Fibres. 



42 



exports about 290,000 tons of cotton annually and 17,000,000 bushels of cotton 

 seed. Exclusive of these— America, Egypt, and India— the rest of the world produces 

 about 1,000,000 bales of 500 lb. each. The present annual production of cotton 

 all over the world is about 16,000,000 bales, whilst the present demand far exceeds 

 this, and in two or three years it is estimated that the demand will reach 

 19,000,000 bales. 



All this goes to show that there is no present prospect of a low price 

 for the raw material, and that an excellent market is awaiting all the cotton 

 that can be grown in Queensland. To produce an acre of cotton entails far less 

 labour than to produce an acre of maize. The value of the produce of an acre 

 of maize is about £Q, from which has to be deducted the cost of cultivation, 

 husking, threshing, and bags. An acre of well-grown Uplands cotton is worth 

 at 1M. (£6 10s.) to 2d. (£8. 16s. 8d.) per lb., from which has to be deducted the 

 cost of cultivation and picking. An acre of Sea Island cotton is worth double 

 this. If farmers would ponder this matter and plant a few acres of cotton 

 every year, it would not be long before a large export trade would arise, and 

 like sugar, cotton would become one of the chief staple products of the State.— 

 Queensland Agricultural Journal, April, 1906. 



MADAR: A FIBRE PLANT. 

 (Calotropis gigantea, R. Br.) 

 Calotropis gigantea and C. procera are easily distinguished, though from a 

 practical point of view, their properties are identical. Both flowered under cultiva- 

 tion simultaneously at Kew. and are figured in the Botanical Magazine for 1886 (tt. 

 6862 and 6859). 



C. gigantea is a much larger, coarser plant than C. procera. Both are widely 

 spread in India. But outside it their distribution, as Sir Joseph Hooker points out, 

 is contrasted. C. gigantea reaches eastwards to China, while G. procera extends 

 westwards and reaches the Cape de Verd Islands. The present notice deals with the 

 former species, though most of what is to be stated would apply equally to the latter. 



It is an erect spreading perennial bush which chiefly frequents waste lands 

 in the warm moist tracts of most tropical countries, in India being especially 

 abundant in Bengal, Assam, South India, and distributed to Ceylon, Singapore, 

 the Malay Peninsula, and China. Both the species are known by the following 

 names :— Madar (sometimes written by Europeans as mudar or even muder), ak, 

 akanda, arka, yercum, &c. 



One of the earliest European writers to describe this plant was Prosper 

 Alpinus (De Plant. Aegypti, 1592, Ch. XXV.). He tells us that it is the 'beidelsar' 

 of Alexandria, where it grows in damp places. Rheede was the earliest Indian 

 botanist to narrate its properties (Hort. Mai. 1679, II., t. 31), and he furnished a most 

 accurate drawing of the plant. He calls it ericu, Rumphius (Hort. Amb. 1755, VII., 

 t. 14, f. 1) gives a poor illustration, but describes the plant in great detail under the 

 name of mador. Sir W. Jones (As. Res. IV. 1798, p. 267) describes it under the name 

 area. Roxburgh placed it in the genus Asclepias, and Robert Brown, a little later, 

 assigned to it a separate position under Calotropis. It is a sacred plant with certain 

 Hindus, and is associated with the observances of the maruts or winds, the demigods 

 of Rudra. The ancient Arabs also appear to have had superstitious beliefs regarding 

 it, since they associated it with sun-worship. It is the ushar of the Arabs and the 

 khark of the Persians, but the former seems to be a generic word for milk-yielding 

 plants, and was probably restricted to Calotropis at a comparatively late date. Abu 

 Hanif eh was perhaps the first Arab writer to give an explicit account of it, but much 

 useful information will be found in the writtings of Ebn Baithar (Transl. by 

 Southerner, II. 193)» 



