

 i}he ground after the manner of *^ Ramie " {Bohemeria nivea). 

 It is remarkable that in the propagation of 8. trifasciata, var. 

 Laurenlii, the variegation or yellow-striping in the leaves is not 

 reproduced from leaf cuttings — but division of the root-stock 

 does reproduce the variegated plant (Kew Bull,, 1915, p. 240) 



The extraction of the fibre is effected on much the same lines 

 as for the hemps above-mentioned, being more particularly 

 applicable to the flat or strap-shaped leaves, Uke those of the 

 species described above. There appears to be little satisfactory 

 information as to yield. In an experimental trial in Jamaica, 

 1185 lb. of green leaves of S, guineensis (so-called), cleaned by 

 machinery, yielded 29 lb. 10 oz, of dry fibre (Kew Bull., May 1887, 

 p. 6), and under favourable conditions the return is estimated 



.at 1| tons of dry fibre per acre (Morris, Jo urn, Soc, Arts, xliii. 

 .1895^ p. 915). 



Kef. — " On the Sansevieria guineensis or African Hemp," 

 T)anielL in Pharm. Journ. xii., 1852, dd. 130-132. " 



Kew 



Bowstring 



11. '^Sansevieria Fibre 



from Bechuanaland {S. sulcata),'' I.e. 1889, pp. 22-224. 



" Sansevieria Fibre from Somahland {S. Ehrenbergii),'' I.e. 1892, 

 pp. 129-132 and m Kew BuU. Add. Series II." Veg. Fibres," 



pp. 114-130. Report on the Aloe Fibre Industry of Somaliland 



Diplomatic and Consular Report, IVIisc. No. 225, 1892, Egypt, 



al Fibres, Morris, 



** Les Sansevieria 



De Wildeman, Art, xxxv,. 



pp. 1-3. " Bowstring Hemp 



Art, 



Airicains 



pp. 617-652 (Brussels, 1903). '' Sansevieria Fibres from 



Africa 



198. 



(C 



Sansevieria " — various species in Col, Rep. Misc. No. 58, 

 1909 — Sudan, pp. 58-60; Somahland, pp. 60-61; East Africa 

 Trotectorate, pp. 65-74; Nyasaland, p. 78; Rhodesia, p. 81; 

 Transvaal, p. 82; West Africa, pp. 86-89; Assam — 8. trifasciata, 

 pp. 101-102; Straits Settlements, pp. 103-104; and S. Australia, 



p. 105. ** Les Sansevieres, Culture et Exploitation,'* IVIichotte, 



in L'Agric. prat, pays chauds, xiii., May 1913, pp. 356-375: 



June 1913, pp. 455-474, " Sansevieria," Brown in Kew Bull., 



1915, pp. 185-261, illustrated. "Bowstring Hemp {Sanse- 

 vieria spp,) " in Cotton and Other Vegetable Fibres, Goulding, 

 pp, 185-187 (John Murray, London, 1917). " Sansevieria 



Fibres " — from the Belgian Congo, in Bull. Imp. Inst., xv., 1917, 

 pp. 488-490. 



m 13721 



M 



