September 2, 1889.] THF TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 151 
" Labillardiere relates that at Amboyna the natives 
obtain from a bastard aloe, commonly called ' Agave 
Vivipara,' a long and fine fibre, equal to that of our 
best hemp. The Agave grows well in the north of 
Africa, and the French, since their occupation of 
Algiers, have paid great attention to it." 
I regret being obliged, gentlemen, to shorten this 
quotation. Dr. Forbes Royle enters into many details 
on the resistance and the durability of the aloe 
compared with hemp ; and in these experiments it is 
always the aloe rope that has the superiority. So 
at Paris, an aloe rope, ciiming from Algeria, sup- 
ported a weight of 2,000 kilogrammes [4409-20 lb.], 
whilst Manila hemp of the same size was only able 
to sustain 400 [881-84 lb.]. At Toulon, the fibres 
having been plunged into sea-water for six months, 
the aloe sustained a weight of 3,810 lb., whilst the 
hemp could only support 2,538, leaving a difference 
of 1,272 lb. in favour of the former. 
Finally, according to experiments made by Mr. 
Hornby, and sent by him to the Agricultural Society 
of India, the aloe ropes were constantly found 
superior, not only for toughness, but for endurance, 
to the ropes of any other source, such as ' jute,' 
' manilla,' ' abaca,' &c. The chapter ends with 
these almost prophetio words : — 
" The fibre is quite good enough to furnish an 
article of commerce of the first order, destined to 
have a considerable value in the future, especially 
since the prejudice against white ropes is inolined 
to disappear. It is to be wished that serious ex- 
periments were made to arrive at a knowledge as to 
what are the best conditions for outting the leaf, 
and also as to whether the fibre cannot be extracted 
by mechanioal means. When preparing the ropes 
care also must be taken not to out the fibres while 
twisting them ; this is a delicate operation and 
ought to be done by professional rope-makers." 
VII. Gentlemen, all those who have traversed 
the dry and rocky plains of the coast, and by the 
coast I mean all the lower region of the Island to a 
distance varying from three to four miles from the 
coast to the centre of the Island, all those, I say, 
who have had occasion to traverse these regions, 
and you all oertainly have had occasion to do so, 
must have been painfully impressed by the aridity 
and sterility of a land, which was formerly the 
principal source, one may say the origin, of the 
public fortune in this coleny. It was there, in fact, 
that the finest factories were erected, that the great 
fortunes were built up, that the aristooracy of the 
Island lived. How many years has it needed to 
render these localities, formerly so fertile and 
populous, deserted and desolate? A half-century 
barely, a half -century, when in another country the 
depth of the soil, the moisture of vast continents, the 
rotation of orops, would allow landed proprietors to 
transmit to their descendants, from generation to 
generation, a land always generous and capable of 
supporting those who knew how to till them by the 
sweat of their brow. Gentlemen, fifty years has 
sufficed in Mauritius for the soil to be ruined, and the 
father has transmitted to his sons only a oause of ruin. 
I will not seek to find out who is responsible for such 
a state of affairs, beoause that would be to go beyond 
my limits. I will content myself with establishing 
it in passing. Well, gentlemen, this land which re- 
fuses to produce canes, where it is said that the old 
maid itself grows with difficulty, is the country of a 
vigorous plant which accommodates itself admirably 
to the desolation that surrounds it. This plant is 
the aloe. Alone, it animates with its luxuriant 
vegetation a desolate landscape, and in gaiety ob- 
trudes itself upon the universal death of a nature 
always burnt up by an implacable sun, which the 
heavy rains of summer revive for a few days only. 
I invent nothing, gentlemen, and if the picture i 
have drawn of these regions be exaggerated, I pray 
those of the members of the Chamber who hear me 
to stop me. 
The aloe then comes there where nothing grows, 
in a land abandoned by the cane, without cultivation, 
without expense, fearing neither droughts, nor thieves, 
nor floods, nor cyclones, nor diseases, nor indeed 
the evils of all sorts that are accustomed to burst 
upon the cane, and which have pressed so hard the 
last few years, that it has become a problem to know 
how the inhabitants may succeed in withdrawing the 
interest of the immense capital sunk in this enter- 
prise. Nothing like this for the aloe. 
It comes by itself ; and you, proprietors, formerly 
so chaffed, now envied, for these plains of the coast, 
you have at length reaped the prize of your patienoe, 
and you are again going to restore work and com- 
fort to the despised localities, whilst preparing for 
your descendants the means of honorably gaining 
their livelihood, and of rebuilding a fortune exhausted 
by the hard struggles that had to be fought in 
attempting to retain in these regions the dying out 
came 1 
Plant, plant therefore. Do not forget that the 
alee is the only possible product in these regions, 
that this product is extremely renumerative, that 
the roads you have made, that the factory you have 
erected, that the houses you have built, for the 
purpose of an industry that has quitted you to take 
refuge in the high and damp regions of the island, 
will soon be serving you for another product ; that 
this produot is more adapted to your soil than the 
cane, that it offers less risks, and that it can give 
as good returns as the most favourable sugar pro- 
perties. You are at last going to see these roads 
again furrowed by rattling carts, this chimney, long 
extinct, again vomiting forth volumes of smoke, these 
deserted houses repeopled, and the echoes asleep for 
so many years awaking with the tumultuous ex- 
pressions of the joy and work of a whole population. 
Plant, and, believe me, do not lose a minute. The 
number of those who still smile, when the future of 
aloes is mentioned, daily diminishes. Plant ! now 
above all when you have before you the machine 
which must create such a revolution, you cannot 
hesitate to plant. For my part, if I have succeeded 
in convincing a single one of those among you who 
possess lands at present uncultivated in these regions, 
I will have the satisfaction of having accomplished 
my duty, and will not regret the efforts I have 
attempted. 
VIII. You have now before you an account whioh 
I have tried to make as faithful as possible of the 
present state of the industry. The essenoe of all I 
have just said is that the aloe gives now in fibre 
an average of about 3 per cent of its own weight, 
whilst with the old appliances scarcely 2 per cent 
was obtainable. I believe I have demonstrated that 
the extraction of fibres is ai present a luorative 
affair. 
There remains the question of sale. 
On this point I will be brief. It will be sufficient 
for me to say that aloe fibre, packed in bales, 
has sold in the London market, during the whole 
period that I have manufactured it, at an average 
prioe of £30 to £32 the ton. Just now the accounts 
of returns of the Blyth establishment show sales at 
£38 and £40, or an advance of £8 to £10 per ton. 
These figures possess eioquenoe and denote great 
stability in the article. They may also be explained 
in the following manner by this extraot from the 
preface of Forbes Boyle's work, already quoted : — 
" It has often been said that the only way of know- 
ing the value of a fibre or any other produot is 
the prioe which it realizes in commerce. This is 
very true for well-known artioles ; but if a new pro- 
duct is Bent into the market, it ia clear that tew 
