PRODUCTS OF
THE EMPIRE
J. C, CUNNINGHAM
OXFORD
AT THE CLARENDON PRESS
PRODUCTS OF THE
EMPIRE
BY
J. CLINTON CUNNINGHAM, B.A.
OXFORD
AT THE CLARENDON PRESS
1921
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
LONDON EDINBURGH GLASGOW NEW YORK
TORONTO /MELBOURNE CAPETOWN BOMBAY
HUMPHREY MILFOKD
l , . \ PTJLLT^HER TO THE UNIVERSITY
2208
PREFACE
THE best way to study plants is to grow them for
ourselves. Even when our attempt is a failure, and they
fog off and die, that chastening experience at least teacher,
us that the ' environment ' we provided was not suited
to our poor victims, while the joy of success can be
realized 'only by those who have tasted it. Many
' economic ' plants, of course, require great heat, and
can be grown in this country only under glass, but many
others do quite well in the border of an ordinary school
garden. Dr. Jamieson B. Hurry, of Reading, has both
kinds growing in his ' educational ' garden at Westfield,
and I should like to offer him my warmest thanks for the
pleasant hours I have spent there, while my friend,
Miss Buchanan, made sketches of some of the most
interesting specimens in the c economic ' border.
Mrs. Grieve, too, of Chalfont St. Peter, kindly allowed
me to visit her Herb Farm, and gave me much useful
information. She has published a large number of
pamphlets, each dealing with one particular plant.
The chapter on * Fisheries ' is based on the information
contained in * Marketable Marine Fishes ' by my brother,
Mr. J. T. Cunningham, M.A., and on an article by
Professor Stanley Gardiner, of Cambridge, on the
' Geography of British Fisheries '. published in the June
number of the Geographical Journal, 1915. I wish also
to offer my thanks to Professor Gardiner for reading
4 PREFACE
through the chapter, and giving valuable criticism and
advice.
To Mr. Dean, late of the Delta Works, Greenwich,
my thanks are due for reading the chapter on ' Metals ',
and to many other persons for permission to reproduce
drawings and photographs.
A list of the chief authorities and books of reference
will be found at the end of Part II.
The numerous statistics which occur have been inserted,
not so much as being valuable in themselves, but in
order to support general statements and to give point
to such phrases as 'much' and 'little', 'great' and
* small '.
J. CLINTON CUNNINGHAM.
GREENWICH.
March 1920.
CONTENTS
PART I
FOOD, DRINK, OIL-SEEDS, DRUGS, AND
TOBACCO
CHAPTER PAGE
I. THE ASSETS OF A NATION .... 9
II. CEREALS : WHEAT, BARLEY . . . .12
III. CEREALS : OATS, MAIZE, RICE, MILLET . 24
IV. SAGO, LENTILS, ARROWROOT, TAPIOCA . . 32
V. MEAT AND DAIRY PRODUCE .... 35
VI. FOOD FISHES 40
VII. FRUITS 59
VIII. SUGAR . . T . . . . . .83
IX. TEA, COFFEE, CACAO . . . x . ' . .91
X. SPICES . . ' ; . . . . . . 104
XI. OIL-SEEDS AND OILS . . . . . .120
XII. DRUGS AND TOBACCO . . ... - -142
APPENDIX I. IMPORTS OF WHEAT, MAIZE, BEE1\
SUGAR (1913-17) . . ..... 156
PART II
RAW MATERIALS AND THE PRODUCE OF
MINES
CHAPTER PAGE
XIII. FIBRES: COTTON . . . . . . -161
XIV. FIBRES : WOOL .174
XV. FIBRES: FLAX, SILK, JUTE, HEMP, RAMIE,
PHORMIUM TENAX, KAPOK .... 186
6 CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
XVI. METALS : ALUMINIUM, ANTIMONY, ASBESTOS,
COBALT, COPPER, GRAPHITE, IRON . . 203
XVII. METALS : TIN, LEAD, MANGANESE, MONAZITE,
NICKEL, TUNGSTEN, ZINC . . . .216
XVIII. METALS : GOLD, SILVER 227
XIX. COAL . . 239
XX. DYES '. . . . . . .250
XXI. PETROLEUM ..... . .263
XXII. RUBBER . ... . .269
XXIII. TIMBER . ..... 277
XXIV. CONCLUSION 280
APPENDIX II. IMPORTS OF RAW COTTON (1913-17) . 286
APPENDIX III. THE BRITISH EMPIRE: AREA AND
POPULATION, 1919 . . . . . .287
APPENDIX IV. NOTES ON THE FORMER GERMAN
COLONIES 289
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PART I
PAGE
Cultivated Wheat .13
Reaping Wheat (Canadian Government Emigration Department) 16
Wheat in Stook (Canadian Government Emigration Department) 17
Barley. . ' '. ' . 22
Oats . ... . . . ..... 25
Maize in Flower ; open cob ; cob . . . . , . 28
A Field of Maize . . . . ....'. .29
Rice Cultivation (Malay States Agency) . . . . . 31
Arrowroot . . . . . . . ... .34
Mob of Hereford Cows (Queensland Department of Agriculture and
Stock, Queensland) ........ 37
Aberdeen Herring Boats (Royal Geographical Society) . . 42
Aberdeen Fish Wharf . . . . '. . . . 43
Fish Curing, New Brunswick (Canadian Government Emigration
Department) ......... 45
Apple Orchard in Bloom (Canadian Government Emigration
Department) . . ! - .. ' . . . .60
Apples (Canadian Government Emigration Department) . . 61
Banana Plant . . . .... . . .62
Bunch of Bananas . . . . . .63
Twenty-dozen bunch of Bananas, Buderim Mountain (Queens-
land Government) . . ... . . . . 65
Citrus Orchard . . . . . . . . 66
Tangerine Oranges . . . . . .67
Packing Citrus Fruit for Export, South Africa (Union of South
Africa Government) . ....';. . . . . 69
Date Palms in Fruit (Government of Queensland) . .'.... 72
Date Fruit (Government of Queensland) . . . . .73
Picking Grapes, South Africa (Government of the Union of South
Africa) ; . . 75
Peach Trees, Quensland . . ..' " , . . . . 77
Pineapple Fields, Singapore (Malay States Agency) . . .79
Branch of Almond Tree '..;.. . 80
Sugar Cane in Arrow (West India Committee) . . . . 85
Tea Plant . ' ,. " . . .92
Tea Flower . * . . . . -. . .93
Rolling Tea . . . . . . ... .94
Withering Tea . .95
Coffee Plant .98
Coffee Flower and Fruit . . . , .. . "
Picking Cacao (West India Committee) . ... . 102
Opening Cacao (West India Committee) . . . . .103
8 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
Cinnamon Plant ....... .108
Pepper Vine .
Pepper Berries
Ginger Plant
Ginger ......
Nutmeg Estate (Malay States Agency) .
Nutmeg- tree and Fruit (Science of Home Life : Nelson) .
Clove Plant (Science of Home Life: Nelson) . . . .118
Oil Palm Tree (Dr. J. B. Hurry) ... . . .122
Fruit of Oil Palm (Dr. J. B. Hurry) .
Coconut Tree (Malay States Agency)
Section of Coconut (Malay States Agency) ..
Ground-nut ....
Ground-nut flower and fruit .
Sesame Plant . . . . .."';
Sesame Seed Pod . . 137
Olive Tree and Fruit (Science of Home Life : Nelson) .
Eucalyptus Forest . 149
Field of Tobacco, South Africa (Government of the Union of
South Africa) . .'.,.. . . .155
PART II
Cotton Plant . . 162
Cotton flower ; boll ; boll open ; seed with cotton attached . 163
Cotton Ginning (West India Committee) . . . . .165
Australian Merino Sheep . . . . . . . 1 76
Sheep Shearing (Government of the Union of South Africa) . 1 77
Flax . . . * ...... . .187
Hemp .....
Field of Sisal Hemp, Queensland . . . . . .197
Ramie .198
Phormium tenax . . . . . . . . .199
Chinese women cleaning Tin (Malay States Agency) . . .217
Gold-mining, Johannesburg. Quartz being run into trucks for
Crusher (Government of the Union of South Africa) . .233
A Forest of the Coal Period 241
Indigo. Finishing Steeping Vat (Christopher Rawson, Esq., F.I.C. ) 252
Indigo. Hand Beating (Christopher Rawson, Esq., F.I.C. ). . 253
Indigo. The Beating Wheel (Christopher Rawson, Esq., F.I.C.) . 254
Indigo. Cutting into Cakes (Christopher Rawson, Esq., F.I.C.) . 255
Diagram of Gas-manufacturing Plant (Piofessor Findlay) . . 261
The First Petroleum Well in Trinidad (The West India Committee) 266
Oilfield in Trinidad (The West India Committee) . . .267
Tapping rubber trees and latex cart (Malay States Agency). . 274
Drying and packing rubber (Malay States Agency) . . 275
Forest Scene, British Columbia ...... 279
PART I
FOOD, DRINK, OIL-SEEDS, DRUGS,
AND TOBACCO
CHAPTER I
THE ASSETS OF A NATION
THE word ' assets ' originally meant ' sufficient for ' (ad
satis), and was used by lawyers to signify the property of
a person, sufficient for paying his debts, or meeting the claims
made upon him. Later on the word was used to mean the
entire property of a man, his wealth, or what he was worth,
taking into account everything of every kind that could be
said to belong to him. In the same way, the * assets ' of
a nation is the whole wealth of the nation derived from every
possible source.
Until recently we were content to go on from year to year
without taking the trouble to ascertain what our resources
were, content if only we could supply our needs cheaply at
the moment.
When we reflect that the empire stretches from Pole to
Pole, and contains within it every variety of soil and climate,
so that there is scarcely a commodity which it cannot produce,
when, moreover, we remember that the area of the empire
is 14,272,782 square miles, and that the population numbers
in all some 445 million souls, we must realize that to estimate
our resources is a task of great difficulty and complexity. As
a matter of fact no complete survey of the resources of the
empire has ever been made. Yet, although we do not possess
a complete survey, we are not at present in such a lamentable
state of ignorance as we were in the past, for in 1912 a Royal
Commission was appointed to carry out these investigations
10 ASSETS OF A NATION
with* regard to certain 'portions of the empire, and the reports
which the Commissioners have issued from time to time
within the last few years have given us much valuable infor-
mation.
It is evident that in estimating the wealth of a nation
one of the first considerations is the amount of food which
it can produce. ' Can you grow enough wheat to supply your
children with bread ? ' ' How rich are your fishing- grounds ? '
are some of the questions which at once occur to us.
Next we must consider the raw materials available for
manufactures. ' How much wool do your sheep produce ?
Are you dependent on other countries for cotton and flax ?
And then we go on to coal and iron, tin and copper, and so
on through a never-ending list of commodities, which are
usually summed up as food, raw materials, and the produce
of mines.
But all this is only the beginning. In studying the resources
of a nation we are very soon brought face to face with the
question of labour. Fertile though the soil may be, and
favourable the climate, still the seed must be sown and
the crops reaped before we can obtain a supply of food, and
for this labour is necessary, so that after we have considered
the extent of land available, and the suitability of its climate
and soil, we must go on to inquire how many men there are
and whether they are willing to work. Coal, too, and iron
may lie buried in the earth, but unless men are willing to dig
them out and bring them to the surface they are useless.
There is another point. While the land is being ploughed
and the crops reaped, no profit is being obtained, yet the
labourers must be fed ; and so, too, in the case of mines,
expensive machinery has to be bought and carried a long
distance, and numbers of men have to work for many months,
before the mine begins to pay, and in almost every other
enterprise money has to be spent and work done before any
result can be obtained ; we must, therefore, have a store
of money saved up for this kind of outlay before we can
THE ASSETS OF A NATION 11
make use of our resources, in other words we must have
capital.
The extent of the land, then, the suitability of its soil and
climate, the abundance of minerals, the number of inhabitants,
the amount of capital, are some of the points to be considered
in estimating the resources of a country.
One thing more. We must never forget when making up
our accounts that the world does not stand still ; circumstances
are constantly changing, so that what is true to-day may not
be true to-morrow. To-day, the primaeval forest stands, and
its priceless treasures are carried thousands of miles to the
people of other lands ; but to-morrow the ordered plantation
has taken its place, and scientific cultivation has superseded
the reckless profusion of nature.
And, again, the mine which to-day seems inexhaustible and
is the wonder of the world, to-morrow is empty and forgotten.
To a certain extent even the boundless sea may fail us, and
fish, which were at one time plentiful, may become rare.
Nations, too, may change their customs, and those which have
hitherto imported their manufactured goods may gradually
build factories of their own and elect to supply their own
needs.
So that it is not enough to know where we stand, supremely
important as that knowledge is we must know also the direc-
tion in which we are tending ; and if we are to remain a great
nation we must cultivate the habit of adapting ourselves to
changing conditions and to less favourable circumstances.
Bearing all these considerations in mind, we may surely
reckon, as not least among the assets of a nation, the intelli-
gence of her sons ; the clearness of vision, which enables us
' to perceive and know what things we ought to do ', and the
firmness of purpose, which enables us ' faithfully to fulfil the
same '.
12
CHAPTER II
CEREALS
Ceres was the Roman name of the Greek goddess, Demeter
(Mother- Earth). After her daughter Persephone was carried
off by the god of the Lower World, Demeter left Olympus,
the abode of the gods, and dwelt on earth among men, con-
ferring blessings when she was kindly treated, but punishing
severely those who neglected her. As of all the products of
agriculture edible grains are the most important, she came to
be more especially regarded as their protector, and they are
hence called cereals. The most important cereals are wheat,
barley, oats, rye, maize, rice, and millet.
CORN (A.-S. Corn). ' Except a corn of wheat fall into tho
ground and die, it abideth alone.' St. John xii. 2.
The word corn properly means any hard edible seed, but
its use is generally restricted to the seeds of cereals . In England
we use the word to mean wheat, in Scotland oats are referred
to as corn, and in the United States maize. Americans say,
f It is a good year for wheat and rye, but bad for corn.'
WHEAT (A.-S. hwoete, white). ' But the wheat and the rye
were not smitten for they were not grown up.* Exodus ix. 32
(1491 B.C.).
This quotation from the book of Exodus refers to the plague
of hail which smote ' throughout all the land of Egypt all that
was in the field '. From time immemorial wheat has been
a staple crop in Egypt, and to-day it still holds its own,
especially in Upper Egypt, though even in the Delta more than
one-third of the land is under wheat.
Cultivated wheat is a plant of the genus Triticum belonging
to the order Gramineae (Grasses). It grows to about three feet
high, sending up from its root several erect and hollow stems.
-Each of its few leaves consists of a long sheath, wrapped closely
round its stem, and a long blade which narrows gradually to a
sharp point. At the end of each stem is a spike or ear of grain.
WHEAT
13
The spike consists of a central axis, and spikelets (or groups
of flowers) arranged alternately on each side of it. There are
sometimes as many as five flowers in a group, but often only
three, and as the top flower is always barren, the grains or seeds
in a spikelet vary in number from two to four. Each grain is
enclosed in two light papery husks called pales, and at the base
of the spikelet there are
two more called glumes.
There are many varieties
of wheat, two of the chief
in England being winter
wheat and summer wheat.
The former is sown in the
autumn and reaped the
next year, the latter is
sown in the spring of the
year in which it is har-
vested. Summer wheat is
bearded, that is, one of
its pales ha^ a long awn or
bristle.
When the wheat is cut
down in the field it is bound
into bundles called sheaves,
and a small collection of
these (in England twelve)
set up together on the
ground is called a stook.
In former days the husks were removed by threshing the
ears with a flail, and this primitive method is still practised
in remote country districts, but in most places the threshing
is now done by machinery. The wheat grain thus released
is of a bright yellow colour, rounded on one side and with
a groove down the other. The husks, i.e. the pales and glumes
when separated from the grain, are called chaff, and the stalks
straw.
CULTIVATED WHEAT
14 WHEAT
The grains are ground and the coarser and darker bran
(the outside covering of the seed) is bolted (i. e. sifted) from
the finer white flour. Bread made from the unsifted meal is
known as brown bread, that made from the white flour as
white bread. Of all the cereals wheat is the most nutritious,
and it contains a substance called glutin, which enables it,
when made into dough, to hold together ; bread made from
other grains has a tendency to fall to pieces.
MACARONI (from the Greek, malcar, blessed, hence a very
dainty food) is composed of long slender tubes made of wheat
flour. Vermicelli (from Latin vermicellus, a little worm) is
prepared in the same manner as macaroni, but the tubes are
slenderer. Semolina is also prepared from wheat grains.
Starch is obtained from coarsely ground wheat. The meal is
steeped in water for two or three weeks, at the end of which
time the liquid, which has now become acid, is drawn off,
and the substance which remains in the vat is an impure form
of starch. This is subjected to other processes of washing and
drying, and finally pure starch is obtained.
CULTIVATION. Wheat requires a moderate amount of
moisture while it is growing, and plenty of warm sunshine to
ripen the grain after it is formed. Of soils it prefers a rich
clay, but it will grow well on chalky ground, and also on
alluvium provided they are not too poor.
SOURCES OF SUPPLY
Britain. 1 The soil and climate of the east of England 2
are admirably suited to the growing of wheat. The average
rainfall is under 30 inches (in some parts less than 25), and
the summer temperature ranges from 64 F. in the south to
60 F. in the north. Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Cambridge,
Essex, Norfolk, Suffolk, Huntingdon, and Bedford are our
chief wheat-producing counties.
1 In 1914 Britain (i. e. the United Kingdom) produced 31 million cwt. ;
in 1918, 46 million.
2 In 1914 England and Wales produced 29 million cwt. ; in 1918, 42
million.
WHEAT 15
Scotland and Ireland also grow wheat ; but the quantity
produced is small.
Canada. As the traveller from Eastern Canada enters the
Prairie Provinces in the winter time, and gazes out from the
carriage windows on the apparently limitless expanse of
monotonous snow, it is difficult to imagine a more dreary
scene. Later on in the season, however, these same level
plains present a very different appearance : north and south,
and east and west, as far as the eye can see, they are covered
with ripening grain, for this is indeed the land of wheat, and
here lies our hope for the future.
The first of these provinces is Manitoba (area 73,732 square
miles). The winters here are very cold, but the summers are
hot, and the grain ripens before the frost can injure it ; the
rainfall is moderate, but sufficient, and the soil is a rich, deep,
alluvial loam.
Saskatchewan, larger than Manitoba, has in the south-east
a similar climate and soil, but in the south-west suffers
occasionally from insufficient rain ; her yield of wheat is,
however, greater than that of Manitoba.
Alberta, situated on the eastern slopes of the Rockies, was
at one time considered unsuitable for the production of wheat
owing to lack of rain. It has, however, been found that by
means of irrigation (here easy on account of the slope of the
land, and the numerous streams flowing down from the
mountains) wheat can be grown very successfully. The plains
here are about 3,000 feet above sea-level, but the mild Chinook
wind blows over from the Pacific, and makes the cold less
intense than it is farther east.
In these provinces there are three chief lines of railway,
the Canadian Pacific, the Grand Trunk Pacific, and the
Canadian Northern. The latter has built short branches west
and north of Edmonton, the capital of Alberta. The grain
is sent by rail eastwards as far as Lake Superior, whence it
is sent by water to Europe. When the railway from Winnipeg
to Hudson Bay is built it will be possible in the summer
16
WHEAT
time to send us wheat even more expeditiously than at
present.
Farther north, beyond the railways and beyond the
prairies, in the valley of the Peace River, there are magnificent
wheatlands, and even in Yukon Territory in latitude 63 N.
wheat is cultivated. This is almost as far north as Archangel
and Iceland.
The other provinces also produce wheat, though not in
such abundance as the Prairie Provinces, and Ontario, which
REAPING WHEAT
produces the most, uses a large part of it for feeding
stock.
The Dominion produces more than 162 million bushels
of wheat a year, and she is capable of producing much more
than this. It has been stated on high authority that if one-
fourth of the suitable lands in Manitoba and the southern
parts of the other two Prairie Provinces were annually under
wheat the yield would be more than 812 million bushels.
' At the present time Canada stands fifth on the list of the
wheat-producing countries. It is difficult to see why in years
WHEAT
17
to come she should not be first among the countries of the
world in the amount of her exportable surplus of wheat,
if not in total production. If by the development of new
routes such as the Panama Canal and possibly the Hudson
Bay routes, and if by the improvement of the old routes such
as the St. Lawrence River, the cost of the transport of wheat
from the great Prairie Provinces of Canada to the markets of
the United Kingdom can be reduced, the problem of feeding the
industrial masses of Great Britain will be more than half solved. ' *
WHEAT IN STOOK
Australia.
1. New South Wales. Westwards from Sydney rise the
Blue Mountains, steep and difficult of access. They form part
of the Great Dividing Range, which stretches from Cape York
to Wilson's Promontory, and which separates the Coastal
Plain from the ulterior of the Continent.
Beyond the mountains are tablelands, and farther west
still, the western slopes. These slopes have an elevation of
1 Dominions Royal Commission, 1917.
2203
18 WHEAT
between 800 and 2,000 feet, and a rainfall of from 18 to
30 inches.
Next come the Western Plains where the land is only a few
hundred feet above sea-level, and the rainfall varies from
13 to 20 inches. The part of the plains between the Murray
and Darling Rivers is called the Riverina.
All this land west of the Dividing Range was at one time
pastoral land and supported millions of fine merino sheep.
But of late years, though sheep-farming still forms the chief
industry, wheat-growing, especially on the slopes and plains,
has made enormous strides, and the area under cultivation
is constantly increasing.
This revolution has been brought about by various circum-
stances, first perhaps in importance being the production of
new varieties of wheat, varieties which will thrive under the
conditions here presented, namely, greater heat and less
moisture. The heat in the middle of the day is sometimes
100 F. and the rainfall, as already stated, varies from
30 inches to 13. Wherever there are 20 inches of rain wheat can
be grown without risk, and such places are said to be within
the Safety Belt ; but as new varieties of seed are produced,
cultivation is pushed farther and farther west into drier lands.
Besides the production of new varieties of seed, the growing
of wheat in dry lands has been further facilitated by the
introduction of a new method of farming known as dry farming.
The farmer ploughs up his land in July or August, and does
not sow his seed until the following April or May. During
that time the ground on the surface is frequently broken up,
so that the rain which falls may sink in, and not evaporate,
as it would if a hard crust were allowed to form. By this system
the moisture is retained in the land so that each crop gets two
years' rainfall instead of one.
The yield of wheat per acre is less than in moister climates,
but the cost of production is not so great owing to various
circumstances, chiefly perhaps to the use of labour-saving
machines.
WHEAT 19
One Australian invention worthy of notice is the Complete
Harvester. This machine not only cuts down the wheat,
and threshes the grain from the chaff, but also winnows the
grain and puts it into bags, so that it only remains to sew
these up and the grain is ready for market.
The Riverina at present is the chief wheat-growing district,
but, as less than one-tenth of the land within the Safety Belt
is under cultivation, it is evident that there is room for a great
expansion of this industry in the future. New lines of railway
are constantly being built, so that transport will soon cease to
be a difficulty.
2. Victoria. Of the crops grown in Victoria wheat stands
first, and the districts in which it is chiefly cultivated are the
Northern, Wimmera, and Mallee Districts. The Northern
District, with a rainfall of from 20 to 25 inches, is situated to
the south of the west bend of the Murray River, and contains
the towns Echuca and Bendigo. The Wimmera and Mallee
are to the west of it.
Both in South Australia and Western Australia wheat is
one of the principal crops. In the former state it is grown
chiefly in the neighbourhood of the Spencer and Vincent
Gulfs, in the latter south of 28 S.
Queensland also, like New South Wales, has on her western
tablelands and plains vast areas with a soil and climate
suitable for wheat, and there is little doubt but that in the
future these lands will be covered with crops of grain.
Although Australia's contribution to the empire's supply of
wheat is no mean one, it is evident that it bears but a small
proportion to her capacity of production.
In this connexion again it should be noted that easy
communications are absolutely necessary to the success of
grain-growing, which cannot be profitably undertaken at
a distance of more than twelve miles from a railway station
on account of the great cost of haulage. Therefore, there are
great areas awaiting the plough that can be put to no practical
use until they are traversed by railways.' l
1 Dominions Royal Commission.
B 2
20 WHEAT
The Union of South Africa. Wheat is grown in the south-
west and north-east of the Cape Province, and in the Orange
Free State and the Transvaal, but in most parts of the Union
the rainfall is insufficient, and the chief hope for wheat-growing
in the future lies in the adoption of the system of dry
farming.
Rhodesia. By irrigation everywhere, and in some districts
without irrigation, wheat can be grown in Rhodesia.
Kenya Colony. Wheat is now successfully grown at Njoro,
and it is considered certain that a variety of wheat more
suitable to the climate will be produced and that in the
future the wheat^growing industry will be a very nourishing
one.
India. The Punjab (punj-ab, five rivers) lies to the south
of the Himalayas and to the east of the Sulaiman Mountains ;
except in its northern part it has very little rain. The great
bare tracts of land between its rivers are terribly hot and dusty
in summer, though in the winter the weather is cool and some-
times frosty. The rivers, however, fed by the snows of the
mountains, make irrigation possible, and innumerable canals
bring water to the parched fields. Much of the soil is clay or
loam, and in consequence this is one of the chief wheat-growing
districts of India. Kurachi is its port.
The North- West Frontier Province lies on the west side of
the Indus, and its Lowlands resemble those of the Punjab ;
it also produces wheat.
In the Deccan the Central Provinces have a deep, rich, black
soil, and a hot and dry climate. Great quantities of wheat are
grown here and exported from Calcutta.
The problems and difficulties which perplex us in India
are altogether different from those in other parts of the
empire. There are 200 persons here to the square mile, the
wants of the labourers are few and their wages low. Transport
by rail, and river, and canal is easy and cheap.
New Zealand. The provinces of Canterbury and Otago on
the lee side of the mountains are sheltered from the rain-
WHEAT, BARLEY 21
bearing winds and produce excellent wheat, but though the
yield per acre is high, New Zealand does not at present produce
enough grain for any considerable export.
Cyprus suffers from uncertain rainfall, but on her central
lowlands produces wheat in sufficient quantity for export. 1
SUMMARY. In the year before the war Britain grew not
much more than one-fifth of the wheat she needed.
