fine, strong, longitudinal, white fibres, which the natives strip off from the pulpy parts. They lay a single leaf on a smooth board, and fastening one end by the great toe, they scrape the leaf from them with a thin slice of wood held by both hands. According to Roxburgh, about 80lbs. of fresh leaves afford 1lb. of clean fibre, which would be at the rate of 1,613 fos. per acre for one gathering. Two crops are, however, obtainable in one year. Full grown leaves, however, have occasionally yielded a much larger per centage of fibre. The strength of the fibre is very great. According to Dr. Wight it bore a weight of 316bs. A cheaper mode of cleaning the fibre is much wanted. Steeping seems both to weaken and discolour it. The fibres are worth about £40 per ton, and are admirably adapted for the manufacture of the finer qualities of string and twine. Under the microscope, it presents an appearance very like that of the pine-apple, but its ultimate fibres are fully twice as large. Nevertheless, the opalescence is almost absent, and the fibres more opaque. Figs. 15 and 16 are from Col. Sykes's Deccan plants. They were executed by a native artist, and afford fair representations of a most useful class of fibre-yielding plants, called Agave, and frequently mis-named aloes. Fig. 15 is A. americana, and Fig. 16 the Agave vivipara or Fourcroya gigantea. Both plants are now tolerably abundant, and might be cultivated extensively for the sake of their fibres. Even now they are employed in the manufacture of cloth in imitation of horsehair. The length of the fibre has much to do with its price; the samples before the meeting are of the respective values of £18, £28, and £45 per ton. The appearance of opalescence is much more marked than in the pine-apple, than which, however, the fibre is three times larger. The Yucca, or Adam's needle, is also worthy of cultivation, as it yields a valuable fibre. Fig. 17 (p. 474) represents the Yucca gloriosa. There are other species, all of which 39 288 36 to 39 26 to 27 25 10s. to 26 TABLE SHOWING THE QUANTITY AND VALUE OF OTHER FIBRES* OF THE NATURE OF HEMP, BUT EXCLUSIVE OF HEMP AND JUTE, IMPORTED INTO THE PRICES OF DIFFERENT FIBRES IN LONDON MARKET. Years. Quantity. Value. *q[ zad 8 2222 22221 2 22 "Sunn Hemp." 2 18 10s. to 19 10s. d. 22212, lbs. tons. બ fumish fibres from two to four feet in length. The shorter samples are worth from £24 to £25, the longer from £34 to £35 per ton. The PLANTAIN, Musa paradisiaca, Fig. 18, (p. 475) so universally cultivated for the sake of its fruit, has leaves which furnish a tolerable fibre, suitable to certain purposes. It is, however, weaker than either of the former. Whether it will pay to prepare, except by machinery, depends upon the per centage of fibre, a point yet to be accurately determined. Proximately, it may be said to yield from four to six per cent. The value of the samples upon the table is £22 per ton. They would be worth more were it not for the large stocks on hand of another Musa, the Musa textilis, or Manilla hemp. The microscopic appearance of the plantain is similar to that presented by other indigenous fibres, but it has in addition distinct cross-markings. It is rather brittle, and not easily separable. Although not an Indian plant, the Musa textilis must not be entirely overlooked. Its fibre is chiefly useful for the manufacture of cordage for the standing rigging of ships, for which its lightness and great strength admirably adapt it. It is almost entirely produced in the Philippine Islands. Exports of hemp, under the head of Philippine Islands, in Table V., consist almost entirely of this Manilla hemp. The Table (p. 472) gives the price per lb. FIG. 16. (Fourcroya gigantea.) |