October i, 1889.] THE TROPICAL AtSOTOTLTURlST. 
237 
still grown in ohenas in the Anarajapura district, 
but only for local consumption, neither the quality 
nor the quantity of it offering any inducement to 
extend the cultivation. In no place is it sown 
regularly ; a handful of seed is thrown broadcast 
over the clearing together with one or other of the 
pulses, and the cotton comes up like a weed. It is 
difficult under such ciroumstanoes to form an idea 
of the yield per acre, but it does not exceed five of 
clean cotton. It is not therefore a favorite culture. 
Gingelly seed which is always saleable at paying 
rates, is preferred to it in the majority of instances, 
and in Jaflna the people mainly devote themselves 
to the cultivation of tobacco, and could scarcely be 
pursuaded to abandon it in favor of cotton. For the 
reason hinted at above, cotton cannot be expected 
to flourish in the Central and Western Provinces. 
Heavy showers of rain would interfere sadly with 
the picking, and these may fall at any season of the 
year. But there are districts where this grave 
objection does not apply. We owe our knowledge of 
its capabilities in this respect entirely to Mr. T. 
Power, Assistant Government Agent at Eatnapoora, 
who writes on this subject as follows : — 
" The cotton I send is from Native seed and also 
from Sea Island. The garden is thriving magni- 
ficently ; nothing could look better than the plants 
and pods. The climate here appears quite the 
thing for cotton,* and my plants are now giving their 
third crop within the year." 
If a supply of labour could at all times be de- 
pended upon, there is little doubt that the tract of 
country described by Mr. Power might be made 
eminently productive as a cotton tract, but unless 
it pays better than other crops, the resident culti- 
vators will not grow it, and there is always that 
difficulty in the distance. By the aid of bounties or 
the influence of headmen, a cultivation can be got 
up of any kind of produce, but upon a large scale 
no crops will be raised except those which are most 
profitable. A few model farms established in various 
parts of the island and cultivated after a fashion 
which could be imitated by the bulk of the popu- 
lation might be successful in inducing an extended 
growth of cotton, but nothing should be done by 
the European which the Singhalese could not easily 
follow. It is not likely that Ceylon will ever be a 
great cotton growing country, but it may by judioious 
management be made to export a considerable 
amount of it.f 
A far more hopeful prospect exists with reference 
to wild fibrou3 plants, such as the Sanseviera 
Zeylaniea, Niyanda of the Singhalese and Marool of 
the Tamil, the Aloe, Agave, Pineapple, Plantain 
and Asclepia Gigantea. There are literally millions 
of tons of these plants scattered over the face of 
the island. They grow in any soil, the sand or the 
swamp seems to afford equal nutriment to them, and 
if one cared to aiake a plantation of ihem, a limitless 
supply of fibre could be obtained. But the draw- 
back to the production of these exquisite threads 
have hitherto been such as to render their existence 
of no praotioal value except- to the fishermen and 
the villagers who require the occasional use of 
twine and rope. The labour needful to extract the 
fibres is nothing of oourse to these persons, so fur 
as the supply of their own wants is concerned, but 
if they are employed in the work at daily wages, or 
asked to furnish fibres to the merchant, ihe cost of 
production is out of all proportion to the value of 
* The climate of Rainapura is oats of the rainiest 
in the island. — Ed. 
t Iho establishment of a cotton mill at Colombo 
altars the conditions wholly. The export from Ceylon 
of Cotton wool in 1388 is given as 2,320 cwt., valued 
lit Uo6,yi9.— liD. 
the articles. It would take ten hours of persevering 
labour to enable a man to make 8 ounces of fibre, 
which if he were paid only 6d. per day would thus 
cost in the village nearly £60 per ton. In no part 
of the East, however densely populated, could fibres 
be prepared and sold at a profit in the only way 
that hand labour can turn them out fit for the 
weaver's loom, for if we halve the rate of wage3, the 
cost would still be too dear. By adopting the retting 
process, as it is termed, steeping the fibres in water, 
and letting them remain submerged till the pulpy 
substance is quite decomposed, a large quantity of 
fibre can be beaten out in a day, but it is harsh 
and woody, and would have to be submitted to 
chemical processes before it could possibly be made 
fit for conversion into cloth. As material for cord- 
age and manufacture of paper, fibres prepared 
in this way, lose but little of their utility. 
It must always be borne in mind that in estimat- 
ing the value of fibres as textile material the 
quantity to be obtained is the first matter for con- 
sideration. Small parcels are literally worthless, 
except as objects of curiosity. Weaving is done 
universally by machinery, and you cannot work up a 
new fibre with the machines that have been con- 
trived for those in common use. The first inquiry 
which the manufacturer would make on being shewn 
a sample of it would be as to the prospects of an 
abundant supply. If he saw bis way clear in this 
respect, he might feel inclined to alter his machinery 
to suit it, but not otherwise. It iB only as paper 
material that small exports could be made available. 
A.t least hundreds of tons must go forward of any 
material meant to be woven in order to make it 
saleable at its true value, and as yet there are no 
signs of such a result in the case of succulent plants 
as those are termed, the fibres of which form the 
body instead of the bark. The reason will be readily 
comprehended when we state that the average weight 
of fibres derived from the plantain and Sanseviera 
is but 4 per cent. An ordinary plantain tree yields 
about 40 ounces of fibre, so that it would take forty- 
five trees to furnish a cwt. The labour involved 
in cutting and transporting this vast quantity of 
useless material is so great, that it renders even 
machinery worked by steam of no practical value, 
except under very peouliar circumstances. It would 
require nearly two acres to give a ton of fibre 
at one cutting and the manipulation of a thousand 
trees, and nowhere do we find such tracts of the 
plants growing wild as would supply a factory. A 
cultivation of the Marool on a scientific system, the 
fibres being extracted by Benke's machines would 
yield magnificent results. The Marool fibres 
obtained from the fresh plant are scarcely inferior 
to silk in beauty and softness, and would command 
very high prices. S o would those of the Pineapple, 
and also there can be no question as to the quautity 
of fibre that could be grown, and the permanence 
of the demand for it, if it could be had to any 
amount. The sole problem to be solved is the 
invention of a cheap and efficient method of extract- 
ing the fibre. If a simple machine can be found, 
that is within the reach of village skill to construct 
it, and present means to buy it, there is no saying 
to what extent fibres may not be ultimately forth- 
coming. Every village hut is overshadowed with its 
plantain tree, and if that can be turned to account 
for fibre, as well as fruit, the relief to the cotton 
market would be of the greatest possible value. I 
have reason to believe that a French invention 
which was rewarded with a prize at the Expo ition 
in Paris, will supply what is wanted and shall be 
able to test its usefulness, the result of the experi- 
ment shall be duly communioated to the Committee. 
Coconut fibre is a product of increasing value as 
an article of export, but its uses are not likely 
