April  i,  1896.I  THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
703 
COMMERCIAL  FIBRES  OF  TRAVANCORE, 
The  Palmyra  Palm  is  widely  distributed  in  the 
Trivandrum  and  Southern  Divisions  of  the  Tra- 
vancore  State,  and  owes  its  name  to  the  Portuguese, 
who  styled  it  p ir  excellence  “Palmier”  or  the  Palm- 
tree.  The  tree  is  Botanically  known  under  the  name 
Borasms  flabellifonnis.  This  Palm  is  generally  found 
in  a cultivated  or  semi-cultivated  state  in  Travsncore: 
but,  it  is  however,  truly  wild  in  tropical  Africa.  In 
the  East  it  is  found  all  over  Southern  India,  east 
of  the  Western  Ghauts,  and  away  north  heyond 
the  Deccan.  It  is  a toddy  and  sugar  bearing  palm, 
the  former  term  being  a perversion  of  the  Urdu 
word“Thadi,”  which  has  been  anglicised  into  “Toddy.” 
The  young  germinating  nuts  (Panna  kalanga) 
avs  boiled  and  eaten  as  a vegetable,  and  as 
they  contain  a considerable  amount  of  starch,  are 
fairly  nourishing  to  the  average  native,  though  rather 
coarse  to  the  English  palate,  and  unless  well  cooked, 
indigestible.  The  leaves  were  formerly,  and  even  at 
the  present  day,  in  out  of  the  way  villages,  employed 
in  the  place  of  paper  for  the  purpose  of  writing,  Ac. 
Some  of  the  most  ancient  classic  books  of  the  Pali 
and  Singhalese  languages  having  been  written  on  the 
leaves  of  this  Palm,  and  which  are  in  existence  at 
this  present  day.  The  timber  is  exceedingly  h-ard  and 
durable,  and  is  largely  employed  in  house  building 
purposes,  more  especially  for  rafters  and  joists, 
and  being  almost  impervious  to  the  attacks  of  the 
destructive  White  ant,  is  therefore  highly  prized. 
From  the  base  of  the  petioles  or  sheathing  leaf  stalks 
is  obtained  ,a  stiff,  wiry,  dark-coloured  fibre.  This 
was  at  first  termed  “ fiassine  ” in  the  market,  to 
dis'.inguish  it  from  “Bass”  and  “ Piassava  ” fibres. 
It  came  into  notice  as  a commercial  product  in 
1891,  when  the  high  prices  of  Piassava  induced  the 
production  of  substitutes.  At  that  time,  even  split 
rattan,  dyed  black,  was  requisitioned  as  a brush  fibre. 
Palmyra  fibre  has  steadily  increased  in  quantity,  and, 
contrary  to  what  was  at  first  anticipated,  it  has  also 
risen  in  value ; but,  great  discretion  is  necessary,  as 
the  mild  but  wily  Hindoo,  to  gain  weight,  introduces 
a large  quantity  of  water  and  refuse  matter,  and  the 
cost  of  separating  the  really  good  fibre  from  the  mass 
of  second  and  third  class  stuff,  and  clearing  it  fi'om 
foreign  matter,  adds  considerably  to  its  original  cost. 
In  1892  Messrs,  Ide  and  Christeson  wrote: — “The 
chief  objection  to  Palmyra  fibre  is  that  it  lacks 
straightness,  but  experiments  are  being  made  in  this 
country  to  overcome  this  detect,  an  1 should  they 
prove  successful,  it  is  claimed  by  the  importers  and 
dressers,  that  Palmyra  should,  for  wear,  be  found 
equal  to  the  best  Para.”  These  anticipations 
have  to*  some  extent,  been  realised.  Palmyra 
has  now  practically  tiken  the  place  of  West  African 
Bass.  The  latter  on  the  16th  September  1895,  vv.is 
“ dull,  business  small,  £14  to  £26  per  ton.”  While 
Palmyra  fibre  on  the  other  hnnd  was  “ good  £26  to 
£34  ; medium,  £22  to  £25  ; common,  £15  to  £19  per 
ton.”  The  natives  of  India,  as  we  have  shown  above, 
are  unconsciously  copying  the  evil  practices  of  the 
Indians  of  Brazil,  in  sending  consignments  of  Pal- 
myra to  this  country,  in  a damp  and  dirty  condi- 
tiou.  The  result  is,  that  the  bales  on  being  opened 
are  found  to  be  wet,  and  the  fibre  to  a large  extent 
perished  and  powdery.  Should  this  short-sighted  policy 
be  further  indulged  in,  we  have  no  hesitaiion  in 
saying,  that  the  trade  will  be  most  seriously  injured. 
Another  fibre-bearing  Palm  of  Travancore  is  the 
Bastard  Sago  Palm,  variously  known  in  the  verna- 
cular as  Chunda  Panna,  Anna  Panna  and  Olati 
pauiia.  Botanically  it  is  known  as  Caryota  urens. 
This  is  a stout  well  grown  palm,  one  of  the 
handsomest  of  its  tribe,  bearing  a smooth 
anuulated  stem  20  to  40  feet  iu  height.  As  the 
Palmyra  predominates  iu  South  Travancore,  so  this 
palm  is  found  to  flourish  best  in'  the  central  and 
northern  portions  of  Travancore.  It  also  is  a toddy 
and  sugar  bearing  palm.  The  flavour  of  both  the 
fresh  toddy  and  jaggery  (sugar)  being  superior  lo  that 
of  the  palmyra.  When  the  tree  arrives  to  an  age 
of  fro. 11  25  to  40  years,  and  iis  yield  of  sap  is  no 
longer  paying,  the  tree  is  cut  down,  and  its  trunk  is 
cut  into  blocks  about  two  to  three  feet  in  length. 
