740 
THE TROPICAL 
AaRICULTURIST. 
[May 1, 1901. 
every branch of aftrioultural industry. The mau 
who most suooesstul is he who supplies the neces- 
sary food and stimulants demanded by each product, 
and by returning to the soil what each plant has 
absorbed from it. 
In remarks made at one of the planters' gatherings 
in Louisiana, Prof. Snibbs expressed surprise that 
Hawiiian planterrs did not oultiv-ite paa vin-s and 
other plants for soil niinuriiig. Hid he visited Htwaii 
he would have seen lupins growing and used success- 
fully for this purpose, which h is been dons for 
several years, and with as good results as in other 
countries. The practice is extending e loh year to all 
the islands. Prepared manures, nude expressly to 
suit the needs of ea;;h estate, have generally been 
prsferred o ■ account of the good re->uU.3 attending 
their use. The needs of the soil of different loo li- 
lies here are so varied that it is only by actual 
test that the best can be determined. InLouisi- 
anx the soil of large sections may be of one class — 
alluvial perhaps, while here the soil of no two islands, 
or even districts, is the same. Tlie chemist is em- 
loyed on ea^-h plantation, and his investigation 
generally determines what manures are best adapted 
to it. The result is tliat each estate which is so 
equipped and conducted secures large returns iu its 
annual crops. 
The Floiuda Orange.— A piece of news in a small 
way that will be deeply appreciated is the announce- 
ment that Florida vvill have an orange crop of 1,000,000 
boxes this year, the largest yield since the great 
freeze. One million boxes is not much in comparison 
with the 1894 crop of 5,000,000, or the la t big yield, but 
it is about four times as large as the production of 
1899. The 1901 yield, it is estiniited, will reach 
1,500,000 boxes, i^rom this it may be seen that the 
F.orida gToves are -being rapidly restored. In a 
few years the output will be larger than it ecer was 
before, and the delicious fruit will once more 
abound in the market. The Florida oranga is the 
queen of fruits. All the grapes and figs and dew- 
berries that were ever grown are not equal to one 
perfect orange with its golden riod packed full of 
the sweetness and exquisite flavor of the tropics. 
What makes the orange so welcome is that it comes 
to the North in the holiday season, reaching here 
about Thanksgiving Day and being most p rfect 
just at Christmas time. The oranges of Cali'Ornia, 
though very good, are inferior to the Florida pro- 
duct. — Louisville Journal 
UAFI.A. FIBRE IN M.\DAGASCAU. 
Rofia, or as it is generally spelt " rafia," is the 
Malagasy name of a palm which furnishes a staple 
article of commerce, called rafia fibre. It is indigenous 
to Madagascar, and is to be met with everywhere on 
the coasts, needing neither cultivation nor attention 
of any kind. It is not a stately palm, but sends its 
enormous branches from near >he ground; in a fine 
specimen one branch is almost a tree in itself. The 
rib in each branch is as much as 20 feet long, 
of a pearly grey colour, smooth and shiny, flat on the 
inner surface, but otherwise round, without any knobs, 
and so exceedingly hard. At the base it is as large as 
an ordinary champagne bottle, and tapers to a point 
at the top. The inside consists of a light pith, which 
can be spilt into layers of any thickness. Possibly, 
says the the United States Consul at Tamafcave, it is 
this, or an analogous production, which is used in 
miking pith helmets in the East. TSIaturally these 
ribs combine great strength with wonderful lightness, 
and are used for shafts for ''filanjanas " or palanquins, 
ladders, or other purposnS) but otherwise have no 
p irticular commercial value. It is the piiinifoliatt- loaf 
of these branches which produce the rafii fibre of com- 
merce. One palm branch, or Irond, will produce 
eighty or hundred long green leaves from two to 
five feet in hmgth, like the leaves of the sugar cine, 
but of a dark, lustrous green, and both thicker and 
stiffer. These, again, contain a round and pliant rib 
which the natives utilise for making baskets and 
dredges for catching small fish and shrimns in the 
rivers after they have stripped off the green part 
which furnishes the fibre. The under pait of this 
green leaf (which is not exposed to the light, as it 
remains foided) is of a pale greenish-yellow coloar 
anil from that side the inner skin can be peeled off 
in the same manner as the skin on the outside of a 
pea pod, except tliat it peels off straight to the tip 
without breaking. It is then of the palest green, and 
after being dried in the sun assumes a light straw 
colour. Tnis is the rafii fibre of commerce. It was 
originally sought for by -the natives for use in 
articles of clothing. The men bring in the fronds, 
and women and girls weave it on handlooms, of any 
coarseness or fineness, Woven just as it is peeled off 
from the frmds, it forms a kind of sacking used for 
wrapping goods, while the perfection of the art, as 
known by the Hovas only, is to weave a tissue of 
which the warp is rafia fibre split very fine, and the 
weft of white silk. This gives an article called silk 
lamba, which fetches fancy prices in Europe and 
America. The coast tribes use it for clothing, but 
of moderate fineness, with dyed stripes of indigo, 
saffron, black, and a dirty green. It is a cold, com- 
fortless-looking materiil, and refuses to adapt it- 
self to any folds that a sculptur would care to copy- 
Rifia, fibre is used in Madagascar by unrserynien. 
gardeners. for tying up vines and flowers, 
and possibly for araftiug. It possesses the advan- 
tage of being as soft as silk, and is not affected by 
moisture or change of temperature so as to risk 
cutting or wounding the most delicate tendrils, and it 
does nit break or ravel when folded or knotted. 
These qualities bring it into use all over Europe 
and consequently maintain its price. It is virtually 
inexliaustible in Madagascar, the supplj' being 
limited only by the scarcity of labour. For export, 
ths fibre is merely collected in large skeins twisted np 
or plaited, and then baled like raw cotton, Madagas- 
car exports about 20,030 bales annually, — Jourual of 
the Sociefij of Arta. 
BANANAS AND FIGS. 
Attention has been called to the drying of 
tropical fruits, including those named above. 
Both cooking and eating varieties of bananas 
grow readily here, and coold be made a profitable 
business for export, by drying them as is done in 
other countries. No healthier fruits can b^ found 
than the two mentioned, nor any better adaptt d fo ' ex- 
portation, as bofh, when properly cured and packed, 
will keep in good condition for one or two years. 
Seme forty or more years ago there was a family 
Jiving in Kona, Hawaii, which dried bananas in the 
sun and packed them for export or local consump- 
tion. The fruit there put up was much relished, and 
found ready sale in tlonolulu. Owing to the duty 
then imposed on dried fruits in the U. S., the busi- 
ness was Anally given up. The Smyrna fig 
ought to be cultivated here now, as it can be had 
from California, where it grows and bears as well aa 
it does in Smyrna, where it originated. A very in- 
teresting article on the introduction of this variety 
ipto California will be found in this issue of the 
"Planter," and we advise all who are interested in fig 
culture to read it, and learn the peculiarities of this 
— the finest kind of fig grown. Mr. Koebele brought 
from California spscimens of the fruit now grown 
there. Nature, in this instance, provides in a most 
wonderful and intricate method for the perpetua- 
tion of the choicest fruit of this description known. 
Prof. Koebele w is wise iu not importing woodpecker 
birds, which Dame Rumour stated he intended doing 
but of which he had no thought, as he knew them too 
well. They are handsome birds and, like most others 
of tlreir Icin ), live on insects, some of whicb they 
dig out from under the bark of trees — hence their 
name. In this connection it may bs asked what 
