168 USEFUL FIBER PLANTS OF THE WORLD. 



Freycinetia banksii. 



Endogen. Pandanacea. 



This genus of plants is native to the Indian Archipelago, Norfolk Island, and New 

 Zealand, and is distinguished by having the habit of growth of Pandanus. 



"The liber will probably be found valuable for paper making" CSpon >. The species 

 is not included in the Australasian lists of Dr. Guilfoyle, but is included on the above 

 authority. 



Furcraea cubensis. The Cajun. 



Endogen. Amaryllidacecs. Aloe-like leaf cluster. 



Native axd common names. — Cajun (Cent. Am.); Silk grass (Jam.) ; Tobago 

 silk grass and Langue Bceuf (Trim). (See Silk Grass in I 'atalogue.) 



This plant is a native of tropical America, but has been distributed to and is culti- 

 vated in many tropical countries. 



In this species the leaves are generally armed with long spines. Dr. Parry found 

 the plant growing common in Santo Domingo in 1871, and brought back with him 

 to the Department samples of the fibers. It is also common in Jamaica, and it is con- 

 sidered that there Avould be no difficulty in establishing it in cultivation for its fiber. 

 Dr. Schott (U. S. Ag. Rept., 1869) describes it as it grows in Yucatan, placing it in 

 the list of " sisal hemps." It differs from its congener, F. gigantea, in having no dis- 

 tinct trunk. The leaves are 3 to 5 feet long and 5 inches wide in the middle, bright 

 green in color, rigid habit, and are armed with heavy spines. Dr. Schott says that 

 the leaves of Yucatan plants are 4 to 5 feet long. It is growing in many places in 

 Trinidad, being found at the Bocas Islands, the Maracas valley (where the fine 

 variety inermis is found), and is cultivated at Brechin Castle estate and at the con- 

 vict depot of Chaguanas. Consequent upon the anticipated demand for plants, many 

 thousands were grown iu the Botanic Garden a few years ago, some 20,000 plants 

 having been produced. 



Structural Fiber. — This is white, strong, and bright looking, and yields at the 

 rate of 2.05 to 3.15 per cent by weight of green leaves. From experiments carried 

 on at Jamaica under a committee appointed by Government it was found that haves 

 of F. cubensis weighing 366i pounds yielded 28 pounds of green fiber, which, when 

 perfectly dry, weighed 1\ pounds. This was at the rate of 2.05 per cent by weight 

 of green leaf. Yalue of fiber: (a) £28, good quality, but might be whiter; (6) 

 fairly clean, fair color, value about £28 per ton: (c) superior to sisal and worth £27 

 per ton — a good fiber, not quite sufficiently white iu the center. {Dr. Morris.) 



Dr. Fawcett states that the fiber of this species may snpply a small part of the 

 sisal hemp of commerce. In Dr. Schott's article in the Annual Report of this Depart- 

 ment for 1869, the il cajun " ot F. cubensis, is figured opposite to page 259. This 

 shows that the plant produces a vast number of narrow leaves, a peculiarity noted 

 in the plants mistaken for sisal in Florida, and at the time of my visit I believed 

 that it was growing abundantly in Florida, and was the species mistaken for the 

 true sisal hemp, both by the Bahama and Florida cultivators. 



The extraction of fiber from this plant, which grows so readily in Tobago and 

 Trinidad, was also tried by means of the Death and Kennedy machine, and was cer- 

 tainly the most promising of the plants under trial, as it gave the greatest output of 

 fiber of first-class quality. From the ease with which it grows it is doubtful if any 

 other plant will be able to be grown in competition with it for liber production ; and 

 the fiber company of Tobago are sanguine as to their ultimate success with their 

 indigenous plant in preference to the imported sisal, and it would appear that their 

 reasons are sound; the fiber itself is first-class, the plant is easily and cheaply grown, 

 land is easily available, and the want of an economic machine is the only difficulty, 

 and one which we all hope will soon be overcome. The plant is being largely culti- 

 vated at the convict depot, Chaguanas, and large numbers have been planted on the 

 Carrera's Island prison lands, under the supervision of Lionel M. Fraser, esq., super- 

 intendent of prisons. (An. Rept. Roy. Bot. Garden, Trinidad, 1890.) 