Of her imports about one-half 2 were from foreign countries,
chiefly from the United States and the Argentine Republic,
though a considerable quantity came from Russia. 3
Of countries within the empire, Canada, British India, and
Australia sent her the largest supplies. 4
' In foreign countries, both European and extra-European,
the increase of the wheat area is proceeding at practically the
same rate as the increase of population ; in the British Empire
the wheat area is developing far more rapidly, so that the
Empire as a whole is becoming more self-supporting.' 5
It has been estimated that the amount of wheat actually
produced within the empire is sufficient to supply the needs
of the empire to the extent of over 95 per cent., but at present
much of this produce is sold to foreign countries.
BARLEY (Hordeum vulgare) . Few things in nature are more
beautiful than a field of ripening barley swaying gently in the
summer sunshine. It is a plant closely resembling wheat in
its growth, but its spikes, instead of standing erect, droop
downwards, and it always has one leaf close to its spike.
1 The production of wheat in the empire during the five years (1909-13)
averaged about 705 million bushels a year, made up as follows : United
Kingdom, 59-6 million ; British India, 356-6 million ; Canada, 184-3 million ;
Australia, 90-5 million ; New Zealand, 6-9 million ; South Africa, 5 million ;
Cyprus, 2 million.
2 During the war the amounts have varied ; in 1917 two-thirds of our
imports were from foreign countries, chiefly from the United States.
3 In 1913 from the United States 34 million cwt. ; from the Argentine;
14 million ; from Russia, 5 million.
4 In 1913 from Canada 21 million cwt. ; British India, 18 million ;
Australia, 10 million.
5 ' The total production of wheat within the British Empire, which was
227,500,000 cwt. in 1901, had risen to 399.700,000 cwt. in 1911, an increase
of 75 per cent.'
22
BARLEY
The spikelets have usually only one flower. They are
arranged in sets of three on each side of the axis of the spike,
but only the middle one as a rule is developed, so that each
set produces only one seed or grain. The grain is enclosed
BARLEY
in two pales, the lower one of which is extended into a long
awn.
Barley, as usually sold, is the grain enclosed in its pales
(or husks) ; this corresponds to wheat before it is threshed.
Scotch barley is the grain without its husks. Pearl barley,
in addition to having had the husks removed, has been
BARLEY 23
divested of the outer covering of the grain ; it has also been
polished and rounded. Patent barley is the meal obtained by
grinding pearl barley to powder ; it corresponds to the flour
from which white bread is made.
Barley is much less nutritious than wheat, and though
it is largely used to feed stock, its chief use is for the prepara-
tion of malt, which is obtained by steeping barley in water
until it begins to grow and then drying it in a kiln. Beer
is a decoction of malt and hops. Whisky is a spirit distilled
from barley.
SOURCES OF SUPPLY. Barley can be grown on lighter soils
than wheat, and it requires less heat to ripen it ; consequently,
even when the summers in the east of England are too cool
for successful wheat-growing, good crops of barley can be
obtained ; nevertheless, it is a less important crop in England
than either wheat or oats. In Scotland and Ireland the
contrary is the case, more land being under barley than under
wheat. The variety chiefly grown in Scotland is that known
as bere ; in this kind the two spikelets which are usually
barren are developed.
In the higher parts of British India barley is grown as
a winter crop.
All the provinces of Canada grow barley, but Manitoba
produces most, and Ontario stands second. Though a large
proportion of the crop is used for feeding stock, a very con-
siderable amount remains over for export.
In Australia the states of Victoria and South Australia are
the leading barley states.
SUMMARY. We are able in Britain to produce 60 per cent,
of our requirements.
Of our imports from empire sources British India and Canada
supply us with the largest amount, Cyprus and Australia
following next in order.
Of foreign countries Russia, the United States, Turkey, and
Roumania send us the largest supplies.
24
CHAPTER III
CEREALS (continued)
OATS (Avena saliva). The oat plant sends up stems similar
to those of wheat, but its flowers are not arranged in the same
manner. Each stem ends in a cluster with many irregular
branches.
The spikelets usually consist of two flowers, but the upper
one is generally undeveloped. The spikelet is joined to the
stem by a very slender stalk, so that it nods in the slightest
breeze.
The glumes are large and quite enclose the flowers. Each
flower is surrounded by two pales, and on the lower pale,
a little above the middle, is a long awn which projects far
beyond the glume.
Oats, such as we give to horses, are enclosed in their pales,
but the grains which are ground to make oatmeal have been
divested of them ; they still have, however, a skin or outer
coating, and the meal obtained by grinding them after this
coating has been removed is generally known as groats : it
corresponds to white wheaten flour.
Oats rival, or even excel, wheat in nutritive qualities, and
they contain more oil than any other grain except maize.
CULTIVATION. They need a cooler and moister climate than
wheat or barley, and can be grown in more northern lands.
Almost any kind of soil suits them, though they thrive best
on a rich one.
SOURCES OF SUPPLY. In Scotland oats form the most charac-
teristic crop and they are grown as far north as the Orkneys.
In Ireland, too, large crops are produced, while in England
the acreage under them is greater (or was in 1913) than that
under wheat.
In our empire Canada stands first in the production of
oats ; they form, indeed, her second greatest crop, and she
stands fourth among the oat-producing countries of the world.
OATS
25
Saskatchewan has the most land under oats, Ontario, Mani-
toba, and Quebec following next in order ; but the moister
eastern provinces, especially little Prince Edward Island,
also grow large quantities.
OATS
Newfoundland, with her cool moist climate, is able to grow
oats successfully, though not the other cereals.
Of the states in the Commonwealth of Australia, Victoria
stands first and New South Wales second in the production of
oats.
26 OATS, MAIZE
New Zealand has a climate eminently suited to them,
and produces nearly as large a crop as the whole of Australia.
SUMMARY. We are able to produce in Britain 75 per cent,
of our requirements.
Of our imports in 1913 we bought from foreign countries
(mainly from the Argentine, Germany, Russia, and the United
States) 15 million cwt., and from British possessions 2 million,
chiefly from Canada, New Zealand and Australia contributing
smaller amounts.
MAIZE (Tsa Mays}. Among the items of expenditure in the
palace of the Mexican emperor in the fifteenth century we
read of 4,900,000 fanegas of maize. (A fanega was equal to
about 100 lb.).
The word maize is supposed to be derived from the Haytian
word mahiz, and Mexico is considered the probable home
of the plant, though now it is grown in nearly all warm
countries.
It is thus described by a writer in the year A. D. 1600 :
' This Mais will grow in a moyst fatty and hot ground, and
branche twice a yeare, it is not sowed like other corne, but
it is thrust into the ground as we used to do beanes in our
Countrey : it lieth not long in the ground, but soone springeth
up, andgroweth higher than a man's length above the ground,
like to great Reeds that grow in the water, or in drowned land,
wherewith husbandmen used to cover their sheds : every
Reed hath his eares whereon the corne groweth, and notwith-
standing that they are very heavy eares, as big as yong
cucumbers, and sharpe above like the top of a steeple, yet
every Reed hath seven or eight eares upon it. I have told
five hundred and fifty graines upon one Reed, which came
of one Graine alone. They are of divers colours, as White.
Blacke, Yellow, Purple, etc., and sometimes you shall have
three or foure colours tnereof in one eare. There are two
sorts thereof, great and small, the great Graine is stronger than
the small. They use the Reed to cover their houses.' 1
It was introduced into Europe by Columbus, and in this
country is often called Indian Corn, this being the name
1 A Description of Guinea, A. D. 1(500.
MAIZE 27
given to it by the first settlers in America, but the Americans
themselves call it simply corn.
It forms a handsome -looking crop ; under favourable
circumstances its great strong stalks grow to a height of
eighteen feet, ' higher than a man's length ', but in other
places they do not attain more than three feet.
At the end of the stalk is a cluster of slightly drooping
stems, and along these the male spikelets are arranged in
pairs. Lower down and occupying the space between one of
the leaves and the main stem of the plant occurs a spike
having the female flowers arranged along its axis. The
flowers are very numerous and closely packed, and each has
a curious long silky style which extends beyond the leafy
bracts in which the spike is sheathed. When the seeds are
ripe they are generally of a rich bright golden-yellow, and
arranged on their solid thick axis form a ' cob ' varying in
length from three inches to a foot. These seeds or grains,
when ground with their skins or outer coating left on them,
form wha.t is variously called maize meal, hominy, or polenta.
It is yellow in colour. The fine white flour, made by grinding
the grains when they have been divested of their outer
coating, is called corn-flour, and makes excellent cakes and
blancmanges, but, as it is deficient in glutin, bread made from
it will not hold together. Large quantities of starch are manu-
factured from maize, and of all the cereals it is the richest in
fatty matters.
SOURCES OF SUPPLY. It is not a British crop; our sun is not hot
enough to ripen it satisfactorily, and though a certain amount
of it is grown it is generally cut as a green crop for fodder.
South Africa at present is the chief maize -exporting country
within the empire, and, in addition to the grain she exports,
she grows large quantities to supply the natives with food,
and large quantities to feed stock, so that ' mealies ', as it
is called, is a very characteristic product of South Africa.
It flourishes in most of the wheat-growing districts and
also in the lowlands of the Transvaal and Natal where the sun
28
MAIZE
would burn up wheat. Large quantities, too, are produced
in Kenya Colony, while in Southern Rhodesia it is the staple
crop.
Southern Rhodesia, which is considerably larger than the
United Kingdom, lies entirely within the tropics, but in the
. . MAIZE. A, in flower. B, open cob. C, cob
central part of the country, running roughly from west to
east, is a large stretch of elevated land (rising in its highest
parts to 7,000 feet), which slopes northward to the Zambesi
and southwards to the Limpopo. Above 4,000 feet the climate
on* these high plateaux is altogether delightful ; the heat in
summer is never unbearable, and in the winter day after day
MAIZE
29
the weather is warm, and bright, and sunny, though the nights
are cool.
The rain falls in the summer, from the end of October until
the beginning of April, but during the rest of the year it
is dry, and one can live entirely out of doors. All kinds of
FIELD OF MAIZE, SOUTH AFRICA
cereals can be grown in Southern Rhodesia, but maize, both
on the plateaux and in the lowlands, forms the most luxuriant
crop.
Before the war we bought less than 1 million cwt. from
British possessions, and over 48 millions from foreign countries,
mainly from the Argentine, though the United States,
Roumania, and Russia sent us considerable amounts. During
the war the imports from the Argentine decreased, while
30 MAIZE, RICE
_
those from the United States, South Africa, Canada, and
British India increased
RICE (Oryza sativa). Rice, like wheat and the other cereals,
is a grass, and sends up long hollow stems varying from two
feet in height to ten feet. The lower stems have many branches
which send out roots from their joints. They grow in water, 1
so that the cultivation of rice is never a very healthy occu-
pation.
At the end of each stem is a cluster of branches with spike-
lets arranged along them. Each spikelet produces one grain
which is surrounded by two pales ; these are slightly hairy
on the upper part.
The rice usually sold in our shops is the grain without its
husks (i.e. pales or glumes) ; when the pales are left on it
is called paddy. The grains when ground are not usually
called rice -flour but ground rice. Of all grains it is the one
grown most extensively for food, yet it is less nutritious than
any of them. It is light and easy of digestion, and is some-
times used instead of potatoes, for which, however, it forms
a very poor substitute.
CULTIVATION. Great heat and abundance of moisture are
necessary for the growth of rice, and it is cultivated in
all the low-lying rainy lands within the tropics. India is
usually considered to be its home, and it has been one
of the chief crops there and in China from the remotest
ages.
SOURCES OF SUPPLY. The great Deltas of the rivers flowing
into the Bay of Bengal are the chief rice -growing lands in the
empire ; here the rice-fields cover millions of acres of moist
land, the rainfall is everywhere abundant, but nowhere more
so than in Assam, where it sometimes reaches the astonishing
total of 600 inches in a year.
Yet though so much rice is grown in Bengal, the population
is so great that enormous quantities of it are required for
1 There is a variety which grows on the slopes of hills, inland, but it is
not of such importance as the lowland kind.
RICE, MILLET
31
home consumption, and it is from the low-lying lands of
Burmah that we receive our chief supplies. Rangoon is the
chief centre for export.
We import about 5 million cwt. from British India, and
a certain amount from foreign countries, chiefly from French
Indo-China and Siam.
RICE CULTIVATION, MALAY STATES
MILLET (Sorghum vulgare) . ' The Millie hath long eares, and
is a seed of colour like Hempe-seed, and long like Canarie-
seed, it hath no shels, but groweth in a little huske, and is
very white within. ... It groweth and is ripe in three months,
and when it is cut down, it lyeth a month after in the fields
to dry, and then the eares are cut off and bound in sheafes,
and so carryed home to their Houses. They use the straw
to cover their Houses withall. This Millie is a very excellent
graine, hath a good taste and is wholesome to eate, it is sweet
in your mouth, but gnasheth in your teeth, which cometh
of the stone wherewith they grind it.' l
1 ' A Description of Guinea, A. D. 1600 ' (Purchas, His Pilgrimes).
32
MILLET
Millet is sometimes called Guinea corn or durrah. It is
largely grown in Africa and India for home use, but is not
exported to other countries.
Wheat.
Foreign.
United States,
Argentina,
Russia.
CEREALS
SOURCES OF SUPPLY
British.
Britain,
Canada,
British India,
Australia,
New Zealand.
Remarks.
Britain produces about one-fifth
of the wheat she consumes.
Of imports 46 per cent, are from
empire sources. The empire
actually produces 95 per cent.
of the amount required by the
empire : at present much of
this is sold to foreign countries.
Barley. Russia, Britain, Britain produces 60 per cent, of
United States, British India, her requirements. Of imports
Turkey, Canada, Cyprus, 27 per cent, are from empire
Roumania. Australia. sources.
Oats. Argentina, Britain, Britain produces 75 per e nt. of
Germany, Canada, her requirements. Of imports
Russia, New Zealand, 12 per cent, are from empire
United States. Australia. sources.
Maize. Argentina, British South Of imports about 3 per cent, are
United States, Africa, from empire sources, but re-
Roumania. British India, cently the percentage has be-
Canada. come higher.
Rice.
Russia,
Siam.
British India
(Burma).
Of imports about 60 per cent, are
from empire sources.
CHAPTER IV
SAGO, LENTILS, ARROWROOT, TAPIOCA
SAGO. Our word Sago is a form of the Malay word sagu,
which means bread, for sago forms the chief food of thousands
of the natives of the Malay Archipelago.
The tree from which sago is obtained is a palm, calded
Metroxylon Sagu. Metro is from metra, meaning marrow or
pith, and xylon is the Greek for tree, so the sago palm is the
tree with a pith. It grows to a height of thirty or forty feet,
SAGO, LENTILS 33
and, like all palms, its trunk is marked with the scars of
fallen leaves, but these do not fall off until the tree is many
years old, and, as they have great sheaths at their bases
which wrap it completely round, the trunk appears to be
shorter and thicker than it really is. The leaves are enormous,
measuring as much as twenty feet in length. They are
pinnate -shaped with very numerous leaflets, the middle ones
of which are often as much as two or three feet long.
In its natural condition, when about ten or fifteen years
old the tree blossoms and then dies. But on a sago plantation
the trees are felled just as they begin to flower, because the
pith is considered to be in the best condition at that moment.
The trunks are cut open and the white pith inside is bruised
into a coarse powder. It is then removed from the trunk,
thrown into water, and stirred about until the starchy con-
stituents are dissolved. This starchy water is then drained
through a sieve and allowed to settle. After a time the clear
water is drawn off and the starch at the bottom of the tank
is dried ; it is called sago-meal.
For export the moist sago is rubbed through sieves of
different degrees of fineness, and is thus formed into grains,
called according to their size pearl, or medium, or bullet.
A single tree produces as much as 900 Ib. Sago is a light,
nutritious, and easily digested food.
CULTIVATION. The sago-palm, like rice, grows in swampy
places where there is plenty of rain and great heat, so that
rice and sago plantations are often found side by side. The
tree sends up suckers from its roots, and it is from these that
new trees are obtained.
SOURCES OF SUPPLY. The Malay Peninsula is considered to
be the home of the sago palm, and it is from there that we
obtain our chief supplies.
LENTILS (Lens esculenta). 'And Esau said to Jacob, " Feed
me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage. ..." Then Jacob
gave Esau bread and pottage of lentils.' Gen. xxv. 30, 34.
Those lentils which Jacob gave Esau were the Egyptian
2203
34
LENTILS, ARROWROOT
kind, which have a dark skin, but within are of a bright-red
colour. There is another variety which has a grey skin and
is yellow inside.
/They are the seeds of the Lens esculenta, a slender little
plant resembling our vetch. It grows about a foot high, and
has pinnate leaves ending in a long curling tendril. The
flowers are pale blue, in form
like those of a pea. The pods,
which are about an inch long,
contain usually two dark-
looking seeds.
As a food lentils are ex-
ceedingly nutritious, though
not very digestible.
The plant requires only a
moderate amount of heat and
will grow in a fairly poor soil.
Sources of Supply. British
India (especially the Central
Provinces and Madras) is at
present our chief source of
supply. Here they are grown
as a winter crop and often
follow rice.
Large quantities are also
grown as a winter crop in
Egypt, and considering the
modest needs of the plant, it would seem that it could be
grown in many other parts of the empire.
ARROWROOT is a white powdery substance which when
rubbed between the fingers produces a curious crackling noise.
It is obtained from the tubers of the Maranta arundinaceae,
a plant which grows from two to three feet high, and has long
pale -green leaves and yellow flowers.
It is a native of the West Indies (where it is grown exten-
sively, especially in St. Vincent, the Bermudas, and Jamaica),
ARROWROOT
ARROWROOT, TAPIOCA 35
but it is now cultivated in Bengal, the East Indies, and other
tropical countries.
The name arrowroot is a corruption of araruta, which in the
language of the South American Indians means mealy root.
Great care is taken in preparing the meal from the tubers.
These are first peeled and then crushed to a milky juice.
Water is then added and the mixture is allowed to settle.
The sediment after further washing is what we call arrowroot.
All our imports are from British countries, mainly the West
Indies.
TAPIOCA is a starchy granular substance obtained from
the poisonous tubers of the Janipha manihot, a native of Brazil,
though now grown in many tropical countries. The tubers
are heated and pressed ; during this process the poisonous
elements are eliminated, and the wholesome food which we
call tapioca is obtained.
Our imports come chiefly from Malaya and Java.
SUMMARY
Sources of Supply.
Foreign. British. Remarks.
Sago. Siam, Java, Malaya. Practically all our imports are
and the from Malaya.
Netherlands.
Lentils. Germany, India. More than three-quarters from
Russia. India.
Arrowroot. West Indies. None from foreign countries.
Tapioca. Java and the Malaya. A little more than half of total
Netherlands. imports are from Malaya.
CHAPTER V
MEAT AND DAIRY PRODUCE
BEEF. We produce in Britain about 60 per cent, of our
requirements, the rest we have to import.
Practically all the chilled meat came from the Argentine,
and of the frozen meat the Argentine supplied over half the
C2
36 MEAT AND DAIRY PRODUCE
total quantity, the rest coming from British possessions, so
that not only did we not produce enough for our needs, but
of our imports less than one-sixth came from countries
within the Empire.
Of empire countries Australia is the largest exporter of
frozen beef, and in Australia Queensland is the chief cattle
state. The Coastal Belt and the land near the Gulf of Carpen-
taria are the principal cattle districts, though in the extreme
west also there are a large number. Brisbane, Rockhampton,
Gladstone, and Townsville are some of the towns from which
the frozen beef is exported. New South Wales stands next to
Queensland as a cattle country, and in many other states
there is good pasture, so that the export of meat might be
greatly increased.
Next in importance comes Canada. In former days over the
open prairie land of Alberta there roamed countless hosts of
bison and other bovine animals, and the abundant natural
food of those lands and the dry healthy atmosphere, which
made life possible for them, has in recent times made of
Alberta the great ranching province of Canada. It is true
that nowadays wheat has to a certain extent taken the place
of grass, yet thousands of acres still remain covered with
their natural grasses and could support vast herds of cattle.
In Ontario, and nearly all the other provinces where mixed
farming is carried on, there are great numbers of cattle, and
there is nothing to prevent Canada from becoming a much
larger exporter of meat than she is at present.
South Africa. The eastern coastal lands of the Cape Pro-
vince and Natal are at present the chief cattle lands of South
Africa, but probably in the near future Rhodesia will become
the chief meat- export ing country, and already many large
ranches are in existence. One authority considers that it is
capable of supporting ten million head of cattle ; at present
there are about 750,000.
One of the difficulties against which Rhodesia has to
contend is an insufficiency of water, but in most places there
MEAT AND DAIRY PRODUCE
37
are underground streams, and these can be tapped by bore-
holes generally at a depth of 100 feet or so.
Once a good supply of water is guaranteed for the animals,
the dryness of the climate is an advantage, for it saves
them from many diseases which a moist climate is apt to
engender.
The Sudan covers an area of one million square miles and
is a great pastoral country, and although at present there is
MOB OF HEREFORD COWS, QUEENSLAND
but a small export of cattle, except from Egypt, the possi-
bilities of the future are practically limitless.
MUTTON. Of frozen mutton in 1913 l we bought over
5 million cwt., and of this nearly 4 million came from British
possessions, i. e. New Zealand and Australia.
The number of sheep in New Zealand had increased from
1J million in 1858 to over 24 million in 1913. No country
in the world has richer pastures, but, though wool has always
been a valuable article of export, until recently little use could
1 During the war the amount imported declined from 5 million to 2
million cwt.
38 MEAT AND DAIRY PRODUCE
be made of the carcases of the animals. All this, however,
has been completely changed by the adoption of the freezing
process, whereby meat may be sent thousands of miles over
the sea without deteriorating. The freezing factories of New
Zealand are among the finest in the world ; those at Wellington,
Oamaru, and Timaru are some of the most celebrated.
To an Australian, until recently, sheep meant wool, and,
as in the case of New Zealand, all the energies of the pastoral-
ists were concentrated on producing the largest amount and
finest quality of wool. ' Before freezing works were established,
boiling down was the one resource, the tallow, hides, and sheep-
skin giving a meagre return, while the carcase went to the
pigs.' And we read of a leading pastoralist bringing down
a draft of sheep from his Darling Downs Estate to Brisbane
to be boiled down, and during the process going round daily
with a handcart selling the legs of mutton at sixpence apiece.
All that is now altered and large quantities of frozen
mutton are exported, the bulk of which comes to the United
Kingdom. Queensland and New South Wales are the chief
exporting states.
In Victoria great freezing works have been established in
the sheep-raising district of Wimmera, and in New South
Wales in the Goulburn Valley. During the journey from the
iiland pastures to the sea-coast the animals lose weight. Also
the cost of carriage for frozen meat is less than for live sheep,
so that by slaughtering them on the spot, and having inland
freezing works, a great economy is effected.
Before the days of railways, wool took six or nine months by
bullock drays to reach the coast, and the cost of carriage was
more than the value of the wool. Though this state of things
has long since passed away, and railways now run from the
coast inland, yet many more are needed, and when these
are built the export of frozen meat will receive a great incentive.
Summary. Until recently we had always looked to the
United States for our chief supplies of imported meat, but
during the first ten years of this century her stocks of animals
MEAT AND DAIRY PRODUCE 39
decreased and her population increased, so that instead of
exporting her surplus to us, she has herself become a com-
petitor for supplies from the meat-producing countries.
We now import beef mainly from the Argentine and
Australia, and the imports from Australia are increasing.
Of mutton, our supplies come chiefly from New Zealand,
the Argentine, and Australia, and the supplies both from
New Zealand and Australia continue to increase.
In the case of pork, bacon, and hams, before the war the
imports from the Dominions showed a tendency to decline,
and we imported most of our fresh pork from the Netherlands,
salted pork and bacon from Denmark, and hams chiefly from
the United States.
There seems every reason to hope that in the future we
may become self-supporting with regard to meat, and that
we may receive supplies not only from Australia and New
Zealand, but also from Canada, Rhodesia, and the Sudan.
DAIRY PRODUCE. Butter, cheese, and eggs.
1. Butter. We import more than 4 million cwt. of butter,
of which over 3 millions come from foreign countries, no less
than ten contributing to our needs. Among these Denmark
stands pre-eminent, though Russia, Sweden, France, and the
Netherlands send us large supplies.
Within the empire Australia and New Zealand are our
largest exporters and Canada comes third.
2. Cheese. We are considerably more self-supporting with
regard to cheese than to butter. Canada supplies us with
more than a million hundredweights, and New Zealand
sends us considerable amounts, so that our imports from foreign
countries are not very great. Ontario is the chief cheese-
producing province of Canada.
3. Eggs. Out of the 5,000,000 which we spent on imported
eggs in 1917 over 2,000,000 went to Denmark. Less than
two-fifths of our imports were from British countries, mainly
from Canada and Egypt.
40
CHAPTER VI
FOOD FISHES
1 THE shipmen sounded, and found it twenty fathoms.'
Acts xxvii. 27-8. As you stand on the sea- shore and watch
the tide come in, you notice that gradually a strip of sand or
pebbles, where an hour or so ago you could walk in perfect
safety, becomes covered with water until at last all the beach
is hidden, and you say the tide is in. Yet, though you cannot
see it, you know that under the water the beach is there,
and if you were in a boat you could let down a line weighted
with a piece of lead and measure how deep the water was at
any particular spot.
Just in the same way beyond low- water mark there is
a sea-floor, and, though the water never recedes and makes
it visible, we can measure its depth in the same way as we did
that of the beach. Of course, the farther away from the land
you go the deeper becomes the sea, and the longer the line
you will have to let out, yet you will find that the depths
vary, and that, just as we have hills and plains on shore, so
at the bottom of the sea there are heights and hollows, places
where the sea is shallow and where it is deep.
For many years men have patiently ' taken soundings ',
as it is called, of the seas of the world, until now they can map
out the floor of the sea almost as accurately as the surface
of the land. Looking at such a map we notice that round
the British Isles the sea is nowhere deeper than 100 fathoms,
i. e. 600 feet. Beyond this shallow area the water gets deeper
and deeper until far out in the ocean depths of 3,000 and
4,000 fathoms have been sounded and even in some places
more than 5,000.
The edge of this 100-fathom area is called the 100-fathom
line. It runs close into the coasts of Spain and Portugal,
branches towards the north-west in the Bay of Biscay, and
then runs round the west of Ireland and north of Scotland.
FOOD FISHES 41
From the north of the North Sea it turns southwards towards
Denmark, passes into the Skager Rak, and then back again
along the coast of Norway and north of the White Sea towards
the Arctic Ocean. The Hebrides and the Orkneys and Shet-
lands are contained within it, and, though Iceland and the
Faroe Islands are beyond it, and stand out in the deeper
ocean, yet for a considerable distance round their shores the
water is not deeper than round ours.
