90 PRICES FOR PLANTAIN PRODUCTS. 
visited this colony, and exhibited several specimens of cloth of 
a beautiful silky texture, and specimens of paper of superior 
quality, manufactured from the fibre of Plantains grown in the 
Jardin des Plantes.” There is no doubt that some of the more 
delicate fibres of the interior might be used for such purposes ; 
and for these, a high price would, no doubt, be realised ; and 
for the coarser, outer fibres, which are fit for cordage, at least 
£30, some say £35, a ton; while some of the superior tow 
would be a good substitute for horse-hair, for stuffing beds, &c. ; 
and the different qualities of half-stuff producible from the 
combings, &c., of different parts of the plant, would produce 
half-stuff, at least equal in value to the rags which sell in 
ordinary times from 16s. to 20s. a cwt. But when its qualities 
are better known, it probably would sell at still higher rates, as 
there would be no labour in sorting, and no loss of material in 
cleaning. Mr. Betts was induced, in India, to attempt the 
preparation of the fibre, from seeing a remark in the ‘ London 
Price Current,’ of Dec., 1839, that considerable supplies of a 
new sort of Hemp from the stalk of the Plantain tree had 
realised from 6d. to 8d. per lb.; and the Society of Arts were 
induced, as long since as the year 1762, from the apparent 
importance of the subject, to offer a premium for the pro- 
duction of this fibre (v. ‘Jury Report,’ p. 102). 
Therefore, even with the least sanguine expectations, and on 
the most moderate computations, there is every prospect of 
a certainty of demand, accompanied by remunerative prices. 
‘With this in view, we may conclude our observations on 
this subject, which may appear to occupy too much space, 
and to have been treated of too much in detail. But if 
properly considered, it cannot but appear of vast importance 
to the natives of tropical countries, and to planters and 
colonists abroad, to utilise so valuable and abundant a pro- 
duct, which is now allowed to run to waste, and of which, if 
they increase the cultivation, they will at once attain the two- 
fold object of multiplying the supply of food for the body, 
at the same time that they are increasing materials for diffusing 
information for the mind. 
