DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE. 247 



iug live minutes for rest. After crushing, the fiber was boiled to separate the gluten 

 and coloring matter, carbonate of soda and quicklime being used as chemical agents. 

 To make 3 tons of fiber a day it was necessary to have four boilers of 800 gallons 

 each, and to give 5 boilings in a day, which amounted to 1,650 pounds of net liber 

 for each boiler, or 6,650 pounds for the four boilers. About 300 pounds of soda were 

 required and a proportionate amount of quicklime. As the different grades of fiber 

 were pressed separately they were also kept separate in the process of boiling, the 

 lighter fibers requiring about six hours to bleach, while the darkest required fully 

 eighteen. A capital of $25,000 was required for carrying on the cultivation of the 

 plantain on an extensive scale, 18 tons of fiber being produced on 5£ acres at a cost 

 of $870, or a little more than $48 per ton. From official statements it would seem 

 that no such industry has existed in Jamaica in late years, as it is said that 2,000,000 

 banana stems are cut down annually, after the fruit harvest, " without any attempt 

 being made to utilize the fiber they contain." 



The Bulletin of the Royal Kew Gardens, for August, 1894, contains a valuable 

 summary of information relating to bananas and plantains, from which the brief 

 extracts which follow have been taken: 



"In Jamaica a series of experiments, undertaken by Mr. Morris in 1884, showed the 

 plantain fiber (Musa sapientum var. paradisiaca) was whiter and finer than ordinary 

 banana fiber and that it approached more nearly to the fine glossy character of ma- 

 nila hemp. A banana stem weighing 108 pounds yielded 25 ounces of cleaned fiber, 

 or at the rate of 1.44 per cent of the gross weight. A plantain stem weighing 25 

 pounds yielded 7J ounces of cleaned fiber. This was at the rate of 1.81 per cent on 

 the gross weight. A sample of fiber prepared from a red banana at Trinidad in 1886 

 was valued in London at £24 to £25 per ton. Usually, however, banana fibers are 

 not worth more than £12 to £15 per ton. They would only fetch even these prices 

 when there is a high demand for ' white-hemp fibers,' and there happens to be a short 

 supply of manila and sisal hemps. 



"Mr. A. D. van Gon Netscher, when proprietor of plantation Klein Pouderoyen, on 

 the west bank of the River Demerara, in 1855, furnished the following interesting 

 particulars relative to fiber from the plantain : The experience of ten years on a 

 cultivation of from 400 to 480 acres in plantains has shown that: 1. On every acre 

 from 700 to 800 stems are cut per annum, either for the fruit, or in consequence of 

 having been blown down by high winds, or from disease or other reasons. 2. The 

 planting of the suckers at distances of 8 feet apart has never been tried, but I am of 

 opinion that if so planted and cut down every eight months, for the stem alone, an 

 acre would give from 1,400 to 1,500 good stems every cutting, or about 4,500 in two 

 years. 3. On plantation Klein Pouderoyen, after repeated trials, the plantain stem 

 on an average has been found to give 2^ pounds clean, and 1\ pounds discolored and 

 broken fiber, the latter only fit for coarse paper. This result, however, has been 

 obtained by very imperfect machinery. 4. The average weight of the plantain stem 

 is 80 pounds. 5. The stems can be transported from the field to the buildings for $1 

 per 100." 



Banana fibers from Musa sapientum are shown in the Kew Mus. from the Anda- 

 man Islands, Jamaica, Mauritius, Ceylon, British Guiana, Madras, Australia. The 

 Jamaica samples cleaned by the late Nathaniel Wilson are of excellent quality. A 

 sample from British Guiana was valued in 1892 at £25 per ton, but usually the price 

 is much lower, and when other fibers, such as manila and sisal hemps, are low, banana 

 fiber is practically unsalable. 



Fiber extracted from the Abyssinian banana (Musa cnsete) at Jamaica by Mr. 

 Morris yielded at the rate of 1.16 per cent of the gross weight. The fiber was some- 

 what weak and dull looking; it had none of the luster of the best plantain fiber, and 

 it was valued in London at £12 to £14 per ton. 



* Specimens of fiber and cloth, Mus. U. S. Dept. Ag. ; U. S. Nat. Mus. 



Musa paradisiaca (see Musa sapientum). 