The importance of this large area of shallow water x so
near to us can hardly be exaggerated, for it abounds in food
fishes of almost every sort and kind, and forms, indeed, one
of the richest fishing grounds of the world.
Fish may be divided into two great classes : those which
live on, or near, the bottom of the sea, and those which live
in middle waters or near the surface.
Of this latter class the most important are herrings, and
members of the herring family, such as pilchards and sprats.
Mackerel, too, are surface swimmers, though they do not
belong to the herring family.
HERRINGS . ' Fowl of the heaven and fish that through the
wet Sea-paths in shoals do glide.' MILTON. Herrings abound
in all the shallow waters from the White Sea to the Bay of
Biscay, but they are most abundant in the North Sea on the
coasts of Scotland and England. In these regions countless
multitudes of them swim together in great shoals moving
rapidly to and from the coasts. The upper surface of their
bodies is greenish-blue, like the sea, but the sides and lower
parts are silvery- white, and the whole glittering mass of them
is so bright that it is often reflected in the sky, and fishermen,
by observing this reflection, are enabled to locate a shoal.
Gulls, too, and gannets betray them, for they and large
numbers of other sea-birds hover over them, diving every
now and then to seize their prey.
As soon as the whereabouts of a shoal is known, the fishing
1 Of late years the area fished has been extended, and the 200-fathom
line now forms the boundary.
42
FOOD FISHES
boats go out and let down their nets. Several of these are
joined together, making one long meshed wall several hundreds
of yards in length. A rope is run through the upper side,
and corks and floats are fastened to it, so as to keep this side
uppermost; the other side is weighted with lead to keep it
down. The nets are shot across the tide and allowed to drift.
After a time the fish, swimming against the current, dash
HERRING BOATS, ABERDEEN
their heads through the holes, but they cannot withdraw
them, for their gill-covers catch in the meshes and hold
them fast.
Millions of herrings are thus caught in the sea every year,
yet so great is their number that those caught by fishermen
form only one or two per cent, of the total number in the
sea. Countless myriads are devoured by sea-birds, by whales,
and seals, and dog-fish and cod, and by many another of
their numerous enemies.
And what do herrings themselves live upon ? Besides
FOOD FISHES
43
the fish with which we are familiar, there exist in the sea
millions and millions of living creatures so small that many
of them to the naked eye appear as mere specks, and their
exact shape and form can only be seen under a lens.
The commonest and most abundant of these tiny animals
are the Copepods, small shrimp-like or prawn-like forms
which are exceedingly rich in oil, and therefore highly
nutritious. The largest of these sometimes measure a quarter
ABERDEEN FISH WHARF
of an inch in length, but generally they are smaller than this.
Besides the copepods, and other similar minute creatures,
there are the countless hosts of the larvae of the lower forms
of animal life, which live on the floor of the sea, or in the
water just above it ; all these swim about in myriads in the
upper waters of the sea, and supply herrings and similar fish
with food. As these creatures are all so small, obviously a very
great number must be devoured by the fish which live upon
them, and it would be impossible for them to be seized one
by one.
44 FOOD FISHES
If you open the mouth of a herring you may feel, it is true,
numerous small teeth, both on the tongue and sides of the
mouth, but these are of no great importance. If, however,
you lift up the gill-covers you see what at first sight looks like
the underside of a mushroom. These are the gills, and just
inside them are the white gill-rakers of the fish. If you
examine them carefully you will find that there are four
curved pieces of bone joined together at the top and bottom.
These are called the gill-bars. On the outside of each bar are
two rows of soft red gills, and on the other, or inner side, are
horny projections like the teeth of a comb, and each of these
teeth again is uneven at the edge like a saw. These are the
gill-rakers, and they are arranged in such a way that, when
the fish in breathing takes gulps of food-laden water into its
mouth, the food is strained out by the gill-rakers, and goes
into the animal's stomach, but the filtered water passes on
over the gills (which absorbs the oxygen dissolved in it) and
out again into the sea. Herrings, then, are abundant where
there is an abundance of food, i.e. of copepods, and the larvae
of the various creatures that live at the bottom of the sea,
and these again abound where there is food for them.
Sometimes on the surface of the sea you notice a pinkish
kind of scum. This consists of myriads of tiny plants, on which
the microscopic animals live ; then, again, there are other
sea-plants like little yellow-brown rods, these are the diatoms ;
others, again, are globular in shape and sea-green in colour.
So numerous are they that in places they render the sea turbid,
or colour it pink or green.
The Eggs of many kinds of fish are transparent and float
upon the surface of the water, but those of the herring are
heavy and sink. Each egg is about the six-hundredth part of
an inch in size, and together they form sticky masses, which,
when they reach the bottom, adhere to the rocks, or gravel, or
plants near the shore. The fish, therefore, come into shallow
water to spawn, and it is when they are approaching the land
for this purpose that they are taken in the greatest quantities.
FOOD FISHES
45
The fishery begins in the north of Scotland in February, but
on other parts of the coast it is later, and at Yarmouth it
is not at its height until November.
Nearly every port on the North Sea is a herring port,
but the largest ones are Wick, Peterhead, Fraserburgh,
Aberdeen, Grimsby, Hull, Lowestoft, Yarmouth, and London,
while on the west side of Scotland Inverary is the port for the
FISH CURING, NEW BRUNSWICK
celebrated Loch Fyne herrings and Mallaig and Stornoway
have important fisheries,
In Aberdeen and most of the Scotch ports large numbers
of herrings are pickled in brine and exported to the Continent
of Europe, while in Yarmouth and also in Aberdeen thousands
are salted and dried in wood smoke, when they are known as
kippers and bloaters.
On the other side of the Atlantic also there are very valuable
herring fisheries, especially in the Bay of Fundy and in Fortune
Bay (Newfoundland). The chief port is St. John (New
Brunswick).
46 FOOD FISHES
Two other kinds of fish, belonging to the herring family,
and caught like herrings in nets, are pilchards and sprats.
The Pilchard fishery is carried on off the coasts of Cornwall
and Devon, and Penzance, Falmouth, and St. Ives are noted
ports in connexion with it. At Mevagissey the fish are pre-
served in oil in the same way as sardines (which are small
pilchards) are preserved off the coasts of France and Portugal.
Sprats are caught in many places round our coasts, but
especially in the estuary of the Thames, where, mixed with
tiny young herrings, they form the whitebait for which Green-
wich is famous.
Mackerel do not belong to the herring family, but they are
surface swimmers, and, like herrings, are caught in drift-nets
At Plymouth mackerel fishing is carried on to some extent all
the year round, but in the colder months the fishermen have
to go farther out to sea for them, to places where the water
is warmer. They are caught in the early summer off the coasts
of Norfolk, and Suffolk, and the west coasts of Scotland,
and Ireland, and the south-west of Norway. It would seem,
therefore, that they followed the inflowing Atlantic water up
the Channel into the southern part of the North Sea, and
round the north of Scotland to the coast of Norway. Plymouth
and Lowestoft are the two chief ports for them.
Since herrings and similar fish depend ultimately for their
food on diatoms and other minute floating plants, and
these in their turn are chiefly dependent on light for their
development, it follows that one of the circumstances which
determine whether the catch of fish will be great or small is
the amount of sunlight two or three months earlier in the year.
COD. Tiny young codfish (two or three inches long) are often
to be found in summer time nestling under the umbrella-like
covering of the soft, big, jellyfish which float about the sea,
and no one would imagine from their appearance at that stage
that they would develop into the great, ugly, voracious fish
which they afterwards become. A full-grown cod measures
from two to four feet in length, and many are even longer.
FOOD FISHES 47
They have large mouths with strong teeth, and they prey
upon dead fish, and on most of the lower animals l which
inhabit the sea-floor, as well as upon herrings, which live in the
middle waters. Attached to the chin they have little tentacles
(barbels) hanging down, with which they feel their way along
the floor of the sea, as, with head bent downwards, they move
along ready at any moment to pounce upon their unfortunate
victims.
Cod were formerly caught by long lines, but (though lines
are still used) they are now principally taken by the trawl.
These lines sometimes measure as much as nine miles, and
attached to them are numerous smaller ones, each holding
a hook and baited with whelks or other fish. These are shot
down into the sea across the tide, a float at each end showing
the fishermen the position of their lines, and so voracious are
the cod that a man has been known to catch as many as five
hundred in ten hours. On each boat there is a well, so
arranged that the sea-water can flow through it, and the fish
when caught are put into this, and brought alive to shore.
Cod inhabit the northern seas wherever the floor is rocky
or stony, and on the English coast north of the Humber, and
on the Great Fisher Bank, as well as farther afield off the coast
of Iceland, and the Faroe Islands, large quantities are taken.
Sailing smacks from Grimsby and Harwich work the North
Sea grounds, but the more distant ones of Iceland and the
Faroe Isles are worked by steamboats 2 from Grimsby, Fleet-
wood, Aberdeen, and Hull.
Important, however, as these fisheries are, they are of small
account compared with those of the Lofoten Islands off the
coast of Norway, and those of the Grand Banks to the south-
east of Newfoundland.
From the Arctic Ocean, borne down by the Labrador
1 Such, for instance, as hermit-crabs (which the cod drag out from the
whelk shells which they inhabit) and swimming crabs, shrimps, common
squids, and sea-mice.
2 One steam trawler often lands seventy or eighty score from a week's
fishing.
48 FOOD FISHES
Current, the great icebergs from Greenland and the northern
islands come floating towards the south, until meeting with
warmer water they gradually melt away. Frozen in with the ice
are lumps of rock, and stones, and gravel, torn off from the
valleys of the lands down which the parent glaciers slid, and all
this accumulated debris, set free by the melting of the ice,
has formed great submarine banks towards the south-east of
Newfoundland. They are known as the Grand Banks, and
cover an area of 120,000 square miles.
This meeting of the currents has also another result. For,
wherever cold and warm currents meet, the lighter warm
water floats on the top of the cold, and the tiny delicate food-
plants, together with the myriads of creatures which feed upon
them (and which in their turn afford sustenance to other forms
of animal life) being unable to withstand the sudden change of
temperature are killed, or, if not killed, find themselves unable
to pass through the lower layer of dense water, and so accumu-
late in large numbers in the upper layers. The consequence
is that there is a vast bulk of dead and living food available
for such fishes as cod and haddock, herrings, mackerel, and
many other kinds of fish, which inhabit these waters in
enormous multitudes. It is this abundance of food which
makes the Grand Banks, and also the eastern waters of the
United States, such valuable fishing grounds.
Of all the teeming population on the Grand Banks, cod are
the most abundant, and the cod fishery here is the most
important in the whole world. The fishery lasts from June
to November and fishermen of all nations take part in it, but
the men of Newfoundland are the most numerous, as the
Banks are only one day's sail from their shores and their
coasts abound in the creatures which are used for bait, such,
for instance, as whelks, and limpets, and mussels, and squids.
Nearly everybody in the island is connected in some way
with the fishing industry, 90 per cent, of their exports con-
sisting of fish, of which cod form more than half. As you
walk along through the fishing villages you see everywhere
FOOD FISHES 49
the frames on which the great fish are hung to dry, and even
the preparation of the bait gives employment to thousands
of the population, being sold to fishermen of other countries
as well as to Newfoundlanders.
The livers of the fish are boiled, and the oil which collects
upon the surface is collected, and after further purification
forms the Cod liver oil with which we are familiar.
The capital of Newfoundland, St. John's, has a fine deep
harbour, and it is from here that the produce, of the fisheries
is exported.
Haddock belong to the same family as cod, which they
greatly resemble, but they are smaller, and they have on their
shoulders a curious black patch, while their dorsal fin is
pointed and curved like a sickle. They abound in the northern
part of the North Sea, those of Loch Findon, in Kincardineshire,
being especially famous. They are found on sandy bottoms,
and hence in association with flat-fish, especially plaice.
' In the northern part of the North Sea the staple produce
of the trawl always consists of haddocks and plaice. Without
these two kinds of fish, especially haddock, the enormous
fleets of steam trawlers which now range these waters could
not be kept at work at all. From one hundred and fifty to
two hundred boxes of haddock are often landed at Grimsby
after a week's fishing or even less on the Dogger Bank.' l
Ling, coalfish, and hake also belong to the cod family.
The Ling is a fish measuring from two to four feet and often
more in length. It is found in all the western seas of Europe,
and off the shores of Newfoundland, but it is most abundant
in the north near the Orkney and Shetland and Faroe Islands.
The Hake is not quite so large, and is a southern rather
than a northern fish, being taken in greatest numbers on the
southern coasts of England and Ireland, and on the American
side as far south as Cape Hatteras. It is a deep-water fish
and only occasionally approaches land.
PLAICE. Of all the curious and wonderful creatures which
1 Marketable Marine Fishes, Cunningham.
2208
50 FOOD FISHES
live at the bottom of the sea, the most curious and wonderful
perhaps are the flat-fishes. The larva of plaice resembles that
of cod. It is hatched from eggs which float upon the surface of
the sea, but during its transformation it sinks towards the
bottom where, as a very young fish, it swims about in a normal
manner. Gradually, however, its body becomes flattened,
and it makes towards the shallower waters of the shore, where
it acquires the habit of lying on its left side ; at the same time
the exposed top side assumes the colour and appearance of the
pebbly or sandy ground on which it is lying (being generally
of a greyish-brown dotted over with orange-red spots) and the
left eye moves round to the top side. And there for the rest
of its life at the bottom of the sea it remains, sometimes slowly
swimming about among its fellows, at others almost completely
buried in the pebbly sand with only its head and extremely
mobile eyes projecting.
It feeds on such creatures as the solen or razor- shells, of
which there are several kinds, some measuring as much as
eight inches, others much less. They bury themselves in the
sand, but the plaice digs them out, and either devours them
whole, crushing their thin shells with its strong flat teeth, or
it drags them out of their shells and eats the part which suits
it. Another little creature on which it feeds is the mactra
subtruncata, whose pretty little shells we find in abundance
on all our sandy beaches ; and sea-worms and star-fishes, too,
form part of its diet.
Plaice are abundant in all the shallow waters in the north
of Europe, but they are caught in greatest numbers in the
North Sea, on the Dogger Bank, and the Great Fisher Bank,
and the English coast north of the Humber, and also off the
shores of Iceland.
Steam trawlers from Grimsby and Hull and many other
places fish these waters and land enormous catches at their
respective ports. 1
1 In the spring and summer, multitudes of small plaice are caught off
the German and Danish shores of the North Sea and landed at Grimsby,
Hull, and London.
FOOD FISHES 51
Another northern, right-eyed flat-fish, with great jaws and
powerful teeth, is the enormous Halibut. It is caught by long
lines off the shores of Iceland and the Faroe Islands, and is
the largest flat-fish known, measuring from two to six feet,
and sometimes even more than this. The fishermen from
Grimsby and Hull tie them up by their tails, and put them
into great salt-water wells at the bottom of their boats, and
so bring them alive to shore. ' It is a striking sight to see the
long rows of immense halibut and other fish laid out upon the
Grimsby pontoon when one of these vessels lands her catch
from the deep northern grounds.'
Two other flat-fish belong to the south. They are the
Sole and Turbot ; the former a right-eyed, and the latter
a left-eyed fish. The turbot is larger than the sole and rounder
in shape ; it sometimes measures as much as three feet,
though its usual size is between one and two feet ; the sole
is never more than one and a half feet in length, and is not
often so large as this. They both live on ground consisting of
sand or gravel or other loose material in shallow waters (not
more than forty fathoms), and are taken by trawls in large
numbers in the Bristol Channel, the English Channel, and
the southern half of the North Sea. Cornishmen, and men
from Plymouth and Brixham, in the English Channel, and
from Lowestoft and Ramsgate, in the North Sea, take part
in the fishery.
Skates and Rays, of which there are several kinds, in appear-
ance and mode of life resemble other flat-fishes such as the
plaice and turbot, but in structure they are altogether
different, and in this respect they are nearly allied to the
Sharks. They are found in all parts of the world and are taken
in great quantities round our coasts.
SALMON. One of our most beautiful and valuable fish is the
salmon. On the top side it is bluish grey in colour, while
underneath it is silvery white. It is a large and powerful
creature sometimes four or five feet in length, and it preys
upon all other fish which are weaker than itself.
D 2
52 FOOD FISHES
In the spring it leaves the sea and ascends a river until high
up in some clear gravelly pool it scrapes out a hole and deposits
its eggs. These are much fewer than those of most other fish,
for in these quiet inland waters, though otters and numerous
other enemies are on the look-out for the young salmon, they
have a better chance of surviving than out in the open seas,
where the struggle for existence is so fierce that the eggs of
most fishes are reckoned by the million . The cod, for instance,
deposits nine million.
Some of our most famous salmon rivers are the Spey and
the Tay, the Severn, and the Eden, the Bann and the Shannon,
while in British Columbia the Fraser and other rivers have
become proverbial for their enormous catches. New West-
minster in British Columbia is the head-quarters of the tinned
salmon industry.
EELS. As you gaze out over the level cornlands in the midst
of which the glorious cathedral of Ely now stands, it is interest-
ing to remember that all this fertile plain was once watery
fenland and abounded in eels to such an extent that the
biggest island was called Eel Ey (eel island), and that rents
in this neighbourhood were paid, not in so much money, but
in so many eels.
These slippery, snake-like fish live in muddy ponds and
rivers, and feed on frogs and worms, and whatever else they
can swallow.
Unlike the salmon, which come up the rivers to deposit
their eggs, the eels go out to the deep sea to spawn, and, after
the eggs are hatched, thousands of young eels, or ' elvers '
as they are called, may be seen making their way back in
great processions up the rivers, but the parents do not
return. 1
1 The little ribbon-like transparent fish called Leptocephalus, which is
caught out in the Atlantic, is now known to be the larva of the eel. These
little creatures are swept towards western Europe by the Gulf Stream.
During their shoreward journey they develop into little round eels with
fins. These ' elvers ' make their way up our rivers or .are carried up the
Channel into the North Sea towards Denmark and the Baltic ; others arc
carried round the north of Scotland and then southwards.
FOOD FISHES 53
The Bristol Channel is especially celebrated for ordinary
eels, but the gigantic Conger, which sometimes measures as
much as ten feet, inhabits the rocky coasts of Cornwall, where
it is caught at night by long lines baited with pilchards, and
brought to Plymouth.
Lobsters and crabs, and prawns and shrimps, belong to the
order of Crustaceans, so called because their body is encased
in a hard shell or crust. This shell does not increase in size
with the growth of its owner, and therefore every year it has
to be cast off and a new one formed.
LOBSTERS inhabit rocky pools, and are caught in the
greatest numbers off the north-west of Scotland, and Ireland,
and on the coasts of Newfoundland, where tinned lobster
now forms an important article of export.
Crabs and prawns and shrimps are found on all our sandy
beaches, and are especially plentiful in the Wash on the east
coast.
Both lobsters and crabs are caught in wicker baskets
called creels. These have rounded sloping sides leading up
to a hole in the top, so that, once the animals crawl in, escape
is impossible.
OYSTERS belong to the class of lower animals called Molluscs,
a word which means soft, for though the shell which encloses
them is hard, their bodies inside are merely a soft mass of
flesh. They live in the mud of estuaries or in the shallow
waters of the coast, attached by their flat shell to some
rock, and feeding on what the tide brings them : the micro-
scopic larvae of tiny marine creatures, the spores of seaweeds,
and the minute plants which float about in the sea, all these
being taken in with the water breathed by their gills.
We have always been famous for our oysters ; even in
the time of the Romans they were exported to Rome and
there fattened up to tempt the dainty palates of wealthy
epicures. At the present time the beds of Whitstable and
those of the Colne and Blackwater estuaries are the most
productive.
54 FOOD FISHES
To the same class of molluscs belong Mussels and Scallops, 1
Cockles and Whelks ; the mussels are attached to rocks by
their beards, but the cockles and scallops are able to move
about slowly. The molluscs which have two shells joined
together by a hinge are called bivalves ; those with only one
shell univalves. To the former class belong oysters and
scallops, and to the latter cockles and whelks.
Fish, then, are dependent on their environment. Some
inhabit the sandy or rocky floor of the sea, others swim in
the middle or surface waters, but all kinds have to seek out
those places where their food is abundant, and where the
temperature of the water and its salinity and density are such
as suit them. So that a great variety of conditions is matched
by a corresponding variety of fish. Not only so, but at different
stages of their development they require entirely different con-
ditions ; thus the eggs of plaice, to take only one instance, float
upon the'surface of the sea, but the larvae in their final stage
have to fall to the bottom in very shallow water, and here they
develop into fish, and henceforth live upon the floor of the
sea, though, as they grow bigger, they gradually seek deeper
and deeper water.
The currents of the sea, too, play an important part in the
life-history of fishes, for all eggs and larvae (and sometimes
even full-grown fish) are entirely at their mercy, and the number
of fish produced depends largely on whether the currents carry
the eggs or larvae to places where the temperature of the
water, and other conditions, are suitable for their development,
and where there is an abundance of food for the young fishes.
These great movements of the sea also serve another purpose ;
they keep the water aerated and sweet, and this is one reason
why open seas, such as the North Sea, are richer in fish than
enclosed areas such as the Black Sea and Mediterranean.
1 Scallops are plentiful on the coast of Palestine, hence pilgrims and
palmers used to wear them on their caps to show they had visited the
Holy Land.
The summoned Palmer came in place, . . .
The scallop shell his cap did deck. Marmion.
FOOD FISHES 55
And, again, the meeting-place of warm and cold currents is,
as we have seen, always a rich feeding-ground for fish.
SUMMARY. Near the land at the mouths of warm estuaries
are the Oysters and Mussels, while farther off, but still in the
shallow water of the shore, are the Crabs and Lobsters, Prawns
and Shrimps. Farther off again, though not in really deep
water, are the various kinds of bottom fishes, the Halibut and
Plaice, the Cod and Haddock of the cold northern seas, and the
Turbot and Soles of the south, while far off in the deep waters
of the west and only occasionally approaching the land is the
great Hake, and the Ling and Coalfish.
Above all these, swimming in the middle or surface waters,
are the Herrings, Sprats, Pilchards, and Mackerel.
Grimsby and Billingsgate are the great fish markets of the
kingdom, but all round the coast there are fishing ports, and
as soon as the fish are landed they are packed in ice l and
sent away to all parts of the kingdom, so that inland towns
as well as those at the sea-side are able to have fresh fish.
Yet so abundant is the supply 2 that not only do we provide
our own population with all that it requires, but we also
export considerable quantities to foreign countries.
' Fishing, next to agriculture, is the greatest of British
industries, judged by the number of men engaged, the amount
of capital invested, and the importance of the product to the
food of the people. It is an industry which has its risks, but
it breeds a race of healthy men. The forces of nature teach
self-reliance, and it is this quality which causes fishermen to
be the least fostered class of the nation, yet perhaps the most
valuable. The fishing community is little recruited from
outside, and it can never adequately be replaced. It is
prolific, and three-quarters of its excess population enter the
navy and merchant service. Its men possess an hereditary
instinct for the sea, and the war is surely demonstrating the
1 We import from Norway every year thousands of tons of ice : in 1913
over 233,000 tons. Hull is the port of entry.
2 The total value of the fisheries of the United Kingdom in 1913 was over
14,000,000. Their importance in order of weight is : herring, cod, haddock,
whiting, hake, mackerel, skate and rays, ling, sprats 5 turbot, sole, pilchard.
Plaice and halibut are included with other flat-fish, but in the returns of
English fish plaice conies fourth in the list and halibut eighth.
56
FOOD FISHES
fact that the value of such men is as great even in this age of
mechanics as in the times of Drake and Nelson. . . .
' The total number of the whole-time fishermen is upwards
of 125,000, while there are as many half-timers. Taking the
whole industry, fishermen, curers, distributing agents, &c.,
it may be estimated that it gives support to one-twentieth
of the population, while the capital sum directly invested
must be about 200 million pounds.' x
SUMMARY
'DEEP-SEA' FISHERIES
Family.
Namz of
Fish.
Regions in which Found.
Method of
Capture.
Herring. Herring. The seas of Western Drift-nets.
Europe, and of Eastern
America, from Cape
Race to Cape Hatteras.
Most abundant in the
North Sea, the Firth of
Clyde (Loch Fyne), the
Irish Sea, and the Bay
of Fundy and Fortune
Bay.
Sprat. Seas of Western Europe. ,, Billingsgate.
Most abundant in mouth
of Thames, the Wash,
the Solent, the Firths
of Forth and Tay, and
Moray Firth.
Pilchard. From the south of the i St. Ives, Forth-
British Isles to Madeira. ! leven, Meva-
Most abundant off coasts! gissey, Newlyn.
of Cornwall and Devon
and Portugal.
Mackerel. Mackerel. The Eastern and Wes- ,, Plymouth and
tern Atlantic from 58N. Lowestoft.
to 30 N. ; but most
abundant in the western
part of the English
Channel, and the south-
ern part of the North
Sea, and south coast of
Ireland.
1 Geography of British Fishes, by Professor J. Stanley Gardiner, F.R.S.,
a paper read before the Royal Geographical Society, March 8, 1915.
Chief Ports
connected with
the Fisheries.
Stornoway, Wick,
Fraserburgh,
Peterhead,
Aberdeen, Yar-
mouth, Grimsby,
Lowestoft,
St. John's, N.B.
FOOD FISHES
DEEP SEA' FISHERIES continued
57
I Family.
it-fishes.
Name of
Fish.
Cod.
Haddock.
Whiting.
Ling.
Hake.
Plaice.
Regions in which Found
On the eastern ana
western sides of the
North Atlantic. Most
abundant in the North
Sea north of the Etum-
ber, the Grand Banks
of Newfoundland, and
the coasts of Ireland.
On eastern and western
sides of North Atlantic,
but most abundant in
the North Sea (especi-
ally on the Great Fisher
Bank and Dogger Bank
and the coasts of Ice-
land.
The eastern side of the
North Atlantic, but
most abundant off
south coast of England.
On the eastern and wes-
tern side of the North
Atlantic, but most
abundant in the north-
ern part of the North
Sea (Great Fisher Bank,
Orkneys and Shetlands).
the Faroe Islands, Ice-
land,and Newfoundland,
On the eastern and west-
ern sides of the North
Atlantic, but most abun-
dant on the south coasts
of England and Ireland.
On the eastern side of
the North Atlantic (not
on the western). Abun-
dant all round the
coasts of British Isles
and of Ireland, but
especially abundant in
the North Sea.
Method of
Capture.
