April 1, 1902.] THE TUOPICAL AGRICULTtJiilST. 
ALOE FIBRE. 
In November last there appeared in this journal 
a short article on the aloe fibre industry started 
by Mr. Tytler in the Madras Presidency, recom- 
mending hira to increase his capital and bringing 
the business out as a company, and thereby give 
the public a chance of investing in a sound and 
profitable concern. We see by an article in the 
Madras Mail of the 16th December last that a 
company is being formed with this object by Mr 
Tytler, he having evidently taken our suggestion 
to heait. Mr Tytler will be remembered by many 
of our readers as the owner and rider of many 
good ponies in the days gone by, perhaps his 
best being the once famous Chorister. This new 
planting industry promises to be a god-send to 
indigo and other planters, and it therefore comes 
at an opporcune moment, when planters generally 
are thinking of something in their own line 
as an auxiliary of the now much-depressed tea, 
coffee and indigo industries. It therefore behoves 
all planters in general to support Mr Tytler 
in his new undertaking, in their own interests 
and self-defence ; for the success of the under- 
taking means that a new planting industry 
will be put before them, and that each and ail 
will be able to learn the ins and outs of the business 
with its capacities, and form a basis to go upon for 
those who wish to follow his example. None need 
fear that bug-bear of all planters— over-produc- 
tion — for it will be a long time before India will be 
able to make any appreciable impression on the 
market, seeing that the present output from various 
countries is between £300,000 and £400,000 
annually, and the demand seems to keep well 
ahead of the supply. So much is this the ease 
that prices instead of showing a downward 
tendency liave been steadily rising. There seems 
to be no doubt that both the Bahamas and. 
Mexico have reached their maximum production. 
In these places it is not a question of land, though 
that is not over-cheap or in excess of the demand, 
but one of labour which is not only scarce and 
difficult to get, but exorbitantly high. Then, 
again, there is German East Africa to count 
with, which country is beginning planting; here 
land is certainly plentiful enough, but the quantity 
and cost nf labour, as well as transport, is such 
that any appreciable fall in price will bring ruin 
to most planters ; and further, they have to 
learn their business. The country that has cheap 
land and labour, and transport, both land and 
over the sea, so as to be able to produce fibre in the 
market at a miuimum of cost, will eventually 
be able to outlive and oust other countries in 
this industry. India has nothing to fear in these 
respects, seeing that she fulfils the above condi- 
tions as regards land, labour and transport. She 
has, moreover, further advantages inasmuch as 
the plant grows to perfection in most parts of the 
country, and the results are in no way affected 
by good or bad seasons whilst the fibre produced 
by the plants has been pronounced to be superior 
to anything that has come from Mexico and the 
Bahamas. Taking all these facts into considera- 
tion, India will be the last to feel the results of 
over-production, should that stage ever be reached, 
which is very unlikely. The countries producing 
the worst fibre, and that at the highest cost, will 
be the ones to feel the pinch of bad times and 
will, most assuredly, go to the wall first. Whilst 
the results in tea, coffee and indigo are seriously 
affected by the seasons, a good or bad one making 
all the difference as to whether the result will 
85 
show a profit or loss, the aloe plant laughs at a 
prolonged drought or bad seasons, so that 
the annual return can be calculated with almost 
mathematical precision. Quantity of fibre is 
everything and quality means strength, color, 
softness and length. The fibre prepared by Mr. 
Tytler has been pronounced to be superior to either 
Mexico or Bahamas fibre in general preparation 
and all the above-mentioned points ; in fact, of 
such quality is this fibre that Messrs. Ide and 
Christie, the foremost London fibre brokers, state 
that it shows perfect preparation and could not 
be better, and that Mr Tytler deserves great credit 
for his system. These are most important facts. 
Mr Tytler, having thus successfully mastered the 
practical details of the business, deserves well of 
both the Indian Government and the investing 
public, as having successfully introduced a new 
planting industry to this country. An expert on 
aloe fibre, in the 3Iadras 3Iail of the 30th August 
last, gives Mr. Tytler high praise both for his 
knowledge of the business and the quality of the 
fibre he has been producing. The company is to 
be congratulated in having secured the' services of 
Mr Tytler as it ensures tiie succesful working 
and carrying on of the company's business. An 
article on the subject, which appeared in the 
Pioneer of 26th October last, is also worth read- 
ing. The company proposes bringing out its pro- 
spectus early in the year ; this prospectus is 
highly spoken of by those who have seen it in 
draft form, both for its arrangement and 
fulness of detail. The capital will be R400,000, 
ensuring sufficient funds for carryingonthe business 
properly, which is an important point. The 
prospectus shows that a profit of about 40 per 
cent will be made annually on its called-up capital 
during the first few years of its existence, until ' 
such time as tlie plantations it proposes planting 
out come into bearing, when the profits will be 
considerably increased and will go on increasing 
as the increased extent of the area planted comes 
into bearing. The company has secured on lease 
over 300 miles of aloe hedging ; this is most im- 
portant, as though only a stop-gap, it enables the 
company to work at a profit from its commence- . 
ment instead of having to wait until its plantations ' 
should come into bearing : the leases secured are 
sufficiently long to more than cover the period 
that must elapse before its plantations come into 
bearing. Though, of course, the regularly planted 
plantations will be the mainstay of the company, 
yet the importance of havingsecured these valuable, 
leases cannot be over-estimated. The present cost 
of production of the fibre landed in London will, 
according to the prospectus, be about 11200 per ton . 
which cost will be much reduced when the planta- 
tions come into bearing, so the delay in cost of, 
moving from place to place, which is considerable 
when working along long lengths of hedging, will 
be saved. Even taking the above price, and 
allowing that the price of fibre does not fall below , 
£28 fier ton, which is the lowest price that it has 
reached during the past eighteen months, and that , 
only twice, the profits over cost of production 
would show over R200 per ton, and more as prices 
go up. The average price during the above period 
was somewhere about £35 per ton, and Mr. 
Tytler's fibre fetched £32 10s per ton when other 
fibres were selling at a little over £28 per ton. 
The profits may, therefore, reasonably be ex- 
pected to be greater, and as the company's hedging 
is capable of producing annually somewhere about. 
800 to 90O tons of fibre, the above figures shovr 
