fiibres. 



232 



[March, 1909. 



fibre companies or syndicates in our 

 Colony, and the greatest care will have 

 to be exercised in the selection of land 

 and locality tor fibre culture, and the 

 most favourable circumstances secured 

 for cultivation and protection from fire. 



I would not be taken in any Avay as 

 wishing to discourage the making of 

 plantations. Let us by all means proceed 

 along the lines of regular and systematic 

 planting and cultivation of aloes for 

 fibre-making, and let us be most careful 

 in selection of land. There is a great 

 future before the enterprise, but in 

 watching the progress and prospects of 

 the industry in Natal I am inclined to 

 attach more importance than I did last 

 year to a point which I touched on in 

 my report in the following words : — 



" 1 do not doubt that there are many 

 districts in the upper part of the country 

 in which aloes would do well. Many 

 parts of the ' Thorns ' certainly would 

 suit, and there are thousands of acres 

 which are fit for no other crop, by reason 

 of stones and poor rainfall." 



Now, these thorn lands more nearly 

 approach the conditions under which 

 we find aloes growing in Mauritius in 

 that the ground is rich and the climate 

 dry. Moreover, in some districts in 

 Natal I have in my mind's eye, the 

 stones are so thick that there is never 

 sufficient growth of grass to make such 

 afire as would injure the aloe plants, 

 but the hills are covered with a growth 

 of native aloes, brambles, etc., against 

 which the Furcrea would hold its own, 

 and if a few thousand " bulbils " of this 

 aloe were planted by everybody owning 

 a thorn farm, or even if the bulbils were 

 dropped about, the country would in a 

 few years be as much covered with fibre 

 aloe as the Island of Mauritius is to-day, 

 and a revenue would be obtained at any 

 time when other work was slack. The 

 cost of cutting the leaves and bringing 

 them out of stoney places would be 

 great, but against that would have to be 

 set the fact that they had cost nothing 

 to grow and the collection of the leaves 

 would probably be a class of work which 

 would suit the kraal Kafirs, men, boys, 

 women and girls. Planting, or broad- 

 casting, the "bulbils " would be necessary 

 at first, but once the plants were old 

 enough to throw up the " poles " with 

 their crop of bulbils the aloe would 

 spread with great rapidity, as the bulbils 

 would be carried by the winds, and 

 would hold their own against any 

 native plants. 



I have mentioned the idea to several 

 " thorn " farmers, and I hear that Messrs. 

 Evans, Worthiugton & Walters at their 

 farm "N'Kashin" are taking the mattei 

 up and getting up bulbils from the coast, 



and I feel sure that they will have cause 

 to be thankful that they started the 

 work. What a field there is in the 

 growth of wild aloes in this manner ! 

 and without taking up land on which 

 something else can be grown- 



When one contemplates the poten- 

 tialities of fibre culture in this way, one 

 wonders that the idea does not seize upon 

 the mind of the people, but to dip in 

 Jordan is, of course, too absurdly simple. 



Hundreds of thousands of acres of 

 practically desert country in the valleys 

 of the Tugela, Umvoti, Bushman's, and 

 Blue Krantz Rivers might be utilised, 

 and Zululand could spare as many acres 

 more and not miss them. 



I find in my report the following 

 paragraph :— 



"I think this would be a crop which 

 the native might be encouraged to grow. 

 Young plants might be scattered broad- 

 cast in kloofs and sheltered spots in 

 locations ; aud the aloe might take 

 charge of such places as it has done to 

 such an extent in Mauritius, and prove 

 a source of income in a few years' time, 

 and make productive a large area of land 

 on which nothing else can be produced." 



I cannot imagine anything better that 

 could be done for our natives than 

 covering large tracts of location lands 

 with aloe ; in course of time a large 

 tonnage of leaves would be available, 

 and men would not be wanting to put 

 up machinery and pay a fixed price per 

 100 lbs. for the leaves, and thus give 

 employment to the swarming population. 



The " bulbils " are generally procurable 

 for a few shillings per thousand on rail 

 at coast stations. 



I trust that these few notes will induce 

 everybody with suitable land to plant if 

 only a sackful of plants, which can be 

 done at any time of the year when 

 plants are procurable. Another way in 

 which to covei- one's land quickly would 

 be to get some well grown aloe plants 

 from the coast ; these would flower in a 

 year or two and give enough plants to 

 cover a large area of ground. 



If Mauritius, a small island, only 34 

 miles by 22 miles, containing only 456,320 

 acres, can on its waste land produce 

 £100,000 worth of fibre, as it has done, 

 although the value of the output for the 

 last four years was only £45,000 a year, 

 what could Natal produce on its 16,000,000 

 acres, exclusive of Zululand ? 



A great industry is ready to our hand 

 and one not requiring a large outlay- 

 Let us put out our hands and take what 

 is so obviously within oui reach. — Natal 

 Agriculture Journal Vol. XL, No. 12, 

 December, 1908. 