Chiefly by
trawls, some
times by long
lines.
Chiefly by
trawls, some
times by lines.
Usually by
trawls.
Usually by lines,
sometimes by
trawls.
By beam-
trawls.
Chief Ports
connected with
the Fisheries.
Aberdeen,
Fleet wood,
Grimsby, Hull,
St. Johns, N.B.
Aberdeen,
Grimsby, Hull.
Milf ord and
Cardiff.
Grimsby, Hull,
Lowestoft.
58
FOOD FISHES
DEEP SEA' FISHERIES co ntinued.
Family.
Flat-fishes-
Name of
Fish.
Halibut.
Sole.
Regions in which Found.
Method of
Capture.
Turbot.
By long lines.
i A northern fish specially
i abundant off the coasts
of Iceland, the Faroe
Islands, and the Ork-
neys and Shetlands.
On the eastern side of By beam-
the North Atlantic, trawls,
but most plentiful in
the Bristol Channel,
western part of the
English Channel, and
the southern half of
the North Sea.
In the same places as ! By beam-
soles, i trawls.
Chief Ports
connected with
the Fisheries.
Grimsby, Hull.
Salmon. Salmon.
Eels.
Eels.
RIVER FISHERIES
Scotch, Irish, and Eng-
lish rivers, especially
the Tay, Spey, Tweeol,
Bann, Severn, and
Eden.
The rivers of British ; Trap-nets.
Columbia (especially the
Fraser) and the western j
rivers of Newfoundland. !
In most of the rivers of i Eel-weirs.
! Europe, and on east of '
North America.
For tinned sal-
mon, New West-
minster, B.C.
Crusta-
ceans.
Molluscs.
SHORE FISHERIES
Crabs, In the shallow shore Pots and trawls,
lobsters, waters of our coasts,
prawns, '
shrimps.
Oysters. In warm estuaries, espe-
cially off Kent and
Essex.
Mussels. Specially in the Firth of
Forth, the Wash, and
Morecambe Bay.
Dredges.
59
CHAPTER VII
FRUITS
APPLES. We buy over three million hundredweight of fresh
apples every year, about half of which come from British
possessions, Canada supplying by far the largest quantity.
In Ontario apples thrive everywhere, and at present there
are about seven million trees in bearing, each of which ought
to produce one barrel of apples a year, and though they are
not skilfully enough cultivated to produce quite so many as
this, still the number they do produce is enormous. The
Lake Peninsula between Lakes Huron and Erie is the chief
fruit-growing district of Ontario. ' These are my babies ',
said a farmer whom I was visiting a few miles north of the lake.
We were standing on a hillside ; behind us, running up to the
summit, was a dense wood of maple and elm ; before us,
sloping down to the farmyard was a great undulating stretch
of brown earth dotted at wide intervals with little trees.
They looked so small and insignificant and helpless that
' babies ' seemed the only fitting word to describe them.
' Now come and see the grown-ups ', he continued. We
struck across the baby orchard and presently found ourselves
among their adult relations. The trees were not tall or
imposing in size, they had purposely been kept down in height,
so as to avoid difficulty in picking the fruit from the topmost
boughs, but they were all strong and in perfect health.
From some the fruit had already been picked ; others were
loaded with big apples till the branches almost touched the
ground. 1
Not only is the fresh fruit exported, but also tinned and
dried (or evaporated) apples. It is interesting to read in this
connexion that before the war the very peelings and cores of
the apples were dried and sent over to Germany in the form
of pulp or chop for use in making cheap jam, and that millions
1 B. H. Kennedy, The Heart of Canada.
60 FRUITS
of ' culls ' (apples too small to peel, being less than two inches
in diameter) were sliced and dried and shipped to Havre to
be used, it is supposed, in making cider.
Nova Scotia is another apple -growing province. The
sheltered land near the Bay of Fundy is covered with orchards,
especially in the Valley o! Annapolis.
The best apples of British Columbia grow in the Valley of
the Okanagan, a tributary of the Columbia, in the southern
APPLE ORCHARD IN BLOOM, CANADA
part of the province : but there are many other apple
districts.
In nearly all the Australian States the cultivation of apples
is increasing, but at present the most extensive orchards are
in Tasmania. The County of Kent in the south of the island,
and especially the Huon Valley, are the most noted districts.
The fruit is exported in large quantities, and from Hobart
alone in the season a dozen or more large ocean steamers
leave the docks loaded with apples as their cargo.
BANANA (Natural Order Musaceae). This great plant, which
FRUITS
61
looks like a palm tree but is in reality a herb, belongs to the
ginger family. It is thus described by a traveller in A. D. 1600 :
' Bannana is the fruite whereof John Huyghen writeth
and calleth it Indian figs, this tree hath no branches, the fruit
groweth out of the tree and hath leaves at least a fathome
long and three spannes broad. Those leaves among the
Turkes are used for paper, and in other places the houses are
covered therewith ; there is no Wood upon the tree, the out-
APPLES
side (wherewith the tree is covered when it beginneth to wax
old) is like the middle part of a Sive, but opening it within
there is nothing but the leaves, which are rolled up round
and close together, it is as high as a man, on the top the
leaves begin to spring out, and rise up on end, and as the
young leaves come forth the old wither away, and begin to
drie untill the tree cometh to his growth and the fruit to
perfection : the leaves in the middle have a very thick veine,
which divideth it in two, and in the middle of the leaves out
of the heart of the tree, there groweth a flowre as bigge as
an Estridge Egge, of a russet colour, which in time waxeth
long like the stalk of a Colewort whereon the Figges grow
62
FRUITS
close one by the other, when they are still in their huskes,
they are not much unlike great Beanes, and so grow more and
more until they be a span long and four thumbes broad like
a Cucumber, they are cut off before they are ripe, and are
in that sort hanged up in bunches, which oftentimes are as
much as a man can carrie. . . . having hanged three or four
dayes they are through ripe, the tree beares but one branch
at a time, whereon there is at least one hundred Figges and
BANANA PLANT
more, and when they cut off the bunch of Figges the tree also
is cut down to the ground, the root staying still in the earth,
which presently springeth up againe and within a moneth
hath his full growth, and all the yeare long, no time excepted.
' The tree beareth fruit, the fruit is very delicate to eate,
you must pull off the husk wherein the fruit lyeth, very delight-
full to behold, the colour thereof is whitish and somewhat
yellow, when you bite it, it is soft, as if it were of Meale and
Butter mixed together, it is mellow in byting. . . . Some are
of opinion because it is so delicate a fruit, that it was the same
FRUITS
63
tree which stood in Paradise, whereof God forbade Adam and
Eve to eate. It smells like Roses, and hath a very good smell,
but the taste is better.'
1. ' The fruit groweth out of the tree.' When the banana
has attained its full height, and the leaves their full size,
from the underground tuberous stem a flower-stalk begins to
grow. It pushes its way up through the hollow tube (which
looks like the trunk of a tree, but which is in reality formed
by the overlapping of the bases of the leaves)
and shoots forth from the top.
' At the end of the stalk there groweth
a flower as bigge as an Estridge Egge.' This
is in reality not one flower but many clusters
of flowers, and each cluster is covered and
protected by a russet-coloured bract. These
bracts overlap one another and form a com-
pact mass like an ' Estridge Egge '. Gradually
the ' Egge ' lengthens and the bracts one by
one turn back and reveal their cluster of
flowers, after which both bract and flower
wither and die. The first flowers to appear
are the female ones which produce the fruits.
Towards the end of the stalk are male flowers.
When these male flowers wither no fruit is
left, so that there is always a bare space between the fruits
and the end of the stalk.
When the fruits are formed their weight causes the stalk
to bend and hang down from the plant. A bunch of bananas
contains usually more than a hundred bananas and weighs
from 80 to 100 Ib.
1 When the bunch is to be cut, the stem is partly cut through
five or six feet from the ground and then the whole plant
slowly topples over. . . . Several book-keepers on a large estate
will thus be entering the bunches, while the overseer or
manager riding from one to the other controls the number
cut for delivery that night or in the early morning at the wharf.
The bunches are wrapped in trash and handed up by two men
BUNCH OF
BANANAS
64 FRUITS
to another on a waggon, who packs them in carefully so that
there shall be no bruising. It is singularly picturesque to
ride through the shady rows of bananas with here and there
rough majestic heads falling and figures swiftly moving at
their work, to note the quick movements of the men, the
stately walk of the women with a bunch balanced on their
heads, all accompanied by the noise of the large leaves in
their descent, the cries of the men and the peculiar call for
the women when they are wanted.' l
CULTIVATION. Bananas produce no seeds, but from their
underground stems they send forth shoots, and, when new
plantations are required, these shoots are cut off from the
parent plant and set in the earth. They are cut when about
six months old, and ten months afterwards they begin to
flower. Bananas require heat and moisture, a rich soil, and
sheltered situation. Wind and rough weather would soon
play havoc with their great broad juicy leaves.
VARIETIES. There are many different kinds of bananas ; the
height of the smallest is about five feet, but large varieties
attain a height of twenty feet or more. Musa sapientium is
a large kind and Musa Cavendishii a small kind. The former
grows in Jamaica, and the latter in the Canary Islands and
Barbados, while one known as the claret variety, of a very
delicate flavour, grows in Trinidad.
In the East all bananas are called plantains, but in the West
Indies a distinction is made. The plant there known as the
plantain produces larger fruits, and the length of bare stalk
on a bunch is less than on a bunch of bananas. The fruit is
always cooked before it is eaten ; it takes the place of bread
or potatoes. The plantain is more valuable than the banana
and requires a richer soil to grow in.
SOURCES OF SUPPLY. We buy over nine million bunches of
bananas in a year, and at present nearly eight million of these
are bought from foreign countries, chiefly from Costa Rica,
the Canary Islands, and Colombia.
1 W. Fawcett, The Banana : its Cultivation, Distribution, and Commercial
Uses.
FRUITS
65
In our own empire our chief source of supply is the West
Indies, more especially Jamaica, 1 but many other British
countries grow them although they do not export them to us.
In Queensland, for instance, both the climate and soil of the
eastern lowlands are admirably suited to the cultivation of
bananas, and millions of bunches are produced every year,
but these are all exported to the southern states of the
Commonwealth. In the Kenya Colony inferior varieties flourish
TWENTY-DOZEN BUNCH OF BANANAS, QUEENSLAND
everywhere in the coastal belt, and as soon as better kinds have
been introduced they will doubtless form an important article
of export. In Nyasaland, too, bananas do exceedingly well.
CITRUS FRUITS, i.e. Oranges, Lemons, Limes, Citrons.
1. The Orange. The fruit of the Citrus aurantium or Golden
Citrus, a rather small and round evergreen tree, growing to
a height of about fifteen feet ; it bears beautiful white, five-
petalled, wax-like flowers, each having a large number of bright-
1 Since 1893 the export of fruit (chiefly bananas) has steadily increased,
until now it forms half the exports of the island
2203 w
66 FRUITS
yellow stamens. These flowers occur singly at the axils of the
leaves and are very abundant ; and later on the round golden
fruits seem to be dotted all over the tree. As many as 20,000
have been gathered from a single tree in a year, though 2,000
is the more usual number. Orange trees begin to bear fruit
when about four years old, and go on bearing for a great
number of years.
CITRUS ORCHARD, SOUTH AFRICA
Though now one of the most characteristic trees of Spain
and the Mediterranean countries, it was not known in these
regions before the fifteenth century, when it was introduced
by the Portuguese from Asia. It is now cultivated in nearly
all warm countries where the winter temperature does not
fall below 40.
There are many varieties of oranges, some of the most
famous being the St. Michael (named after one of the islands
of the Azores), the Maltese (with pulp of a blood-red colour),
FRUITS
67
and the Jaffa. The Seville, or bitter orange, is rather darker
in colour than the other kinds and larger, though the tree which
bears it is smaller. The Tangerine is a small orange broader
than it is long, with the rind loosely attached to the fruit.
SOURCES OF SUPPLY. In 1915 we bought over six million
hundredweight of oranges, of which considerably over five
million hundredweight came from Spain and Italy. The
TANGERINE ORANGE
United States and Asiatic Turkey also sent us large quantities,
and the rest came from countries in our own empire, chiefly
from the West Indies and South Africa.
In nearly all the British West Indies oranges are abundant,
but in Jamaica they grow luxuriantly, without cultivation,
in almost every part of the island, and they form an important
article of export.
In South Africa, the Cape Province grows excellent oranges,
especially near Fort Beaufort, and great care is taken in the
E2
68 FRUITS
grading and packing of these for export. It is one of the
ambitions of this province to be an extensive exporter of
oranges and other citrus fruits, and both climate and soil
seem to justify the ambition. Natal (on the coastal plain and
also in the midlands), the Transvaal (especially in the neigh-
bourhood of Pretoria), Nyasaland, Southern Rhodesia, and
Kenya Colony (especially at Changamwe, about six miles
or so from Mombasa), all grow considerable quantities of
oranges, and their number could be greatly increased.
Not only South Africa but probably Australia will send us
large supplies of oranges in the future. In New South Wales
about sixteen miles from Sydney are the famous Paramatta
Groves, where in the season every second man, woman, or
child you meet is eating oranges. In October enormous
quantities are sent down to Sydney. The Hawkesbury Valley,
too, is famous, and many other places, especially the Murrum-
bidgee Irrigation District, which of late years has begun to
grow oranges on a large scale for export.
In South Australia (especially in the neighbourhood of
Adelaide), in Victoria (in the Goulburn Valley), and in Western
Australia (near Brisselton), oranges are extensively cultivated,
while in Queensland not only are there many beautiful groves
already in existence, but on the coastal plain there are thou-
sands of acres suitable for cultivation which are not yet
utilized. The rainfall here is sufficient without irrigation, and
there are never any frosts to check the growth of the trees,
so that this one state alone, it is estimated, might supply
all our needs.
As the seasons south of the Equator occur at different times
from those in the Northern Hemisphere, the produce of the
Australian and South African groves is available when no
fruit is forthcoming from other countries.
2. The Lemon (Citrus limonum). This is a smaller and less
robust tree than the orange ; sometimes, indeed, it is not much
more than a bush. The flowers are similar to those of the
orange, but they are smaller, and their petals are pinkish
FRUITS
69
on the outside. They have a very pleasant scent. Though,
like the orange, the lemon tree is now a characteristic tree of
Mediterranean countries, especially of Sicily, it was not intro-
duced into those countries until the fifteenth century. At
present we import the bulk of our lemons from Sicily, but nearly
all the British Dominions which grow oranges also grow lemons,
and their production could be greatly increased.
PACKING CITRUS FRUIT FOR EXPORT, SOUTH AFRICA
3. The Lime (Citrus limetta). This is a pale yellow fruit
very much like the lemon but round in shape. Its flavour
is considered to be more delicate than that of the lemon.
It requires a warmer climate than do oranges and lemons,
and is not so extensively grown in Mediterranean countries.
The West Indies, especially Dominica, are famous for their
limes, but they also thrive in the coast lands and midlands of
Natal, and the coast lands of Queensland. In Dominica many
old sugar-cane lands have been planted in limes and cacao.
70 FRUITS
and very often sugar-canes are planted among the young
limes, and afford them shelter whilst growing.
There are very many varieties of lime trees and some are
spineless, but most kinds have sharp spines in the axils of
the leaves, so that it is necessary to burn all prunings at once
lest the spines injure the feet of the bare-footed labourers.
Citrus trees are surface feeders, and their rootlets honeycomb
the surface of the ground in which they grow.
Limes for export are gathered before they are ripe and ripen
during the voyage, but in all other cases the fruit is allowed
to remain on the tree until quite ripe, when it falls to the ground
and is then gathered.
Lime-oil is obtained by pressing ripe limes against blunt
spikes when oil and moisture ooze out. Lime-juice is obtained
by squeezing the ripe limes between rollers ; very often the
old sugar mills are used for this purpose. Concentrated lime-
juice is merely ordinary pure lime-juice boiled down. Lime-
juice Cordial is a beverage made by adding other ingredients to
the pure lime-juice. Citric acid is obtained both from lemon-
juice and lime-juice ; it is used in dyeing and calico printing.
4. The Citron (Citrus medico). The citron-tree is a small
straggling evergreen tree. It bears clusters of pink flowers,
and large oblong warty yellow fruits, with a very thick rind
and not much pulp.
It was extensively cultivated by the Jews in Syria and was
the only citrus known to the Greeks and Romans. It is
cultivated in the south of Europe and other places, but not
to any great extent ; the lemon has ousted it.
FIGS (Ficus carica). The fig-tree is a small straggling tree
with very numerous, large, dark-green, irregularly -shaped
leaves. In the axils of the leaves there grow curious green
pear-shaped figs with a stalk at one end and a little opening at
the other covered over with small scales. The tiny numerous
flowers are attached to the inside of this receptacle, which
at first is full of a rather bitter juice, but as it ripens the
outside changes from green to purple and the inside juice
FRUITS 71
solidifies into a sweet pulp. The flowers have developed
meanwhile into minute seeds, which are the real fruits of
the tree.
What are called green figs are merely these fresh ripe figs ;
dried figs, such as we buy in boxes, are the ripe figs dried in the
sun or in ovens. No sugar is necessary to preserve them as
they themselves contain from 60 to 70 per cent, of grape sugar.
Smyrna, in Asia Minor, exports most dried figs, but the
tree thrives in nearly all warm and temperate climates, though
for its fruits to ripen it must have a hot dry season. On the
western downs of Queensland fig-trees grow well, and also in
the south-west of Western Australia and in the Cape Province
and Natal.
DATES, the fruit of the date palm, Phoenix dactylifera. The
date palm grows to about a hundred or a hundred and fifty
feet high, and like other palms has no branches, but consists
of a long straight trunk, bearing at its summit an enormous
nlass of large feathery leaves.
In the midst of these great leaves there shoot forth spikes
of flowers, each spike being enclosed in a sheath. The number
of these spikes varies ; sometimes there are as many as twelve,
but from two to six is the more usual number, and each spike
bears between one and two hundred dates. A bunch or spike
of dates weighs about twenty-five pounds, and its heavy
weight causes it to bend over and hang down.
There are many different kinds of date palms, and the fruit
varies in shape and colour. Some of the best kinds are yellow
when ripe and about two inches in length, others are red.
They consist of a sweet pulp and inside is a hard stone. They
are eaten either fresh or dried.
On the walls of ancient Thebes there are paintings dating
from 1600 B.C., and in these are to be seen date palms in fruit
showing that more than three thousand years ago these trees
flourished in the Valley of the Nile as they do now. At present
there are millions of date palms in Egypt and the Sudan, but
the bulk of the fruit is eaten by the inhabitants of the country
72
FRUITS
and comparatively little is left over for export. It is from
the Valley of the Euphrates that the chief export of dates
takes place. Here are the famous groves of Bussorah which
form ' an almost unbroken line of from one to three miles in
DATE PALM AND FRUIT
depth along both banks of the Euphrates and Shat-el-Arab,
from Medinhab to the sea, that is for more than 140 miles '.
They yield from 40,000 to 60,000 tons of dates annually.
Not only are there these millions of date palms in the
Valleys of the Nile and Euphrates, but they are also found
FRUITS
73
growing in the Sahara and eastwards through Persia and
North India. The date is indeed the tree of the hot deserts,
but only of the oases of the deserts. Though it thrives in
burning hot dry sunshine, its roots must have water. As
the ancient proverb says, ' The date must have its head in the
FRUIT OF DATE PALM
fire, and its roots in water.'.
Though the Sahara and the dry hot lands of the Northern
Hemisphere are the original home of the date palm, there
seems no reason why it should not nourish in similar soils and
climates in other parts of the world, and in the Western Plains
of Queensland trees have already been planted and are thriving
74 FRUITS
satisfactorily. Their number could be multiplied indefinitely
wherever artesian wells are available to supply the necessary
water for their roots. Not only would their fruit be very
valuable, but the shade which they would afford to man and
beast out on those wide stretches of sun-scorched land would
perhaps be of even greater value.
GRAPES, the fruit of Vitis vinifera, the wine-yielding vine.
In Italy and Greece and Asia Minor and Persia the wild vine
is to be seen by the side of streams climbing up over other
trees, and in Italian vineyards the cultivated plant is still
trained up trees pruned for the purpose, but in France and
other wine -producing countries the vines are not allowed to
grow higher than three or four feet, and instead of trees
there are short poles to support them.
Grapes will not ripen in countries which have a cool summer ;
on the other hand, in the burning hot tropics the vines produce
no fruit. In Britain, in sheltered places and in favourable
seasons, grapes ripen out of doors, but for the most part we
grow them under glass. One of our most famous vines is the
one at Hampton Court, which was planted in George Ill's
reign and still produces more than a thousand bunches of
grapes every year.
The unfermented juice of ripe grapes is called must, after
fermentation it is called wine. Brandy is a spirit distilled
from wine. Raisins are grapes which have been dried in the
sun. They are of two kinds, muscatel raisins, which are the
fruit of the muscatel vine, and Valencia raisins. The former
are not separated from their stalks, but dried whole in
bunches ; Valencia raisins are dried singly. Currants are the
dried stoneless grapes of a vine which grows abundantly
in the Greek Islands ; they are round, and small, and very
sweet. They were called Corinth raisins, because they were
first imported into England from Corinth.
At present we buy our wine principally from Spain and
Portugal and France, our raisins from Spain, and our currants
from Greece.
FRUITS
75
Of countries within the empire we buy most wine from
Australia. From very early days colonists from wine-growing
countries, finding a climate and soil similar to their own,
began to grow vines, and others followed their example.
But they lacked the knowledge and skill necessary for the
production of good wine, and for many years Australian wine
was of poor quality. Gradually, however, knowledge and
experience were gained, and now the wine which Australia
produces and exports is considered excellent. South Australia
stands first as a wine-producing state. The vineyards
are
PICKING GRAPES, SOUTH AFRICA
chiefly in the country round Adelaide, where thousands of
tons of grapes are produced every year. About half of these
are used for making wine ; the others are either dried or sold
fresh for table use. At Renmark, on the Muriay River, great
irrigation works have been established, and here, in addition
to many other kinds of fruit, large quantities of raisins and
currants are grown. Victoria comes next in oider. Her
vineyards are many thousands of acres in extent, but the
bulk of her crop is dried, and raisins and currants are exported
in large quantities. Mildura on the Murray River, the largest
irrigation settlement in Australia, is the centre of this industry.
In New South Wales, Newcastle and Albury are the chief
grape -producing districts, though there are vineyards in many
76 FRUITS
other parts of the coastal plain. In Queensland good grapes
are produced near Brisbane, but the best -wine-grapes grow
at Roina, in the south of the state, on the western slopes of
the Dividing Range. In Western Australia the south-western
corner, especially the valley of the River Swan, is the chief
grape-producing district.
In the Union of South Africa, the south-western district
(Stellenbosch and Paarl) produces excellent raisins and some
wine.
Nearly all the grapes which Canada produces are grown in
the Lake Peninsula, especially at the western end of Lake
Ontario ; but though there are many thousand acres under
vines at present, there are not enough grapes for export.
Cyprus also exports wine and raisins.
PEACHES. The original home of the peach is China, but
it was introduced into Europe from Persia, hence it is called
Aurydalus Persica. It was not known to the Greeks and
Romans before the first century of our era.
The peach-tree resembles the almond in many ways ; it
bears the same exquisitely beautiful pink flowers, but whereas
the peach-stone is covered with a delicious juicy pulp, the
almond has a thin tough skin and it is the kernel inside the
stone (the nut) which is eaten.
In England, peaches, like grapes, will ripen out of doors in
sheltered sunny positions in favourable seasons, but for the
most part we grow them under glass.
Of those we import, the largest number come from France,
but many parts of the empire have a soil and climate exactly
suited to them, and there is every reason to suppose that their
cultivation will be greatly extended in the future.
In the Cape Province of South Africa the orchards are in
the south-west, and there is a considerable export.
In Canada the bulk of the peaches produced are grown in
the Lake Peninsula. Near Hamilton, on the shores of Lake
Ontario, there is a sandy strip of land covered with peach
orchards, and in the spring-time when the trees are in flower
FRUITS
77
their pretty pink blossoms and the glorious blue of the sea-
like lake make an exquisitely beautiful picture. Besides
the fresh fruit, there is also a considerable export of tinned
peaches from Ontario.
In Australia in all the mainland states peaches grow abun-
dantly, and Victoria exports dried peaches.
PINEAPPLES (A nanassativus, Natural Order, Bromeliaceae).
In London a good pineapple costs five shillings or more, but
PEACH TREES, QUEENSLAND
in Queensland you can buy a dozen of the best for one shilling
and sixpence, while ordinary kinds are sold at a penny each.
The pineapple plant grows to a height of about three feet.
It has no stem, but sends up from its roots numbers of long,
stiff, sharp-pointed leaves. In some kinds the edges of the
leaves are smooth, as, for instance, in the Cayenne, or Kew
Pine, in others serrated, as in the Ripley Queen.
From the centre of the plant a flower- spike shoots up with
separate flowers growing along it, each nestling in a little
bract, but gradually bracts, calyces, and fruits all unite into
78 FRUITS
one juicy mass, and form what we call a pineapple. At its top
is a tuft of leaves called the crown.
' It is as great as a Mellon, f aire of colour, somewhat yellow,
green and carnation, when it begins to bee ripe, the greene-
nesse thereof turneth into an orange colour, it is of a pleasant
taste, and hath a fine smelle like an Apricocke, so that it is
to be smelt farre off, when you see the fruit afarre off, being
greene, it sheweth like Artichokes.' (A.D. 1600.)
CULTIVATION. The pineapple is a native of the north of
South America, and in its wild state grows in sandy places
not far from the sea. In cultivation it thrives best where these
conditions prevail, but it will grow well almost anywhere so
long as it has warmth and sufficient moisture. It is exceedingly
sensitive to cold, and, though it does not need the great heat
of the tropics, the least frost kills it at once. In Florida,
where pines are extensively grown, sheds are erected to protect
the plants from the occasional frosts which occur.
After fruiting the plant dies down, but suckers grow up
and take its place. When new plantations are required, these
suckers are cut off and set in the earth. They bear fruit
about a year after they are planted. The weight of a pine-
apple varies : on a Queensland plantation 2J Ib. is considered
a fair average (though some weigh as much as 12 Ib.), and
an acre will produce twelve thousand of them.
SOURCES OF SUPPLY. Pineapples are grown in nearly all
countries where the climate is warm and moist enough to
suit them, but they are most extensively cultivated in Cuba,
South America, and the Hawaiian Islands.
