7 



In the early days of Singapore it was manufactured by a number 

 of Bugis men for some years, but the industry died out. 



Messrs. HOGAN's machine has turned out some good samples 

 and it is very probable that this fibre may come again into the 

 market in plenty from the Peninsula. 



The fibre being required of as great length as possible, the short 

 leaves of the field pines cultivated for fruit are not of any use, 

 where however, fields have been abandoned and grown up into 

 grass and scrub, the pines cease to give good fruit but product 

 leaves from six to eight feet long or even more which are suitable 

 for fibre extraction. Such long leaved pines are to be found all 

 over the Peninsula wherever pines have been cultivated and could 

 be got in large quantities in some districts. 



A fuller account of it will b,e found in Bulletin, 1st Series, p. 56, 

 to which the reader is referred. The present value of good pine- 

 apple fibre is about £34 a ton. 



Karatas plumieri, the Mexican fibre, or silk grass. This plant 

 is a kind of wild pineapple occurring all through tropical America. 

 It possesses a large crown of some fifty or more dark green leaves, 

 8 to 10 feet long and 1 to 2 inches wide narrowed upwards and 

 armed with strong recurved thorns at the edges. The flowers are 

 produced in a flat cake like mass in the centre and the head of 

 fruit forms a compact mass of fusiform pulpy fruits each about 4 

 inches long and 1 inch through. They are eatable with a flavour 

 of pineapple but owing to the presence apparently of siliceous 

 spicules, are apt to cut the tongue. The plant sends up suckers 

 and being of rapid growth soon forms a dense impenetrable thicket. 

 Karatas plumieri has long been cultivated in the Botanic Gardens, 

 Singapore, but as it is hardly ornamental and takes up a great 

 deal of room, it has not found its way into other gardens or planta- 

 tions. It might, however, be very well used for fencing purposes 

 to keep out cattle and wild pigs, as its dense mass of thorny leaves 

 would stop most animals. It grows rather irregularly however, and 

 is inclined to push out in all directions. It is readily propagated 

 from its side shoots and seems rather to prefer dry open soil. 

 DODGE, "Useful Fibre Plants of the World," says :— " The plants 

 are of the most prolific nature growing spontaneously in almost all 

 soils and climate. Cultivation in its native land is therefore ex- 

 tremely simple and it is surprising that the plant has not received 

 more attention from planters. The Indians cultivate the plant to 

 some extent in Mexico, 1,222 gardens being recorded in 1830. 

 They generally select forest for this purpose removing the under- 

 growth by cutting or burning. The roots of old plants are then 

 set out 5 or 6 feet apart and at the end of a year yield leaves fit 

 for cutting." He states further that the thorns on the leaves (which 

 give some trouble in working the fibre) are diminished in size and 

 number by cultivation. "The fibre varies in quality according to 

 age, in young leaves the fibre is fine and white, with increasing age 

 it becomes longer and coarser." 



