THE FIBRES OF TRINIDAD. 421 



preparing the fibre ; the best was found to bruise the leaves and submit 

 them to maceration. The bundles are of various sizes, the single cells 

 tender, Tf rAv of an inch, thin-walled, and perfectly smooth. 



110 shows the quantity found on one square yard, when dry, exactly 

 1 lb. It is not pretended that this is the growth of a few months, but if 

 anything near it can be obtained of one year's crop, the return of this plant 

 is enormous. A sample, rather inferior to this, was valued at 20Z. per ton. 

 and the above proportion would give about two tons per acre. The cost of 

 •extracting the fibre would not exceed 25 per cent, of the gross return. As 

 the plant destroys everything wherever it grows, its cultivation, when once 

 established, is inexpensive. Add to this that the outlay for machinery 

 would be also trifling, and that the crop cannot fail. The leaf is very long- 

 lived, so that the planter, if pressed for time, may leave the fibre in the 

 field until he is at leisure to devote his attention to it. 



111 to 116 belong to another remarkable family of the fibrous plants — 

 the Musacese. All, or nearly all, give a valuable fibre of more or less fine- 

 ness. 



117. Heliconia bihai, L., gives a coarse material, perhaps recommendable 

 to the paper-maker, the plant growing here abundantly in spots where cul- 

 tivation is impossible. 



Of the next numbers, we notice — 



113. Musa textilis, Nees, the Manila hemp plant. It thrives with the 

 greatest luxuriance, though it has only been tried on poor soils. As a fibre- 

 yielding plant, it is equal to the Plantain, but it bears no fruit. It grows 

 on soils which could not, for any length of time, sustain the common Plan- 

 tain. Its average yield of fibre would be about 1^ tons per acre. 



Contrary to the observations of the majority of those who have written 

 on the subject of the extraction of the fibre of Musaceous plants, I find 

 that the strongest and best fibre is obtained by a purely mechanical pro- 

 cess, though the quantity obtained may be somewhat less. The worst of all 

 processes, in my opinion, is the one of boiling the substances in all-dine 

 leys. It imparts a gelatinous softness, which must be highly injurious 

 to the fibre. The best long staple was obtained by crushing the cut leaf- 

 stalks and drawing them through blunt knives and combs, until the cellular 

 mass was separated. It is clear that machinery could do this work easily 

 and satisfactorily. 



114 shows the fibre of a very robust variety of Musa sapientum, L., 

 approaching, in the form of its 1'ruit, very near M. paradisiaca. It grows 

 on the poorest soils, and has such pertinacity, that once planted, it never 

 disappears again, even if the land were to grow into bush. The inhabi- 

 tants plant it to mark the boundaries of property, and give it the French 

 name of Banane or Figue borne. 



It gives a considerable quantity of fibre, of great strength and length, 

 its stem (the sheaths of the leaf), being often sixteen to twenty feet, by 

 three feet in circumference at the base. It bears fruit in abundance, which, 

 if not very palatable to people accustomed to the better varieties of the 