In the British Empire the West Indies used to be famous
for their pines, but of late years the export has fallen off,
though considerable quantities are still exported from the
Bahamas and Montserrat.
The growing of pineapples forms an important industry
in the Malay Peninsula, and Singapore is one of the great
world centres for the export of tinned pineapples.
Queensland. ' If there is one fruit which Queensland can
FRUITS
79
grow to perfection it is undoubtedly the pineapple.' Large
quantities are produced, especially in the neighbourhood of
Brisbane, and it is confidently expected that the number will
be greatly increased in the future and that a trade will be
developed in tinned pineapples.
In Africa, Natal and the eastern districts of the Cape Pro-
vince export pineapples, and though not at present exported
PINEAPPLE FIELDS., SINGAPORE
they are successfully grown in the Gold Coast, Nigeria, and
Kenya Colony.
ALMONDS. ' And, behold, the rod of Aaron for the house of
Levi was budded, and brought forth buds, and bloomed
blossoms and yielded almonds.' Numbers xvii. 8.
The almond tree is considered to be a native of Syria and Persia
and Turkestan, and the best kind of almonds are still called
Jordan almonds though they are now grown chiefly in Spain.
80
FRUITS
The tree is a handsome shapely tree and the pale pink
flowers are borne on the branches of the previous year ; they
appear before the leaves. Ah almond orchard in blossom is
BRANCH OF ALMOND TREE
a wonderful sight. The fruit is rather like an olive-green
downy plum, but it is flatter and has a furrow down one side,
which splits open when it is ripe and reveals the almond -
stone inside. This stone is light brown in colour, smooth,
and with little dents all over it. Inside is the kernel or
almond.
FRUITS
81
There are two kinds of almonds bitter and sweet. The
latter are the ones usually eaten for dessert ; they are larger
than the bitter ones. Almond oil is made chiefly from bitter
almonds ; it is a pale yellow fluid.
Spain, Morocco, Italy, Portugal, and France supply us at
present with most of our almonds, though we do buy even now
a certain amount from British possessions.
In the fruit-growing districts of Victoria almond trees
abound, and on the coastal tablelands of Queensland they do
well.
SUMMARY. Thus, although we still import the bulk of our
supplies from foreign countries, there is an increasing produc-
tion of all kinds of fruit in our own Dominions ; especially
is this the case with regard to apples, bananas, pineapples,
citrus fruits, raisins and currants, and various kinds of dried
and tinned fruits, so that there seems every reason to hope
that, year by year, larger quantities of fruit will reach us from
Canada, the West Indies, South Africa, and Australia.
SUMMARY. Fruit.
Fruit.
Sources of Supply.
Remarks.
Foreign.
British.
Almonds.
Spain,
Morocco,
Italy, Portu-
gal, France.
Possible sources of
future supply :
Victoria, Queens-
land.
.&UHK8*
Apples.
The United
States and
other coun-
tries.
Britain,
Nova Scotia,
British Columbia,
Ontario,
Tasmania, the
Channel Islands.
About half our imports
are from British sources,
and of these Canada is
the most important.
Bananas.
Costa Rica,
Canary Isles,
Colombia.
Jamaica.
Possible future
sources :
Queensland,
Kenya Colony,
Nyasaland.
Our chief imports are
from foreign countries,
but those from Jamaica
are considerable.
82
FRUITS
Sources of Supply.
Fruit.
Foreign.
British.
Remarks.
Citrus fruits :
i. Oranges.
Spain, Italy,
The West Indies,
Most of our imports are
the United
South Africa.
from foreign sources,
States,
Possible source of
but empire production
AsiaticTurkey.
future supply :
is increasing rapidly.
Australia.
ii. Lemons.
Sicily.
The bulk of our supplies
come from Sicily, but
production within the
empire could be ex-
tended.
iii. Limes.
Dominica.
Dates.
Asiatic Turkey.
British India,
Asiatic Turkey is the
Egypt.
most important source
Possible future
of supply, but imports
source :
from India have in-
Queensland.
creased during the war.
Figs.
Asiatic Turkey
Possible sources of
future supply :
Queensland,
Western Australia,
the Cape Province,
Natal.
Grapes :
i. Fresh.
Spain and
Britain, the
other coun-
Channel Islands,
tries.
the Cape Province.
ii. Raisins.
AsiaticTurkey,
British India, the
During the war im-
Spain.
Cape Province,
ports from India have
Australia, Cyprus,
greatly increased.
Egypt.
iii. Cur-
Greece.
Australia.
Most of our imports
rants.
are from Greece, but
production is rapidly
increasing in Australia.
iv. Wine.
France, Australia,
Our best wines are still
Portugal, South Africa.
foreign, but Australian
Spain, and
and African wines are
many other !
improving both in
countries.
quality and quantity.
Peaches and
France, the The Cape Province,
Most of our imports
apricots
United States. Ontario.
come from France at
(fresh).
Possible source of
present, though the
future supply :
Cape sends considerable
Australia.
amounts, and Ontario
besides fresh peaches
sends also tinned ones.
FRUITS
83
Sources of Supply.
- .
Fruit.
Foreign.
British.
Remarks.
Pineapples
Siam,
The Malay Penin-
In England excellent
(tinned).
Hawaii, the
sula,
pine-apples are grown
United States.
Australia. under glass, but the
chief sources of tinned
pineapples are as
shown ; Singapore is one
of the chief centres.
Plums and
The United
Australia,
Of British possessions
apricots
(dried).
States and
other coun-
South Africa,
Canada.
before the war Canada
sent us most, but now
tries.
Australia and South
Africa have outstripped
I
her.
CHAPTER VIII
SUGAR
SUGAR (from the Arabic, suk kar). The sugar-cane (Sac-
charum officinarum) is a kind of grass which grows from ten
to twenty feet high. At intervals up the stalks (or canes)
there occur joints, and from these joints spring the long flat
leaves. The leaves themselves each have a sheath about
a foot in length, and a blade three feet or more long. They
are about three inches wide, and their edges are finely indented
and cut like a sharp saw.
The joints up the stalk are at first about two inches apart,
but they occur at longer and longer intervals and at last there
is a long straight un jointed piece of stalk, which is called the
arrow. This arrow, or flowering stem, bears a grey, feathery
mass of blossom about two feet in length. The flowers them-
selves are tiny but very numerous. They are placed all along
the stems which grow out from the arrow, and at the base
of each flower are long white silky hairs.
From each joint sprouts a bud, and it is from these buds
that the new canes are produced. The ground is cleared and
F2
84 SUGAR
holes are made a foot or so apart, and into each hole is put
a plant, that is, a piece of cane containing a bud. In about
fifteen months the canes are ready for cutting. By this time
some of the leaves have dropped off from the lower joints, but
many still remain attached to the stalk ; and the task of the
labourers who have to cut down all this sugary jungle is no
light one, for the rind of the canes is hard, the mass of vegeta-
tion dense, and the weather hot. They use great curved
knives about two feet long called machetes, and with these
they cut down the canes close to the ground and remove the
leaves or trash. From the roots spring up fresh canes (ratoons
as they are called) and no more planting need be done for two
or three years.
As soon as the canes are cut down they are taken to the
mill. Here they are passed under rollers and the juice is
crushed out ; it is greenish grey in colour and opaque. It
has next to be purified. This is done by heating it in tanks
and adding some lime to it. The lime combines with some
of the impurities and sinks to the bottom, and the clarified
pale yellow juice is drawn off. The juice is boiled until it
becomes a syrup and is then allowed to stand until it crystal-
lizes. The sugar crystals form what is called raw sugar ;
it is either packed in bags and shipped to other countries, or
sent to refineries near at hand.
The sugar which will not crystallize is allowed to drain off
and is called molasses. The crushed cane from which the
juice has been extracted is called megass, and mixed with
molasses it makes a very good food for cattle. Megass itself
makes excellent fuel.
On arrival at the refineries the raw sugar is subjected to
various other complicated processes all with the object of
still further purifying it, and at last it emerges in the various
forms with which we are acquainted.
Loaf-sugar. Formerly purified syrup was poured into
conical moulds and then allowed to solidify. These cones or
sugar-loaves were then cut up and the little cubes of white
SUGAR 85
sugar were called loaf-sugar, and the syrup that trickled out
was called treacle. Nowadays the moulds are square and
shallow, but the name for the white sugar still remains the
same. Golden syrup has to a large extent taken the place of
treacle ; it is lighter in colour than treacle and clearer, and
is generally supposed to be purer.
We take immense care and trouble to purify our sugar, but
SUGAR CANE IN ARROW
in sugar-cane countries the natives are not so particular.
In India, for instance, in the bazaars, you can buy a nice piece
of sugar-cane for \d., and children, and grown-up people too,
just suck it as it is with no thought of its impurity. In the
West Indies people do the same and they are all said to look
very sleek and well fed and happy during the sugar harvest,
for, although sugar by itself will not sustain life, it is neverthe-
less very nutritious.
As soon as we think of sugar our thoughts fly to the West
Indies, for we feel that here indeed is the real home of the
86 SUGAR
sugar-cane, and we know that the prosperity of the islands is
largely dependent on its successful cultivation. Yet strange
to say the sugar-cane is not native to these islands ; it was
unknown there three hundred and fifty years ago.
Sugar is believed to have come originally from Bengal,
but in many other parts of India it has been cultivated from
the remotest ages of antiquity. From India its cultivation
spread westwards, and it was introduced by the Arabs into
Mediterranean countries, wherever the climate was hot enough.
In the eighth century it was introduced by them into Spain,
and some years after the discovery of America by Christopher
Columbus (1492) the cane was planted by the Spaniards in the
West Indies, where it flourished beyond their wildest dreams.
To the poor natives of the islands, however, its presence
seemed a questionable blessing, for the Spaniards themselves
took no share of the toil involved in its cultivation, beyond
appointing overseers to superintend the labours of the natives.
These, unaccustomed as they were to such harsh conditions,
sank under their burdens, and it was to relieve them that
negroes were introduced as slaves to work on the plantations.
By this slave labour the crop was produced year after year,
and enormous fortunes were made by the owners of sugar
estates. But later on came a change.
After fifty years or more of work and agitation, in 1833
we passed a law by which all slaves in British Dominions
were set free. From that time forward labourers on our
sugar plantations had to be paid wages, and, in consequence,
sugar cost more to produce, and, therefore, had to be sold
at a higher price than formerly.
In other countries, however, slave labour remained, and
they could in consequence sell their sugar at a lower price
than the West Indian planters could.
England, to her eternal honour, freed her slaves ; but to her
eternal shame she continued to buy, because it was cheap,
slave-grown sugar produced in foreign countries, thereby
aiding and abetting the practice of slavery, and at the same
SUGAR 87
time ruining her own countrymen. Many West Indian estates
went out of cultivation.
Next came Sugar Beet. The beetroot sugar industry was
established by Napoleon I in France in order to render her
independent of supplies from British colonies. It has ever
since been pursued with the greatest care and intelligence.
Later on other countries took up the industry, notably
Germany. Continental Governments encouraged beet-growers
in every possible way, giving them a bounty on every ton of
sugar they were able to export. As a result of this, and the
fact that the abolition of slavery had disorganized the West
Indian industry, beet sugar could be sold at a price lower than
cane sugar, and, as cheapness, to the exclusion of every other
consideration, made an unfailing appeal to us, we bought
beet sugar, with the result that we became dependent on foreign
supplies and our preference for beet sugar almost completed
the ruin which the abolition of slavery had begun.
In spite of all this, however, sugar is still the chief industry
of the West Indies. The partial abolition of the bounty
system in 1903, improved methods of cultivation, and the
preference granted by Canada to British grown sugar, have all
helped to improve the condition of affairs, though as late as
1913 we spent 23,066,621 on sugar, of which money only
930,933 went to British possessions.
Sugar requires a rich soil and a hot moist climate ; it can
be grown successfully in all parts of the world where these
conditions obtain, though it does best on land not too far from
the sea.
SOURCES OF SUPPLY. In our own empire, besides the West
Indies, British Guiana and Mauritius are our most important
sources of supply.
British Guiana lies between Venezuela and Dutch Guiana
in the north of South America. From the coast inwards
stretches a belt of hot moist lowland on which are situated
the sugar plantations. Demerara, the name of one of its
rivers, and of one of the three counties into which the colony
88 SUGAR
is divided, has given its name to all sugar refined in a certain
manner, whether it comes from Demerara or not. This
colony of British Guiana is almost as large as the British
Isles, and its lowlands, if they were all cultivated, could supply
us with all the sugar we need, and a great deal more.
Mauritius. This little island has an area of only 720 square
miles, but, lying as it does in the Indian Ocean, in latitude
20 S., it has an ideal climate for sugar cane, and sugar-
growing is its one and only industry. It used to export most
of its supplies to countries near at hand, but of late years
we in Britain have bought a large proportion of them.
British India has many thousands of acres under sugar,
but a great deal is required for home consumption, and our
imports from there are not so great as from other places.
Bengal, the Punjab, and the United Provinces of Agra and
Oudh, have the most extensive plantations.
Egypt. Both the climate and the soil of Egypt are eminently
suited for sugar, especially in the Delta, and here many acres
are planted with it, but hitherto we have not imported much.
Queensland. Many sincere friends of Australia counsel her
to employ coloured labour on her tropical lands, which they
refer to now as a ' wasted heritage '. India, they say, is over-
populated, and this surplus population could very profitably
be employed on the sugar plantations of Queensland. By
this means not only would the population difficulty of India
be solved, but enormous supplies of sugar and other tropical
produce would be added to the wealth of the empire.
On the other hand most Australians are passionately
attached to the opposite policy a white Australia. They
desire to keep their country for the white races only, and they
maintain that white men can endure the heat, and that sugar
and similar products can be cultivated by their labour
alone.
The first plantations in Queensland were worked by coloured
labourers, Kanakas, brought in from the Pacific Islands,
mainly from the New Hebrides ; but in 1901 the Commonwealth
SUGAR 89
Parliament passed a law saying that these men were to be
sent back to their homes, and from that time forward the sugar
produced in Queensland has been produced almost entirely
by the labour of the white man. The idea is, instead of
enormous plantations worked by gangs of unskilled, poorly-
paid coloured labourers, to have small estates worked by their
owners and a few highly- skilled well-paid assistants.
Queensland has an area of 688,000 square miles (i. e. it is
more than five and a half times as large as the British Isles).
Two-thirds of it lie within the tropics. From south to north
her coast extends for nearly a thousand miles, and ' at intervals
along this great distance are large areas under cane, and
a number of considerable towns almost entirely dependent
on the sugar industry '. Mackay, between Rockhampton
and Townsville, is called the sugaropolis of Australia.
In 1903 over 2,000,000 tons of cane were harvested, from
which were obtained over 200,000 tons of sugar. Scarcely
any coloured labour was employed, and the adherents of the
White Australia policy look forward to a time when they will
be able not only to supply all the sugar which is required in
Australia, but also have large quantities over to export to
other countries.
Union of South Africa. There is a narrow belt of tropical
country on the coast of Natal where sugar is grown, but at
present most of this is either used at home or exported to
other parts of South Africa. Indian coolies work on the
plantations.
In the low-lying veld of the Transvaal, too, the soil and
climate are suitable and some sugar is grown, but the supply of
labour is a difficulty.
Fiji. These islands are situated in the Pacific Ocean in
latitude 20 S. They are remarkably fertile, and sugar is one
of their most important crops, but we import very little from
them.
Kenya Colony. Sugar is grown here only to a small
extent at present, but there are rich alluvial lands in the
90 SUGAR
deltas of the principal rivers and elsewhere along the coast
very suitable for sugar.
In the Malay Peninsula sugar used to be one of the principal
products, both soil and climate being all that could be desired,
but of late years rubber has taken its place.
Sugar Beet is produced from seed, and grows in temperate
climates. It is sown in the spring and dug up in the autumn.
It is white in colour, not red, as are the ordinary beets with
which we are acquainted. A sugar beet looks rather like a large
parsnip. When the roots have been washed the juice is
extracted from them. There are two or three different methods
by which this is done : one of the most usual is to mash the
roots up to a pulp and then press the juice out of them by
machinery. The other processes for refining the juice and
obtaining sugar are the same as those followed in the manu-
facture of cane sugar.
In England we have at present (i.e. in 1918) 269 acres under
sugar beet, mainly in Lincoln, Suffolk, and Cambridge.
Canada. In the south of Ontario, in the peninsula between
lakes Huron and Erie, several thousand acres are under beet,
and in South Alberta, too, it is cultivated.
In Australia the sugar-beet industry is receiving attention,
especially in New South Wales, and beet sugar is also produced
in New Zealand.
SUMMARY. In 1913 1 we imported over twenty-three million
pounds' worth of sugar (23,066,621), of which less than one
million pounds' worth came from British possessions. The
bulk of the imported sugar came from Germany, though
Austria-Hungary, the Netherlands, and other countries sent
us considerable amounts.
Of countries within our own empire we received the largest
supplies from the West Indies, Mauritius, and British Guiana,
as well as a small amount from India.
Yet there seems no reason why in the future the empire
1 In 1917 we imported 36,000,000 worth, of which 6,000,000 came from
British countries.
SUGAR 91
should be dependent on foreign countries for its sugar, seeing
that enough cane sugar can be produced in our tropical depen
dencies to supply all our needs, while in addition to this beet-
root and maple sugar can be produced in the more temperate
parts of the empire.
CHAPTER IX
TEA, COFFEE, CACAO
TEA (Thea camellia). Chinese, tsha. 'I did send for a cup
of tee (a China drink) of which I had never drunk before.'
This entry occurs in Pepys' Diary under the date October 25,
1660. Tea had been introduced by the Portuguese into
Europe in the sixteenth century, but it was not until nearly
a hundred years later that it was brought by the Dutch to
Amsterdam, and from there was exported to London. It is
amusing to read that ' tea was then so scarce in England that
the infusion of it in water was taxed by the gallon, in common
with chocolate and sherbet. Two pounds and two ounces
were in the same year formally presented to the king by the
East India Company as a most valuable oblation > . 1
Still earlier we hear of two old people who boiled the leaves
and spread them upon their bread, but the water, in which
the leaves had been boiled, they threw away. For many years
the price of tea was high, some of the best kinds costing as
much as 10 per pound.
As to the original home of the tea-plant, authorities differ ;
some maintain that it is a native of China, others that its
real home is Assam, and that it was introduced from Assam
into China at a very early date. However this may be,
it was China which supplied the world with tea until 1833, and
no one suspected that the plant grew in any other country.
In that year it was decided to make tea plantations in Assam.
The ground was cleared and plants and experienced growers
1 Quarterly Review
92
TEA
were sent for from China, when lo ! it was discovered that the
very plants, which were being ruthlessly destroyed to make
way for the new-comers, were in very truth tea-plants them-
selves, and that the hills of Assam were covered with them.
All unknown and forgotten they had been living and dying
TEA PLANT
there for 5 " centuries, while similar plants had been cherished
and cultivated in China.
Cultivation. The tea-plant if left to itself, or grown for seed,
attains the size of an ordinary apple-tree, but when grown for
its leaves it is pruned flat every year to a height of four feet.
About eight weeks after pruning (i.e. towards the end of
February or the beginning of March) all over the bush fresh
young shoots, four or five inches long, sprout forth, and during
TEA 93
the height of the season these ' flushes ', as they are called,
occur every week or ten days. Women and children then, day
by day, pluck the bud and two of the tender undeveloped
leaves ; sometimes the first three leaves are gathered, some-
times even the fourth, but the tiny leaves at the top of the
shoot produce the most delicately flavoured tea. In the height
of the season, when there is a ' rush ' of leaf, that is when the
fresh shoots are very numerous and very frequent, men are em-
ployed to help gather the leaves, so that they may not be left
too long on the bush, and the quality of the tea be thus spoiled.
In October the pretty white flowers with yellow centres
appear on the bushes, and in December
the ' flushes ' cease and the tea season
is over.
Preparation of the Leaf. Before the
tea is ready for export it is subjected to
various processes, the chief of which are
withering, rolling, fermenting, and firing.
As soon as the coolies bring in their
baskets full of leaves to the tea factory, TEA FLOWER
the leaves are spread out thinly on wire
trays and kept in a temperature of about 80 for about
twenty hours. At the end of this time they are soft and
pliable, and are said to have been withered. These soft,
aflbby leaves are then spread between two flat uneven boards,
which are moved by machinery in different directions. By
this means the leaves are rolled, and the moisture in them is
brought to the surface.
Next they are taken to the fermenting room. Here they are
kept in a moist atmosphere at a temperature of between
78 and 82 for three or four hours, and during this time the
oxygen of the air acts upon the moisture of the leaves, so
that their colour changes from green to a copper colour.
After this they are passed through a drying machine, whence
they emerge dry and crisp and brittle. They are now what
we call tea. It only remains to separate the tiny leaves from
94 TEA
the larger ones. This is done by passing them through sieves,
having meshes of different sizes. The very finest form the
Orange Pekoe teas of commerce ; next come the Pekoes and
Souchongs and Congous. These names merely indicate the
grade of leaf. Other names are given according to the districts
in which the tea is grown, and sometimes teas are named after
the firm which grows them.
ROLLING TEA
Green tea is made from the same plants as black tea ; the
difference between them arises from the difference in treat-
ment after the leaves are gathered. In the case of green tea
the leaves are roasted almost immediately after being gathered ;
they are not fermented.
With regard to the vexed question as to the relative whole-
someness of Indian and China teas the truth seems to be
that, although an ounce of Indian tea contains slightly more
tannin than the same amount of China tea, yet the ounce of
Indian tea goes farther, so that a teapot of infusion of Indian
TEA
95
tea should contain a glightly less amount of tannin than one
of China tea. The other advantages of Indian tea are that
the manufacture of it is conducted with scrupulous attention
to cleanliness in well-ordered factories, and the rolling is done
WITHERING TEA
by machinery, whereas in China it is a domestic industry
and the rolling is performed by the hands or by bare feet.
SOURCES OF SUPPLY. At present India (Assam, Darjeeling,
Punjab, Travancore, and Nilgiri) and Ceylon are the chief
tea-producing countries in our own empire ; but tea is also
grown in Natal x and Fiji, and there seems no reason why it
1 The Natal tea has a peculiar flavour, and is only exported to places in
South Africa.
96 TEA
should not be grown in many other places which possess
a suitable soil and climate. The plant is hardy, and different
varieties of it are found growing in the hot damp plains near
the equator, and in the colder lands of northern China. It
would seem to nourish best, however, on the gently sloping
sides of wide valleys, in a damp warm climate, where the
rainfall is at least between 70 and 100 inches a year. The
more rain the better, apparently, so long as the moisture is
not allowed to clog its roots.
With regard to the climate of Assam, this is what Mr. D.
Crole says of it :
' As many as 10 inches of rain have been registered in
9 hours. . . . Till one has stood in a tropical downpour the full
significance of the word rain cannot be appreciated. Macin-
toshes and umbrellas are perfectly futile attempts against the
sheets of water if one has to be out and about all weathers as
planters have. Instead of putting on more covering it is
wiser to don as little in the way of clothing as is compatible
with convenience, unless of course you are very strong and
like carrying a few odd pounds or so of water about with you
for pure exercise and amusement.'
In the early duys in Assam roads and bridges were very bad.
' The old order of things more often than not consisted of
a flimsy swaying construction of bamboos tied together with
strips of cane, the roadway being merely composed of bamboo
matting tied on top of the transverse bamboos. To cross such
a bridge on horseback was a distinctly exciting adventure
from the momentary uncertainty of the next step.' 1
In spite of these difficulties, however, the cultivation of
tea has gone on increasing, and now good roads and railways
exist, and by the clearing away of swamps and other means
much has been done to render the climate more healthy.
The tea plant requires a rich soil, and in order to grow it
successfully there must be plenty of labour available. As
in the case of cotton, it is difficult to see how any machine
could successfully pluck the tiny leaves from the plant, so that
1 D. Crole, Tea, its Cultivation and Manufacture.
TEA, COFFEE 97
it would seem useless to attempt to grow tea in places which
cannot provide a good supply of cheap labour.
COFFEE (Coffea arabica). ' They have in Turkey a grain
called coffee . . . this drink comforteth the brain and heart
and helpeth digestion.' Bacon.
Our word coffee is in Spanish and French cafe, which is
a corruption of the Arabic Qahveh.
The coffee-tree if left to itself attains a height of twenty feet
or more, but when cultivated it is not allowed to grow higher
than eight or ten feet. It has handsome, shiny, evergreen
leaves, which grow on opposite sides of the stem. The flowers
are white, and very fragrant ; they are arranged in threefold
clusters, and as many as three of these clusters are often
crowded together at the base of a leaf -stalk. Each flower
has five petals united at the base to form a tube ; the seed
vessel contains two cells with one seed in each.
The fruit when ripe is dark purple, somewhat resembling
a small Kentish cherry.
The tree goes on flowering for eight months, so that flowers
and fruit, in varying degrees of ripeness, all occur in a planta-
tion at the same time ; consequently there have to be two or
three gatherings in a year.
The seeds (or berries as they are erroneously called) after
roasting become dark brown in colour, and the quality of the
coffee depends a good deal on the skill displayed in this
operation. In France most families roast their own berries,
and warm sunny days, scented with the delicious fragrance of
roasting coffee, remain in the visitor's mind as one of the charac-
teristic charms of that pleasant land. The grinding of the
beans follows next, but this should not be done until the infu-
sion is required, as ground coffee very quickly loses its aroma.
Unfortunately coffee is often adulterated, usually with
chicory, which, though an excellent plant in its own way, is
entirely out of place in a coffee-pot.
Abyssinia seems to have been the original home of the coffee -
plant, but it was known to the Arabs as early as the fifteenth
2203
98
COFFEE
century and cultivated by them, Mocha coffee being a renowned
variety. It was introduced into Europe by the Dutch from
their East Indian possessions, a burgomaster of Amsterdam
having carried it there from Mocha. In the eighteenth
COFFEE PLANT
century specimens of the plant were sent to the West Jndies,
where it flourished so abundantly that it soon became one of
their staple products. Conditions in the islands suited the
tree admirably, for coffee needs considerable heat and moisture
for its successful cultivation, and it prefers hilly slopes to level
land, and it likes a rich soil.
COFFEE 99
At present, of the West Indian Islands Jamaica produces
the largest amount of coffee, her most celebrated plantations
being on the slopes of the Blue Mountains. The coffee
produced is of very excellent quality.
In India, the coffee plantations are situated in the south of
the Deccan in the state of Mysore, and farther south still
on the Nilgiri Hills.
