The plants last for very many years in the same ground, which 
if left gets quite mailed with their rhizomes, and then they produce 
abundance of large leaves. They are in fact very hardy plants and 
will stand almost any treatment. 
Preparation of the Fibre. 
The preparation of the fibre can be done by cleaning by hand 
but this is slow and expensive. Very finely prepared specimens of 
fibre of the three species in common cultivation here were shewn 
at the Agri-horticultural Show by Mr. Schernier who had pre- 
pared them with the aid of a decorticator and a cleaning machine 
for which patents are being taken out and these samples were 
as perfect specimens of what a fibre should be as possible, and 
attracted the attention of many visitors to the Show. 
S. Guineensis , Willd, is a widely spread plant over most of 
Africa. It has a stoi t orange coloured rhizome and broad lan- 
ceolate leaves 3-4 feet long and 2\ to 5 inches across pale green 
mottled with lighter colour, or often plain with a fine red edge. 
The flower spike is nearly as tall as the leaves with white flowers 
about 1 1 to 2 inches long and orange coloured fruit. 
This is the Konje hemp. Sir D. Morris recommends the plant- 
ing of it three feet by three feet which gives about 3,000 plants to 
the acre. Its rate of growth seems to be slow in the West Indies. 
Plants he saw in St. Thomas three years old were only just ready 
to cut, and Baron EGGERS after cultivating them said that they 
could not be cropped before 3! years; but much depends on the 
soil and conditions of growth and also the size of plants when 
planted. My impression here from our cultivated plants is that it 
is much more rapid than this. 
In experiments in Jamaica, 1,185 ^s. fresh leaves gave 29 lbs. 
12 ozs. dry fibre. The fibre was valued at about £30 per ton at 
that time, with Manila hemp fetching £31. 
The specimens prepared by Mr. SctlERNlER for the Agricultural 
Show were as fine and silky as could be, and it like S. Zeylanica, 
is a plant well suited for his machine. 
S. Cylindrical Bojer, Ife hemp. — This has a similar stout rhizome 
to that of the preceding, but the leaver are quite cylindrical three 
or eight together, three or four feet e ng and about half an inch 
through deep green smooth to its sharp point. It has never 
flowered in Singapore Botanic Gardens. 
It can be propagated in the same way as the other species, but 
does not seem to me to be so fast a grower. However, I do not 
think it has had a very fair trial as yet. It has not thoroughly 
established itself about the country as S. Zeyla7iica has done, . but 
it is hardly an ornamental plant and hence has been less carried 
about. 
Specimens of fibre prepared at Kew were valued at £2% per ton 
by I he and CHRISTY who stated that except that it did not appear 
quite as strong it is almost equal to S. Longijlora . Later experi- 
