September 2, 1889.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
appreciable quantity, for the solution of iron is 
not black : cast-iron is scarcely affected, bronze 
and brass are not at all. 
The leaf is composed of a bundle of fibres of 
different lengths, all starting from a common trunk 
or heel, and terminating, the longer at the point, 
the shorter at about the middle of the leaf. These 
fibres are surrounded, being united one to another, 
by a porous, white, and very juicy pulp. The 
younger it is the more juicy it is ; at full maturity, 
that is to say when the leaf is yellow, it is nearly 
dry. The epidermic cuticle is a thin layer (about 
i mm. [j 1 , inch] of a tissue much more compact 
than the pulp, less moist, and containing an ap- 
preciable portion of resinous gum ; the dermis is 
dark green, the epidermis is only a thin transparent 
skin which comes off easily. The leaf dried be- 
comes ligneous, the fibre has lost its toughness, 
the dermis adheres firmly to the fibres, and this 
renders it very difficult to separate the fibre from 
its envelope. It is then preferable to treat the leaf 
while green, as it is done now. 
The maceration can be performed quickly enough, 
even in cold water, but the fibre undergoes a change • 
at first it becomes red, then black ; it is, ordinarily, 
five times as strong as hemp, but must lose its 
toughness, for our consignees in Europe reproach 
us with sending them red fibres that are not prized 
by buyers : they attribute this deterioration to a 
defective packing, but I rather think, as has been 
remarked to me, that the fibre has not been dried 
enough. It must then redden in transit, thanks to 
its own moisture. In this case would it not be 
preferable to dry it at a stove before despatching 
it ? Experience alone will show this. Under these 
conditions maceration is not possible. What renders 
this operation still more difficult is that the localities 
where the aloe is planted are arid and generally 
lack water, the irrigable lands being reserved for 
the cane, which is a product of higher cultivation. 
It is said, that an apothecary of Reunion has 
succeeded in preventing the change of fibres during 
maceration by means of a chemical product added 
to the water ; I mention this detail with all reserve, 
not knowing the process. Fuel being at a compara- 
tively high price in Mauritius, we are shut up exclu- 
sively to mechanical processes, acting on the leaf in a 
moist state, that is freshly cut. 
What is the richness in fibres of the aloe leaf ? 
This ought to be the first question to put, and the 
first to settle ; however, absolutely nothing certain 
is known upon this point. Many experiments for 
this purpose have been made, but they do not 
appear to be satisfactory. There have been so 
many important discrepancies that no conclusion 
could be drawn from them. From 100 fine leaves, 
green and young, 8 feet in length, E. obtained 
9 lb. of dry fibre calculated according to the ordinary 
proportion of green to wet fibre, which is about 
30 per cent, which gives about 12-12 per cent of 
the weight. With ripe leaves, four feet long, he got 
3-52 per cent. These fibres were obtained from the 
present machines ; but he has not taken into account 
the waste, which would be but trifling. All this 
is far from being mathematical. P. and 
C. carefully scraped the leaf by hand and 
obtained 5 - 50 per cent (of the weight of the leaf). 
Some say it does not contain 3-50 altogether ; 
others assert that it has a yield of 7 to 8 per cent, 
All this is very vague. It would be very important, 
however, if serious and continued experiments were 
made. Even commercially, it is impossible to get 
any precise record of the outturn of the different 
machines actually at work. P. maintains 3 
English pounds of dried fibre for 100 leaves j M. 
affirms 3--40 ; B. 3-50 to 3 75; F. 2-16 to 2-48. 
20 
One of my friends who buys his leaves has no 
permanent expenditure on cultivation ; he pays his 
men by the day, and keeps account of the profit 
which he makes in the following manner : — Two 
sets of 12 men each relieve each other in the day ; 
the first represent his expenses, the second realizes 
the profit. He produces six bales of 150 kilos 
[330 69 lb.] a day. Another one manipulates 3 
bales of 175 kilos [385'80 lb.] per day. He has 6 
scrapers of the new system, a motive power of 8 
horses, and a generator of 30, plus the transmis- 
sion of motion. The newest, set up and working, 
would cost from 5,000 to 0,000 piastres in Mauritius. 
Here now is a sketch of the different machines 
employed in the extraction of aloe fibre : — 
The blaoks content themselves with striking gentle 
blows on the leaf with a piece of wood, in such a 
manner as to bruise the pulp and render it less 
adherent to the fibre ; then they scrape the surface 
(always by hand), and little by little remove this pulp, 
This is the principle of one of the first machines 
at the outset of the industry ; it was composed of a 
certain number of blades set in a circular piece of 
wood movable upon an axis, and moved alter- 
nately by a shaft with cams ; these blades strike very 
rapidly upon a surface on which the leaves are 
arranged. The result was to disintegrate the pjlp, 
and to render it more easy of removal. The same 
end was attained in a primitive fashion by drawing 
over the leaves a heavy stone roller such as is used 
for smoothing grass. These two systems have been 
abandoned. Later on a pulley was employed of 
about 1-50 metre [5 feet] in diameter by 25 centi- 
metres [10 inches] broad ; on the felly following 
the generator were placed combs of copper of 
the width of the pulley ; these combs had teeth 6 
to 8 millimetres [J to J inch] in length ; there were 
6 to 8 combs on the pulley, to which a rapid 
rotatory motion was given. The leaf was firmly 
forced against these combs, and it became scraped. 
This was abominable : the teeth of the comb 
penetrated the leaf and broke the fibres. 
Here are the modifications that were made at 
first of this machine, which, defective as it was, 
served later on as a type for the new ones which 
have since been constructed. The principal drum, 
which is a wooden wheel of 5 feet in diameter and 
9 inches broad at the felly, rests on an axle placed 
horizontally on bushes. On the felly T irons were 
fixed at first of copper, and then of iron. There 
were 10 or 12 of them. The edges of these grooves 
are without teeth and slightly rounded. To the 
pulley is given a rapid rotatory motion by means 
of a pulley and strap, A little lower than the 
centre is found a joist S of hard wood (fig. 1) 4 
inches in thickness and of the same width as the 
pulley. This piece is solidly fixed to a frame. 
Above and near the pulley are situated two small 
fluted cylinders a and b, of copper, gearing together, 
and having a length equal to the breadth of the 
pulley ; the bushes of the axle of the small cylinder 
b are fixed, those of a are fastened to springs which 
allow the oylinders to recede and advance, a is 
moved by attraction ; b receives its motion by a 
play of conical gearings and an apparatus which 
allows of giving at will equal and contrary rotations, 
The joist S or catch is regulated according to its 
separation from the pulley ; it is cut roughly as 
the sketch indicates. The pulley turning in the 
direotion of the arrow F, the leaf is introduced by 
the point between a and b ; it is dragged rapidly in 
the direction of the arrow } ; at the moment when 
it is about to pass through entirely the apparatus is 
acted upon, and b is caused to turn in thu 
opposite direction and leads the leaf back. It is in 
this retrograde movements that the leaf, pressed 
against the catch and struok by the T irons, 
