730 



g a market 



much better condition " (Col. Rep. Ann 



p. 44). 



The wood is hard, heavy and durable — a specimen in the 



Kew 



0-774 



48*35 lb. per cubic ft.-^used for building houses in tho Upper 

 Senegal and Niger (De Gironcourt, Lc), the straight stems are 

 very suitable for house-posts and bridge piles, Gold Coast (Thomp- 

 son, Col. Rep. Misc. No. 66, 1910, p, 90); used for building 

 purposes, Gambia (Kew Bull. 1892, p. 46), for dug-out canoes, 

 water pipes and gutters for roofs and open water channels, India 

 (Kew Bull. Sept. 1887, p. 18). 



drawn 



as '' toddv," from 



sUces 



of the young flowering stalks are made for several days in 



succession ; 



which 



drunk 



pot is coated ^\ith hme inside, in order to prevent fermentation ; 

 the sap is yielded at the rate of 3-4 quarts a day for 4-5 months, 

 The tree begins to yield when about 15-20 years old and goes 

 on for about 50 years; but once in 3 years, it is recommended 



discontinue 



the female 



tree yields about half as much sap again as the male. The juice 

 is richer in sugar than most other palms and 3 quarts of juice 

 are said to make one pound of ** jaggery " (India) or " Tannyet " 

 (Burma), the production of which is an important industry 

 in India, Burma and Ceylon (Kew Bull. 1912, p. 124; Watt. 

 Comm, Prod. India, p, 171). 



The fibre obtained from the leaf stalk similar to " Piassava " 

 comes into commerce from India under the name " Palmyra," 

 (also ^^Bassine"), valued 1913, for ''good," £32-37, "medium," 

 £22-25 and for " common," £12-19 (Mon. Circ. Ide & Christie, 

 Jan. 15th, 1913) and at the present time (1920) for " good bold,'' 

 £80-85, '' assortment," £66-67, " assortment dyed," £85-90, 

 *' unassorted," £60^65 and for "dyed and sized" £70-105 

 (I.e. Jan. 15th, 1920), the total amount delivered for the year 

 1917^2,601 tons, 1918—1,002 tons and 1919—3,462 tons (I.e.). 

 This may be obtained from the sheathing bases of the leaves 

 in much the same way as for '' Piassava " {Raphia vinifera), 

 by beating and combing, drying in the sun. In India it is 

 found that good fibre is only procurable from the female 

 palmyra; for export it is made up in bundles of different sizes, 

 from 8-21 in. long, 3-4 in. through : it takes from 1,000-1,500 

 leaves to make 1 cwt. of fibre, and it is calculated that a man 

 and a boy working hard for 5 days should beat out about a 

 maund [82f lb.] of fibre; it is used for brooms, brushes, and 

 for caulking ships (Watt, Thurston, Agric, Ledger, No. 20, 1894 : 

 Proc. Agric. Hort. Soc. Madras, July-Sept. 1905, pp. 52-54). 



May be propagated from seed, which it is recommonded 

 should be sown where it is required to grow as a permanency; 



