296 NOTES ON ECONOMIC PLANTS. 



are much longer than those of the pine-apple plant. It suc- 

 ceeds best under the treatment pine-apples require. 



Rhea or China GRASS (Boehmeria niveaj grows well in 

 rich moist soils, and now that a simple process for the extraction 

 of the fibre from the wood by steaming has been hit upon, its 

 manufacture, considering the high price obtained for the fibre, 

 is worthy of careful trial, especially on land where sugar culti- 

 vation has ceased to be remunerative owing to low prices, and 

 where the ground is not marshy. 



Plantain and Banana Fibre (Musa sapintum). — The 

 common plantain or banana yields a good fibre worth about 

 £15 a ton. I observed when in Selangor a wild banana which 

 grew there with great luxuriance, in appearance the plant 

 looked very like Musa textills and it is probable it will be 

 found to yield a very good marketable fibre. 



From the Kew Gardens Bulletin of April last I learn that in 

 Jamaica a red banana produces fibre worth £25 per ton ; the 

 plant is probably the same as the red 1 banana of the Straits. 



LALANG (Imperatta Kosnigii) . — Lalang has been found to 

 produce good papermaking material, but as the grass had to 

 be transported to England in bales, only the longest grass 

 containing stout fibrous stems was found to pay. The land 

 that will support grass of such a robust nature, will also grow 

 more valuable crops. The quantity of material available for 

 paper-making in the Straits, including bamboos, pine-apple 

 leaves, wood, &c, would seem to warrant the establishment 

 here of a permanent paper factory. ^ 



Pine Apple Fibre (Ananassa saliva J. — In reference to 

 pine-apple fibre, Mr. MORRIS writing in the Kew Bulletin, 

 already referred to, observes as follows : — " Although not 

 " much at present in commercial use, the fibre has a future 

 u of considerable importance before it. It is finer and 

 "' stronger than that yielded by any other plant. A beauti- 

 " ful fabric known as Pina cloth is made from it. A rope of 

 u pine-apple fibre f inches in circumference bore a strain of 

 " 57 cwt." 



