302 



The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



when ripe averaging six feet in length. Roughly 

 the area most suitable for raising this and other 

 fibre plants may be put down at SOU scjuare 

 miles as the limestone formation runs back 

 into the hills some ten miles > n an average. 

 Sisal from its size it may be stated requires 

 a field to itself, and the presence of lime in the 

 soil will be found to greatly stimulate its 

 growth. The planting of sisal in India lately 

 has been fairly extensive, from this however it 

 cannot bo expected that the abnormally high 

 prices which characterised the market for the 

 fibre a year or two ago will be maintained. 

 Those who have planted sisal in South West 

 Sylhet would have done better, the writer thinks, 

 to have made their plantings under the northern 

 hills where in his opinion the soil is more suit- 

 able for the plant's best cultivation. The 

 Assam Valley proper he points out is deficient 

 in calcareous formation (except in the extreme 

 north-east corner near Syddia where limestone 

 crops out, and does not therefore come up to 

 the same mark in fibre producing plants as the 

 Southern Valley) patches of rhea, or ramie, put 

 down here are, however, said to look promis- 

 ing. In the Sylhet district there' are celebrated 

 orange groves situated in the detritus, attrited 

 from the stone mingled with leaf soil from 

 the upper forests, and the adaptability of 

 the spaces between the orange plants for the 

 raising of rhea is often referred to as presenting 

 a good opportunity for cheap and successful 

 culture. Numerous salt springs abound thus 

 providing an inexpensive means of getting rid 

 of part of the tenacious gums. Fermentation 

 sets in the hot weather m about forty-eight 

 hours so this process would require watching as 

 if the steeping is carried too far discolouration, 

 as well as brittleness, is set up. The native 

 owners of these orange groves make use of all 

 fibre-yielding plants, but only in the rough, and 

 it is stated would bring in bundles to a central 

 factory, but preparation for the market would 

 have to be undertaken by some permanent 

 hands. Attempts are being made in Assam to 

 reintroduce the genuine Musa textilis, or 

 Manila hemp. The closest approach to this 

 fibre is found in the still dense forests of the 

 Namba Jairang, and in the more inaccessible 

 forest of Janitia in North East Sylhet, where 

 the fibre is coarser, and less flexible. Those 

 essaying present operations are very san- 

 guine of success, and the climate and 

 soil of the habitat of the plant have been 

 very carefully studied. There are many fibre- 

 yielding plants whose product is of superior 

 quality, however, and unless the Manilla one 

 can be successfully introduced it is hardly worth 

 while devoting much attention to the plantain, 

 which is much more valuable for its fruit. 



The Sisal Industry of the Caicos 

 forms the subject of a most readable report 

 recently prepared by the Commissioner of the 

 Islands, the Hon. F H Watkins. The first year 

 in which any sisal fibre approached on two occa- 

 sions since. In 1906, when a consignment of 

 the value of £50 was shipped. In 1894 the value 

 of the exports rose to £420, and three years later 

 to £2,539. The year in which the greatest ship- 

 ments have been made, so far, was 1899, when 

 the exports reached the value of £7,494. This 

 figure has been, however, approached on two 



occasions since. In 1906, the quantity of fibre 

 extracted was 219,365 lb. and the value of 

 the exports £5,605. The area under cultivation 

 with sisal in the Caicos Islands is estimated at 

 about 3,200 acres, while the industry gives em- 

 ployment to about 300 people. A further area 

 of 1,000 acres in East Caicos is to be planted in 

 the near future, while it is mentioned that 

 several thousand acres, suitable for sisal culti- 

 vation, exist in the different islands, but are 

 awaiting development. Two Companies were 

 formed at an early stage of the industry to carry 

 on planting operations. In addition there 

 exists a considerable number of small growers, 

 many of whom are extending their area as 

 rapidly as their limited means will allow. The 

 foil of the Caicos Islands is very shallow, 

 droughts are of frequent occurrence and the 

 bulk of the population were previously entirely 

 dependent for a precarious livelihood upon salt- 

 raking or sponge collecting. In regard to the 

 cost of clearing land and planting it with sisal, 

 it is stated that in some places £1 an acre with 

 an additional Jd. for each plant set out, forms 

 the average expense, but in other cases £1 10s. 

 is generally paid for an acre fully planted 4^ by 

 41 , f eet. The average daily wages for a man in 

 East Caicos are 2s 3d , for a youth Is 6d., and 

 for a woman Is. The life of the sisal plant in the 

 Caicos Islands may be put at about eight 

 years, at the end of which period replanting 

 must take place. The first crop of leaves 

 may be gathered thre6 or four years after 

 planting. An acre of land should yield an 

 annual average of from 685 to 900 lb. of fibre. 

 At at an average cost of 6 cents per lb., of 

 £28 per ton) (present price is about £32 

 per ton) this would give a return of £10 

 per acre per annum. At the close of his 

 report, Mr. Watkins mentions the follow- 

 ing three conditions, the existence of which 

 is essential to profitable results in sisal culti- 

 vation: — (1) Capital, on account of the some- 

 what expensive machinery for extractirg the 

 fibre, and the length of time which must elapse 

 before a return is made. (2) A large area of 

 land, especially where the soil is poor, to main- 

 tain the cultivation in regular succession. 

 (3) An abundant and cheap supply of labour. 

 — Indian Planters' Gazette, Aug. 22 



RUBBER m TRAVANCORE. 



FINE MEASUREMENTS AND YIELDS. 



Mr J A Richardson read to the recent 

 U. P. A. S.I. meeting the following interesting 

 account of the rubber industry of Travancore - — 



The rubber plantiug industry of Southern 

 India has made rapid strides during the last few 

 years and South India as a rubber-producing 

 country will in the near future take a very 

 important place. It has already been proved 

 that Para rubber (I am now speaking of Travan- 

 core and Cochin) can bo brought to the tapping 

 stage in its fifth year if we are to goby girth 

 measurements. In this connection 1 should 

 like to draw attention to a statement made 

 by Nir. C E Welldon, a Ceylon planter, read 

 and print od in the July Chronicle, as follows : — 



" Mr C E Welldon, a Ceylon Planter, consid- 

 ers that four-years-old Rubber trees in Java 

 and the Straits Settlements are practically 



