248 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRIOULTUKIST. [Oct. 1, 1903. 
R better chance in comparatively open spaces through- 
out the ccffee zone. Indeed it may become a good 
shade tree for coffee for all we know at present. 
Now we come to the last of the three American 
trees, e.g. Hevea Brasiliensis, or Para Rubber. When 
pure, the latter is worth E4 a lb and is admitted to 
hold market at present. But under improved methods 
of preparation it will soon be closely run in qmlitity, 
and perhaps greatly exceeded in quantity, by the 
rubber which I have just reviewed. Anyhow, it is 
not likely to be of much practical use in the drier parts 
of India: therefore, we are justified in turning our 
attention to more hopeful subjects. 
The Assam rubber tree (true India rubber) Ficus 
elastica, I have all along said will grow well in the 
coffee districts, and the reason why it is not found 
there in quantity is possibly due to the dif&culty of 
rapid propagation. But in any South Indian rubber 
plantation this useful tree should certainly find a 
place. It is said to be doing well in the Straits 
Settlements. 
Much nonsense has been written lately concerning 
a new rubber plant— LantZoZp^m Thalloni—iounA on 
tha French Congo. I have little doubt, too, but some 
of the writing was done to influence the rubber 
trade, for good or otherwise. The latex of this 
little shrub, which is- only half a foot high, is 
chiefly stored in the root. But this ia not an 
exceptional discovery, as I have shown in this 
paper that the roots of Ceara rubber trees are full 
of milk sap. So are the roots of several species. 
Should wa be driven to utilise climbers in preference 
to trees for onr supply of rubber which is improbable, 
tha long established Cryptostigia, grandiAora, a plant 
of Madagascar, offers a richer source of rubber, I 
believe, and it can be grown without trouble. It is 
known around Bangalore by the local name J/afe wuli 
umboo. In concluding these details of ipy own ex- 
perieoce with some rubber-yielding plants you will 
gather Gentlemen that I favour the selection of Oear\ 
for the plateau of Mysore and and Castilloa for the 
moister region of the hills. Para may succeed in 
parts of tropical West India ; but of that I am nn. 
certain. 
FIBRES AND SEEICULTUKB. 
The fibre industry ia passing into the practical 
Btageand seems to hinge at present on capital outlay 
and a good market. Cultivation as I told you on a 
former occasion is assured in this country where 
there are fibre yielding plants suitable to almost every 
condition of soil and climate. The plants most suitable 
to the tea and coffee tracts are those producing Rhea 
hemp, Mauritius hemp, and perhaps Manila hemp; 
while at the highest elevations on the Western 
Ghauts, in somewhat sheltered positions of course, an 
nnhmited supply of New Zealand flax (Pliormium tenax) 
and Ban Rhea ( Villebnmea integrifolia) could be pro- 
duced. 
Sericulture is also well worthy of trial in the drier 
Districts. In connection with the latter industry the 
new Japanese reels recently imported by Mr Tata 
promise to increase the value of local silk by at least 
50 per cent, A consignment of silk thus reeled on 
Mr Tata's farm, has been valued by the Home brokers 
at R13 per lb and ia highly praised for its excellent 
quality. Silk prepared by the native method is only 
worth R5 to E6 per lb. What we really require for 
onr Indian industries is the best class of machinery 
that can be procured. Even the few products which I 
have named require three distinct machines or ap- 
paratus. These are firstly, a powerful engine with 
decorticator, like Todd's (costing £600), to manipulate 
strong leathery leaves such as afford the so-called 
aloe fibres, bowstring hemp and New Zealand flax. 
Also Death and Ellwood'a scraping wheels worked by 
Marshall's portable engines. The latter appear to 
be exclusively used in Yucatan, where a single wheel 
can clean leaves at the rate of 20 per minute. 
Secondly, a machine after the style of Faure's 
priQQdi I believe, at £100, to deal with the more deli-' 
cate fibre of Ramie, Rhea, and possibly Manila hemp. 
Then we find that with proper reeling the value of silk 
is greatly enhanced. It is not, however, necessary that 
every grower of fibre should possess a machine. The 
one used by the South Indian Fibre Company is carried 
all over the country-side, just like a thieshing machine 
at Home. ' It would be the sams in dealing with «ilk, 
which is not a bulky article. One central depot for 
reeling should suffice for a large area. Although 
essentially a poor man's industry, I see no reason, 
especially in times of planting depression like the 
present, why the planter should not have a mulberry 
patch and try his hand at sericulture. 
In Assam, the Bengal Rhea Syndicate possesses a 
large area of cultivation, and it ia highly probable that 
Ramie and Rhea may do for the north of India what 
aloes and hemps are expected to do for the south. 
The common railway aloe. Agave Americana, has 
risen to the expectations of the South Indian Fibre 
Company, whose best consignments have realised 
as much as £32 per ton of clean fibre. This only 
shows what a splendid opening there is in this country 
when Sisal and other first class fibres shall be estab- 
lished in quantity, and supplies assured to the 
brokers at Home. Another healthy sign ia the in- 
creasing local demand for plants of Sisal, and the 
Mauritius hemp. At the gardens we are booked for 
all that can be raised during the next two years — 
approximately a couple of lakhs. Fortunately our 
Sisal plants have commenced to pole, and propaga- 
tion thence already amounts to about 18.000 plants. 
There are in Mysore alone, as you well know, 
immense tracts of poor, bat still comparatively good 
land under scrub. Many of these tracts, situated near 
the railway, I should like to see taken up for the cul- 
tivation of fibre and Ceara rubber, the success of 
which, if properly taken in hand, there can be no 
doubt whatever. At present the two redeeming pro- 
ducts on these lands are grass for cattle and the 
tanner's shrub, Cassia auncidata yielding tangadi 
bark, the staple tan of the Province. High prices are 
offered for the best tans, evidently because natural 
supplies are unequal to the requirements of the time. 
The pinch is being felt, for instance at Cawnpore, 
where there are extensive leather and boot factories. 
The babnl tree, which furnishes tha bark in that 
locality, is becoming exhausted, and to carry bark in 
bulk from distant parts of the country is too expensive. 
For this season, and for its richness in tannic acid, 
the comparatively light pods of the Divi Divi tree 
command a high price and are eagerly sought for. 
Plantations of this useful tree should certainly be 
raised at elevations ranging from 1,000 to 3,530 feet, 
with a rainfall of 30 to 70 inches. The Divi Divi is 
a very hardy and long-lived tree, which becomes more 
productive of pods (fruit) up to at least 60 years of age. 
It needs an open situation with good drainage. — Madras 
Mail. 
RUBBER PLANTING IN ASSAM. 
Considerable interest is at present being shown 
iti the planting of rubber on Estates in Assam, 
though it appears as if planters had not fully 
realised the enormous profitableness of the under- 
taking. To say that the venture is very much 
more paying than tea growing or coffee growing 
would perhaps be saying too mucli at once, but 
that it compares more than favourably with 
either of these two occupations cannot be doubted 
for a moment. For example in one particular 
only it will be realised how favourable is the com- 
parison and that is that the rubber industry caa 
never suffer from overproduction when one conie.s 
to consider the enormous and still daily growing 
demand for this material. To every manufacture 
of the present day rubber in one form and another 
seems to be necessary. The commonest West 
African rubber fetches £200 per ton at home while 
