Nov.  i,  1892.] 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
305 
THE  NEW  INDUSTRY  IN  PALMIRA 
STEM  FIBRES. 
DANGER  OF  THE  EXTIRPATION  OF  THE 
PALMS. 
Ever  sinoe  the  peninsula  of  Jaffna  waa  peopled, 
—and  the  population  of  the  Northern  end  of  the 
island  is  exceedingly  dense  (280,000  in  the  distriot) 
there  has  been  an  extensive  export  trade  in 
the  products  of  the  palmira  palm  (Borassus 
flabelliformit)  apart  from  the  use  of  those  products 
locally  by  the  people  themselves  The  nuts  yield 
nutritious  matter,  the  wax-like  juice  being  inspissated 
and  preserved  under  the  name  of  panato;  the  seedlings 
are  rioh  in  farinaceous  matter  ; jaggery,  a coarse 
kind  of  sugar,  is  made  from  the  saccharine  juice 
of  the  flower-spathe  ; and  there  can  be  no  better 
timber  for  the  rafters  and  reapers  of  houses  than 
sections  of  old  palmira  trees  There  are  palmira 
rafters  and  reepera  in  houses  built  by  the  Dutch  at 
Jaffna  two  centuries  ago,  which  are  still  undecayed. 
Next  in  importance  to  tobacco  in  produots  exported 
from  the  Northern  Province  beyond  sea,  (mainly 
to  Southern  India)  have  been  palmira  timber 
and  jaggery.  While  all  who  have  the  well-being 
of  the  people  of  the  Northern  Province  at  heart 
have  been  urging  the  extended  cultivation  of  this 
valuable  palm — which  flourishes  where  the  oooonut 
palm  will  not  grow,  with  fully  four  times  as  many 
trees  to  the  aore — we  have  noticed  with  ooncern 
a serious  lessening  of  the  exports  of  palmira 
produce.  As  it  is  not  at  all  likely  that  the  de- 
mand in  the  Madras  Presidency  for  the  valuable 
timber  and  the  jaggery  for  mixing  with  mortar  or 
for  refining  purposes  has  abated,  there  can  be  little 
doubt  that  a reckless  destruction  of  trees  to  se- 
cure immediate  returns  has  been  the  cause  of  the 
diminution  of  exports.  And  now  it  looks  as  if  the 
discovery  that  the  leaf-stems  yield  a valuable  fibre 
were  likely  to  prove  fatal  to  the  remaining  portion  ofthe 
groves  of  straight-growing,  round-headed  stiff-leaved 
palmira  palms  which  impart  so  speoial  a character 
to  the  soenery  of  much  of  the  Jaffna  Peninsula, 
so  different  to  that  produced  by  the  long,  graceful 
drooping  foliage  of  the  oooonut.  One  curious  effeot 
of  the  new  fibre  industry  and  the  employment  of 
the  people  in  its  preparation  is,  according  to  Mr. 
Twynam,  that  votes  for  metalling  the  North-Central 
Road  for  a couple  of  years  baok  oould  not  be  spent, 
from  the  impossibility  of  obtaining  labour.  We 
suBpect,  however,  that  the  repeated  cholera  scare 
frightened  away  labourers  who  would  have  otherwise 
worked  on  the  road.  If  the  information  Mr.  Twy- 
nam has  collected  is  oorreot,  it  would  seem  as  if 
in  this  case,  aB  in  that  of  so  many  other  agricul- 
tural produots  whioh  beoome  artioles  of  commerce, 
the  middlemen  take  the  lion’s  share  of  the 
profits,  the  owners  of  the  trees  whioh  are  so 
ruthlessly  deprived  of  the  leaves  on  which 
their  continued  vitality  depends  having  to  be 
oontented  with — we  mean  no  pun— the  leavings. 
How  seriously  the  industry  initiated  by  Messrs. 
VavaBeur  & Co.  of  Colombo  has  affected  the 
export  trade  in  palmira  products,  the  figures  for 
the  past  two  years  shew.  The  pieces  of  palmira 
timber  exported  in  1891  were  only  177,047  value  at 
R44, 146,  against  262,315  pieoes  and  1160,000  in  1890. 
In  jaggery  the  fall  was  nearly  one  half,  3,325 
owt.  valued  at  Rll,846  in  1891  against  6,426  owt. 
and  R22,457  in  1890.  Meantime  fibre  prepared 
from  the  leaf-stems  was  prepared  and  shipped  to 
Colombo,  for  export  thenoe  to  Europe,  equal 
to  450  tons  in  weight  and  R122.559  in  value.  Of 
the  sum  for  value  less  than  half,  it  is  believed 
has  gone  into  the  hands  of  the  poor  people  who 
extracted  the  fibre.  Mr.  Broun,  in  his  report  on 
the  Forest  Department,  noticed  the  injury  whioh 
the  large  deprivation  of  leaves  would  infliot  on  the 
39 
palmira  palms  ; and  Mr.  Twynam  mentions  1,000 
fatalities  from  this  cause  amongst  young  trees  in 
one  locality,  the  trees  bleeding  to  death  from  the 
wounds  inflicted  in  the  prooess  of  tearing  away  the 
leaves.  The  case  is  so  serious  as  to  demand  the 
attention  of  Government ; although  we  suppose  the 
policy  of  killing  the  goose  that  lays  the  golden 
eggs  oan  only  be  met  with  “ moral  suasion.” 
