468 



THE PLANTAIN AND BANANA. 



The fibrous material, that is to say, the stalk after it has undergoue 

 the squeezing process without separation of the tissue or pulp, may be 

 prepared either by hand or machine, the latter being, of course, the 

 most economicaL 



Squeezing, rinsing, partial separation, or " teazing " with the hand, 

 after being hung up on rails of bamboo, or other cheap article, and 

 rapid drying, may be recommended as a simple and efficacious process 

 for obtaining the fibrous material in a favourable state, and with the 

 several objects referred to in view. 



Machinery for jjerforming this, and effecting the final separation of 

 the fibre from the pulp or tissue, must be a desideratum. In the 

 absence of such machinery parties can only hope to prepare advan- 

 tageously the fibrous material by hand. 



It has been supposed that boiling of the material would render the 

 separation of the fibre at a future time more easy; but this seems 

 unnecessary. Simple saturation in water for some few hours renders 

 it fit for further process. 



Much objection is felt by the labourers, from whom alone are the 

 stalks at present to be procured in abundance, to cutting the stalks, 

 from the fear of injury to young shoots by loss of manure. It would 

 be well if fear on this head could be shown groundless. 



The Eev. W. J. Pearson, of St. Thomas's, Jamaica, thus speaks, after 

 much practical experience in the preparation of the fibre : 



Provided the tissue remain on till it reaches England, the fibrous 

 material ought to be more valuable than the clean fibre, for the worth 

 of the pulp should exceed the cost of separation. In the preparation 

 of the material, also, it seems unnecessary to preserve more than two 

 qualities, that of outer and inner, and this not from any great differ- 

 ence in the fibres, but from the colour of the tissue, the outer being 

 darker than the inner ; coarse and fine fibres will be found in every 

 layer, and the former are, for the most part, but assemblages of the 

 latter. 



In trying the strength of the fibrous material it will be well to 

 ascertain wlieilier you have a thin or stout fibre overlaid with tissue, 

 otherwise the result would be deceptive. 



The process of preparation, both of the material and of the fibre 

 being tedious, it is very probable that difficulty will be experienced 

 in inducing the labourers to engage in it on their own account, at 

 any rate until the returns become certain and profitable. 



The quantity of material or fibre yielded by a sucker is, at present, 

 so small, that until results prove remunerative, they will not have 

 sufficient inducement to enter on the new source of industry. From 

 my experience stalks do not average more than 1^ lb. of fibrous 

 material, consequently of clean fibre much less. The fibrous material 

 seems almost fit for the manufacture of small cordage, even as it is. 



It must not be supposed that the work of preparing the " material " 

 is either easy or pleasant. To bring up the suckers from the deep 

 valleys in which they sometimes grow, is a difficult task, and to carry 

 them on the head up hill and down dale, as has often to be done, 

 is very laborious. While some suckers are small, there are others 

 frequently heavier than can be borne by one man, and until the 



