Mauritius Hemp 



gigantea). The value of the exports are about 50,000/. annually. 

 This plant is similar to an Agave, both in appearance and habit, 

 and it also produces numerous bulbils or pole-plants after flower- 

 ing. The experience in Mauritius with regard to poling of the 

 Furrrirn has a striking resemblance to what has been observed in 

 regard to the Agave in Yucatan. M. de Chazal, who has written an 

 account of " L> Jibn it' Mors'' (Mauritius, 1SS2) state- (p. 21) "that 

 " the plants generally pole at the age of seven or eight years ; they can. 

 " therefore, be cut four or five times before poling and before it is 

 " necessary to replace them." On the same subject Mr. John Home, 

 F.L.S.. late Director of Gardens and Forests in Mauritius, writes under 

 date of 4th September 1893, as follows: "The life ofFwcraa gigantea 

 " in Mauritius is from seven to 10 years . . . as many of the plants 

 " flower three to four years earlier than others, the leaves oi the -eedling- 

 " (or pole-plants) from these are fit for cutting when the late flowering 

 - plants are dying out, so cutting once begun on a plantation may be said 



" done in time so that as the old ones die out cutting from the young ones 



" should begin. Over-c moil in Mauritius. This 



" is generally held to be injurious to the plant-, weakening their growth 



" and causing them to flowerand die prematurely. People in Mauritius 



" say that by cutting only the mature leaves the growth of the plants is 



" not weakened, and thus large fine leaves are obtained, yielding long fibre 



" of the finest quality. But I have never heard the idea expressed that 



" such a manner of cutting prolonged the life of the plant beyond what 



" Imight call the natural limits. It is said in Mauritiu- that over-cutting 



" weakens the plants and can-.- then) to flower and die prematurely, so 



" it maybe Miring only the mature leaves pro- 



" longs the life of the plants to its natural limits. It conies to this, that 



"• lengthen it in Yucatan— a case of arriving at the same place from 

 " opposite directions."] 



Heme in the Old World tropics coffee cultivation is carried on under 



