, 1891-06-17

LIZ NO%ODdNANPs - w
the result would be if you had suitable land
for the purpose. This particular gentleman
paid FL q barrel for the potatoes he planted,
but he reaped seven or eight barrels for this
one barrel of seed. In other words, it cost him
81, and he obtained 81 per barrel that is, he
obtained from seven to eight barrels-some.
thing like E18-on an actual initial expendi-
ture of only about efl. That, of course, is
a matter that may or may not commend itself
to your attention. / only mention it as a fact
and it is quite possible. with so many estates
here in Barbados, for some one to take up the
matter in an enterprising spirit and be able to
do a great deal. With regard to such species
as tomatoes and others, | am not aware whe-
Their it is possible for you to cultivate them here.
I only mention them as something which might
occur to you to take up because in these days
it is the sum total Of your exports that will
give the actual prosperity, or will prove the
reverse. Now that is all l need say with re-
gard to that particular subject. During the
short time | have been here, | have seen the
greater part of your island. This morning I
landed very early and have been out to Dodds.
From there | went to The College Savannah and
| have there seen one of your minor manufac-
lures of aloes, in full working. That is an old
industry that has long been carried on in Bar
bados, and it is one which would have paid, |
suppose, if carried on to a considerable extent.
But see that for the last four years the export
of aloes amounted to only six pounds. ! be-
lieve that the best aloes which goes to the
London market at present is the aloes which
comes from the island Of SocOtra. The plant
Welding that has recently been introduced to
Kew, and is in course to be distributed to some
of the West India Islands. 1t is quite possible
that this aloes, which sometimes costs three or
four times the price of the Barbados aloes,
could be established on the waste lands on the
windward side of the Island, and you could i'm
prove that industry. There is nothing that is
absolutely incapable Improvement either by
getting the best quality of plants, o. byimprov-
ell culture. Again, you have got on the side Of
the Island | visited this morning immense tracts
Of land, l suppose useless for Purposes Of cane
cultivation. Perhaps | am within the mark
when l say you have got about 10000 acres
about there that are used for no purposes
whatever. l have been askeI-"Gan this
land be utilised for any purpose % All I
can say is that this land can be utilised for
the fibre industry. When l mention that,
some of you will doubtless recall the time
when not lon ago some did attempt a fibre
industry and failed. l saw the plant which
""H PUU " III OO, anu L COuIu 1OIGbG6 l1dG
the Company would fail simply because they
had got the wrong plant, and proceeded in a
wrong way to establish the industry. But
now | will show you how, without the slight
est trouble and doubt, you can cstabli III a
fibre industry that can certainly pay here as
we'll as it pays in other countries. In Mauri-
thus the people there had abandoned a large
number of their estates in the low lands be-
cause they became too dry and arid for the
cultivation of cane, and they hive got a
plant growing on these estates, and have
invented fibre machines, and these machines
are now at work, and by means Of the plant
they have on these abandoned estates and
the machines they have invented, they are
now exporting fibre to the extent of ten,
fifteen, or twenty thousand tons. This is
quoted in the market at about &26 per ton.
Now, what is the plant they have there, and
have You got it here? Well the plant is
here | have got q leaf here, and l think you
will recognise it as pretty common in some
parts of this Island. This leaf (holding it up
to the a%udience) is from a plant which is known
to botanists as a FarcraG. 1t is now commonly
called Mauritius hemp because the people in Mau-
ritius have established an important fibre indus
try by means of this plant. 1t will grow freely
in inferior soils. 1t is growing ~abundantly in
the neighbourhood of Dodds, and l dare say
it will grow very well indeed in those barren
places on the windward of the island. Now
there is always a doubt with regard to a large
number OF fibre plants, as to whether there