Fibres. 



500 



[June, 1912. 



statement, quoted above as to the only 

 useful method of testing the money- 

 value of a dyestuff and to insist upon 

 their various marks of Indigo being 

 tested in that way, viz., by accurate com- 

 parative tests of dyeing power. If they 

 will only take a firm stand upon this 

 one point, I am convinced that they will 

 have nothing to fear from competition 

 with " synthetic " so-called Indigoes and 

 that in due time Indigo and its industry 

 will be rehabilitated, 



I have said all there is for me to say, 

 and it now remains for planters to save 

 their industry by the one means left to 

 them. If they turn a deaf ear, I can only 

 regret it, but I hope that advice based 

 on sound knowledge, and absolutely 

 disinterested, may appeal to them even 

 at the eleventh hour.— Yours, etc. 



GEORGE RANKING. 

 Formerly Professor of Chemistry , Medical 



College, Calcutta. 

 Beech Lawn, Park Town, Oxford. 



3rd February, 1912. 



FIBRES. 



HINDUPUR AGAVE PLANTATION. 



(From the Department of Agriculture, 

 Madras, Vol. III., Bulletin No. 64, 1911.) 



The following note embodies the re- 

 sults of nine years' working of this 

 plantation, which was opened in 1910- 

 1912 with the object of testing whether 

 the agave, more particularly A. Sisalana, 

 could be successfully cultivated on waste 

 land, of which there is a fairly large 

 area in this district (Anantapur) and if 

 so what the average acre yield of fibre 

 per annum was likely to be :— 



The plantation, the soil of which is a 

 poor red gravelly loam was laid out in 

 plots of A. Americana, A. Sisalana, A. 

 Cantula and Furcrwa gigantea, young 

 plants being obtained from various parts 

 of India, all of which with the exception 

 of the third-named grew well. 



In 1907-1908, when the plants were six 

 years old, the plantati6n in the mean- 

 time having been kept fairly free from 

 weeds and from cattle trespass, the per- 

 centage of fibre in A. Americana, A. 

 Sisalana and Furcrcea gigantea was 

 tested, the figures obtained being 1"4 per 

 cent., 30 per cent, and 34 per cent., 

 respectively, and in the same year regu- 

 lar cuttings in an experimental plot of 

 A. Sisalana were begun. 



The plants in this plot were spaced 

 out at distances of 8 feet from row to 

 row arid pf feet ia the rows, i.e., at 



the rate of 900 plants per acre, and with 

 the exception of 1908-1909 when three 

 cuttings were made, two cuttings were 

 taken from them each year. The weight 

 of leaf was noted each year and a small 

 quantity of fibre extracted to test the 

 percentage, the average figures for which 

 work out at practically 3£ per cent. 



Figures for four years have now been 

 obtained and are tabulated below : — 





Average 











number 



Average 



Weight of 



Yield of 



Year. 



of leaves 



Weight 



leaf per 



fibre per 





cut 



per leaf. 



acre. 



acre. 





per plant. 







1907-1908... 



15 



•7 



10,038 



351 



1908-1909... 



24 



•58 



12,284 



430 



1909-1910... 



13 



•53 



6.842 



240 



1910-1911... 



15 



•47 



6.258 



219 



Average 



... 17 



•6 





310 



Working from the basis of 900 plants 

 per acre an average number of 17 leaves 

 per annum fit for cutting, of an average 

 weight of 6 lb. and with the percentage 

 of fibre recorded above, the annual yield 

 of fibre from this land, the nature of 

 which has already been described, and 

 in this disti ict with a low annual rain- 

 fall of 23 inches, may be put in round 

 figures at 300 lb. per acre. 



The value of this fibre in London from 

 specimens sent to the Imperial Institute, 

 South Kensington, is estimated at Rs. 480 

 per ton. The cost of cutting and extrac- 

 tion which here must be done by hand 

 is, however, excessive, as much as Rs, 420 



