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9 
This process was soon found unsuitablė as the fibre was discoloured and 
rendered weak; consequently it obtained oy aoar low prices. 
Attention was then directed to extraction b ot 
scotching machines. Many machines have dees pnd tried, and it is 
believed that the purely mechanical difficulties connected with cleaning 
the fibre have been for the most part overcome. The amount of fibre 
obtained from leaves of the Aloés vert was at the rate of 3 per cent. by 
weight of green leaves. The yield of fibre was at the rate of about 14 
tons per acre, set of six machines driven by a steam engine of 8-horse 
power (nominal) cleaned 1,155 pounds of fibre per day, which is at the 
rate of 197 pounds for each machine per day. 
At one time there were eight fibre or hemp companies ge with a 
total capital of Rs. 1 182,500. The total quantity of fibre exported in 
1872 was 214 tons, of the value of 4,934/., which would be at the rate of 
21/,, 13s. per ton. In 1880 it had increased to 662 tons, which sold in 
England at 287. to 32/. per ton. Some samples in 1882 sold as high as 
3 ca ; 7 ‘ 
rendered the Step ep unremunerative. Tn the returns of 1885 we find 
that M o 255 tons of the 

, Mauritius hemp is quoted “in good dem it ” at 287. per ton. 
The following extracts taken from Mr. Horne’ e’s Repo on the Agri- 
cultural Resources of Mauritius will sufficiently explain the circum- 
stances under which the fibre industry was started and the causes which 
have operated to produce the present ert which in the interest 
of the island it is hoped will be only of a temporary character :— 
a oa industry of extracting fibres from s leaves of the Aloés vert is 
o means exhausted. There is ground for believing that it has 
> * yot a — in ene The fall in the price of this fibre in the 
s broke several Aa mpanies that were formed 
“ for the working of the aloe estates. There was far too much money 
** invested i = them for — to pay.” 
* * 
“ paid large den n the price of the fibre was good e 
y ad grown naturally on the land, and their presence on it had 
“ not cost a cent results materially differ from those of 
“ reaping the crops of out plantations with low prices for 
as soon as the plantlets come in ree with the 
* moist soil, even when they are lying on the surface of the ground. 
** Tt seems , therefore, that to increase this plant rapidly aiid cheaply 
over a given area, due advantage should be taken ofits peculiarities 