No  amount  of  money  paid  to  and  distribu- 
ted amongst  the  people  at  present  oan  com- 
pensate for  the  impending  disappearance  of  one 
of  the  ohief  supplies  of  the  pood  op  the  people, 
apart  from  the  destruction  of  the  timber.  Mr. 
Twynam  has  but  performed  his  duty  in  re- 
questing the  attention  of  the  Government  to 
the  danger  of  extirpation  whioh  threatens  the  palm 
whioh  for  ages  has  been  so  important  a food  and 
timber  yielder  to  the  people  of  Jaffna,  and  well  may 
he  say,  “It  would  be  a bad  day  for  the  Northern 
Province  when  the  palmira  palm  is  killed  out,  as 
its  Afrioan  (I  believe)  palm  from  which  fibre  was  ex- 
tracted has  apparently  been  cleared  out  by  the  pro- 
cess.” What  is  so  awkwardly  stated  about  an  Afrioan 
palm  destroyed  by  similar  means  and  for  similar 
purposes  is  new  to  us.  There  are  palms  whioh,  like 
our  own  kitul  ( Caryota  urens),  produce  masses  of 
fibre  at  the  junotion  of  the  leaf-stems  to  the  trunks 
of  the  trees,  but  until  Messrs.  Vavasseur  & Co. 
started  the  industry  which  has  attained  suoh 
large  proportions,  we  never  heard  of  useful  fibres 
being  extracted  from  the  leaf-stems  of  palms. 
Previously  to  the  enterprise  whioh  has  given  such 
new  and  we  fear  baleful  value  to  the  short  stiff 
stems  of  the  palmira  leaves,  the  older  leaves, 
as  they  were  gradually  cut  from  the  trees,  were 
used  for  fenoeB  and  thatoh  and  largely  as  manure 
for  tobaoco  and  other  oulture.  We  now  quote 
what  Mr.  Twynam  states  in  his  report  on  the 
Northern  Provinoe  for  1891,  regarding  the 
PALMIRAH  FIBRE  INDUSTRY. 
A new  industry,  called  the  “ palmirah  fibre  industry,” 
was  started  in  the  beginning  of  the  year  by  a Mr. 
Appleby,  agent  of  the  firm  of  Messrs.  Vavasseur  & Co. 
of  Colombo. 
The  industry  has  no  doubt  brought  a large  sum 
of  money  into  the  Province  and  benefited  the  poorer 
classes,  the  middlemen,  and  those  who  have  acted 
as  agents  of  the  firm  in  Colombo.  The  fibre  is  ex- 
tracted from  the  stalks,  and  there  is  no  doubt  that 
the  trees  are  being  injured  by  the  manner  in  which 
the  stalks  are  torn  off.  It  was  reported  to  me  that 
over  1,000  young  trees  had  been  killed  in  Eluvativn 
by  the  stalks  having  been  torn  off. 
The  following  are  extracts  from  my  diary  regard- 
ing the  destruction  of  the  trees  in  Eluvativn,  and 
the  process  carried  on  in  the  factory  at  Point 
Pedro: — 
Kayts,  January  30, 1892. — After  appointing  headmen 
went  in  the  afternoon  to  Eluvativn  to  judge  for 
myself  what  truth  there  is  in  the  reports  that  the 
palmirah  trees  were  being  destroyed  in  consequence 
of  the  stalks  being  torn  off  for  the  purpose  of  ex- 
tracting the  fibre  now  being  bought  up  in  large 
quantities  by  Messrs.  Vavasseur  & Co.  of  Colombo. 
Found  that  the  statements  made  to  me  were  per- 
fectly true.  I saw  about  100  young  trees  that  had 
been  killed  out  by  the  process,  the  trees  having 
bled  as  it  were  to  death.  The  Acting  Maniakar  in- 
formed me  in  September  that  over  1,000  trees  had 
been  killed  out  in  Eluvativu  alone.  The  sap  appears 
to  have  oozed  out  where  the  stalks  were  removed 
in  a thick  black  gummy  fluid. 
Complaints  are  numerous  now  of  the  destruction 
of  palmirah  trees  consequent  on  the  new  fibre  industry. 
I have  reported  the  matter  to  Government,  and 
can  take  no  further  action  in  the  matter.  It  would 
be  a bad  day  for  the  Northern  Province  when  the 
palmirah  palm  is  killed  out  as  its  African  (I  believe) 
palm  from  which  fibre  was  extracted  has  apparently 
been  cleared  out  by  the  prooess. 
