3^4 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [October i, 1881. 
order after the picking season came round, which 
would not be before September, or October. The 
steamer ,! Lisbonense" of White Star line was to have 
sailed for Liverpool via Para and Lisbon this evening, 
but was delayed for a day. I took my paasage in the 
" Lisbonense" for Liverpool. I cannot finish the piece 
about Ceara without expressing my thanks to the 
people of Ceara for i heir exceeding great hospitality. 
From the highest to the lowest, I received nothing 
but kindness and civility, both in town, and in coun- 
try. All seemed anxious to oblige the stranger, and 
to give every information in their power. 
Para lighthouse, or rather the lighthouse at the 
mouth of the Amazoue, 80 miles below Para, was 
sighted at 10-30 p.m. On the 9th, while waiting 
for a pilot to come and take us up the river, we 
picked up an English shipwrecked crew, who had 
been two days in a small boat without food or water. 
The vessel, a coal brig, had struck on some sunken 
rock, but all bauds were saved and came home to 
Liverpool with us. 
At Para, I also made complete arrangments for a 
supply of Ceara-rubber tree seed, cacao seed, and any- 
thing also that I may send for. 
We sailed from Para on the 12tbJuly. A 1G days' run 
brought us to Lisbon. The passengers were all Portu- 
guese with the exception of the shipwrecked crew 
and captain and engineer of a new steamer, brought 
out from the Clyde, to coast at the mouth of the 
Amazon. The saloon was crowded, and we had a head 
wind, and heavy sea, all the way across. Writing was 
a thing almost impossible. 
I take two tins of Ceara-rubber seed to Liverpool 
with me. I am afraid we will not succeed in getting 
Ceara rubber trees to grow from seed. They told me 
in Ceara that, if kept dry for more than a month, 
they would not germinate. I shall send the two tins 
to Ceylon on trial. 
Further than the small quantity of this season's 
seeds, 1 did not bring ;iny of the Ceara seeds. Last 
year's I considered not worth the trouble, as they 
will probably be a failure, as seeds generally are 
which have lost one whole season in planting. Some 
bags, however, consigned for Ceylon came in our vessel, 
but were not enclosed in tin, being loosely in bags. 
— I am, yours very truly, 
A. SCOTT BLACKLAW. 
NEW PRODUCTS : ALOE FIBRE, CASTOR- 
OIL, AND OLIVES. 
Auchintoul Estate, Balangoda, Sept. 7th, 1881. 
Dear Sir, — As I presume everything appertaining 
to new products is of interest, I beg to enclose a 
report, received by the last mail, from London ; but 
would remark that the sample in question was not 
prepared by me. The brown shade, of which the valuer 
complains, must have been caused by over-ferinenta- 
tion, in water largely impregnated with iron, and 
can lie remedied by exposing the fibre to the rays 
of the sun for a day, on growing grass, taking 
care to water it regularly ; or by leaving it 
without watering for two consecutive moonlight nights. 
With regard to value, as the strength is equal to Ma- 
uilla hemp, worth from £30 to £40 per ton, and the 
specific gravity one-sixth less, it necessarily follows 
that the tibre should increase per ratio, or, say £36 
to £48 per ton. 
My modus operandi is as follows : I h^ive therp 
large pits in a ravine, with a watercourse on either 
side : tbe one to supply clean water, and the other 
to curry oil' the impure : the aloes are cut and tied 
in bunillen of about twen'y-five, and placed in the 
pits with wa'er just sufficient to cover them ; the 
yluices on each side are then closed, aud the aloes | 
allowed to remain until the fermentation has 
reached the desired point, viz., till they feel soft and 
pulpy, and the bright green has given placp to an 
olive colour; then the sluics are opened, and a cur- 
rent of fresh water passed through the pits, which 
checks fermentation, and enables the men to proceed 
with the cleaning, without endangering their health. 
Cleaning. — The leaves are now taken out of the 
water singly, laid on boards and scraped with galvan- 
ized iron or zinc scrapers, until the vegetable matter 
i3 removed, when the fibre is rinsed in clear water, 
aud put out on the dry grass to dry : the refuse is 
collected in tubs, and at the end of the day's work 
well tramped on. washed, and al j o put to dry. 
Results.— Au ordinary cooiy prepares about three 
pounds of dry white fibre and two of dry refuse per 
day. Cutting, bundling, and carrying, will depend 
upon the distance. In any case, each ton of green leaves 
costs 50 cents laid clown in the pits. 
Castoroil (riciniis communis of Linn.) deserves 
attention. Iu Farre's Materia Medica, two varieties 
are given, a large, and a small. The former yields 
from 25 per 30 per cent and the latter from 33 per to 40 
per cent, of oil. The trees, which come into bearing in four 
mouths and then give from three-fourths to one 
pound of clean seed each, are best propa-ated from 
seeds, put out direct. I have planted in holes six 
feet apart, 18 x IS f. 9 four seeds in each, filled up 
loosely with mana grass, so as to give light, air, 
and shade, aud have had very few failures. I am 
also experimenting on a variety of medicinal plants, 
and will give you the results in t due course, 
if you care for them. I may mention that the 
juugles here abound with the " Varloe" or Ceylon 
olive, the half-ripe fruit of which, preserved in brine, 
are quite equal to the Spanish. Have any of your 
readers tried them? 
There does not seem to be any gold in this dis- 
trict, except what may be extracted out of "New 
Products"!, and even this is a difficult process. — Yours 
faithfully, w. Mcdonald young. 
Maeket Report. 
Aloe Fibre.— Your sample has been submitted to 
manufacturers, who say it is a fibre of pretty good 
quality as it does not weaken by being immersed in 
water, which Kew Zealand Flax was found to do. 
They value it at £24 to £25 per ton. It is of the 
same quality as Seichal hemp, but the sample you 
send is too small to be of any use as a criterion, 
as manufacturers would require at Idast 10 tons as 
a sample before they could give you the real market 
value of the article. In the sample you eeud, one 
part is quite white, and the other of a ■ brownish 
shade ; the former is the more valuable, and might 
rank with Manilla hemp. 
THE SILK INDUSTRY IN CHINA. 
Under this heading the China Review notices a 
Government report on silk published by order of the 
Inspector General of Custom-. It seems that ac- 
cording to Chinese tradition mulberry trees were first 
planted and silk weaving inserted by Si Ling-sbi, the 
wife of Whang Ti, about 27 years B. G, since which 
time sericulture has always been under the special 
patronage of the Empress. Many references are found 
in Chinese book:; to sericulture, and it is noteworthy 
that in the time of Confucies silk was cheaper than 
linen. Silk thus because the staple manufacture of 
the Empire, exerting a great influence on all the 
relations of Chinese life until the introduction of 
cotton from Indin in 12G0 A. D. From that date 
sericulture steadily declined until it was revived by the 
present dynasty. In fact, were it not for the official 
looms, the industry might have died out altogether. 
After traciug the origin of the name of silk, aud tbe 
