474 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [January z, 1888. 
prized, and what is more, to be jealously guarded 
against exhaustion by indiscriminate and injudicious 
treatment of the trees which yield it. 
There has been on this subject, as on others, a cer- 
tain amount of legislation. I think British Guiana 
may well rank as one of the largest law-producing 
countries of the world. In it, to the making of laws 
there is no end ; but when one takes up the Statute 
book and sees how few of a certain class of Ordin- 
ances are enforced, one is inclined to ask whether 
less theory and more practice is not desirable. 
It may be also a question whether, not only as re- 
gards the preservation and proper collection of our 
natural products, but also the introduction, cultiva- 
tion, and preparation of others, it may not be wise 
to create a department of Economic Products, by 
means of which the Government may employ a por- 
tion of the revenue in fostering certain industries, 
which, in all probability, would be the meani of in- 
creasing both private and public prosperity. Much of 
our natural wealth requires to be protected and de- 
veloped. The colony is fit and able to receive and 
adopt other products of great value. To depend on 
the spasmodic and short-lived efforts of individuals 
appears fruitless, while valuable results may flow from 
well directed enterprise. 
Mr. Bolas says that the capabilities of supply of 
"gutta" in British Guiana seem to be enormous, and 
that if the misleading term "balata" were dropped, 
and relations opened directly with the manufacturer, 
a very large trade could be done in this article. 
Balata, or gutta, suffers from coming into the market 
as a different material from gutta, and under another 
and less recognised name. It has been bought by 
speculating dealers at a nominal price as bullet-tree 
gum, and sold to the manufacturer at the market 
price of the best gutta. It is also desirable to adopt 
6ome system of coagulation of the fluid gum which 
would advance the quality of the product, or minimise 
deterioration by oxidation. It appears that ozone, 
which, to a certain degree, is beneficial to human 
life, is the cause of rapid decay in gutta and rubber — 
a thin leaf of the former falling to dust in strongly 
ozonized oxygen. It is recommended, therefore, to 
mould the pro luct into thick compact masses rather 
than into thin sheets. 
The India-rubber shewn in the British Guiana Court 
was considered sound and of good quality. Mr. Bolas 
believes that much of it was obtained from the Touck- 
pong tree, which is a variety of Sapium biglandulosum. 
Another sample shewn was from Rancornia speciosa. 
The rubber from Herca Sprue eana was submitted by Mr. 
Holmes to well-known brokers, who stated that it 
had never come into the London market, and 
that if well cured, it wou'd command 2/ to 2/2 
pgr lb. The sample of Haucornia or Mangeibera rubber 
was cleaner than the samples usually sent to the 
London market, an 1 was valued at 1/10 to 2/ per lb. 
The samp'es of Gum Animl, or Locust gum, were 
considered exceptionally fine. Mr. Bolas remarks that 
the value of this material is quite understood by varnish 
makers. Mr. Holmes of the Pharmaceutical Society 
found that it was readily soluble in Eucalyptus oil and 
formed an excellent varnish. Iu the solid state it is 
capable of being worked up into an imitation of 
arnb^r, and, mixed with that substance, becomes an 
admirable material for mouth-pieces of pipes, &c. 
Dr- Schuchardt of Goerlitz informs me that he is 
engaged in chemical examination of our gums &c, and 
pr >mises to communicate the results. Professor AVal- 
Jack is also investigating their composition. 
Kiramaraii also attracted the attention which it 
des rved. Mr. Bolas thinks it worthy of investigation. 
It is, according to Mr. Im Thurn, a compound of 
resin from a Jlcvca, bees-wax and powdered charcoal. 
A " wax gutta," something like the Karamanni, was 
shewn by an exhibitor in the Sierra Leone section. 
Cotton, once one of the staple products of this 
eo'miy, was but poorly represented at the Exhibition, 
as far as 7'ritish Guian.i was concerned. One of the 
samples shewn was, in the opinion of Mr. Butter- 
wo th (from whoso report I quote), a Brazilian variety, 
retaining the features of that class of cotton in its 
harshness, — but well grown and of good staple. 
