Sept. }, 1903.] THE TROl'ICAL 
MALABAR PLANTAIN FIBRE. 
Calicut, 23rd July. — I learn from tl;e corres- 
pondent of a local vernacular paper lhat a Euro- 
pean gentleman has acquired a property in the 
VVynaad with the intention of planting it up 
with plantains, in view to the establishment of 
a plantain fibre industry. He has sent down to 
Teilicherry for 15,000 shoots. A particular 
species of wild plantain grows in the Wynaad, and 
experiments witii its fibre may perhaps lead to 
%ood results. 1 also learn that Mr Subba Kao, 
of the Kevenue Board has been visiting the Coini- 
batore District in order lo make enquiries about 
plantain fibre. Samples of the fibre of various 
species of the plant were sent to him from 
Palghat.— ill. Mail, July 25. 
«. 
PLANTING IN NEGRI SEMBILAN, STEAITS. 
(Froyn Eeport of Mr W Egirton, C.JI.G.) 
Coffee. — The price of coffee rose towards the end 
of the year, but it has since fallen. Trees now in 
bearing are kept clean but no new area is planted. 
Nearly all coffee hasbeen planted np with Para {He.vea 
hraziliensis) and Rambong {Ficus Elastica), and as 
these trees increase in size coffee cultivation will be 
abandoned. 
Rubber. — Not much has been done in extending 
thp cultivation of rubber, not from want of faitn in the 
future of this cultivation, but ftom want of capital. 
Some old trees on Linsum Estate were tapped, and 
1331b of rubber sent to Eogland realised 3s lOd a lb. 
although classed by the exporter as " Number two 
quality.' The trees on all the estates look wonderfully 
healthy and makeextremely rapid growth. No doubt 
the climate here is very similar to that of the portion 
of Brazil where larf<e Para forests exist, which is about 
the same latitude south as wa are north. As soon as 
any consirierable area begins to produce rubber 
we are likely to see a scramble for land. 
Pepper, Gambieb and Tapioca.— The price of the 
first two of these products continued very remunera- 
tive. Tapioca is lower, but is still high enough for the 
cultivation to pay well. Much laud wa,s applied for 
but very little granted, owing to the reluctance of the 
Chinese to agree to combine a permanent cultivation 
— such as rubber or coconuts — with tapioca and gam- 
bier. As tapioca cultivation without simultaneous 
planting of some permanent cultivation leaves the 
land in a ruined state, no more land will be alienated 
except under agreement to combine tapioca planting 
with fruit or rubber cultivation. 
HOJME GROWN-RUBBEE. 
TO THE EDITOR OF THE INDIA-RUBBER JOURNAL 
Sir, — I was surprised to see in the last number 
of the India Rubber Journal (p. 606) that you re- 
mark that the importation of South American 
rubber-yielding trees iato our Eastern Tropical 
Colonies which was accomplished by Kew in 1876 
had met, unfortunately, with very little success. 
This, perhaps, may be true of the Castilloa, but 
in the ease of the tree yielding Fata rubber it 
appears to me that the culture has emerged from 
tlie experimental stage, both in Ceylon and the 
S raits Settlements, and that it only depends on 
the pi ice of rubber to make these possessions an 
as-^ured source of supply in the future. 
The excellent report of Mr. Stanley Arden (who 
was trained at and sent out from Kew) which you 
are reprinting speaks for itse f as regards the 
Malay Peninsula. — Yours faithfully, 
W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, Director. 
AGRICULTURIST. T8;'> 
[In our answer to Mr. Heywood we phrased the 
reply in a manner which we would not have done 
had we been treating the subject of rubber plant- 
ing carefully, and the phrase used in connection 
with the plants sent from Kew is liable to mis- 
conception. We are therefore glad to give Sir W T 
Thiselton-Dyer's letter in connection therewith, 
although the facts are well-known both to our- 
selves and to those of our readers who are interested 
ju the development of rubb jr planting. — Ed.] 
NO RUBBER PLANTING REQUIRED ! 
J. T. WiCK.S, {Consulting India-iubber Manu- 
facturir)g Expert) writes to the Editor of the India- 
Rubber Journal : — A few days since I called on 
a customer near London and took his order. He 
said that he had been solicited to invest £100 in 
rubber tree planting which would in a shore time 
yield £400. I laughed aloud. I saiJ : " Leave it 
to the Government to plant the Grown forests of 
Assam, Ceylon, the Malay and elsewliere. Treat 
the African native j-ubber-gatherers luinianely ; 
and remember that the Sauth Anjerican rubber 
forests, with an inlani waterway of upwaris of 
30,000 miles, are chock-full of India-rubber only 
waiting to be gathered," 
THE L.ITEST IN FIBRES. 
Probably ninety-nine persons out of a hundred 
are utterly ignorant of the fact that such a thing 
as Murva libre exists, and is a paying product. 
Yet, properly cultivated, a yield of £45 to the 
iicre may be reckoned upon from this product. 
Mr .Stanley Arden of the P. M. S. Experimental 
Gardens thus reports upon it : — 
"Murva or Moorva fibre is the product of Sanse- 
viera Roxburghiana — now recognised as distinct from 
S. zeylauica, which plant was formerly supposed to 
yield this product — and is a member of the family of 
plants which yield the fibre known as bow-string 
hemp. The Sanaevieras belong to the natural order 
Hoemodoraoece and are small perennial plants with 
short, thick rhizomes and flashy or leathery radical 
leaves, mottled or spotted, and varying according to 
the species from two to seven fset in length. Most of 
the species are natives of tropical Africa, but are 
widely distributed throughout the tropics of both 
hemispheres. Probubly the most common species 
in the Malay Peninsula is IS. guineensis, 
which yields the Konje hemp. It is a somewhat 
similar plant to S. zeylauica, which also occurs here 
in a state of cultivation but has larger and flitter 
leaves and produces a more valuable fibre. Sansevieras 
are easily propagated by division of the rhizome or 
from seed, or more readily still from the leaves, which 
may be cut into small pieces about 3 inches long and 
placed in a moist situation when they will readily take 
root. With the exception of CJ. Ehrhenbergii, whioh is 
a native of Somaliland and would probably only thrive 
in an arid situation, these plants enjoy a good soil, 
moist climate and a moderate amount of shade, and for 
this reason would probably be valuable to Para rubber 
planters as an auxiliary crop. The young plants should 
be put out about two feet apart and the same distance 
between the rows, and when once established they 
may be regarded as a permanent crop, yielding regular 
cuttings of leaves several times a year. The leaves of 
all the species contain an abundance of fibre noted for 
its fineness, elasticity and strength. Murva fibre is as 
yet hardly known to commerce, but is largely u-ied by 
natives, who hold it in high esteem for making bow- 
Etriugs, ropes, mats, etc. The fiore from S guine- 
ensis (Konje fibre) and S. Cyliudrica (Lfe hemp) are 
much valued in Europe for the manufacture of 
ropes, especially those used for deep sea sound- 
