304 



The plants last for very many years in the same ground, which 

 if left gets quite mailed with their rhizomes, and then they produce 

 abundance of large leaves. They are in fact very hardy plants and 

 will stand almost any treatment. 



Preparation of the Fibre. 



The preparation of the libre can be done by cleaning by hand 

 but this is slow and expensive. Very finely prepared specimens of 

 fibre of the three species in common cultivation here were shewn 

 at the Agri-horticultural Show by Mr. SCHERNIER who had pre- 

 pared them with the aid of a decorticator and a cleaning machine 

 for which patents are being taken out and these samples were 

 as perfect specimens of what a fibre should be as possible, and 

 attracted the attention of many visitors to the Show. 



S. Guineensis, Willd, is a widely spread plant over most of 

 Africa. It has a stout orange coloured rhizome and broad lan- 

 ceolate leaves 3-4 feet long and 2\ to 5 inches across pale green 

 mottled with lighter colour, or often plain with a fine red edge. 

 The flower spike is nearly as tall as the leaves with white flowers 

 about 1 j to 2 inches long and orange coloured fruit. 



This is the Konje hemp. Sir D. MORRIS recommends the plant- 

 ing of it three feet by three feet which gives about 3,000 plants to 

 the acre. Its rate of growth seems to be slow in the West Indies. 

 Plants he saw in St. Thomas three years old were only just ready 

 to cut, and Baron EgGERS after cultivating them said that they 

 could not be cropped before 3^ years; but much depends on the 

 soil and conditions of growth and also the size of plants when 

 planted. My impression here from our cultivated plants is that it 

 is much more rapid than this. 



In experiments in Jamaica, 1,185 ms - fresh leaves gave 29 lbs. 

 12 ozs. dry fibre. The fibre was valued at about £30 per ton at 

 that time, with Manila hemp fetching £31. 



The specimens prepared by Mr. SCHERNIER for the Agricultural 

 Show were as fine and silky as could be, and it like S. Zeylanica, 

 is a plant well suited for his machine. 



S. Cylindrical Bojer, Ife hemp. — This has a similar stout rhizome 

 to that of the preceding, but the leaver are quite cylindrical three 

 or eight together, three or four feet cng and about half an inch 

 through deep green smooth to iis sharp point. It has never 

 flowered in Singapore Botanic Gardens. 



It can be propagated in the same way as the other species, but 

 does not seem to me to be so fast a grower. However, I do not 

 think it has had a very fair trial as yet. It- has not thoroughly 

 established itself about the country as S. Zeylanica has done, but 

 it is hardly an ornamental plant and hence has been less carried 

 about. 



Specimens of fibre prepared at Kew were valued at £28 per ton 

 by IDE and CHRISTY who stated that except that it did not appear 

 quite as strong it is almost equal to S. Longiflora. Later experi- 



