238' THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [Oct. 1, 190. 
is still Costa Rica's staple product and most im- 
portant article of export. The year was a good oue 
for exporters the aver;'ge price paid by tbem to the 
gniweis for the beriy in tiuit biing only £,1 10 per 
ftuiesa (-100 li res), rg'iinst £1 lis per ianega in 
1899, while the pi ices realised abi'oail were higher by 
IJ'i per lb, the dOMiM.I fi^mes being — 1899, net average 
Voliie, 4|d per lb ; 1900, i et av^r-ge vaiue, 5J I per 
lb. Growers complain, however, that at tb^-sn prices 
coff e barely p iya expense?, and it is po si'ole that, 
if there is no inip' ovemenfc in tlie near future, many 
of the older f^iims snd }.l,:io those in inferior soil 
will be abandoned. The Consul remi.ika that, so far 
from any prospect of an advance in price, appearances 
all point the other way. The irapr vement in the 
coffee mtvrkets abroad was only temporary, and the 
prices obtained for the first p^i-rt of the 1301 crop 
are, in many instances, as much as £1 per cwt less 
than those of the preceding year. 
The attempt to cultivate 
COTTON 
in West Africa will be watcVied wi*h interest. Ex- 
perts are of oninion that the soil in some dijtricts is 
congenial to the plant, and the similar attempt made 
many years ago failed more through lack of en- 
couragement than anything else. The firin of Messrs. 
BlJe.r, Dempster are said to be promoti g experiments 
in Bricsh West African Colonies, — B . and C. Mail 
Angust 2. 
^ ^ 
AGAVE (ALOE) FIBRE INDUSTRIES 
IN INDIA, 
We are greatly interested to learn trom 
the Madias Mail of texcile industries (ex- 
traction of fibie from Aloes) being started 
in both the Bombay and Madras Pre- 
sidencies : — 
I- We read and hear so much f rom time to time of 
new textile indu-iries being intiodnced or recom- 
meiidt J for iiilrodticvion into tlii^ counti-y, and see, 
as a lule, proportionately so little heintr really and 
practically done, that it is positively refreshing to 
learn that al e plantinj; and the extracting of 
fibre therefrom on a commercial scale lias actually 
been set on foot in the little District of Ananta- 
pur. Two years ago, an Agave Fibre Company 
was formed at Pawai. in the Boinb.ay Presidency, 
and an area of 439 acres, 366 of which were occupied 
by a lake, wer« Hcquired for the purpose of carry- 
ing on the induelr^ . Work was started wilh a 
swing, and now that a siniil.ar industry has been 
launched here, it will be of much interest to know 
Low the Bombay expenmeut is Retting on. It 
may he iiote-l that this is not the first time that 
the' Bombay Piesidency has considered in a 
practical way the utiii-a'tion of Agave fibre, for in 
187*5, under the auspices of the Government of 
Bombay, an experiment was undertaken for the 
nianufrtclure of paper at the Giroaum Paper Mill, 
but the experiment was most a-- kwardly and 
carelessly put through, and the result was, of 
cnnrse, a "failure." 
We shall watch very closely for the results 
of the experiments at Pawai and Ananta- 
pur, and even now to learn what machinery 
is employed ;ind whether existing Agaves 
are being utilised, or t!ie results of planting 
are to be w.t-ited for, would be useful. 
A TEA DISEASE IN SOUTH INDIA. 
Mr. C A Barber, Government B .ianist, Madras, 
lias written an interesting report on "A Tea 
JiJelworm Dieea'ae iu ttouth India." The disease 
was first brought to notice in Madras by Mr. A 
Brown, of Glenfruen Estate, Devala. The viru- 
lence of the outbreak at " Glenf i ueii," says Mr. 
Barber, ftilly justifii d the fears expressed by ihe 
niatiiiger of the estate ; but it was strictly loca- 
lised, and theie does not appear to be any great 
fear of the r)e*t spreiidiug. But Mr. Barber does 
not disgui.-e the facfcihtU, if the pest "once got 
a fair huld of a perennial like tea, it iiiiglit sped 
dis^:s er." The paiasile is kmnvn nfHettiodera 
rediciola, and is fic qnetitlj' tlie lesult ol careless 
or in utticietii cuilivation, especially on old gaiden 
lands which have been allowed to run to waste. It 
v.as discovered in five different localities in the 
VVynaai and is sain to he probably widespread. 
T. e disease causes an immense amount of damage 
all over the world, and Mr. Barber says there i.s 
little doubt tliat it has been 8 root parasite for 
centuries.— ilfacZms ilf«i^, Aug. 20. 
« 
SISAL HEMP AND OTHER FIBRE 
PLANT CULTINATION IN 
TRINIDAD. 
BY MR. QUESNEL, llTH JUNE, 1901. 
I have seen, with a deep regret, some persons re- 
jecting at first the idea of cultivatinj^ fibre plants in 
Triniclad as requiring loo much capital and too costly 
machinery. 
This is a great mistake. Tnkfitan is there as a proof 
of it, because the Indians of that country export now 
more than 100,00ii tons, p;epare.l wilh a very rough 
machine called " Baspador," a wheel of four feet 
diameter, working at 1 60 revolutions a minute. The 
cost of it cannot be, with horse gear, above $150 That 
machine is easy to move from one place to an.>'. her. 
It wastes a certain amount of material, and is slow at 
work; but it is not the first time that the primitive 
appliance of the peasantry has succeeded better than 
costly machines and big capi al, with their heavy 
interests and annuities. The Raspador gives net 333 
lb. in ten hours. A machine for wo king three 
quarters of a tun would cost, with steam engine and 
the buildings to corresp 'nd, £1.2i)0 at least, when five 
Raspariores would not cost more than £i50, 
A steam engine would not be moveable and could not 
be economically established where the area under 
cultivation would be less th n 1,000 acres. 
1 tnke rr.y data from various rcpoits from Dr Morris, 
Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture, Barbados, and 
from Mr Richard Dodge, of the Washington Fibre 
investigation Committee on account of the Govern- 
ment of the United States. 
From them I come to the conclueion that the fibre 
plant gives a hemp of a value of £30 a ton in London, 
which I reduce to £14 a ton after all wing for discount, 
commission and freight, and also for cultivation and 
packing. This is less th^n the amount given in the 
reports referred to. 
I take for planting five rows in 36 feet, that is to say, 
four at six feet distance and the fifth at twelve. I pat 
the plants six feet apart in the rovi's. This gives mo 
more than ),tiOOp!ants to an acre. Each plant at four 
years gives forty leaves a year of a weigh of SO lb. of 
which four per cent turns into fib -e, dried and white, 
or two lb. of fibre to a plant, or 2,()U0 lb an acre, £.4 a 
ton is more than th.ee cents a pound. I allow only 
2| cents a pound to make $50 an acre. Thus an acre 
producing net $50 yields double the results of 200 cacao 
trees on an Kcre, at ten bsgs per 1000 trees at f 12 net 
(when I 5^ the London market qiiotation) or two bags, 
f 12=^J24;. It is a great deal more than 20 tons of 
sugar canes to an acre at 93 a ton, leaving probably 
not more than Is a ton to the cane farmer, or f 1 
an acre. 
If an acre gives 2,000 lb a year, and a Eaapador 
prepares Bome 333 lb a day— 100,000 lb a year of 30Q 
