14 
A P P END! X C. 
NOTES ON ECONOMIC PLANTS. 
The following Notes on Economic Plants are made with a view to the encourage- 
ment of minor industries. _ Sufficient time has not yet elapsed since the establishment of 
the Experimental Nurseries to obtain complete information, but that given below may 
be useful in shewing the tendency towards results, in the absence of more complete 
details. 
FIBRES. 
Mauritius Hemp ( Furcrasa gigantea) continues to grow with great vigour in 
the Nurseries, and several thousand plants have been disposed of to planters for trial. 
The price realized for good fibre is about £ 2 8 per ton in London, and if the fibre can 
be prepared here at say 5 cents per pound, its profitable cultivation is no doubt 
possible. 
MANILA Hemp ( Musa textilis) grows well. When first planted it takes longer to 
send up suckers than the common Banana does, but once established it grows freely. 
In Manila, on good soil, the plantations are renewed only after a period of about 20 
years. The present market value of the fibre is from ^30 to £40 per ton in London, and 
as labour is about equally as cheap in the Straits as in Manila, the plant is no doubt 
capable of profitable cultivation in favourable localities. 
4 ,, „ a Sunn Hemp (Crotalaria juncca ). — Common in a wild state all over the Settle- 
ments, and grows well in ordinary soil. Some attempt to utilize the plant should be 
made, as the fibre commands a good price in the market. 
PENGUIN Hemp (Bromelia sylvestris) grows with remarkable vigour. It is one 
of the pine-apple tribe, but the leaves are much longer than those of the pine-apple 
plant. It succeeds best under the treatment pine-apples require. 
Rhea or China Grass (Boehmeria nivea) grows well in rich moist soils, and now 
that a simple process for the extraction of the libre from the wood by steaming has been 
hit upon, its manufacture, considering the high price obtained for the fibre, is worthy of 
careful trial, especially on land where sugar cultivation has ceased to be remunerative 
owing to low prices, and where the ground is not marshy. 
Plantain and Banana Fibre ( Musa sapintum ). — -The common plantain or 
banana yields a good fibre worth about ^15 a ton. I observed when in Selangor a 
wild banana which grew there with great luxuriance, in appearance the plant looked 
very like Musa textilis and it is probable it will be found to yield a very good 
marketable fibre. 
From the Kew Gardens Bulletin of April last I learn that in Jamaica a red bana- 
na produces fibre worth £25 per ton ; the plant is probably the same as the red bana- 
na of the Straits. 
¥9 
LALANG (Imperatia Kcenigii ). — Lalang has been found to produce good paper- 
making material, but as the grass had to be transported to England in bales, only the 
longest grass containing stout fibrous stems was found to pay. The land that will 
support grass of such a robust nature, will also grow more valuable crops. The quan- 
tity of material available for paper-making in the Straits, including bamboos, pine-apple 
leaves, wood, &c., would seem to warrant the establishment here of a permanent paper 
factory. 
Pine ‘Apple Fibre (Ananassa saliva '). — In reference to pine-apple fibre, 
Mr. Morris writing in the Kew Bulletin , already referred to, observes as follows : — 
“ Although not much at present in commercial use, the fibre has a future of considerable 
“ importance before it, It is finer and stronger than that yielded by any other plant. 
“A beautiful fabric known as Pina cloth is made from it. A rope of pine-apple fibre 
“4 inches in circumference bore a strain of 57 cwt.” 
Tt 
