2Q2 
Supplement  to  the  “ Tropical  AyricuUurlstT^ 
I Got  1,  1895. 
Province  within  wliich  such  land  may  be  situate, 
to  give  order  to  the  owner  or  occupant  thereof, 
by  written  notice,  witliin  a reasonable  time  to  be 
specified  in  such  notice  to 
(a.)  Remove  forthwith  any  such  silt,  earth, 
or  other  substance. 
(b  ) Provide  all  such  drains,  pipe.«,  and  other 
w'orks  as  may  be  necessary  to  carry  off  the  water 
from  such  land  to  some  point  where  it  can  be 
pas.'ed  over  or  under  such  channel,  w’atercour&e 
or  ela. 
4.  A copy  of  such  notice  shall  be  affixed  in 
some  conspicuous  place  on  such  land,  and  another 
copy  shall  be  sent  by  registered  letter  through  the 
post,  addressed  to  such  owuier  or  occuj)ant,  and 
if  so  sent  shall  be  deemed  to  have  been  served  at 
the  time  when  the  letter  containing  the  same 
would  be  delivered  in  the  ordinary  course  of  post. 
o.  In  proving  such  service,  it  shall  be  sufficient 
to  prove  that  the  letter  was  properly  addres.«ed 
and  registcfed  at  the  Post  Office. 
AGATE  PIBRE. 
The  following  is  a report  by  Mr.  Collyer, 
the  fibre  expert,  on  two  samples  of  Agave  fibre 
sent  from  India— one  from  Saharanpur,  N.W. 
Provinces,  the  other  from  Coimbatore,  Madras 
Presidency. 
“ Saharanpur  fibre,  length  40”  to  60”,  fair 
light  colour,  good  strength,  fairly  clean,  rather 
fine  flatfish  fibre,  similar  in  character  Imt  rather 
superior  to  Furcroea  gigantea,  ecpial  for  some 
purposes  to  fair  current  Manilla  hemp,  but  finer 
in  fibre.  Value  .i’22  to  £24  per  ton, 
Coimbatore  fibre,  length,  cut  ends  24”  to  30,” 
fair,  yellow'ish  colour,  well  cleaned  cut  eiuF, 
good  strength,  good  roping  quality,  but  short. 
Value  .£20  to  £22  per  ton. 
Agave  fibre,  equal  in  quality  to  either  of  the 
above  samples,  would  sell  readily  in  any  quantity 
at  slightly  under  the  fair  current  Manilla  hemp 
(£23  to  £24),  and  its  growth  should  be  en- 
coiii'aged  to  the  utmost.” 
The  plant,  Ayave  nmericana,  is  ns  a rule  not 
grown  for  its  ftl're.  In  Upper  India  it  is  generally 
used  as  u hedge  plant  to  prevent  cattle  tres- 
pass. ft  is  said  to  grow  on  any  soil,  but  that 
best  suited  is  a mixture  of  clay  and  sand  t.,nt 
may  be  described  as  a rich  heavy  alluvial  loam. 
The  plant  grows  botli  in  the  open  (ns  along  the 
Madras  Railway  Line,)  ns  well  as  under  sliade, 
but  best  in  the  former  position.  In  the  Saha- 
ranpur sample  the  fibre  wn.<  extracted  immediately 
after  cutting  the  leaves,  by  beating  with  a 
wooden  mallet,  washing  out  the  pulp,  and  drying 
in  the  sun.  In  Coimbatme  the  fibre  is  generally 
extracted  at  once,  but  sometimes  a day  or 
two  after  cutting.  The  e.xtraction  is  done  by 
hand,  either  by  maceration  or  scraping.  The  fibre 
got  by  scraping  witbout  washing  or  bleaching 
is  very  clean  and  free  from  pul]),  though  not  very 
long : that  by  maceration  is  longer  but  not  neiii  ly 
so  clean. 
Mr.  Gollan,  Superintendent  of  Saharnniuir 
Gardens,  states  that  a ]>lant  of  average  age,  or 
say  from  0 to  8 years  old,  will  annually  jirodnce 
from  12  to  lo  mature  leave.s.  Tl.e  average  weight 
of  a fresh  leaf  of  4.  americaiia  '2^  U).,  in  the 
case  of  A.  vivipnm  | ib.  The  fibre  of  the  latter 
though  shorter  i.s  considered  better,  and  the  jdant 
superior  for  hedges. 
