198) 
ROYAL GARDENS, KEw, to INDIA OFFICE. 
Royal a Kew 
SIR, ruary 14, 1890. 
WITH reference to my letter of the 21st Paat 1889, and 
subsequent correspondence on the subject of Bombay Aloe fibre, I am 
desired by Mr. Thiselton-Dyer to inform you that t the spo = 
— received a tK 
hese specimens confirm the fact iat the Bombay Aloe fibre of 
commerce is prepared from the leaves of Agave vivipara, L., an 
American species of Agave now widely distributed throughout sub- 
tropical and tropical parts of the Old World and some parts of India. 
From the interesting report of the Officiating Director of Land Records 
and Agriculture (Bombay), we Scone that the fibre is extracted by 
certain depressed castes of n s by very crude and destructive 
methods, and that so far no plist has been made to cultivate the 
plant for fibre. They are chietly used as hedge plants, and are 
er 
3. It is evident, however, that the plants exist in Bombay in sufficient 
ARIES 40 to supply several hundred tons of fibre received in this country. 
Afte Splai anin h of the facts noted ee it might be found advisable 
to pallets this species of Agave on waste lands in Bombay entirely 
for the sake of its fibre; or the Sisal hemp plant, Agave rigida, var. 
sisalana might be iniepdncet on a large scale. This latter yields the 
most valuable fibre of any derived from species of Agave, and there is 
little doubt it would thrive a well in India. The important fibre 
industry of Yucatan, created entirely within the last 20 years, is now 
of the annual value of about three-quarters of a million sterling. India 
has, therefore, good grounds for devoting attention to an industry which 
so far has established itself on a moderate scale in spite of adverse 
circumstance 
4. In ES ey to test the quality of the fibre produced by Agave vivipara 
when cleaned by machines similar to those in use for the preparation 0 
Sisal hemp in Yucatan and the West Indies, a few of the broken leaves 
about a foot to two feet in length, taken from the larger plant received 
at Kew, were forwarded to the Death’s Fibre Machine Company, 147, 
enclosed (ma marke 
5. The great difference in quality and value between these two samples 
are well given in a report prepared by Messrs. Ide and Christie, a copy 
of which is herewith attached. The value of the machine-cleaned fibre 
ranges, according to length, from 25/. to 30/. per ton. The ordinary 
e 
about 27 ‘000K, or more than three times its se yalue. It appears 
possible, therefore, without any extension of the present Agave plants 
