July 1, 190i.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTUEIST. 
59 
qnii-ed for the purpose. It would remain sufficiently 
liquid to allow of beiug run into barrels or boxes, 
and it would quickly set a3 hard as a rook. The 
packages need not be expensive, as no ordinary at- 
mospheric temperature would re-melt it. This appears 
to me the best way of packing this product, as in the 
raw condition the loss is enormous. Of course in 
this condition it would only be suitable for the soap- 
makers. But this trade uses the bulk of the produc- 
tion and in addition to the saving in waste they 
would have the advantage of having a ready-made 
soap which only requires mixing." 
The specimen of soap sent to us is rather 
crude, and we fancy the article that used 
to be manfactiu^ed at the Hultsdorf local 
coconut oil mills was much superior. In 
1890 we exported 660 cwt of local manufac- 
ture, chiefly to Mauritius: but all this 
manufacture and trade has died away ; and 
we import now over R220,000 (£15,000) worth 
of soap each year, although we suppose more 
coconut oil is shipped from Colombo than 
from any other port in the world. 
^ 
CITRONELLA AND LEMON-GRASS OIL. 
From the Semi-Annual Report of Messrs. 
Schimmel & Co. (Fritzsche Brothers), Miltitz, near 
Leipzig, London and ^ew York, April-May, 1901, 
we quote some paragraphs of local interest : — 
Cinnamon Oil, Ceylon. — In consequence of 
insufficient demand, it has at last been decided at 
Colombo to reduce the price of larger parcels of 
fine chips. The reason why the sellers of these 
chips have given way is no doubt partly due to 
the favourable prices which they have recently 
obtained for the cinnamon quill shipments. 
CiTRONKLLA OiL. — The value of this important 
perfume has, during the last six months, under- 
gone a further decline to about 9^d per lb., at 
which figure it has now stood for three or four 
months. All reports agree that a further reduction 
is impossible. It is much more probable that 
there will be a decided rise ; for it is seated in 
authoritative quarters that, owing to the un- 
profitable prices, the cultivation of citronella grass 
has been entirely given up on many large plant- 
ations in the Akuressa and Baddegama districts, 
and has been superseded by tea plantations which 
yield much more profitable results. Our corre- 
spondent estimates the falling-ott' in the production 
at at least 25 per cent. If this estimate comes 
true, which we do not doubt, the reduced pro- 
duction would probably soon afl'ect the quotations. 
In spite of the low price, this article is constantly 
being adulterated in a most uuheard of manner. 
To the usual method of adulteration with kerosene 
has now been added that with camphor oil ; in 
fact, no other article gives so much work to our 
analytical laboratory. In what condition should 
we be, if there were no means of checking the 
quality ! The fine Java quality, specially distilled 
lor us, is more and more appreciated, and is also 
purchased by many practical experts, who are well 
able to estimate a thing at its proper value. The 
yield of this quality is enormous, the perfume 
exquisite. For fine honey soaps only this oil 
should be used. We received recently several 
very interesting photographs of plantations and 
distilling installations supplying this oil, and hope 
to reproduce them, for the beqefit of our readers, 
jn our aext Report, 
Lemongrass Oil.— The value of this article 
has riseu during the last few months to 4Jd per 
ounce, which woula be about equal to a quotation 
of 11 marks. Whereas the annual export from 
Cochin usually comes to between 2000 and 3000 
cases, the export in 1900 only amounted to 1600 
cases, a quantity which is decidedly too small for 
the present consumption, since the manufacture of 
citral has placed this article in a totally different 
position. A return to the previous values is nob 
to be relied upon. The opportune importation of 
large quantities has placed us in a position to 
accept orders below the present quotations. 
♦ 
VARIORUM. 
Rafia Fibre in Madagascae. — Eofia, or as it ia 
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 it 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 the gi-qund ; in a fine specimen 
one branch is almost a tree in itself. The ri^ on 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 exceeding- 
ly 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 split 
into layers of any thickness. Possibly, says the 
United States Consul at Tamatave, it is this or an 
analogous production, which is used for making pith 
helmets in the Bast. Naturally these ribs combine 
great strength with wondprful lightness and ara 
used for shafts for "filanjanas " or palanquins, lad- 
ders or other purposes, but otherwise have no parti- 
cular commercial value. It is the pinnate leaves 
which produce the rafia fibre of commerce. One 
Palm frond will produce eighty or one hundred long 
green leaflets, from 2 to 5 feet in length, like the leaves 
of the Sugar-cane, 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 shrimps in the rivers after they have 
stripped off the green part which furnishes 
the fibre. The under part of this green leaf 
(which is not exposed to the light, as it remains 
folded), is of a pale greenish-yellow colour, and 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 
that 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. This is the rafia 
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 hand- 
looms, of any coarseness or fineness. Woven just as 
it is peeled off from the fronds, it forms a kind of sack- 
ing used for wrapping goods, while the perfection of the 
art, as knov/n by the Ilovas 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, safl^ron, 
black, and a dirty green. It is a cold, comfortless-look- 
ing material, and refuses to adapt itself to any folds 
that a sculptor would care to copy. Bafia fibre is used 
in Madagascar by nurserymen, gardeners, &c., for tying 
up vines and flowers, and possibly for grafting. It 
possesses the advantage of being as soft as silk, and ia 
not affected by moisture or change of temperature so 
as to risk cutting or wounding the most delicate ten- 
drils, and it does not break or ravel when folded or 
knotted. These qualities bring it into use all over 
fioroj^e, and oouse(jaeiitly me^intain its pric^, It 
