9 
Consul Ramsden on the Trade, Commerce, and Agriculture of the 
Province of St. Iago de Cuba for the year 1889 [F. O. Annual Series, 
No. 779], the following information is furnished reapaoking the fibre of 
the okro plant, known in Cuba as the quim 
“ The fruit of the quimbombo (Hibiscus esculentus) is well known in 
the English West Indies under the name of ‘okra,’ and is used as a 
mentions the plant as being ‘ applicable to rope m unaware 
that it has ae used as a fibre, and, Anse ore, are t it here. Last 
year Messrs. Bosch and Tomphuy , of this city, "a an experiment 
say it was much liked, ind fonnd to be worth 400. per ton, Three 
crops are obtained in the year, and its preparation by mace ie gave 
very little trouble. The stem producesa fibre of fine quality, and about 
4 feet in length, and apparently strong. Further p will aibait? ne 
nd a sample of it with this repor 
a 
The sample of fibre above mentioned was ed to Kew by the 
Foreign Ta and is now in the Museum of Economic Botan 
rd to the commercial value of this Cuban fibre, Messrs. Ide 
ras Christie, of 72, Mark Lane, E.C., to whom it was referred, report as 
ollows :— 
“ Hibiscus esculentus. The sample shows the fibre to be only 
pereme nating than J sae jag pews cleaned, ane very yellow in 
o e it at 187. to 207. per ton to-day in London. It is 
aeei that ai epee could. be greatly Migroved. Di more careful 
preparation, and that in that case its value might be increased by 4. or 
5l. per ton. We cannot gang 7 ps that fibre of this tpa could 
III—KANAFF OR DECCAN HEMP. 
(Hibiscus cannabinus, L.) 
[K. B., 1891, pp. 204-206.] 
Recently an announcement has been made of the discovery of a new 
textile plant on the shores of the Caspian. The plant known as Kanaff 
by the natives is said to yield a soft elastic and silky fibre, “capable 
of being readily bleached or dyed in every shade of co le 
ome which appeared in a Tiflis journal, it is oe t Kanatt 
than hemp, and its s cific vity is le = 
The Ap source specie gravity i respecting the plant yielding this fibre 
is contained in an article me eats Note Ha re Sunn, le Y = a, et 
ote E textiles, by MM. Jules Grisard et Max lidan Berghe. 
n the Revue des Sciences Naturelles appliquées, 890, pp. 992-993. 
According A e authors, Kanaff or Kanap was at one time su | 
o be Apocynum sibiricum, It is, ho 1 
ESEIA L, a well-known fibre plant in I 
cultivated state in Persia, and other places westward. In a note in 