Ceylon, which used to grow large quantities of coffee, has
of late years devoted most of her attention to tea and rubber,
and her exports of coffee have declined.
Kenya Colony lies east of Victoria Nyanza in Equa-
torial Africa, but two-thirds of the country consists of
highlands over 5,000 feet
above sea-level, and here
the heat is moderated by
the altitude. Interest cen-
tres in the railway which
has been built from the
coast to the shores of the
lake. The journey takes
three hours. The train COFFEE FLOWER AND FRUIT
starts from Mombasa and,
after crossing the low-lying, hot, moist coastal belt, climbs
5,000 feet up to Nairobi, where on a clear day snow-capped
Mount Kenia can be seen glittering in the sun. The climate
here is said to be delightful, the temperature is never lower
than 50 F., the average being 68 F., and the rainfall is
40 inches. Ideal conditions these for coffee, and it is here that
the plantations are situated. On other slopes, too, at no great
distance from the railway, there are plantations, and it is
expected that coffee-growing will take an increasingly im-
portant position among the industries of British East Africa.
On the west and north of Victoria Nyanza lies Uganda,
another coffee-growing country.
Farther south, to the west of Lake Nyasa, is Nyasaland.
The coffee-tree was introduced from the Edinburgh Botanical
G2
100 COFFEE.. CACAO
Gardens into the country by Scotch planters in 1876, and
flourished so abundantly that the hope of the State seemed to
be in its coffee plantations ; to such an extent was this the
case that the coffee-tree was adopted as the badge of British
Central Africa, in which Protectorate Nyasaland was at that
time included. Nowadays cotton and tobacco are serious
rivals to coffee, though it still manages to hold its own.
Of the Malay States, Selangor produces most coffee ; in
West Africa, Sierra Leone ; in British South America, Guiana.
British North Borneo, too, has a certain amount of land
under coffee.
The eastern slopes of the Queensland Mountains would seem
a suitable locality for coffee plantations, but though a certain
amount is grown it is not one of Queensland's leading products,
and the same is true of Natal.
SUMMARY. We buy most of our coffee from foreign countries,
chiefly from Brazil, Costa Rica, Colombia, Guatemala, and
Mexico ; no less than twenty-two countries contribute to
our needs.
Of our own possessions, India sends us most, though we
receive supplies also from Kenya Colony, the West Indies,
and Aden ; while smaller amounts are sent from British Guiana,
Nyasaland, Malaya, and Uganda.
CACAO. ' The Emperor took no other beverage than the
chocolath, a potation of chocolate, flavoured with vanilla and
other spices, and so prepared as to be reduced to a froth of
the consistency of honey, which gradually dissolved in the
mouth. This beverage, if so it could be called, was served in
golden goblets, with spoons of the same metal, or of tortoise-
shell, finely wrought. The Emperor was exceedingly fond of
it, to judge from the quantity, no less than fifty jars or pitchers,
prepared for his own daily consumption. Two thousand more
were allowed for that of his own household.' x
The emperor mentioned in the above description is the
Mexican emperor, Montezuma, who was Emperor of Mexico
in 1519. The chocolath (chocolate) is prepared from the fruit
1 Prescott'e Conquest of Mexico.
CACAO 102
of the cacao tree, a native of Mexico. Its Mexican names is
cacanth.
There are several varieties of the tree, but the one which
produces the beverage is cacao theobroma. It is very delicate,
and requires great heat and moisture ; it will not flourish
beyond 15 north or south of the equator, and not higher
than 600 feet above sea-level. It is successfully cultivated in
the West Indies (especially in Trinidad), in Ceylon, and in
West Africa. When full grown it is about the size of ah apple-
tree.
After the ground has been cleared of forest growth and the
soil prepared, the cacao seedlings are planted, and at first,
as they require shade, other crops are often grown among
them. The young leaves are of a yellowish-brown colour,
but later on they change to a bright green ; they are about
fourteen inches long. In the third year tiny little flowers
appear along the trunk and branches of the tree. These are
very delicate and are quickly killed by wind, or cold, or
drought. Those which survive, in three or four months
produce long pods, red, yellow, purple, or green in colour and
from seven to twelve inches long. Inside each of these pods
are from thirty-six to forty-two red-skinned beans, clinging
round a central fibre, all embedded in a white pulp.
4 Next morning we are awakened by a blast from a conch.
It is 6.30 a.m. and the mist still clings in the valley, the
sun will not be over the hills for another hour or more, so
in the cool we join the labourers on the mule track to the
higher land and for a mile or more follow a stream to the
heart of the estate. If it is crop time the men will carry
a soulet, a hand of steel mounted on a long bamboo, by the
sharp edges of which the pods are cut from the higher branches
without injury to the tree. Men and women all carry cutlasses,
the one instrument needful for all work on the estate, serving
not only for reaping the lower pods, but for pruning and
weeding, or cutlassing, as the process of clearing away the
weed and brush is called. The pods are collected from
beneath the trees and taken to a convenient heap, if possible
near by a running stream where the workers can refill their
102
^CACAO
drinking cups for the midday meal. Here women sit with
trays of the broad banana leaves on which the beans are
placed as they extract them from the pod with the wooden
spoon.' l
Sweating or Fermentation. After this the beans are dried
on trays in the full heat of a blazing tropical sun. During this
PICKING CACAO, TRINIDAD
process their colour changes from red to a dark brown and
they become softer. On many estates this drying is now done
by machinery. They are then put into bags ready to be
exported.
On arrival at the factory the beans are carefully sorted,
and then roasted, after which the broken kernels, or nibs, are
extracted. All this is done by machinery. They are next
put between horizontal stone rollers which grind them to
powder ; but the nibs also contain a large proportion of fatty
1 Brandon Head, Food of the Gods.
CACAO
103
matter ; this mixes with the cacao powder, and there finally
issues from the grinding mill a dark liquid mass. This is
allowed to cool and solidify, after which it is submitted to great
pressure, which causes the fat to ooze out, and a dry cake is
left behind. This is again ground into powder and forms
what we call cacao or cocoa.
OPENING CACAO, TRINIDAD
Chocolate is made by adding sugar and flavouring to the
nibs before the first grinding. The fat is not pressed out ;
it is absorbed by the sugar, and the whole is ground together
into a paste. When this paste is dry, it is ground again, then
heated and pressed into moulds, after which it is passed
through a refrigerating chamber and is put into packets ready
for sale.
104
CACAO
SUMMARY
Tea.
Coffee.
Cacao.
Sources of Supply.
Foreign. r ;
British.
Remarks.
Java, China,
India, Ceylon.
The bulk (almost six-sevenths)
Japan (small
of our tea is imported from
amounts).
British possessions, India*
sending nearly double the
contribution of Ceylon.
Brazil, Costa ' India, Kenya
Less than one -ninth of our
Rica, Colombia,
Colony, the
imports are from British
Guatemala, ' West Indies,
possessions, among which
Mexico, and
Aden; British
India is pre-eminent. During
many other
Guiana, Nyasa-
the war there was a remark-
countries.
land, Malaya,
able increase from Uganda.
and Uganda.
Brazil, Ecuador, West Africa,
More than half our supplies
Germany (from West Indies,
come from British posses-
German West i Ceylon, and
sions. West Africa and the
and East smaller
West Indies send the largest
Africa), and amounts from
amounts.
many other other countries.
i countries.
CHAPTER X
SPICES
' Awake, O north wind ; and come, thou south ; blow upon
my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out.' Solomon's
Song, iv. 16.
From the remotest ages poets have sung of fragrant spices,
and set them among the good things of life. We read of them
in the Songs of Solomon, and in the Book of Proverbs, and in
many other books of ancient literature.
In the time of the Greeks and Romans they were among
their most highly-prized articles of commerce. Indeed, our
own word ' spices ' reminds us of this fact ; for it is derived
from the Latin ' species ', which at first meant a ' sort ' or
' kind ' of anything, and later came to mean produce in general,
SPICES 105
and finally the most valuable sort of produce, viz. those
aromatic and pungent vegetable substances of the east, which
we now call spices.
Arabia was always regarded as the land of perfumes and
romance, the land where the coveted spices came from ;
but as a matter of fact very few ever came from there, the
bulk of them being products of Southern India and the
islands of the east. But it was Arab merchants who brought
them to Europe, and they were careful to keep the origin of
their wares shrouded in mystery.
After the Crusades the people of Western Europe became
eager purchasers of these eastern treasures, for they gave
a flavour to their insipid salt meat in winter, and to their
still more insipid salt fish in Lent, so that we are not surprised
to read that the seat of honour at an English feast was by the
spice box.
They were brought with other merchandise by sea from
India and the east to Aden, and thence to Alexandria, which
became a great collecting place for all sorts of commodities,
so that, as Benjamin of Tudela, who visited it in 1172, tells us,
' it was full of bustle, and every nation had its own fonteccho
(hostelry) there '.
Of all these many nations the Italians were the busiest,
and the spices were brought by them to Venice, and thence
sent overland to Augsburg and Nurnberg, to Bruges and
Antwerp, and so to the western nations.
By this eastern trade the Venetians became enormously
wealthy, and much of the beauty and glory of their city is
due to the generous spending of this wealth in the building
of stately palaces and churches, wherein were collected all the
wonders of art and industry.
Later on this lucrative trade passed into the hands of the
Portuguese, and the fortunes of Venice declined. When
Vasco da Gama, in 1499, rounded the Cape of Good
Hope, and visited Calicut, the first blow was struck at the
Venetian trade, and we read : ' When this news reached
106 SPICES
Venice the whole city felt it greatly and remained stupe-
fied, and the wisest held it the worst news that had ever
arrived.'
The Spaniards tried to wrest this trade from the Portu-
guese, but though the heroic Magellan sailed round the south
of South America and westwards across the Pacific to the
Philippines (where he was killed), and though his successor l
sailed on to the Moluccas, ' where they traded on very advan-
tageous terms with the natives, filling their holds with the
spices and nutmegs for which they had journeyed so far ', and
finally returned home to Seville, elated with the wonders they
had seen, yet the Portuguese still held their own, and it was
not until the Dutch ousted them in 1521 that they finally
lost their pre-eminence.
From that time onwards, however, the Dutch had this
profitable trade in their hands, and they built Batavia to be
a collecting centre for their goods, and prospered exceedingly.
They took the most elaborate precautions to prevent other
nations from sharing in their advantages. Thus, for instance,
it was a crime, punishable by death, to grow cinnamon trees
on private lands in Ceylon ; and in certain islands of the
Moluccas the clove and nutmeg trees were ruthlessly destroyed
in order that Amboyna and Banda might have a monopoly of
them.
Side by side with this selfish jealousy was the most utter
ignorance on the part of the Home Government as to the
nature of the commodities in which they traded, and an
amusing story is told 2 of how the authorities in Amsterdam,
unaware of the fact that both nutmegs and mace were produced
by the same tree, once dispatched orders to their Colonial
Governor, requesting him to reduce the number of nutmegs
but to increase the number of mace-trees.
1 On the coat-of-arms, granted him on his return by Charles V, were
two cinnamon sticks, three nutmegs, and twelve cloves ; also two Malay
kings each holding in his left hand a spice branch (J. Jacobs, Story of
Geographical Discovery).
2 See A Handbook of Tropical Gardening, by H. F. Macmillan.
CINNAMON 107
The following are some of the chief spices which we use at
the present day :
CINNAMON. ' In this Hand (Ceylon) there groweth fine
Sinamon ... I was desirous to see how they gather the
Sinamon, or take it from the tree it groweth on, and so much
the rather, because the time that I was there was the season
they gather it in, which was in the moneth of Aprill, at which
time the Portugals were in Armes. and in the field, with the
King of the Country ; yet I to satisfy my desire, although in
great danger, took a guide with me, and went into a Wood
three miles from the Citie, in which wood was a great store
of Sinamon trees growing together among other wild trees ;
and this Sinamon tree is a small tree, 1 and not very high
and hath leaves like to our Bay-tree. In the moneth of March
or Aprill, when the sappe goeth up to the top of the tree, then
they take the Sinamon from that tree in this wise. They cut
the barke off the tree round about in length from knot to
knot, or from joynt to joynt, above and below, and then
easily with their hands they take it away, laying it in the
Sunne to drie, and in this wise it is gathered, and yet for all
this the tree dyeth not, but against the next yeare it will have
a new bark.' 2
The cinnamon gardens of Ceylon are down in the moist
sandy lowlands near Colombo, but the cinnamon tree (Cinna-
momum Zeylanicum) also grows wild in abundance all over
the rainy part of the island up to a height of 2,000 feet, for
Ceylon is the original home of the tree, as its name indicates
(Zeylanicum, of Ceylon), and the cinnamon produced there is
superior in flavour to that produced in other countries.
The tree is an evergreen belonging to the laurel family,
and in its native forests reaches a height of from forty to sixty
feet, but on plantations it is pruned and kept low. Under
these conditions it sends up from the root four or five long
straight shoots which come to perfection in about eighteen
months' time.
It has long, dark-green, shiny, leathery leaves, arranged
1 In many places it grows to a height of sixty feet.
2 ' Extracts of Master Caesar Frederick his eighteene yeeres Indian
Observations ' (Purchas His Pilgrimes),
108
CINNAMON
on opposite sides of the stalk, and it bears a cluster of white,
or pale yellow, flowers, having an extremely pleasant smell,
like a mixture of roses and lilac.
Its fruit is an olive-shaped berry containing a kernel ; the
berry itself is soft, and insipid, and dark blue in colour. It is
attached to its receptacle in the same way as an acorn is
attached to its cup. In the days when there was a king
of Ceylon, special fragrant
candles were made for him
from fat obtained from these
sweet-smelling berries.
It is the bark, however, for
which the tree is specially
cultivated. The shoots are
cut down, stripped of their
leaves, and carefully trimmed.
Then at distances of about
a foot, or a foot and a half,
incisions are made round the
stem horizontally. Next two
or three slits are made length-
ways from one ring to another,
and the bark is then pulled off
by slipping a knife under it.
These pieces of bark are
bound together in bundles and
left for twenty-four hours,
after which they are scraped, i.e. the outer covering is removed.
The bark then dries, and curls up, so that it is possible to fit the
smaller quills into the larger, and finally smooth sticks are
formed, about half an inch thick, and forty inches long, con-
taining a great number of dull, light-brown layers of bark as thin
as paper. After being once more dried, the sticks are made up
into bales, weighing about 60 Ib. each, and are ready for export.
Cinnamon, though used in medicine, is, like other spices,
chiefly used to flavour food, especially chocolate.
CINNAMON PLANT
CINNAMON, PEPPER 109
Oil of cinnamon, which is made from the bark of the tree,
is of a golden-yellow colour and is much used in perfumery.
CULTIVATION. Cinnamon can be propagated by seed, or by
layers, or by cuttings. It requires a sandy soil, and abundance
of heat and moisture.
SOURCES OF SUPPLY. Though the tree has been introduced
into other countries, e.g. the West Indies, Senegal, and India,
it is from Ceylon and the Seychelles that we obtain our chief
supplies.
PEPPER (Piper Nigrum) . ' Moreover that it maybe manifest
how pepper is had, it is to be understood that it groweth in
a certain kingdome whereat I my self e arrived, being called
Minibar. and it is not so plentifull in any other part of the
world as it is there. For the wood wherein it growes conteineth
in circuit 18 dayes journey. ... In the foresaid wood pepper
is had after this maner ; first it groweth in leaves like unto
pot-hearbes, which they plant neere unto great trees as we
do our vines, and they bring forth pepper in clusters as our
vines doe yield grapes, but being ripe they are of a greene x
colour, and are gathered as we gather grapes, and then the
graines are laid in the Sunne to be dried, and being dried are
put into earthen vessels : and thus is pepper made and
kept.' 2
Pepper has always been a most important article of com-
merce between the east and west ; and as far back as the
reign of Ethelred the Unready (86&-71) we read that merchants,
who came to trade at Billingsgate, had to pay ten pounds
of pepper as tribute at Christmas and Easter.
It is interesting, too, to remember that the present Worship-
ful Company of Grocers was originally the Company of
Pepperers, i.e. of pepper merchants, and to learn that, instead
of money, tenants sometimes agreed to pay a certain amount
of pepper as rent, landlords in this way making sure of
a plentiful supply of their favourite condiment.
The plant from which this valuable spice is obtained is
a climbing shrub with soft stems, and rather leathery leaves.
1 They are gathered when green, but when ripe they are red.
* ' The journall of Frier Odoricus ' (Purchas His Pilgrimes).
110
PEPPER
In a wild state it grows to a height of twenty or thirty feet,
but when cultivated it is kept back by pruning.
It bears little flowers arranged along a stalk about three
inches long in the same way as those of red currants, about
twenty or thirty on each
stalk, and the fruit when
ripe is a small red berry
about the size of a pea.
As soon as the berries
at the base of the stalk
begin to turn from green
to red the whole crop is
gathered. It is spread out
to dry in the sun, and then
the berries are separated
from the stalks by being
rubbed by hand, after
which they are winnowed,
so that all leaves and twigs
may be removed.
When dry the berries
are black and wrinkled ;
they form the black pep-
per of commerce ; white
pepper is obtained by
soaking the berries in
water, and then removing
their skins ; it is not
nearly so pungent as black
pepper.
CULTIVATION. Pepper requires a hot climate and a rich soil,
and, although it requires a fair amount of moisture, it will not
thrive on swampy, undrained land. Along the Malabar coast
of Southern India, where the best pepper in the world is
grown, the cuttings for a new plantation are put into the earth
just before the June rains, and as soon as they are tall enough
PEPPER VINE
PEPPER, GINGER
111
they are trained up the trunks of such trees as the mango
or cashew-nut. In three years' time they begin to bear fruit,
and they go on bearing for twelve years ; then they are cut
down and fresh ones planted.
SOURCES OF SUPPLY. Although Malabar pepper is the most
famous and is considered the best, we import most from
the Malay Peninsula, though Bombay, Ceylon, and Kenya
Colony also send us considerable supplies. Of our tota
imports more than half come from
countries within the empire.
GINGER (Zingiber Officinale).
The ginger which we buy in shops is
the rhizome, or underground stem of
the plant called Zingiber officinale.
When a new plantation is made,
pieces of these rhizomes are planted
in the earth, and from each joint
two different kinds of stems spring
up. First the leaf -stalk sprouts and
grows to a height of two or three
feet, and then the flower-stalk
shoots up. It does not grow so tall
as the leaf -stalk, rarely attaining
more than a foot in height.
The flowers come out from between the scales of a little cone ;
their corolla is orange-yellow ; they are small and soon wither.
When the leaves and flowers are faded, the rhizomes are con-
sidered ready for harvesting and they are dug up. They are
full of joints and knots and are very solid and tough ; outside
they are brown, but inside pale yellow. When all the earth has
been removed, they are well washed, and the little roots are
cut away, after which they are thoroughly dried in the sun.
CULTIVATION. Ginger requires a hot climate and a rich soil,
and a good supply of moisture. It is considered to be a native
of tropical Asia, whence it was from early times exported to
Europe. In the spice trade of the Middle Ages it stood next
PEPPER BERRIES
112
GINGER
in importance to pepper, and in England one pound of it
cost as much as a full-grown sheep.
Large quantities of it are still grown in India, where it is
preserved in syrup, and also used as a flavouring in the
celebrated Indian curries. From Asia the plant was introduced
GINGER PLANT
to the West Indies, and now Jamaica produces some of the
most famous ginger in the world.
SOURCES OF SUPPLY. We buy very little ginger from foreign
countries. Our chief sources of supply are British India
(especially the Presidencies of Bombay and Madras), the West
Indies (mainly Jamaica), and Sierra Leone, in West Africa.
NUTMEG
113
NUTMEG. In Old English nutmeg was written notemuge.
Muge was a shortened form of the French muguette, musk,
so that nutmeg meant the musk-nut, or scented nut.
The tree (Myristica fragrans) is a beautiful bushy evergreen
which grows to a height of thirty or forty feet. It has long,
glossy, dark-green leaves, and small, pale-yellow, bell-shaped
flowers.
The fruit is amber in colour, and in shape and size rather
like a small round pear. The outside fleshy covering is about
half an inch thick, and is tough and juicy. When ripe it splits
open and shows the seed inside
covered with a very beautiful lace-like
substance, bright scarlet in colour.
This covering is called mace. When
it is removed, the dark-brown seed or
nut itself is disclosed. It has a very
hard shell marked with the lace-like
impressions of the mace.
The nuts are placed on frames and
dried in the smoke of a wood fire, or
in the sun. The drying takes about
two months. At the end of that
time the kernels rattle inside their
shells. These are cracked with wooden mallets, and the
kernels or nutmegs are at last ready for use.
The mace is cut into strips and dried ; during the process
its colour changes from bright scarlet to pale yellow.
The chief use of nutmeg is as a spice. Its pleasant flavour
not only makes food more agreeable to the taste, but also
makes it more digestible. It is, however, also used in medicine,
and in large quantities acts as a narcotic. From both nutmegs
and mace an essential oil is distilled, which is largely used in
perfumery, especially in making scented soaps.
CULTIVATION. The nutmeg-tree requires heat, and moisture,
and a well-drained loamy soil, and the young trees require
shade. The seeds are sown in nursery beds, and take about
GINGER
2203
114 NUTMEG
three months to germinate, but they do not blossom until
they are five or six years old. The flower of the female tree
is slightly different from that of the male, and as soon as the
flowers appear they are planted out ; one male tree to
every ten female trees. The trees are considered to be
in perfection when they are about twenty years old, but
they go on bearing for a hundred years. Once a plantation is
NUTMEG ESTATE
formed it needs little attention, for no weeds grow under nut-
meg-trees.
In some countries the fruit is gathered by means of a hook
attached to a long pole : a basket near the top of the pole
catching the fruit as it falls. But more often it is allowed to
fall of its own accord and is merely picked up day by day
from the ground. The chief harvest is in the autumn, but
there is a smaller one in the spring. Each tree produces
four or five thousand nuts in a year.
SOURCES OF SUPPLY. In 1584 William Barrett, an Aleppo
NUTMEG
115
merchant, made a list of the chief spices imported into
Europe, and in his list we find the item : Nutmegs from
Banda.
NUTMEG TREE AND FRUIT.
The Banda Islands are a tiny group forming part of the
Moluccas. They belong to the Dutch. In them the nutmeg-
tree grows wild, and there are besides extensive plantations.
The nutmegs exported from these islands were formerly
rubbed over with dried lime in order to kill the seed, and
H2
116 ALLSPICE
thus prevent nutmeg-trees from being grown in other
parts of the world. Nevertheless, the cultivation of the
tree spread and they are now grown in most of the East
Indian Islands.
In our own empire they are grown to a certain extent in
India, and Ceylon, and Malay, but the West Indies, especially
Grenada, have the most extensive plantations, and offer the
most promising conditions for future production.
Allspice, or Pimento, or Jamaica Pepper. Just as we
associate Cinnamon ' Gardens ' with Ceylon, so we associate
Pimento ' Walks ' with Jamaica. The ' Walks ' are on the
slopes of the limestone mountains on the north side of the
island. They occur up to a height of 1,500 or 2,000 feet.
The word Pimento is a form of Pimienta, the Spanish for
pepper, and when allspice was first imported into Europe it
was called Pimienta. Afterwards it was called Allspice,
because it was supposed to combine the flavours of all the
spices, notably of cloves, cinnamon, pepper, and juniper.
The pimento-tree is a slender evergreen belonging to the
myrtle family ; it grows about 30 feet high. It has a smooth
greyish bark, which it sheds every year, and its long dark-
green leaves resemble those of the myrtle. Its flowers are
white with four rather thick, rounded petals and very numerous
stamens. The fruit is a little berry about the size of a pea ;
it contains two seeds. The berries are gathered while they
are green, because when they are ripe the inside pulp
becomes moist and sticky, and it is then difficult to dry them
properly.
Men go up into the trees and break off the twigs containing
the fruit, and throw them down to women and children below,
who pick off the berries and spread them out in the sun to dry.
In a few days they change in colour from green to dark brown,
and then they are ready for packing.
The harvest, called the ' breaking ', is in July and August,
and in good years the yield from a ' Walk ' is enormous, but the
crop varies very considerably ; and there are often bad years.
CLOVES 117
Like other spices, allspice is used in medicine, but its chief
use is as a condiment. It is interesting to read that Russia
in former times used to buy enormous quantities of allspice
from Jamaica to flavour her black rye bread, but that during
one of her wars she found that she could get a similar flavour
from another plant growing in her own country, and she
bought no more allspice from Jamaica.
-CULTIVATION. Allspice requires heat, but not too much
moisture, and it likes a well- drained limestone, or loamy soil,
and where these conditions obtain it will grow well. People
used to imagine that the seeds would not germinate if sown in
the ordinary manner, and that a pimento plantation must
spring up of its own accord ; but nowadays it is found that,
when the seeds are properly washed and dried, they grow
extremely well when planted in the ordinary manner.
The trees begin to yield when they are about seven years
old, but they are not in perfection until they have reached
their twentieth year.
SOURCES OF SUPPLY. The pimento is produced in other
tropical countries, but Jamaica is the only one which exports
it in any considerable quantity.
CLOVES. Our word clove is derived from the Spanish clavo,
which means a nail. The Spaniards and Portuguese gave the
bud this name because of its likeness to a nail in shape.
The cloAje-tree (Eugenia caryophyllata) , like the pimento,
belongs to the myrtle family, and in many respects these
two beautiful trees resemble one another. They both grow
to about the same height, thirty or forty feet, they are both
evergreen, and have a pale, smooth, greyish bark, and long
dark-green, shining leaves ; but the clove-tree is rather conical
in shape, its lower branches being much longer than its upper
ones. The bunches of flowers in both trees consist of several
stalks, with blossoms, arranged in sets of three, at the end
of each stalk.
The calyx of the clove-tree flower is about half an inch long
and is very solid ; it gradually changes from green to bright
118
CLOVES
red. Its upper edges are cut into four short teeth, and it holds
a small, f oui -petalled, pale-yellow flower, which in the bud
is a tiny yellow ball, for the petals lap over one another and
enclose the rest of the flower. The fruit is like a small purple
plum, but the seed fills up all the interior, and the outer cover-
ing is thin.
When the calyx is red, and before the petals have opened,
the crop is harvested. In Zanzibar each clove is picked by
hand, movable stages being erected to enable the gatherers
to reach the upper branches, but the more usual method
is to shake, or beat, the trees,
when the cloves fall readily to
the ground. They are spread
out in the sun to dry, and during
the process of drying change
from bright red to dark brown.
