THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
207 
FRESH FRUITS AT PAN-AMERICAN. 
When the Pan-American Exposition was opened, 3,200 
plates, embracing 345 varieties, of apples were displayed. Cold 
storage had preserved the fruit in practically perfect form. 
Among the largest exhibitors are Ellwanger & Barry, Roches¬ 
ter, N. Y.; S. D. Willard, and E. Smith & Son, Geneva, N. Y. 
H. E. Van Deman says in the American Agriculturist: 
There will be at the Pan-American Exposition during the en¬ 
tire summer and fall a continuous exhibit of fresh fruits. 
These will be from all parts of the United States and other 
parts of this hemisphere, as far as it is possible to get them in 
good condition. Already many tables are filled from Oregon, 
California, Maine, and Florida. The exhibit of berries from 
the central states will be exceptionally fine. Apples from the 
crop of 1900 in cold storage will be shown by some states dur¬ 
ing the entire season. 
Florida will show a splendid lot of pineapples of many va¬ 
rieties grown there, both on open ground and under sheds. 
Plants are already on exhibition with the growing fruit on 
them, which is something rarely seen by those who do not live 
in the tropics. This exhibit will be replenished from time to 
time, so that it will last all season. Tropical fruits, such as 
the sapodilla, guava, cherimoya, avocado, and many others 
will be on the tables fr©m Florida and California. There are 
four large cocoanut trees in the center of the horticultural 
building, I got recently from the edge of Biscayne Bay in 
southern Florida. 
The collection of fresh fruits of this year’s crop from about 
all of the states will furnish a rare opportunity to those who 
wish to see just what character of apples, pears, peaches, etc., 
are grown in each, and how they compare with each other. 
The ornamental displays on the grounds are already so beau¬ 
tiful that many good judges have said that the like was never 
seen in the way of tulips, hyacinths, and other spring bulbs. 
In June, the roses will be a great attraction. There are sev¬ 
eral large collections that are in most excellent condition for 
blooming. The display of fancy evergreens and herbaceous 
perennials, such as phloxes, peonies, cannas, etc., will be ex¬ 
ceptionally grand. 
RAFIA FIBRE IN MADAGASCAR. 
Rofia, or as it is generally spelt, “rafia,” is the Malagasy 
name of a palm which furnishes a staple article of commerce, 
called rafia fibre says the Journal of the Society of Arts. It is 
indigenous to Madagascar, and it is to be met with everywhere 
on the coasts, needing neither cultivation nor attention of any 
kind. It is not a stately palm, but sends its enormous branche? 
from near the ground ; in a fine specimen one branch is almost 
a tree in itself. The rib in each branch is as much as 20 feet 
long, of a pearly grey color, smooth and shiny, flat on the 
inner surface, but otherwise round, without any knobs, and so 
exceedingly hard. At the base it is as large as an ordinary 
champagne-bottle, and tapers to a point at the top. The in¬ 
side consists of a light pith, which can be split into layers of 
any thickness. Possibly, says the United States consul at 
Tamatave, it is this, or an analogous production, which is used 
for making pith helmets in the East. Naturally these ribs 
combine great strength with wonderful lightness, and are used 
for shafts for “filanjanas” or palanquins, ladders, or other 
purposes, but otherwise have no particular commercial value. 
It is the pinnate leaves which produce the rafia fibre of com¬ 
merce. One palm frond will produce eighty or one hundred 
long green leaflets, from 2 to 5 feet in length, like the leaves 
of the sugar-cane, but of a dark, lustrous green, and both 
thicker and stiffer. These again, contain a round and pliant 
rib, which the natives utilize for making baskets and dredges 
for catching small fish and shrimps in the rivers after they 
have stripped off the green part which furnishes the fibre. The 
under part of this green leaf (which is not exposed to the 
light, as it remains folded), is of a pale greenish-yellow color, 
and from that side the inner skin can be peeled off in the same 
manner as the skin on the outside of a pea-pod, except that it 
peels off straight to the tip without breaking. It is then of the 
palest green, and after being dried in the sun assumes a light 
straw color. 
This is the rafia fibre of commerce. It was originally 
sought for by the natives for use in articles of clothing. The 
men bring in the fronds, and women and girls weave it on 
hand-looms, of any coarseness or fineness. Woven just as it 
is peeled off from the the fronds, it forms a kind of sacking 
used for wrapping goods, while the perfection of the art, as 
known by the Hovas only, is to weave a tissue of which the 
warp is rafia fibre split very fine, and the weft of white silk. 
This gives an article called silk lamba, which fetches fancy 
prices in Europe and America. The coast tribes use it for 
clothing, but of moderate fineness, with dyed stripes of indigo, 
saffron, black, and a dirty green. It is a cold, comfortless 
looking material, and refuses to adapt itself to any folds that 
a sculptor would care to copy. 
Rafia fibre is used in Madagascar by nurserymen, gar¬ 
deners, &c., for tying up vines and flowers, and possibly for 
grafting. It possesses the advantage of being as soft as silk, 
and is not affected by moisture or change of temperature so as 
to risk cutting or wounding the most delicate tendrils, and it 
does not break or ravel when folded or knotted. 1 hese quali¬ 
ties bring it into use all over Europe, and consequently main¬ 
tain its price. It is virtually inexhaustible in Madagascar, the 
supply being limited only by the scarcity of labor. For ex¬ 
port the fibre is merely collected in large skeins, twisted up or 
plaited, and then baled like raw cotton, Madagascar exports 
about 20,000 bales annually. 
VEITCH MEDALISTS. 
The American holders of a Veitch memorial medal are 
Prof. Chas. S. Sargent, 1896 ; Prof. Liberty H. Bailey, 1897 ; 
Thomas Meehan, 1901. The Veitch memorial is a trust fund 
raised by subscription to the memory of J. G. Veitch, the 
famous English nurseryman and plant collector, for many 
years after its foundation the income was devoted solely to 
giving medals and cash prizes at the leading exhibitions, but 
it came to be felt that there were outside the ranks of exhibitors 
men worthy of honor, and so the system of bestowing medals 
honoris causa was adopted. 
Des Moines Nursery Company, Des Moines, Ia., May 11, 1901 : 
“Enclosed please find our check for *1 for our subscription to your 
paper. There is no paper comes into our office which is read with more 
interest than your publication and we can assure you of our hearty 
support.” 
