826 



THE PLA^sTAIK XlsB BXlsAJ^A.. 



Capital required. — It is ascertained that tlie follo^^iving outlay 



will be sufficient : — ■ 



The materials will cost . . . £2,000 



Buildings ..... 500 



Purchase of land .... 1,500 



Working capital . . . . 1,000 



£5,000 



^The estimated expense in cultivating one quarree, or 5 l-5tli 

 English acres, in plantains, will be £30, as the work can be 

 easily performed by one laborer in 300 days, at 2s. sterling 

 per day. 



A quarree will produce 18 tons of mill fibre, the cost of the pre- 

 paration of which is as follows : — 



For workmen's wages, soda, lime, and fuel, at £3 per ton £54 



Freight to Eui-ope at £4 per ton ... 72 



Managers ...... 30 



Duty, insurance, office fees, &c., at £\ per ton . 18 



£174 



Thus, making the total expense of producing 18 tons of fibre 

 £174, or £9 13s. 4d. per ton. In 1848 Manila rope, or plan- 

 tain fibre of good quality, was worth £38 per ton. 



A correspondent in Jamaica, who has devoted much attention 

 to the subject, has furnished me with some very valuable detailed 

 information, the most complete and practical that has ever yet 

 appeared : — 



Cultivation. — The first care of a planter in superintending the cultivation of 

 the banana tree, with the two-fold object of collecting both fibre and fruit, will 

 be to study the nature of the tree to which he will give the preference. A 

 number of experiments have been made upon difi'erent species of the banana 

 with a view of obtaining therefrom the largest quantity and the best color of 

 fibre, as well as the finest fruit. Those experiments were very tedious and 

 minute, but were absolutely necessary, in order to arrive at the most economical 

 and advantageous method of rendering the fibre into a state fit for shipment to 

 Europe. At the same time, it was of the utmost importance to find out the 

 best description of tree, for producing the strongest, the most abundant, and the 

 most silky fibre — for containing the least quantity of juice, for producing the 

 color sufficiently white to facilitate the operation of bleaching, for bearing fruit 

 of the most esteemed quality, and, therefore, the most favorable for general 

 consumption. 



A banana tree, which seemed at first sight to possess all those good qualities — 

 being of a large size, with whitish or flaxen colored fibre, and producing very 

 savoury fruit, only gave 2 per cent, of fibre after preparation ; that is to say, 

 100 lbs. in its raw state, only gave two pounds of fibre after it was boiled. In en- 

 deavoring to find out the cause of such a small result, it wa? discovered that this 

 specimen of banana (commonly called the " pig banana,") contained a larger pro- 

 portion of water than of fibre, compared with other sorts — that the heart was too 

 large, and that the inside leaves were so tender that they almost dissolved in the 

 process of boiling. These were the greatest inconveniences cf this species of 

 tree. There was also another disadvantage, in the quality of its fruit, which 

 was yellow in color, and not so useful as those descriptions of banana which are 

 generally eaten as a sul)stitute for bread. The results of several experiments 

 made upon various descriptions of banana, demonstrated the properties of each 

 species, both as regarded fibre and fruit. The most profitable in both respects 



