66 TiMEHRI. 
base an opinion as to the amount of fibre procurable 
from an acre of plants. With the exception of the 
Upper Demerara River, where Mr. Seon states that 
plants might easily be purchased at small cost, there 
seems to be a scarcity of plants in the various distri6ls ; 
and the Indians are loth to sell. There is thus a pre- 
liminary difficulty in procuring a sufficient number of 
plants for experimental purposes on a large scale, 
8. Except in abandoned distri6ls, Crowa does not 
appear to grow without cultivation. In fa6l, the young 
plants are said to be rather delicate, and require a certain 
amount of care until they reach a height of about 12 
inches. Nor do the plants seem to thrive on the front 
coast lands. 
9. The fibre of the Crowa is readily distinguishable by 
its much greater strength from those of other local or 
introduced plants which are at times used for similar 
purposes, such as the so-called ** Krattee/' and " Ping- 
wing." The name " Krattee" is used by the people 
(like " silk-grass" for the fibre) for plants, with thick, 
broad and succulent leaves, of the Amaryllid genera, 
Agave and Furcroea\ while "Pingwing" denotes the 
common Karatas (Karatas Plumieri or Nidularium 
Karatas) — a Bromeliad quite distin6l from the true 
Bromelia pinguin^ and bearing extremely long leaves, 
often from 12 to 16 feet in length, with strong and sharp 
recurved spines. 
10. A trade quotation from a large market for fibres 
in general, would be extremely desirable, as helping to 
indicate the special value of Ciowa fibre in relation to 
other well-known fibres in common use. A quotation 
given some years ago in the Kew Bulletin for pine- 
