Oar. 1, 1903.] THE TROPICAL 
ACHIICULT0RIST. 
233 
the oil o£ peaaats. A.t legal acd Ksdiri the preparatioa 
of this oil is carried oa at some tobacco-plaatatioas 
The proprietor of the Wedari oil-faotory (iu Jepara) 
bought from the natives in 1895, aboat four miUioua 
of kapok-fruits, and obtained from them 530 picula 
of cleaned kapok and 1,000 picula of seeds, which, 
added to 3,000 other pioala bought from the Chinese 
dealers, served for the preparation of 400 piculs of 
oil and 3,400 piouls of oilcake. In Java the oottoa- 
tree is held to ba an excellent support for pepper- 
planta, cubebs, etc. It is also employed as a shade- 
tree in the coffae-plantationa. Again, in India it con- 
stitutes naturally-exoelleat living telegraph-posts, on 
account of the two following properties ; the wood is 
not attacked by the termite-anta, whilst, on the other 
hand, the horizontal and widely-aeparated branches 
do not interfere with the wires. In this paper 
we have recounted many valuable properties 
possessed by the cotton-tree. Proprietors and culti- 
vators in this island have too long been in ignorance 
of the great intrinsic value of this tree. It will be 
seen that, in Jamaica, we have an additional resource 
coming, perhaps, aomewhit unexpectedly into view. 
It is to be hoped that all classes will study and strive 
to make the best of this gift of nature. At this period 
of the year the oottoa-tree is bare of leaves. It is 
a deciduous tree, and it has the peoaliarity of putting 
forth its flowers before the leaves. At the moment 
the trees in thia locality have put forth an enormous 
number of flower-buds, promising a great crop of 
bolls and seeds, and so the coming season is likely to 
afford good opportunities for paying attention to the 
facts which have been stated. We hopefully trust that 
many readers of the Journal will turn this infor- 
mation to a fitting account. 
J&ms Neish, M.D, 
— Journal of the Jamaica Agricultural Society, 
SWALLOWORT FIBRE. 
Much has been apppearing in the papers of late 
regarding the intrinaic value and importance of the 
giant Swallowort, or Qalotropis gigantea, that useful 
and wonderful shrub, the dried twigs of which the 
auoient Arabs were want to tie to the taila of wild 
bulla and then aet fire to, in times of drought, with 
a view to inducing rain. But whatever has appeared 
of late seems to bj merely a repetition of whit had 
been published previously, and even the atitemeat 
that the juice of the plant ia a prophylactic for snake- 
bite poisoning is one that has been frequently 
made. The attention that is now being devoted to 
the plant is, of course, miialy ou account of its fibre, 
which possesses far greater resistant properties than 
most, if not all, of the known fibres of commsrca. 
The absence of an eftdctiva mechaaical decorticator 
for separating the fibre hxs hitherto bean the chief 
drawback in the way of the commercial exploitation 
of the shrub, the manual process of aepiratiou 
which has long bean iu vogue in Western India 
and other parta of the country and which givea us the 
well-known bawjtring hemp of commerce baing too 
slow and primitive to induce European capitalists 
to embark in the enterprise- 
I IPerhaps it may not be very generally known that 
about aix years ago Mr. MacDonald, an expert, 
came out to India and experimented with the fibre 
at Thaua, in the interests of Mjjscs. MtoL) jnald, 
Boyle and Co., who pronounced very favourably on 
the sample produced, declaring it to be fiaer and mora 
ailky than rhea, even though it had njt baan maohine- 
combed. What ia more important is that this firm 
was at the time quite oonviucad that with its rhea- 
extracting machine, which has baen suooessfully used 
in the Straits aettlementj for rhaa, it was quita 
possible to treat Oalotropis. It proposed at the time 
to ask the Bombay Q-overamant for certain oou- 
aassioas to exploit Oidotropis fibre for a iea^ithaued 
period, but I have been unible to trace the further 
history of the firm's praiseworthy enterpciae. I 
leconLly had ocoaaion to write to Ljndoa regarding 
Calotropia &bt:<i a,ud obt lined from a reliable correa- 
poudeuu the important information that Mr. B. 
