302 
THE TROPICAI. AGRICtJLTURIST. [Nov. 2, 1903. 
The preparation of this stuff is said to be very primi- 
tive, and consists only of drying in the sun or over a- 
smoky fire, ani of thickening by the adiition of 
still cliy niiitter, as rice conge ■, brea'1, fi lu;', arrowi'oot, 
biscuits, etc., not to menliou uurlenn receptacles. 
Still more recently unscrupulous natives have bien 
accused of resorting to a dinge'Oiis aduiterative 
mateiin], viz., the milk from the Wild guttapercha and 
the wild cactus. If such stuff as this can obtain a 
sale there is little doubt that pure papaw juice, care 
fully and cleanly collected, treated with rectified 
spirit in the approved way, and evaporated and 
heated at a regular temperature, would find a ready 
and constant market at Home. It seems, at any 
rate, to be an experiment that is well worth trying. 
— Madras Mail. 
THE CONGO RUBBER INDUSTRY. 
THB BELGIAN POLICY. 
Regarding the action of the lieigians in the Congo 
and their management or misman»gemeijt of the 
Rubber industry, the following letter to the 
Editor of the J. R. Journal appeared in that paper 
One reason for the present high price of Para in 
the English market is given. In the last number 
of your paper I see there is a 1' tter upon Congi 
and its atrocities. The letter does not so much 
deal with the atrocities j it is chitfly an attempt to 
whitewash the King of the Belgians. It is well that 
somebody should " stick up " for that much- ibused 
monarch. He sadly needs help of that kind, but 
1 am a little puzzled to know who will give him 
any. He obtained power over the Congo on his 
promise that he would endeavour to civilise that 
region. He did nothing whatever with that object ; 
all his power, his '• capital " (precious little of that 
he used . and his influence were exerted in the direc- 
tion of getting money, and some of his agents scrupled 
at no barbarity to effect their purpose. 
England, unfortunately, did little by way of protest ; 
and the Rubber Trade, which was very deeply in- 
terested, did nothing at all. There is a Rubber JSIanu- 
facturers' Association, but I have not heard of the 
sliehtesi attempt it made, either through our Foreign 
Secretary or otherwise, to show its detestation of 
these doinfTS. The Rubber Trade is now reaping 
the harvest of its indifference, or of its incapa- 
bility to deal with such a matter. In despite of 
all predictions of a short crop, it turns out that 
Para sent ont last year 90 tons more than the 
year before, which was the largest crop on record 
(Para receipts, 1903, 26,5iS tons ; 1902, 26,456 tons- 
increase, 90 tons). Why, then, is Para 43. 6d. ? 
Simply because Congo has failed to supplement Para 
as it ought to have done. Owing to the methods 
practised by the agents of the King of the Belgians, 
what should be the second largest rubber field in 
the world is getting deserted of its inhabitants. 
An English Manofactuaer. 
PLANTAIN FIBRE EXTRACT ON. 
I By the Rev. A. ANDatw.l 
Since my note on Plantain Fibre was pub lished iu 
your columns (see T. A- page 329,) enquiries have 
reached me from various parts of India — irora Tinne- 
velly, Trichinopoly, Coorg, the Central Provinces, 
Calcutta- and Behar— a-kicg for more information on 
plantain fibre extraction. Previous to this, enquiries 
had come from the West Coast, Yizagapatam and 
Jaffna, in Ceylon. Evidently there is a very wide- 
spread desire to take up this industry seriously aud 
make it a paying concern, if it is possible to do so. 
From the enquiries made from Calcutta and Behar it 
is apparent tbat growers there are still carrying on the 
wasteful practice of casting the stems on to the rubbith 
heap after the fruit has been obtained. Snch questions 
as these are being a^ked :— How is the fibre extracted ? 
Is it the stem that is used after it has fruited ? Prom 
what part of the stem is it taken ? la any particular 
biad of pUntain required ? When can be made of the 
fibres, and where can they he sold ? A Calcutta 
gentleman writes : — ' I have extensive plantations, but 
hitherto I have not done more than sell the fruit aud 
the leaves. Ai the exrraTtion of the fibre promises to 
become a p ofitable industry, 1 should Lki to make 
myself acquiiinted with the process. Will you there- 
tore kindly favour me wi'h the information 1 seek? ' 
Another writes : — " On one noint I require more in- 
formation than what you have b=en pleased to furnish; 
1 mean that the process of extracting fibre has not 
been as clearly explained as to enable a general reader 
to try his hand at the new enterprise by way of experi- 
ment- I shall feel highly obliged if you would be so 
good as to publish another letter throwing light on 
this point for general information. " With regard to 
THE PARTICUL.^R KIND OF PLANTAIN 
which cm be u«ed for extracting fibre from, the best 
is the Blusa te.xtilis, or Mtnila hemp plantain, so exten- 
sively grown in the Philippines for fibre alone. Its 
fibre is stronger and better than that of any other 
species. It cannot, however, be grown for its fruit, as 
that is worthless. On this account it would not be 
a profitable industry in India, where the climatic 
conditions are less favourable for its culture than those 
existing in the Philippines. Another reason against its 
introduction into the existing plantain topes is its 
tendency to spoil the fruit of other plantains which are 
grown for their fruit. Of this a certain writer says : — 
" It is useful in the garden if much grafting is done, 
because the fibre in the leaf stalk is stronger than that 
of the common banana, but it snoul I not be planted 
where the plantain is grown for fruit, because its pollen 
will fertilise the ovules of the other species, and the 
result will be abundant, hard, black seeds as large as 
a pea in the fruit that without fertilised ovules are 
such delicious fruit." Great care, therefore, should be 
taken by those who cultivate plantains for fruit to 
exclude the Musa textilis from their gardens. It might 
be tried on the West Coast for its fibre alone, where 
the rainfall is abundant, and where it might be made 
to pay. But I fear the plantain growers must be 
content with the ordinary species for fib re and fruit, 
as well as for the many other uses to which the plan- 
tain tree can be put. The return that the ordinary 
species give.s for the labour expended on their cultiva- 
tion is sufficiently encouraging and hence the most 
should be made of them, 
VARIETIES GBOWN. 
The following are the species which are most 
frequently grown, and which are being cultivated in 
our school farm: — Bonden, Kattei bonden, Rastali, Pey 
vazhei, Pu vazhei, Riji vazhei, Nir bonden, Suvvazhei, 
Pacohei vazhei, Uthira vazhei, and Bengala vazhei. 
There are several other varieties besides these. One 
of the most notable is the Monsu vazhei, or the 
Mauritius plantain, whose botanical name is Musa 
cavendishii. It is a dwarf plantain and seldom grows 
more than 6 feet in height. It thrives well, and is 
surprisingly productive, having very large bunches for 
its size. Some of the bunches are so heavy in our 
■ garden and hang so far down as to touch the ground. 
Though the dwarf species is so productive of fruit, it 
is deficient in fibre, owing to the shortnes of the stem, 
and it will hardly pay to extract it, if this species ba 
cultivated only. The short stem, however, can be 
taken and the fibre extracted from it along with that 
of the other kinds. 
CLEARING THE FIBRE. 
It is the stem that is taken after the fruit has been 
cut off and cut into lengths of about 3 feet- These are 
tlien divided into strips about 2 inches in width and 
placed at the side of the mad ine for extracting the 
fibre. These strips are taken one by one and put under 
the knife and pulled through. Each strip is pulled 
through several times until all the soft stem-substance 
is removed from the fibre. The fibre is thereafter 
dried in the sun and put aside for the manufacture of 
cordage and ropes, or is taken and woven into cloth 
where it is possible to do so, 