The  Coimbatore  plant  is  possibly  A,  omericana, 
but  it  is  to  be  feared  that  this  species  and 
vivi2>cira  are  often  confused,  and  hence  j)robably 
the  rej)orts  of  varying  (juality  in  the  samples 
of  Agave  fibre  submitted  to  experts. 
Aloe  fibre  is  also  produced  from  A.  vicipara 
in  the  Bombay  Presidency.  The  plant  grows 
wild,  but  is  not  cultivated  specially  for  fibre. 
It  is  of  slow  growth,  and  takes  about  2 years 
before  the  leaf  can  be  cut  for  fibre. 
The  following  is  nn  extinct  from  the  report 
of  Mr.  D.  Morris  of  Kew  Gardens:  — 
“ It  is  evident,  however,  that  the  jilants  exists 
in  Bombay  in  sufficient  quantity  to  supjily  several 
huudied  toms  of  fibre  received  in  this  country. 
After  a comsideratiou  of  the  facts  noted  below, 
it  might  be  found  advisable  to  cultivate  this 
species  of  Agave  on  waste  lands  in  Bombay 
entirely  for  the  sake  of  its  fibre  or  the  .-isal 
hemp  plant,  A (jam  rUjidu,  var.  Sisalana,  might 
be  introduced  on  a large  scale.  This  latter  yields 
the  most  valuable  fibre  of  any  desired  from 
species  of  Agave,  a;id  there  is  little  doubt  it 
would  thrive  equally  well  in  India.  The  im- 
portant fibre  industry  of  Yucatan,  created  entirely 
within  the  last  twenty  years,  is  now  of'  the 
annual  value  of  about  three-quarters  of  a million 
sterling;  India  has,  therefore,  good  grounds  for 
devoting  attention  to  nn  industry  which  so  far 
has  established  itself  '“ii  a moderate  scale  in  spite 
of  adverse  circumstances. 
“ In  order  to  test  the  quality  of  the  fibre 
produced  by  Ayave  viviparn  wheii  cleaned  by 
machines  similar  to  those  in  use  for  the  pre])n-' 
ration  of  Sisal-hemp  in  Yucatan  and  West  Indies, 
a few  of  the  broken  loaves  about  a foot  to  two 
feet  in  length,  taken  from  the  larger  plant  re- 
ceived at  Kew,  were  forwarded  to  the  Death’s 
Fibre  Machine  Company,  147,  Leadenhall  Street, 
E.C.” 
The  sample  of  fibre  jmoduced  by  passing  the 
leaves  through  the  Death  Machine  as  well  as 
that  cleared  by  hand  in  Bombay  were  examined 
by  Messrs.  Ide  & Christie;  and  thier  report  showed 
a great  difference  in  quality  and  value  between 
the  two.  Mr.  Morris  continues: 
“The  value  of  the  machine-cleaned  fibre  ranges, 
according  to  length,  from  £25  to  .£30  per  ton. 
The  ordinary  Bombay  aloe  fibre,  cleaned  by  hand, 
is  worth  from  .£5  to  .£12  per  ton.  These  figures 
fully  bear  out  the  opinion  offered  in  my  letter 
of  the  21st  February,  1887,  that  the  Bombay  aloe 
fibre  industry  was  capable  of  being  greatly  im- 
proved. At  the  present  time  (1890),  there  is  in 
stock  in  this  countrj'  1,000  tons  of  Bombaj'  aloe 
fibre,  which,  prepared  roughly  by  hand,  will  only 
realise  (if  sold)  about  £^,(KK),  a price  that  will 
probably  hardly  pay  expenses.  If  this  fibre  had 
been  cleaned  by  machinery  and  presented  in  the 
condition  of  the  sample  produced  by  the  Death 
machine,  it  would  realise  about  .£27,000,  or  more 
than  three  times  its  ])resent  value.  It  ajiiieais 
possible,  therefore,  without  any  extension  of  the 
pre.sent  Agave  phints  in  Bombay,  to  increase,  to 
a very  ajqrreciable  extent,  the  returns  on  the 
shipment  of  Aloe  fibre  from  that  I’residency.  The 
following  is  the  report  of  Messrs.  Ide  Sc  Christie 
on  the  two  samjiles  of  .Aloe  fibre  nuMitioutd 
above : — 
We  have  your  favour  of  the  4th  inst.,  (Febiuary 
1890,)  with  samjiles  of  fibre  extracted  by  Death’s 
process  from  the  leaves  of  Ayave  vivipara.  This 