Lahmann, of b, Uhatham Buildings, Oh.itham Street 
Manchester, supplies a machine wiiich will deal 
with Swallowort, the plant being treated similarly to 
fi<ix and hemp stems, first through the softener, then 
acutched and finally brushed, j.'his final brushing ia 
aaid to enhance the marketable value of the fibre. 
On the other hand, an authority on fiOre machinery 
in Ljndon declares that he is not aware of any des- 
cription of leaf fijontainiug strong fibre, cap^bla of 
being apun and woven) which cannot be treated by 
the machines of i!ilr. Thomaa Barraclough, of 20, 
Baoklesburry, Loadou E. 0. If the merits of these 
ttiree machines bave bean faithfully represented, 
then one of the main dilficuUios that have hitherto 
atood in the way of the exploitation of Calotropis 
fibre haa at length baen satisfactorily overcome. 
There is, nowever, yet another great difficulty that 
has long been recogniaed, and no endeavour, so far 
as I am aware, haa been made with a view to 
ascertaining whether it ii surmoaata'de or not. I 
refer to the regular supply of the fibre for the miikat. 
According to my Loudon correspondent, the only 
thing against the fibre becoming popular in Eugland 
is its erratic supply. If regular season's supplies 
could be guranteed, from £38 to £10 per ton, cif. 
could be commanded in the lioudon market. Calotropis 
grows luxuriantly in all imiginable descriptions of 
aoils, sandy, stony, rocky or loamy. It can oe propa- 
gated by seed as well as by cuttings and roots. But 
the great question is as to whetuer it will repay 
systematic cultivation, without which there is no 
likelihood of its furnishing a permaaent industry, 
for, in its present scattered wild state, probably 
only a few hundred tons of fibre per annum can be 
obtained from the cat stems, whereas several 
thousands of tons would be needed were the industry 
established. Mr, F. Gleadow, of the Forest Depart- 
ment, is strongly of opinion that regular cultivation 
will not pay, principally because trie plant ia of a 
straggling, light-demanding habit, and could probably 
not be grown dense enough to give any consider- 
able yield. He admits however, that fie haa mida 
no experiments with it. Mr. Stretiell published an 
interesting pamphlet in 187d about Swallowort, in 
which he gave tUo yield ot fiore par acre at 58'^lb3., 
or 7^7 lb. where waste is guarded against. It may 
here ba mentiou::d that a stem of the pUnt can be 
got to yield from Ij to 2 par cent, of fiore. 
As regards regular cultivation, though it may not 
pay the European capitalist, natives miy proOab y 
find it remunerative. In most parta ot India the 
people are fully alive to tUe uses of the fibre, and 
they may ba induced to cultivate aaystemitically if 
the remunerativeness of the enterprise is satis- 
factorily explained to them. I remember once reading 
that ia parts of the Nasik District Oalotvopis is grown 
specially for its fibre. Yet another factor which 
needs to be taken into consideration is with regard 
to the textile value of the plant aa grown in 
different parts of the country, as also the age at 
and the season during which it can profitably ba cut. 
Mr G-leadow is again my authority for stating that 
the plant is neglected in the Decoau bacause of ita 
uselessness, and that in the month of February, 
plants cut down in the Sanaraupui: District were 
found to be quite unfit. In the Punjab the shrub 
is cut down in Octobar and Njvambar or April 
and May for the extraction of the fibre, while in 
Scindo the process is carried on all tha year rouud. 
Soma authjri;ies aay that tne plant anould be cut 
wUen it 13 in bljssjm, waila ocnars consider this 
unnecessary. To this tha important fact shoald Oa 
added that, wnatavar m (,y Da the ctsa ^Uawaa.-j 
in several parts of tha couutry, SwiUowort may ba 
fouuJ d j.veri.ig aim jio tU •oa<Ujdi the year. Tnere 
are two jpeaias of the plaut, C. gi'j J,>it0'j. and C. procer'j. 