Their pleasant flavour has
always caused them to be used
in large quantities in cookery,
and their popularity is still very
great. Oil of Cloves is a pale
yellow oil used in soap-making
and perfumery.
Sources of Supply. To the
east of Celebes, in latitude
0.28 N., lie five little islets, which in former days were known
as the Moluccas or Clove Islands ; they are regarded as the
original home of the clove-tree, but, when the Dutch took the
islands from the Portuguese, they compelled the inhabitants
to destroy their trees, so that the Dutch plantations in Am-
boyna and Banda might have a monopoly of the trade in
cloves. Nevertheless, the cultivation of the tree spread, and
it now flourishes in most of the East Indian Islands.
In 1770 the French introduced the clove-tree into their
Island of Reunion, and from there its cultivation spread to
CLOVE PLANT
CLOVES
119
Zanzibar and Pemba, where it now forms the chief article of
commerce, the crop in a single year sometimes reaching as
much as ten and a half million pounds. Indeed, these two
islands now produce the largest part of the world's supply
of cloves.
Besides Zanzibar and Pemba, in our empire, Penang,
India, Ceylon, and the West Indies export cloves.
SUMMARY. Of cinnamon, allspice, cloves, and ginger our
supplies are practically all derived from empire sources, while
of pepper more than half is British ; and though nutmegs
are at present mainly imported from foreign countries,
Grenada affords a promising source of future supplies.
Not only so, but of cinnamon, cloves, and allspice, the
empire is the chief source of supply for the whole world.
Spices
Cinnamon.
Pepper.
Ginger.
Nutmeg.
Allspice.
Cloves.
Sources of Supply.
Remarks.
Foreign.
British.
Ceylon,
Seychelles.
Practically all our supplies
come from British Posses-
sions.
Java, Siam.
Malay Peninsula,
British India,
Ceylon, Kenya
Colony.
Of our imports more than
half come from British
Possessions.
Japan.
British India,
West Indies,
Sierra Leone.
Our imports from foreign
countries are very slight.
East Indies.
Grenada.
Jamaica.
Practically all our supplies
are derived from Jamaica.
Zanzibar and
Pemba, Penang,
India, Ceylon, the
West Indies.
The largest part of the
world's supply comes from
Zanzibar and Pemba.
120
CHAPTER XI
OIL-SEEDS AND OILS
An enormous and ever-increasing quantity of oil-seeds and
oils are imported into this country for the manufacture of
margarine (and various nut-butters), soap, candles, lubricants,
and many other substances. The following are some of the
most important oil-yielding plants :
THE AFRICAN OIL PALM. They have three kinds of trees,
as the Palme-trees, whereof some are females and beare Grapes
as bigge as Plummes of an Orange colour, at the one end being
somewhat blackish : those Grapes they peele to the stones,
and thereof they make Oile, which they call Palme-Oile,
which is verie delicate and good, which they use to dresse their
meate withall, and make good sauce for their fish, the thickest
of this Oile they use to anoint their bodies withall, to make
them cleane, and the women use it to frizell their haire, the
veines are as great as acornes, and as hard as a stone, at the
end thereof having three round holes, they beat them in pieces
and within find certain Nuts, like little earthen pellets, much
like hazell-nuts, but when you eat them, they taste of wood
and are verie drie.' l
The tree from which these ' Grapes ' are obtained is the
African Oil Palm. Its botanical name is Elaeis Guineenis,
i. e. Guinea Olive-tree. When full grown it attains a height
of sixty feet ; and, like all palms, its trunk is marked with
the scars of fallen leaves, but, in the days of its youth, it -is
a little forest in itself, for the bases of the dead leaves do not
fall off, they only bend back, and the spaces between them and
the trunk form receptacles for rain-water, and all sorts of bits
of decaying vegetation, which make a fertile soil for any chance
seeds or roots that may get carried thither. These gradually
sprout and grow, and soon all up the trunk are to be seen
ferns, and creepers, and plants of all sorts. When the tree
1 ' A description and historicall declaration of the golden Kingdome of
Guinea . . . written by one that hath oftentimes beene there. A.D. 1600.'
(Purchas His Pilgrimes.)
OIL-SEEDS AND OILS 121
is about twenty feet in height these leaf bases gradually fall
off, and with them the vegetation which they have supported,
and the trunk emerges clean and shapely.
At its top it has a crown of enormous pinnate -shaped
leaves, eight, twelve, or even fourteen feet long, the leaflets
themselves being often more than a foot in length.
Mr. Farquhar, in his most interesting account of the Oil
Palm, 1 describes how it sends forth a long green spike, which
shoots out upwards above the dense mass of forest growth
to the light and air, and having won breathing space for itself
unfolds its great green leaves.
When a little tree of about three years old it begins to
bear male flowers, and two or three years later female ones
appear. These are arranged along the flower- stalks, which
themselves grow out from a main stalk (just like a bunch
of red currants).
The main stalk sprouts at the top of the trees between the
trunk and the bases of the leaves, and when fully developed
is about seventeen inches long. The flower-stalks are at first
encased in a green sheath. This opens, and the flowers on
each side of the stalks blossom ; they are very numerous.
In a full-grown tree there are as many as 240 stalks, and
arranged along each of these about eight or ten flowers, so
that each spike bears altogether about 2,000 flowers. Out
of these 600 or so develop into complete fruits, but the
remaining ones, though without kernels, are very rich in oil.
A good bunch of fruit will weigh as much as 31 lb., and
a tree bears on an average five bunches in a year.
In a forest, of course, there are trees of all ages and sizes,
and in the small ones it is easy to see when the fruit is ripe,
but in the very tall ones this is difficult. The native collector
visits them from time to time, and instead of examining the
trees he observes carefully the ground in which they grow,
for parrots, and monkeys, and rats, and mice like the fruits,
but they do not eat the whole of them, so as soon as he finds
1 J. H. J. Farquhar, The Oil Palm and its Varieties.
122 OIL-SEEDS AND OILS
half-eaten fruits lying about, he knows that at the top of
the tree the great golden bunches are ready to be cut.
He climbs the tree with the help of a rope round his foot,
much in the same way as a West Indian climbs his coco-nut
TREE OF THE OIL PALM
trees, and with a great knife or chisel cuts off the bunches of
fruit.
The next operation is to extract the oil. The bunches
are piled up into heaps, and covered with leaves until the fruits
can be picked off easily from the stalks. They are then put
into a great iron cauldron with some water and brought to
OIL-SEEDS AND OILS
123
the boil. As soon as they are soft, they are shovelled out into
round wooden tubs, and pounded with mortars until the pulp
is separated from the stones. The whole oily mass is then
emptied on to long narrow sloping trays, and the ' stones '
are picked out, and thrown into a tub of water.
Then the women with their hands squeeze out the oil from
the pulp, and it collects in the lower end of the tray. The
pulp which remains over is thrown away, and the oil is
FRUIT OF THE OIL PALM
poured into kerosene tins. Each of these holds about five
gallons, and two of them can be carried by a man on his head.
Through the hot forest they trudge with these heavy loads to
the nearest market, whence the oil is sent down in canoes to the
various factories along the coast, and from there exported.
The ' stones ' or ' nuts ', after being dried, are cracked
between two flat stones, and the kernels are picked out by
hand. These are exported as they are, and the oil is expressed
from them in the country which imports them.
124 OIL-SEEDS AND OILS
Uses of the Oil Palm. In its native country almost every
part of the tree serves some useful purpose ; the great leaves,
for instance, are used for thatch, and brooms are made of the
midrib of the leaflets.
To the native mind, however, its most valuable product,
after oil, is the wine which it yields. There are various
methods of collecting this ; one is to make a round hole in
the flowering stalk, and insert a narrow-necked bottle into
it to catch the juice as it flows out. Unfortunately this collect-
ing of wine is bad for the trees, and where the practice is in
vogue they sooner or later dwindle and die.
Palm oil, i.e. the oil made from the pulp of the fruit, is
reddish yellow in colour, and is used chiefly in the manufacture
of soap and candles ; as a lubricant for the axles of railway
engines, and in the tinplate industry.
Palm-kernel oil, i.e. the oil expressed from the kernels
of the nuts, is white in colour, and is increasingly used for
making margarine l and various other edible butters and
fats. The ' cake ', which is left over after the oil is extracted,
is very rich in fat, and is a valuable food for animals.
CLIMATE AND SOIL. The oil palm, unlike the coco-nut, does
not like the sandy shore of the sea ; it likes a rich moist soil,
and in West Africa the great oil forests do not begin till two
or three miles inland.
With regard to climate, it will not grow vigorously with
less than seventy inches of rain in the year, and an average
of between 70 and 80 of heat.
In West Africa, from Sierra Leone to French Congo, not only
is it hot and rainy, but there is very little difference between
summer and winter, and the rainfall occurs all the year round,
though it is heaviest in spring and autumn .
' Dayes and Nights are of one length or else there is little
1 Margarine (from the Latin margarita, a pearl) was a name originally
given to ' a peculiar pearl-like substance extracted from some vegetable
oils and also from the fat of some animals '. The familiar compound of the
present day consists of a mixture of fats (animal or vegetable), oils (such
as palm kernel or coco-nut), water, milk, and salt.
OIL-SEEDS AND OILS 125
difference : for the Sunne riseth and goeth downe there
commonly at sixe of the clocke, but it is risen at least halfe
an houre above the Horizon before it sheweth itself so that
you shall seldom see it cleerely rise or goe downe.
' They shun the raine and esteeme it to be very ill and
unwholesome to fall upon their naked bodies, which they do
not without great reason, for wee find ourselves to bee much
troubled therewith when we travell. . . .
' Specially the Raine under the Equinoctiall Line is so
unwholesome and rotten that if a man hath been in the Raine
and is thorow wet, and so Heth downe to sleepe in his cabin,
in his wet clothes, without putting them off, he is in danger
to get some sicknesse for it breedeth fevers. . . . And they
find no less unwholesomenesse therein, for wnen it begins
to rain they get them out of the way and if any drops fall
upon their naked bodies they shiver and shake as if they
had a Fever, and cast their Armes over their shoulders to keep
the Raine from them ; which they do not because the water
is cold, for oftentimes it is so warm as if it were sodden : but
because of the unwholesomenesse for their bodies, which they
find thereby. And when they have trodden in the daytime
in the water with their feet, at night they make a fire, and lie
with the soles of their feet against it, which they doe to draw
the moysture of the water, which is gotten into their bodies, out
againe at their feet : then they anoint their bodies with Palme
Oyle, which they also use for a beautifying to make their bodies
shine, and that they doe to shunne the Raine water (which)
within those Countreys (as many men write) is very unwhole-
some and thereof many dangerous diseases are engendered.' 1
SOURCES OF SUPPLY. Though the oil palm grows to a certain
extent in other parts of the world where the climate and soil
are suitable (as, for instance, Central Africa, and the West
Indies, and Guiana), yet the amount of oil at present produced
in those places is so small compared with the output from
West Africa as to be entirely negligible.
Unlike rubber and copra, palm oil is not yet a plantation
product ; the great forests stand as they have always stood,
and the methods of collecting and preparing oil to-day differ
but little from those in vogue in the remote past.
1 ' Description of Guinea, A.D. 1600.'
126 OIL-SEEDS AND OILS
Efforts are now being made, however, to employ machinery
for cracking the nuts and picking out the kernels in place of
the slow tedious methods now in use, and doubtless other
similar improvements will follow, for the demand for palm
oil continually increases.
The two great bays in the Gulf of Guinea are the Bights of
Benin and Biafra. The rivers which flow into these bights
flow for the most part through palm-oil forests, and have at
their mouths palm-oil towns. They are separated by the
mouths of the Niger, whose delta alone covers 14,000 square
miles of alluvial forest and jungle. The arms of the delta
have long been known as the Oil Rivers. They include such
names as the Brass River, and the Bonny, which seem indeed
to reek of oil, as does the Old Calabar farther to the east.
The most important British part of this eight hundred
miles of coast is now called Southern Nigeria. Lagos in the
west, at the terminus of the railway to Kano, is the chief sea-
port for the whole district, and from it enormous quantities
of oil are exported.
Other oil-producing British colonies of West Africa are
Sierra Leone, the Gold Coast, and Gambia, but the bulk of
our oil imports come from Southern Nigeria.
Before the war practically all the palm kernels were exported
to Germany, and we bought a certain amount of palm-kernel
oil from her, but in 1917 over 200,000 tons of kernels were
imported by us from our West African Colonies, and also
about a fourth of this amount from foreign countries, chiefly
from the Belgian Congo.
COCO-NUT PALM (Cocos nucifera) . Along the sandy shores
of tropical lands, their ruddy roots and brown trunks contrasting
with the deep blue of the encircling ocean, stand groves of tall
coco-nut palms. They grow to a height of sixty or eighty feet.
The trunk is not very thick ; in a full-grown tree its diameter
measures only about eighteen inches.
It is bare of leaves, but is scarred all up its height with rings
marking the places where the leaves have fallen off, for the
OIL-SEEDS AND OILS 127
tree grows from its summit and sends out no branches. At
its top is a crown of from twenty to thirty leaves, the new pale
green ones in the middle and the old yellow ones outside.
These leaves are like enormous green feathers, with a great
midrib, eighteen feet long, and leaflets, each about three feet
in length. The midrib is so strong that the natives of the
countries where it grows often use it as an oar for their boats.
Pinna is the Latin for a feather, and so these coco-nut palms
are said to be pinnate-leaved palms. Each tree produces
about twelve leaves in a year.
The flowers grow along a stalk in the same way as currants
grow, and there are several stalks on one stem. The stem is
enclosed in a sheath, or spathe, like that of an arum lily.
The male flowers are yellowish and the female ones greenish.
They both occur on the same stalk. As about twenty nuts
are produced inside each spathe, and the tree sends out
about twelve spathes during the year, the average yearly
crop of a tree is 200 nuts. They are not all ripe at the same
time.
Before they have been stripped of their outer coating of
coir the nuts are about the size of an ordinary football, and
weigh about five or six pounds. The lower part of a nut
has ' eyes ', and looks rather like a mask, hence the Portuguese
gave it the name ' coco ', which in their language means
a mask ; the tree they called by another name.
Coco-nut palms which grow by the sea-shore often bend
over towards the sea, and so nuts often fall into the water.
Their outer covering of fibre makes them light in proportion
to their size, and so they are carried along by ocean currents
until they reach another shore. Sometimes they are washed
up on to a little barren island and are the first plants to
sprout and grow there.
Nowadays, however, coco-nut trees are often cultivated
and grown in plantations. It is found that although they
like sea air they will thrive a considerable distance away
from the sea. The young plants are generally reared from seed
128
OIL-SEEDS AND OILS
in nurseries, and when they are six months old are planted
out to form the future plantation. Holes are dug about thirty
feet apart each way, and into these the young plants are put,
so that each acre grows about forty -eight trees.
COCO-NUT TREE
In the nurseries the nuts are laid in the earth slantways
with the stalk ends raised, so that water may not collect in
the ' eyes ', and rot them. Coco-nut palms never grow
straight up from the root ; the lower part of their trunks is
always curved. When the plants are seven years old they
begin to bear fruit, and when they are ten years old they are
considered to be in full bearing, and they continue to bear for
OIL-SEEDS AND OILS
129
eighty or one hundred years. In some countries, e.g. the
Malay Peninsula, the natives cut notches in the trunk as they
climb up to gather the nuts, but in the West Indies they use
a rope. By the first method a man can gather about five
hundred nuts a day, by the second a thousand.
After the nuts are gathered, the next operation is to remove
the outer covering of fibre, which is usually about two or
three inches thick. This is done by striking the nut sharply
on an iron-pointed stake set up in the ground. The fibre
is then torn off by hand.
When the fibre has been re-
moved, the nut is as we see it
in greengrocers' shops.
Copra. To obtain copra, as
the white dried flesh is called,
the shell must be removed.
This is done about three weeks
after the nuts have been
gathered. They are cleft in
two with a hatchet, and, after
being exposed to the sun for
a little while, the copra is taken
out.
It is then either dried in the
sun, or in a drying-house by means of air artificially heated.
Coco-nut Oil. To obtain the oil from the copra various
methods are in use, but in all the most modern ones the copra
is broken up and ground to a meal, then heated and heavily
pressed. The oil which oozes out is white in colour, and in
temperate climates it is solid ; in the hot tropics it is liquid.
After it has been purified and refined it is in all respects equal
to oil of almonds, and is used for a great variety of purposes.
In India, where soap until recently was an unknown luxury,
the natives used it to anoint their bodies ; it produces a fine
gloss. They also use it for cooking, and before the introduction
of kerosene they used it as a lamp oil. Their lamps were of
2203
SECTION OF COCO-NUT
130 OIL-SEEDS AND OILS
simple construction. They consisted of half a tumbler of
water with oil floating on the top as far as the brim. Two
lighted sticks served as wicks.
The chief use of coco-nut oil to us is for making Margarine
(and various other butters and fats), Soap, and Candles.
Poonac. All animals are fond of coco-nut kernels, and,
nowadays, after the oil has been extracted from the copra, the
residue is ground up into meal for feeding cattle ; it is called
poonac.
Coir. The husks and fibre in which the nut is embedded
used to be steeped in water in pits for six months, or even
a year, and then beaten with a stick to separate the fibres from
one another. Nowadays, the same process of wetting and beat-
ing is followed, but on most plantations machinery is employed
and the methods are more expeditious.
The Fibre is called Coir. It is very strong, and is twisted
into ropes, woven into matting for floor coverings, and used
as a substitute for horsehair. Door-mats are made of it and
ships' fenders, and various kinds of brushes and brooms.
SOURCES OF SUPPLY. Coco-nut palms require sunshine and
fresh sea-breezes, and though in some cases they thrive at
a considerable distance away from the sea, yet their natural
home is the low-lying sandy shore of tropical islands, where
their roots can push out to the salt water, and their great leaves
can sway in the health-giving breeze. The soil of volcanic
and of coral islands seems specially suited to them, though
they will grow well in other soils.
Within the empire Ceylon stands first as a producer of
coco-nuts. Millions of coco-nut palms are cultivated in the
lowlands, especially on the east and south-west coasts, and
large quantities of coco-nuts, desiccated coco-nut, coir, copra,
coco-nut oil, and poonac are exported.
Many other British countries, however, grow coco-nuts,
and our imports of copra come not only from Ceylon * but also
1 The imports vary in amount from year to year. This is the order of
importance for 1915.
OIL-SEEDS AND OILS 131
from Malaya and Australia, as well as from India, New Zealand,
the West Indies and Mauritius, from Fiji and other islands in
the Pacific, and from Kenya Colony, Zanzibar, and the Gold
Coast, in Africa.
CASTOR-OIL PLANT (Ricinus communis). In tropical
climates if left to itself it attains a height of forty feet, but in
more temperate lands it becomes a bush, while in England it has
to be raised from seed every year, and never grows more than
four or five feet high.
It has large smooth leaves cut into seven or more segments.
The flowers occur on a thick spike, the male ones at the base
and the female ones at the top. They have no petals, but the
stigmas of the female ones are long and red in colour, and they
give a general effect of redness to the whole spike. The seeds
are contained in a three -celled spiny capsule ; they are nearly
half an inch long, of a pinkish-grey colour, dotted with
brown.
To obtain the oil the seeds are put under a powerful hydraulic
press, and the whitish oily liquid which oozes out is known
as cold drawn castor oil. It is further purified by being mixed
with water, then boiled and skimmed. The pressed seeds
which remain are sometimes heated and then pressed a second
time, but they yield an inferior oil.
Castor oil has many valuable qualities. In India and other
parts of the tropics it is used as a lamp oil, and is said to give
a whiter light than petroleum or any other mineral or vegetable
oil, moreover it makes scarcely any soot.
It is excellent, too, as a lubricant for machinery of all
kinds, but it is specially valuable for use in air-craft as it does
not freeze until the thermometer is at 0F., then it slowly
congeals to a yellow solid. It is also used for making soap
and candles and for dressing leather.
There are two kinds of seeds, large and small ; lamp oil
and lubricants are usually made from the large kind, medicinal
oil from the small variety.
The cake, which remains after the oil has been extracted,
12
132 OIL-SEEDS AND OILS
forms a valuable manure, and the stems and husks make
excellent fuel ; it is often used in sugar-cane factories.
SOURCES or SUPPLY. The plant is supposed by some to be
a native of India, others maintain that Africa is its original
home. However that may be, it is found growing wild in the
forests and jungles of India, and it is from there that we
receive our chief supplies . In 1 9 1 7 we imported over 1 ,000,000
worth. The seeds are crushed at Hull, but there is a growing
tendency to crush the seeds in the mills of Bombay, and to
export the oil instead of the seeds.
In the West Indies and Kenya Colony the plant grows
wild, and these countries and Rhodesia are probable sources
of future supply.
COLZA OIL (from the Dutch Koolzaad, cabbage-seed) is made
from the seeds of two species of rape ; they are nearly allied
to the turnip, and all three species belong to the cabbage
tribe. In the east of England a good many are grown as food
for sheep, and some for their seeds, but most of our seeds we
import from India. Before the war Russia sent us large supplies,
and China and the Argentine a considerable amount.
The oil is used for burning in lamps, lubricating machinery,
and for many other purposes.
CASHEW NUTS (Anacardium occidentale). The oil from
these is now used in making Cashew Nut Butter and for other
purposes. The peculiarity of the tree is that its flower-stalk
is enlarged to the size and shape of a small pear ; it is of various
colours white or yellow or red. Beyond it occurs the ash-
coloured, kidney-shaped fruit, which consists of a hard shell
enclosing a pleasant-tasting kernel. When pressed the
kernels yield a yellow oil equal in value to almond oil, and
exceedingly nutritious.
Between the outer and inner layers of the shell there is
a black oil which is used by the Andamans to colour and
preserve their nets ; it is very astringent and takes the skin
off the lips of any one who tries to crack the nut with his
teeth. The bark of the tree is also used for tanning.
OIL-SEEDS AND OILS 133
SOURCES OF SUPPLY. The Cashew tree grows wild in the
West Indies, and in the coastal forests of India, but in India
the kernels are so extensively eaten that few are left over for
export.
Cotton Seed. British India and Egypt send us our chief
supplies of cotton seed, though we also buy considerable
quantities from Uganda, Kenya Colony, and Nigeria. Of
foreign countries Brazil and Peru send us most, but our
imports are mainly from British countries. Cotton-seed oil
comes from the United States.
THE GROUND-NUT (Amchis hypogoea). This is a little
leguminous plant which grows about a foot high. From its
root it sends out branches which rise only a little way above
the ground. The leaves are almost square in shape with two
pairs of opposite leaflets, and at the junction of the leaf -stalk
and stem of the lower branches bright yellow flowers occur
resembling those of a pea, but each having a very long
calyx.
When the petals fall and the pods begin to form, the part
of the flower just under the seed-vessel quickly grows into
a thick stalk about an inch and a half in length ; this stalk
pushes the pod underground and here the peas or seeds ripen.
The pods are of a pale straw colour and their surface is dry
and wrinkled. They each contain two reddish-brown nuts
or peas.
Sir George Watt x says that in India ' this curious plant
often attracts to itself a number of red ants which in gardens
in Bengal seem regularly to soften and pulverize the soil
so as to facilitate the movement of the pod '.
The nuts are said to be even more nutritious than lentils,
and in America (where they are called pea-nuts) they are
largely used as an article of food. They are sold roasted at
street corners in New York as chestnuts are sold in London.
Fried in butter, too, and sprinkled with cayenne, they are said
to be as good as salted almonds.
1 Dictionary of Economic Products of India.
134
OIL-SEEDS AND OILS
It is, however, for their oil that they are chiefly valued.
It is of a pale yellow colour and in all respects resembles
olive oil. The trade in ground-nut oil is comparatively recent.
In the 'fifties a merchant of Marseilles made experiments and
GROUND-NUT
found that it could be used instead of olive oil in the manu-
facture of Soap. From that time onwards increasing quantities
were brought from India and West Africa to be used in the
great soap factories of Marseilles.
We, in England, have hitherto not set much value on
ground-nuts, and our importations of them have been small.
OIL-SEEDS AND OILS 135
Now, however, we are importing considerable quantities, and
doubtless in the future these will be increased.
Not only can the oil be used in the manufacture of
soap ; refined and purified it can be used as salad oil, and
Margarine can be made from it. After the oil has been
expressed, the residue forms a valuable feeding-cake for
cattle.
SOURCES OF SUPPLY. South America is regarded as the native
home of the ground-nut, and it was not known in the Old
World before the time of Columbus, but now it is cultivated
in all hot countries, though India (chiefly South India and
GROUND-NUT
Flower. Fruit.
Bombay) and West Africa yield the largest supplies. From
India the nuts are exported in their shells.
In West Africa, Gambia, Northern Nigeria, the Gold Coast,
and Sierra Leone all produce ground-nuts. They are exported
stripped of their shells.
Not only do the plants require but little care in cultivation
and yield a quick return, but they enrich the soil for other
plants, and are therefore often grown as catch crops among
young coco-nut palms, and they often follow grain and cotton
in the rotation of crops. In the Sudan, for instance, where
irrigation is necessary and intensive cultivation is practised,
ground-nuts are considered a valuable crop for restoring
fertility to the soil after other crops have exhausted it.
For these and other reasons the Sudan, Malaya, Kenya
Colony, Uganda, Natal, and many other places are paying
136
OIL-SEEDS AND OILS
increasing attention to the cultivation of ground-nuts, and our
supply is practically unlimited.
SESAME (Sesamum Indicum). This is an annual which
grows about four feet high. It bears bell-shaped pinkish
flowers, similar to those of the campanula. These flowers occur
singly at the junction of the leaf-stalk and stem of the plant.
The tiny seeds (about one-fifth of an inch long) are contained
in a pale green leathery
capsule about one and a
half inches long. They are
very numerous.
They are chiefly valuable
for the oil which is expressed
from them. It is yellow in
colour, and in many respects
resembles ground-nut oil
and olive oil. It is used in
India, as ground-nut oil is,
for cooking, for anointing
the body, as a lamp oil, and
for other purposes. In
Europe it is chiefly used
for making Soap, also, the
purer and better kinds, for
making Margarine, and
Vegetable Butters. When
the oil has been expressed, the residue is used as food for cattle.
Sesame oil has one curious property possessed by no other
oil. If a mixture of sulphuric and nitric acid be shaken
up with it, it turns green, so that when used in the manu-
facture of margarine its presence can always be detected and
the margarine cannot then be sold as ordinary butter.
