and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society.— September, 1911. 275 



ducing world as indicating that Brazil must be 

 reckoned with as a future source of the world's 

 cotton supply. The United States Consul at 

 Rio de Janeiro says that one of these trees is 

 called ' Barraguda,' from its being barrel-shaped, 

 after the peculiar trunk which is its characteris- 

 tic. The tree grows from twenty-five to thirty- 

 five feet in height, tapering from the great bulge 

 in the trunk to a very slender one, from which 

 branches form about twelve feet above the 

 ground. The trunk is entirely covered with 

 hard and sharp thorns. The pods in which the 

 cotton grows are from five to eight inches long, 

 and, two to four Inches in diameter.* The 

 fibre is coarse and white, and adheres closely 

 to the seeds, which are somewhat smaller 

 than peas. It is a long and strong fibre and 

 while too coarse for use in textiles of 

 any degree of fineness, it would, it is said, lend 

 itself to the fabrication of blankets, cotton 

 twine, and a variety of other materials. The 

 habit t of this tree is in central and southern 

 Bahia, and it grows to a lesser extent in the 

 State of Pernambuco. The uplands on which it 

 seems to flourish are from a thousand to sixteen 

 hundred feet above sea level, where there is a 

 decided chill in the air during certain months 

 of the year. The other tree produces a much 

 finer cotton, of a brownish colour, exceedingly 

 light, but not long enough to spin well, and re- 

 sembles eider down. The pods in which it 

 grows are about ten inches long and one inch- 

 and-a-half in diameter before bursting. When 

 the pod bursts and the ripe cotton comes out, 

 the pod takes on a rotund shape eight to ten 

 inches in diameter. The fibre adheres loosely 

 to the seeds, most of which fall out by merely 

 shaking the pod, and is so light and fluffy that 

 one can blow almost the entire contents of a 

 pod free from the outer enclosure or hull. Occa- 

 sionally this cotton is used in pillows, and when 

 properly prepared is said to be as soft and 

 downy as the lightest and best feathers, showing 

 no tendency to harden with use. The inner 

 bark of this cotton tree is utilised by the in- 

 habitants for many purposes. It is a remark- 

 ably strong fibre, and a strip half an inch in 

 width will, without any preparation, sustain a 

 weight of fifty to a hundred pounds. The tree 

 has its habitat in central Bahia and northern 

 Minas Geraes, being most abundant in the latter 

 State, and is called "imbirussu," being a name 

 of Indian origin, probably given to it because of 

 its peculiar and characteristic bark. The cor- 

 rugations of the bark form diamond-shaped 

 patches, the inner parts of which have a bright 

 greenieh-red and glossy surface. Both of these 

 trees are hardy and long-lived, seventy-five to 

 one hundred years being apparently a fair aver- 

 age for the period during which they bear cotton 

 fibre, while the common cotton- planfr^ears in 

 many parts of Brazil for fifteen to twenty-five 

 years without any attention whatever.— Journal 

 of the Royal Society of Arts, Aug. 11. 



[♦This must be allied to the "Cotton tree " 

 (Bombax Malabaricum) of Ceylon, giving the 

 " Kapok " or mattress stuffing cotton. We see 

 that the Tropical American species was called 

 by Linnaeus " B. C«iba."— Ed.C.O;] 



KAPOK AND ITS CULTIVATION. 



Kapok is a fine fibrous material, somewhat 

 resembling cotton, but weaker and more lus- 

 trous, derived from the tree known as Eriden- 

 dron anfractuosum, which occurs in the Dutch 

 East Indies, India, Ceylon, tropical Africa, the 

 West Indies, Mexico, and Central America. The 

 fibres arise from the inner wall of the capsule 

 and surround the seeds. 



The kapok tree grows at the sea-level and up 

 to an altitude of 3,000 or even 4,0 '0 feet, but 

 gives the best yield and quality of fibre when 

 situated at less than 1,000 feet above the sea. 

 It is said to flourish best on a porous, sandy- 

 clay soil, in a climate with a dry east monsoon, 

 and to be capable of withstanding heavy rains 

 and resisting long periods of drought. 



The propagation of the tree can be easily 

 effected by means of either cuttings or seed. In 

 the latter case the seed is sown in nurseries, and 

 is only lightly covered with earth. If the soil 

 is poor, it is recommended that stable manure 

 should be applied about ten days before sowing. 

 The seed should be planted in rows at a dis- 

 tance of 10 to 12 inches. When the young plants 

 are about 5 or 6 inches high th^y should be no 

 longer shaded but exposed to the sun. If the 

 plants do not obtain plenty of sunshine, they 

 grow thin and lanky. The seedlings are planted 

 out when from eight to twelve months old. In 

 Java, kapok trees are .commonly planted about 

 12 to 15 feet apart along the roads in" the coffee 

 and cocoa plantations. When the trees are 

 grown in special plantations, they should be 

 placed pbout 18 feet apart (about 144 trees to 

 the acre), for if planted more closely they soon 

 interfere with one another. The trees com- 

 monly attain a height of 30 feet, but sometimes 

 grow to 50 feet or even more. 



Before transplanting, it is advisable to strip 

 off all the leaves and to cut the stem down to 

 a height of 1J to 2 feet and also to cut the 

 chief roots so as to make stumps of them. If 

 the top is not cut it will usually die down to 

 the ground. The trees subsequently require 

 very little attention, but the soil must be kept 

 free from weeds. 



During the early years of growth other plants 

 can be cultivated between the young trees. In 

 Java it is a common practice to grow pepper 

 in this way, but it should not be planted before 

 the kapok trees are three or four years old. 



The trees begin to bear in the third or forth 

 year, but sometimes not till later. The crop is 

 never very large until the sixth year. A large 

 tree brings 1.000 to 1,500 fruits to maturity per 

 annum, each of which contains about 7 tc 

 12 gramB of dry fibre. Hence, on an average, a 

 well developed tree may be. expected to give an 

 annual yield of f to 1J kilograms (or about 1$ to 

 2| lb.) of clean fibre. 



The tree flowers in April or May, and the 

 fruits mature at the end of October or in 

 November; As the fruit ripens it becomes 

 yellowish-brown and then begins to open. As 

 soon as this point is reached, the fruits are 

 gathered by moans of long bamboo poles bearing 

 small hooks at the upper ends. They are then 

 left on a clean floor, preferably of c»mrat, and. 