Another sample was evidently grown from Sea Island 
seed, and, if freer from leaf and dirt, would have 
been almost of a pure white. It had, however, one 
serious defect in irregularity in the length of staple, 
which is objected to by spiuuers, as it is difficult to 
manipulate. 
Although Mr. Butterworth reports that our colony 
has extensive tracts of land " adapted for cotton 
" growing, which, with the improved methods of 
"cultivation, selection of seed and ginning would 
" produce an article in bulk and quality that would 
"be hard to beat," ho is but speaking of a defunct 
industry which it appears impossible to revive. Cotton 
has died i.ut also in the Islands, except in some of 
the Gren diues — small islands between Grenada and 
St. Vincent, where its cultivation, along with that of 
corn, affords subsistence to a sparse population, and 
where the remains of well built mansions, and other 
vestiges of an opulent proprietary testify to the pros- 
perity which existed when "Cotton was King." It 
is interesting to learn from Mr. Butterworth's report 
that a hundred years ago, the Society of Arts of 
London granted a gold medal to a planter of Tobago 
for the best sample of West Iudian cotton, and that 
the sample shewn in the Exhibition last year from 
that Island was of " an excellent colour, and capable of 
" spinning into number 60s, and in grade equal to good 
" Orleans — shewing the growing capabilities of the 
colony to be maintained." 
Silk, which formed a wonderfully interesting exhibit 
in the Indian Court, is reported on by Mr. Wardle, 
who is enthusiastic in his belief in this product as 
a source of wealth to many parts of Her Majesty's 
Empire. His work on the Silks of India is a most 
interesting book. Some Cocoons of a moth which is 
tolerably common here, have been sent by me to Mr. 
Wardle for examination and report, and there are 
some specimens of Attacus-moth under observation 
at the Museum. I understand that an attempt at seri- 
culture was commenced by the late Mr. Oliver, which 
however did not go beyond raising mulberry trees as 
food. There are so many indigenous, or easily cultivable, 
sources of food for silk-worms other than Bombyx mori, 
that it might be far from diffioult to establish silk- 
worm culture here. 
There is probably no minor product of British Guiana 
from which greater results have been expected than 
from Fibres. There are so many fibre plants growing 
wild in this colony, samples of which it costs little to 
collect, and apparently possessing useful and valuable 
qualities, that people are often tempted to turn to 
these as a more than probable source of profit. 
Reports and quotations based on samples sent to 
Loudon or elsewhere, often raise hopes and stimulate 
efforts, but hitherto there have been no satisfactory 
results. Nor is this confined to the products of 
British Guiana. Mr. Cross, the reporter on Miscella- 
neous Fibres, says this department of industry has 
been, perhaps, exceptionally fruitful of baseless enter- 
prise — of abortive attempts to make into commercial 
undertakings that which careful antecedent investig- 
ation would have consigned to the long list of the 
unprofitable. The question also arises : — Is there any 
necessity for an extended application of the multitudi- 
nous vegetable fibres ? Are not those fibres, now in 
possession, sufficient, not only in supply but in kind, 
i. e., in variety, for all the possible purposes of vegetable 
textiles ? Supposing the supply insufficient, are we 
not rather to seek the remedy in improved methods of 
producing and treating our present raw ma'erials, than in 
introducing new o^es ? Especially since a new fibre means 
new methods and machinery for agriculturists and 
spinners. 
It would take too much space to transcribe Mr. 
Cross's highly interesting remarks on the structure 
and properties of various kinds of fibre. They are 
grouped as materials for industry according to their 
application, and these groupings, it seems, follow their 
classification based on origiu, structure, and chemical 
composition. Cotton, which consists of independent 
ultimate cells, differs from raw materials which are 
" fibre-aggregates," or bundles of ultimate fibres bound 