Tnese  blocks  are  now  split  open,  and  the  farinaceous 
and  fibrous  soft  inner  pith  is  cut  out  and  chopped 
into  small  pieces.  These  are  tranferred  to  a common 
paddy  mortar  and  pounded  until  the  farinaceous 
portion  becomes  detached  from  the  fibres.  The 
pulverized  matter  is  now  placed  on  a cloth,  and 
water  freely  poured  thereon,  by  this  means,  the 
farina  is  carried  off  into  the  vessel  below,  while  the 
fibre  and  refuse  matter  is  detained  iu  the  cloth 
sieve.  The  farina  is  allowed  to  settle,  and  super- 
natant water  is  poured  off,  and  the  farina  or  starch 
is  dried  iu  the  sun.  If  a particularly  fine  kind  of 
starch  flour  is  required,  this  starch  undergoes  a fur- 
ther pounding  in  the  mortar,  and  is  again  subjected 
to  several  drenchings  of  pure  water.  The  fibre  of 
this  plant  is  technically  known  iu  the  market  as 
“ Kittul  fibre,”  and  is  extracted  principally  from 
that  portion  of  the  petiole  or  leaf-stalk  that  en- 
velopes the  stem  of  the  parent  tree.  Mr.  J.  R. 
.Jackson  gives  the  following  account  of  this  fibre 
in  Commercial  Botany  : — “ Kittul  fibre  has  been 
known  in  this  country  (England)  for  some  30  or  40 
years,  but  it  is  only  within  the  last  10  years  that 
it  has  become  a regular  commercial  article.  When 
first  imported,  the  finer  hairs  were  used  for  mix- 
ing with  horse  hair  for  stuffing  cushions.  As  the 
fibre  is  imported,  it  is  of  a dusky-brown  colour ; 
but  after  it  arrives  in  England,  it  is  cleaned, 
combed,  and  arranged  in  long  straight  fibres,  after 
which  it  is  steeped  in  Linseed  oil  to  make  it  more 
pliable ; this  has  also  the  effect  of  darkening  it. 
And  it  indeed  becomes  almost  black.  It  is  softer 
and  more  pliable  than  Piassava,  and  can  conse- 
quently be  used,  either  alone  or  mixed,  with  bristles 
in  making  soft  long  handled  brooms,  which 
are  extremely  durable,  and  can  be  sold  at  about 
one-third  the  price  of  ordinary  hair  brooms.  The 
use  of  Kittul  fibre  is  said  to  be  fast  spreading,  not 
only  in  the  Home  markets,  but  also  on  the  Con- 
tinent and  America.  The  values  in  September  1895 
were  quoted  as  follows: — “Long,  lOd  to  lOid ; No.  1 
7d  to  7^d;  No.  2.  2d  to  2id ; No.  3,  Id  to  IJd  ; per 
pound.  Judging  from  the  above  quotations  we  are 
sure  that  there  is  a grand  opening  for  the  exporters 
of  Raw  Produce,  as  this  palm  grows  to  great 
luxuriance  in  the  land  lying  between  the  back- 
waters and  the  Ghauts,  up  which  they  extend, 
in  their  wild  state,  to  an  elevation  of  some- 
thing over  2,000 feet;  but  it  is  found  to  be  most 
prolific  in  the  gardens  situated  as  above  stated, 
from  Kullitorry  away  up  to  the  Northern  Boundary’. 
The  still  further  North  we  go  the  more  fre- 
quently it  is  to  be  met  with.  Messrs.  Cameron 
Chisholm  A Co.,  of  Quilon  have  been  to  consider- 
able trouble  in  developing  the  trade  in  Palmyra  fibre 
in  Southern  Division.  If  some  of  the  enterprizing 
firms  at  Alleppey  or  Cochin  would  be  equally  push- 
ing, and  undergo  the  same  trouble,  we  have  no 
doubt  but  that  the  “ Kittool  fibre”  would  soon  form 
one  of  principal  exports  to  Europe  from  this  Coast. 
— H’estein  Star,  March  21. 
TEA  INSPECTION. 
Thirteen  years  ago  Congress  provided  that  it  should 
“ be  unlawful  for  any  person  or  corporations  to  im- 
port or  bring  into  the  United  States  any  merchan- 
dise for  sale  as  tea  adulterated  with  spurious  leaf  or 
with  exhausted  leaf,  or  which  contains  so  great  an 
admixture  of  chemicals  or  other  deleterious  sub- 
stances as  to  make  it  unfit  for  use.”  That  prohibition 
is  executed  here  by  an  examiner  from  whose  decision 
that  a sample  of  tea  is  adulterated  with  spurious  or 
exhausted  leaves,  or  with  enough  chemicals  to  make 
it  unfit  for  use,  there  is  an  appeal  to  a Committee 
of  arbitration. 
The  language  of  the  statute  permits  the  importa- 
tion of  very  inferior  teas.  The  complaints  usually 
are,  not  that  the  examiner  rejects  tea,  but 
that  he  admits  teas  which  importers  think  ought 
not  to  come  in,  and  it  is  urged  iu  support  of 
this  that  there  has  been  a decline  in  the  quality 
of  tea  imported,  and  that  the  decline  in  the  average 
consumption  of  tea  is  due  to  this  decline  in  quality. 