SOURCES or SUPPLY. It is grown all over India, and in Egypt,
Kenya Colony, Uganda, and West Africa. As in the case
of ground-nut oil and many others, we have hitherto neglected
it and imported only small quantities, but in the future
SESAME PLANT
OIL-SEEDS AND OILS 137
probably we shall greatly increase our supplies. Our imports
at present (1917) come mainly from British India, though
Nigeria has supplied us with a certain amount.
Of foreign countries China sends the largest quantity.
OLIVES, the fruit of the Olea europaea. The olive is a beauti-
ful evergreen tree which usually grows to about twenty or thirty
feet high, though some trees are very much taller than this.
It grows very slowly, and lives to a great age. It has a smooth
pale-grey bark, and small, oval, leathery leaves, covered with
tiny hairs ; on the top side the leaves are of a greenish-grey
colour, but underneath they are silvery white. The flowers are
pure white set in a calyx of pale green,
and the fruits, or olives, when ripe are
rather like small long purple plums.
Asia Minor and Syria are considered to
be the original home of the olive-tree,
and in these countries great woods of the
wild tree still abound. But from very
early days olives have been cultivated in
all Mediterranean countries, and in Italy,
and France, and Spain, whole districts
OXLiJiiJ-)
several miles in extent are planted with
them, while in Greece the tree was considered to be under the
special protection of the goddess Athene.
According to the old story, Neptune and Athene both desired
the possession of Athens, and the gods decided that whichever
produced a gift the most useful to man should have his desire.
Neptune thereupon struck the ground with his trident, and
a horse appeared ; but Athene planted the olive, and the gods
gave her the city, rightly judging that hers was the more
valuable gift. An olive branch was regarded as a symbol of
peace, and a crown of wild olive was considered the highest
reward of bravery.
Unripe green olives are pickled and eaten either before
meals or as dessert. The wood of the tree takes a high polish
and makes beautiful furniture. But it is for its oil that the
138 OIL-SEEDS AND OILS
tree is most valued. To obtain olive oil, or, as it is often called,
salad oil, or Lucca oil, the fruit is crushed. The oil from the first
crushings is the best ; the inferior kinds pressed from the pulp
after it has been steeped in water are only fit for soap-making.
Italy, France, and Spain at present supply us with all the
oil we use, but there are districts in Australia in which the
tree thrives well.
In South Australia, the cultivation of olives and the extrac-
tion of oil are well-established industries, and there are large
tracts of country with a light rainfall and poor soil, on which
thousands more trees might be grown with advantage. The
Darling Downs in Queensland seem particularly suited to the
cultivation of olive-trees, and many are already doing well
here, though there are other parts of the State with a similar
soil and climate in which the trees would certainly thrive.
One writer gives it as his opinion that Queensland is destined
some day to be ' one of the largest producers of olives on earth '.
Not only is the oil very valuable, but the trees themselves
provide a much-needed shelter for cattle in those open downs
of Australia, where the rainfall is too scanty, and the soil too
poor, for other trees to flourish.
SUMMARY. Within the empire India and West Africa stand
out pre-eminently as exporters of oil-seeds and oil.
The value of the Indian export alone is estimated at
17,000,000. We have long been accustomed to buy from her
such well-known seeds as Linseed, Castor Seed, Cotton Seed,
and Rape Seed, but there are many others such as Sesame,
Mowra, and Poppy, which, together with Ground-nuts, we shall
in the future import from her in increasing quantities.
West Africa is first and foremost the exporter of Palm Oil
and Palm Kernels and Ground-nuts. Palm oil we have always
bought from her, but palm kernels and ground-nuts we have
hitherto neglected. In the future these, with Sesame Seeds
and Shea-nuts, will be among our most valuable imports.
Ceylon, Malaya, Australia, India, and many other British
countries already supply us with large quantities of Copra,
OIL-SEEDS AND OIL&
OLIVE-TREE AND FRUIT
-140
OIL-SEEDS AND OILS
products of the coco-nut, and these supplies will in
the future be augmented to meet the ever-increasing demand.
Canada exports large quantities of Flax Seed, and Egypt
Cotton Seed, while many other countries are beginning to
export these and other valuable oil-seeds and oils, among
which Australian Olive Oil is bound to take a prominent
place.
SUMMARY : Oil-seeds and Oils
Sources of Supply.
Foreign. British.
Remarks.
Palm oil.
French and ! Southern Nigeria,
Though we import palm oil
Portuguese Northern Nigeria,
from foreign countries, the
West Africa, Gold Coast,
amount is negligible com-
Liberia. Sierra Leone
pared with that from British
Before the war
possessions, and the bulk
German West
of this comes from Southern
Africa ; dur-
Nigeria.
ing the war
Belgian
Congo.
Palm
Belgian
Southern Nigeria,
Before the war the kernels
kernels, Congo, and
for ex- j other
Northern Nigeria,
Sierra Leone.
were sent to Germany and
we bought a certain amount
press-
countries.
of oil from her, but in 1917
ing oil.
more than 200,000 tons of
kernels were imported by us
from our West African
colonies, and about a fourth
of this from foreign
countries.
Copra,
for ex-
Philippines,
Dutch East
Ceylon, Malaya,
Australia, India,
The foreign imports are small
compared with those from
press-
Indies.
New Zealand,
British countries.
ing oil.
West Indies,
Mauritius, Fiji,
Kenya Colony,
Gold Coast,
Zanzibar.
Flax-
The Argentine India, Canada
In 1917 the bulk of our sup-
seed, or. The Nether-
plies came from India,
linseed, lands,
though we bought large
for ex- China.
quantities from the Argen-
press-
tine. Before the war Canada
ing oil.
sent us more than the
Argentina,
OIL-SEEDS AND OILS
141
Castor seeds,
for expressing
oil.
Sources of Supply.
Remarks.
Foreign.
British.
India.
Probable future
sources :
West Indies,
Kenya Colony,
Rhodesia.
Brazil.
Other sources of sup-
ply are at present un-
important compared
with India.
Cotton seed, Brazil, Peru,
for express-
ing oil.
Cotton-seed The United
oil. States.
India, Egypt,
Uganda,
Kenya Colony,
Nigeria.
Most of our imports of
seed are from British
countries, but the oil
comes from the
United States.
Rape seeds,
for Colza, oil.
Russia, China,
the Argentine.
India.
During the war sup-
plies from other coun-
tries declined, and in
1917 practically all
came from India.
Ground-nuts,
for express-
ing oil.
Sesame seeds,
for express-
ing oil.
French West
Africa,
Portuguese
West
Africa.
China.
Gambia, Nigeria,
Sierra Leone,
India,
Kenya Colony,
Hong Kong.
India, Nigeria.
More than half our
imports come from
British countries, and
of these West Africa
and India send us
the largest supplies.
Olive oil.
Italy, Spain,
France.
Probable sources of
future supply :
Victoria,
Queensland.
Shea nuts, for
expressing
oil.
Probable sources of
future supply :
Nigeria,
Ashanti.
Poppy seeds
and Mowra
seeds, for oil.
Probable source of
future supply :
India.
Cashew nuts,
for oil.
The West Indies.
Soya beans, Russia, China,
for oil. Jat>an.
142
CHAPTER XII
DRUGS AND TOBACCO
* IT may truly be said of fantastical physitions, who when
they have found an approved medicine and perfect remedy
near home against any disease, yet not contented with that,
they will seek for a new farther off, and by that means many
times hurte more than they helpe.' John Gerard (1545-1607),
gardener to Lord Burleigh.
The Dutch word droog means ' dry ', and the plural droogen
was used in the special sense of ' dried roots ', and later on
was extended to mean any substance, vegetable or mineral,
which was used in the preparation of medicines. From the
Dutch droogen the French word for drugs was derived,
drogue, and from the French, our own word ' drug '.
Many of the best-known spices in addition to their pleasant
flavours possess also medicinal properties, and spices and
drugs are often therefore classed together.
' In days gone by, England grew her own medicinal herbs.
Then Germany and Austria gradually undersold the home-
grown plants, and English people forgot the art of growing
herbs, and forgot their value when they saw the plants in
hedge -rows and woods.
During recent years the acreage devoted to drug cultiva-
tion in this country has become more and more restricted by
competition with foreign products, and in consequence British -
grown drugs have been steadily ousted from the market. In
1913 we imported over 71,000 worth of varieties of vegetable
drugs which we are able to grow or collect here.' l
One of the most important British plants which yield
valuable drugs is Atropa belladonna or the deadly nightshade,
a bushy herbaceous plant, which grows from two to four feet
high. It bears large, bell-shaped, purplish flowers, and its
fruit when ripe is like a small black juicy cherry, intensely
1 M. Grieve, F.R.H.S., Principal of Whin's Vegetable Drug Farm, Chal-
font St. Peter.
DRUGS AND TOBACCO 143
sweet, and very poisonous. ' Banish, therefore, these perni-
cious plants from your gardens ', says Gerarde, ' and from all
places noar to your homes where children do resort.'
This deadly character of belladonna is due to the presence
of an alkaloid called atropine. one-tenth of a grain of which
swallowed by a man has been known to occasion symptoms of
poisoning ; it is contained in all parts of the plant, but is
especially abundant in the thick fleshy roots.
Atropa, the name of the genus to which belladonna belongs,
is derived from the Greek Atropos, the mighty goddess, who
with ' the abhorred shears ' cuts the * thin spun thread ' of
human life.
Atropine possesses the valuable power of dilating the
pupil of the eye, and is, therefore, of great service to oculists
in their work. The tiny disks which they use for this purpose
are made of gelatine with ^oSo f a grain of atropine in each,
the entire disk weighing only one-fiftieth of a grain. Italian
ladies used to consider this enlargement of the pupil an addi-
tion to their charms, hence the name belladonna which in
Italian means beautiful lady.
The various preparations of belladonna serve many useful
purposes ; they lessen pain, for instance, in cases of neuralgia,
and rheumatism, and sciatica, and for this and many other
reasons the plant is considered a very valuable one.
It is not very common in England, though in our southern
counties it is found often growing in the shade of trees on the
slopes of chalky hills, and its cultivation under favourable
circumstances yields excellent results. There seems no reason,
therefore, why we should be dependent on foreign sources of
supply for a commodity of such vital importance to us, and
it is gratifying to learn that a beginning has been made in
the work of rendering us self-supporting in this respect.
' Before the war the bulk of the world's supply of bella-
donna was derived from plants growing wild on waste stony
places in Southern Europe, comparatively little belladonna
having hitherto been grown in England. The industry wa<*
144 DRUGS AND TOBACCO
an important one in Croatia and Slavonia in South Hungary,
the chief centre for foreign belladonna. ... In August 1916
the drug atropine derived from the plant had risen from
10s. 6d. per ounce before the war to 7 per ounce.' l
Another important British drug is derived from Foxgloves,
and there are very many other drug-producing plants.
Mrs. Grieve in her catalogue gives more than 600 which can
be grown in the British Isles.
Of other drugs which are not suitable to our climate, quinine,
opium, eucalyptus, and camphor are among the most important.
QUININE. ' This medicine, the most precious of all those
known in the art of healing, is one of the greatest conquests
made by man over the vegetable kingdom. The treasures
which Peru yields, and which the Spaniards sought and dug
out of the bowels of the earth, are not to be compared in utility
with the bark of the quinaquina trees which they for a long
time ignored.' Dictionnaire des Sciences Medicales.
Quinaquina (bark of bark) is the name given by the Indians
of Peru to the trees which we call Chinchona trees ; our word
quinine is derived from it. Quinine is a white substance, very
bitter and without smell. It is obtained by a complicated
process from the powdered bark of various species of chin-
chona trees. Its uses are many and various, but it is valued
most of all for its healing virtues in cases of fever and malarial
affections of all kinds. In these illnesses it is without rival
in efficacy.
Chinchona Trees. Twenty-four miles to the south-east of
Madrid ' on a breezy hill ' stand the ruins of the aid castle of
Chinchon, ' with the little town nestling at its feet.'
Hither came in 1621 the young and beautiful bride of the
Count of Chinchon. She was twenty years old, and eight years
later she accompanied her husband to Lima in Peru, of which
country he had been made viceroy. But the climate was
unhealthy, and in 1638 the countess was stricken with fever
and lay in a dangerous condition in the palace at Lima.
1 M. Grieve.
QUININE 145
At Loxa, in Ecuador, grew some quinaquina trees, the bark
of which was said to possess marvellous powers of healing,
and the Governor of Loxa, hearing of the countess's illness,
sent a parcel of this bark to her. Its effect was magical ; the
fever left her.
In 1640 she returned to Spain, bringing with her quantities
of quinaquina bark ; its virtues were quickly recognized iy
the Jesuits, and from them the knowledge of its usefulness
spread among Roman Catholics, especially in Spain and Italy,
but for a long time the Protestants and orthodox physicians
refused to have anything to do with it. However, in course
of time this prejudice was overcome, and there arose a great
and increasing demand for it. In 1679 Robert Talbot, an
English physician, cured Charles II of a fever by its use, and
from him Louis XIV purchased the secret. The price he
paid was 2,000 louis d'or (2,000), a large pension, and
a title.
The Swedish botanist Linnaeus (1738-83) called the quina-
quina trees Chinchona trees, in honour of the countess who
introduced the bark into Europe.
It was from the forest of Loxa that the bark was exported,
and the native collectors thought of nothing but their own
immediate profit, and paid no heed to the havoc they
wrought in making their collections, so that, wherever they
went, the trees were destroyed, and a desert was left behind
them. The bark in consequence grew rarer, and the price
increased. In England it cost 105. an ounce, and in India,
where its need was most urgent, 20s.
It was to remedy this state of things that in 1860
Sir Clements Markham set out to Peru, with the object of
collecting Chinchona plants and seeds, and establishing
plantations in India. It was an extremely difficult enterprise.
All along the eastern slopes of the Andes from 20 S. to
10 N. (i.e. from the south of Bolivia to the north of Ecuador)
are sub-tropical forests, and in these forests grew the Chin-
chona trees. There are many varieties, but they all need
2203 v
146 QUININE
a mild and equable climate, such as that suitable for coffee
and cacao trees, i.e. between 60 F. and 65 F. mean tempera-
ture.
' When in good soil and under favourable conditions they
become great forest trees ; on higher elevations, and when
crowded or growing on rocky ground, they frequently run
up to a great height without a branch, and at the upper limit
of their zone they become mere shrubs.' They are evergreen
trees with bright green, shiny, laurel-like leaves ; but the
leaves have crimson veins. They bear large clusters of fragrant
flowers, rather like lilac, but generally roseate in colour.
It was resolved to form three separate expeditions to the
Chinchona forests, the most difficult one to the Caravaya
region of Peru being undertaken by Sir Clements himself.
He tells how they started from Islay, on the coast of Peru,
and then journeyed across the Andes to the eastern side of
Lake Titicaca. Their road lay across desolate plains, and
across snow-capped mountains, and down steep ravines, but
at last, after travelling for six weeks, they came upon their
first clump of Chinchona trees at an altitude of 5,400 feet.
' I entered the Chinchona forests, travelling on foot, with
Weir the gardener and four young Indians carrying the food
in leather bags. All were faithful, active, steady young
fellows and good comrades, except one, who deserted with
a bag of toasted bread. Soon we came to the coca plantations,
then the volume of the rivers increased and they were difficult
to ford. At length we came upon the first Chinchona plant,
only a shrub at this elevation, 5,400 feet. It was on a grassy
slope, growing with other beautiful flowering shrubs. . . .
It was a great event. I gazed with feelings of delight at the
panicles of exquisite roseate flowers and the rich glossy
leaves with crimson veins of my first Chinchona. Pressing
onwards for several days ; and always descending, we reached
the forests in the valley of the river Tambopata.' 1
They spent a fortnight in gathering plants, cutting their
way through dense forests, where no European had ever been
1 Chinchona, by Sir Clements Markham.
QUININE 147
before, and where no roads of any kind existed, and where
creepers and tangled undergrowth tripped them up at every
step. Often their route lay along the edge of forest-clad
precipices which overhung foaming dashing torrents hundreds
of feet below. But after all their labours in these pathless
wilds worse troubles awaited them.
In describing their journey Sir Clements says : ' At Acco-
kunka I met a red-faced man, about 50 years of age.' It was
this red-faced man who stirred up strife and was the cause of
all their difficulties.
There was no law in Bolivia against collecting Chinchona
plants, and, moreover, the explorers had received special
permission to make their collections, yet now orders came to
arrest them, and it was only by using the utmost precaution
and by dint of the most strenuous endeavours that they
managed to reach the coast by another route. But they had
their plants safe. They were carefully packed in specially
made cases and conveyed across the Isthmus of Panama.
During the night, while the cases containing the plants were
awaiting shipment, an attempt was made to kill them by
pouring boiling water upon them.
They reached Southampton in a flourishing condition, but,
sad to say, after all this care, and toil and danger the heat of
the Red Sea in summer proved too much for them, and they
died on their way to India. However, the seeds survived,
and these and other seeds and plants from the other regions
explored were safely landed in India. Plantations were
formed on the Nilgiri Hills, where ' the warmth is not heat,
and the coolness is not cold ', and from here other districts
received seeds and plants, so that now there are flourishing
plantations in Sikkim, and Burmah, and Ceylon, as well as
in Southern India.
The tree is also cultivated in Jamaica and South Africa.
The result of these enterprises is that whereas in India
quinine used to be sold at 20s. an ounce, and was, therefore,
quite beyond the means of the poor fever-stricken native, now
K2
148 QUININE, EUCALYPTUS
it can be purchased in halfpenny packets and the poorest can
get cured of his disease.
In England the price has gone down from 105. to Is. an
ounce. Yet this boon was not conferred on humanity without
sacrifice. Two of the explorers were crippled and disabled
as a consequence of the paralysis which followed the fevers
they contracted in the forests, and one poor Indian who helped
to collect seeds was thrown into prison, where he was beaten
and starved to death.
SOURCES OF SUPPLY. Before the war, however, in spite of
these sacrifices, we imported practically all our quinine from
foreign countries, mainly from the Netherlands (there are
nourishing plantations in Java) and Germany. During the
war our supplies came almost entirely from the Nether-
lands.
OIL OF EUCALYPTUS. This is a very valuable antiseptic
drug, obtained from the leaves of the Eucalyptus globulus, or
Australian Blue Gum. This is one of the largest known trees,
sometimes attaining a height of over 400 feet. It has a smooth
greyish trunk, the outer layers of which easily peel off. Its
leaves are of a dull grey-green colour, long and narrow,
tough and leathery. They contain numerous oil-glands,
which help them to resist the heat, and which emit the well-
known peculiar odour of the Australian Bush.
The flowers are large with very many stamens arranged in
rows around the edge of the calyx. The cream-coloured
filaments are long and delicate, with small yellow anthers
at their extremities. There are no petals. The upper part of
the bud consists of a thick knotty green lid, which drops off
when the flower opens. It is this lid which gives the tree its
name eucalyptus, well covered.
The fruit is rather like a button in shape, hence the name
globulus, which means a little button.
' The fever- destroying tree ' is another name by which it
is known, because when planted in malarial districts it makes
them less unhealthy. Its enormous roots suck up huge
EUCALYPTUS 149
quantities of moisture and so drain the land, and its leaves
exude antiseptic odours.
To a French botanist belongs the honour of having discovered
the eucalyptus tree. While on a voyage of exploration he
EUCALYPTUS FOREST
came upon vast forests of Eucalyptus globulus in Southern
Tasmania. In 1792 seeds were first sent to Europe.
In favourable situations its growth is extraordinarily
rapid, and in Southern Europe it flourishes abundantly, but
it is very sensitive to frost, and hence Cornwall and the
150 OPIUM
south-west of Ireland are the only places in the British Isles
where it will grow out of doors without shelter.
OPIUM. Lathi Opium, from Greek opos, vegetable juice.
Corn poppies, that in crimson dwell,
Called Headaches, from their sickly smell.
JOHN CLARE (1793-18C4).
This quotation refers to the common red poppies which
blossom in our cornfields, but opium is the dried juice of
the White Poppy, Papaver somniferum.
Incisions are made at sunset in the unripe capsules, 1 or
seed-vessels, of the poppies, and by morning the milky juice
has hardened into a kind of brown gum. This gum is the
opium of commerce ; it has an earthy, drowsy smell, and
a bitter taste.
Opium is one of the most precious of all drugs, for it con-
tains an element which induces sleep and relieves pain.
Morpheus was the Son of Sleep and the God of Dreams, and
the element in opium which produces sleep and insensibility
to pain is therefore called morphia, or morphine. Though
a very valuable medicine, opium is very harmful if used
in temperately.
The white poppy is cultivated in England chiefly in Lincoln-
shire, and is found growing wild in various other places in
England, but its narcotic 2 properties are not so strong as
when grown in warmer climates, and most of our opium is
therefore imported.
In India the white poppy is extensively cultivated in the
Ganges Valley, and on the Malwa Plateau. Ghazipur and
Patna are the collecting centres in the Ganges Valley, and
Calcutta the port of shipment. The produce of the Malwa
Plateau is exported from Bombay. Unfortunately most of
this opium is sent to China, where large numbers of the popula-
tion are addicted to the vice of opium smoking.
All parts of the poppy, except the seeds, contain a certain
1 Capsules : Latin capsula, a little box or chest.
2 Narcotic : Greek narkotikos, from narkoun, to benumb.
OPIUM, CAMPHOR 151
amount of narcotic juice, and poppy heads, or poppy capsules,
are often used in fomentations to allay pain. The seeds
yield an oil resembling olive oil, and are often used to adul-
terate it.
SOURCES OF SUPPLY. Before the war we obtained most of
our supplies from Asiatic Turkey, Smyrna being the port of
shipment ; very considerable quantities, too, came from
Turkey in Europe and from Persia, while a small amount
came from India. During the last four years the Turkish
supplies have fallen off and those from India have enormously
increased.
CAMPHOR. Latin Camphora, from Arabic kafur. Camphor
is a white, translucent substance obtained from the wood of
the Cinnamomum camphor, or Camphor Laurel. It has
a pungent aromatic odour and has many and various uses.
Though insoluble in water it is soluble in milk.
The camphor laurel grows to about thirty feet high, and has
glossy, evergreen, oval-shaped leaves, and long spreading
branches. It bears little clusters of tiny yellowish flowers.
The wood of the tree is cut up into chips, and exposed to
the steam of boiling water. The camphor vapour rises from
the wood, and is then condensed. This is the crude camphor,
which is exported, and which after its arrival in this country
has to be refined or purified.
Formosa sends us most of our camphor at present, but
the camphor tree has been successfully introduced into the
Cape of Good Hope and Jamaica, as well as into other countries,
and there seems no reason why we should not be able to
supply our own needs from trees grown in our own dominions.
SUMMARY. Most of our Peruvian bark and quinine comes
from Java and the Netherlands, and our opium from Turkey,
very small amounts of these being imported from India.
With these two exceptions most of the other drugs given
in the Annual Statement of Trade are unenumerated, only
the total value of the imports being given.
The foreign countries which sent us the largest supplies
152 CAMPHOR, TOBACCO
before the war were Germany and the United States, but
many other countries also contributed to our needs, in all
about twenty- three.
Of British countries India and Ceylon stood first, each
sending about the same amount, while Australia arid the
Cape of Good Hope and the West Indies sent smaller quantities.
The total value of the imports was over 1,000,000, of which
only 213,000 came from British Possessions.
During the war our imports from British sources trebled,
and of this increase India bears the largest share, while at
home we have made a beginning in growing drug-plants such
as belladonna and foxglove, for which our climate is suitable.
TOBACCO (Nicotiana tabacum). ' A custom loathcsomc to
the eye, hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain, dangerous
to the lungs, and in the black stinking fume thereof nearest
resembling the horrible Stygian smoke of the pit that is
bottomless.' Thus wrote King James, and in his dislike of
the practice of smoking he was not alone, many other rulers
doing their utmost, by scathing abuse and barbarous punish-
ments, to suppress the objectionable habit, but all in vain.
In spite of every discouragement the habit of smoking spread,
until now it is almost universal.
The word ' tobacco ' is derived from tabaco, which was the
name for the pipe or tube in which the natives smoked the
dried leaves of the tobacco plant, and which the Spaniards
mistook for the name of the plant itself.
Tobacco was introduced into this country by Sir John
Hawkins, though it was Sir Walter Raleigh who did most
to popularize it, by encouraging the cultivation of the plant
in his colony of Virginia ; we read of him that he ' tooke
a pipe of tobacco a little before he went to the scaffolde '.
Jean Nicot (1530-1600), while French ambassador at Lisbon,
sent to his native country some tobacco plants which had
lately arrived from Florida, and later on botanists, in his
honour, gave the name Nicotiana to the genus of which
the American plant is a species.
TOBACCO 153
Nicotiana tabacum is a fine handsome plant with great,
broad leaves, covered with tiny little hairs. It grows about
six feet high, and has beautiful pink flowers. This is the kind
which is most extensively grown. It is often called the
American tobacco plant, for not only is it a native of America,
but the States, especially Kentucky, Virginia, and Carolina,
produce more than half the tobacco crops of the world. 1
Though grown chiefly in tropical or sub-tropical climates
it does well in temperate ones, provided it can be protected
from frost, to which it is peculiarly sensitive.
With regard to soils, it seems to prefer a light sandy loam
or alluvial soil, though heavy clay produces good crops. The
quality of the leaf varies greatly according to the soil and
climate in which it is grown ; heavy soils produce strong
tobaccos and light ones mild.
The seeds of the plant are very small, about 100,000 to
the ounce, and when sown they are mixed with sand or wood-
ashes, so that they may be evenly distributed. When the
flower begins to shoot, the top is nipped off, in order that
all the strength may go to the leaves. These are gathered as
they are ripe, and either dried in the sun or in drying sheds,
then piled in heaps, and left for a week or two to ferment,
after which they are sorted out according to size, pressed
down into barrels, and packed for export.
The tobacco grown in Cuba has a pleasant aromatic smell,
which has caused the Havana cigars manufactured from it
to have a world- wide reputation. A good deal of ' Cuban '
tobacco is, however, imported from the Philippines and made
into cigars in Havana.
Besides Nicotiana tabacum there are many other species
of the tobacco plant, two of the best known being Nicotiana
rustica and Nicotiana persica. The first grows to about
four feet in height, and bears greenish-coloured flowers.
1 Next in order of importance comes India (where large quantities are
grown), and then Russia, Austria- Hungary, the Dutch East Indies, and
Japan. It is also largely grown in Italy, France, and Germany.
154 TOBACCO
It is the kind which is cultivated in Turkey and Syria from
which the famous Latakia tobacco is made. Its peculiar
flavour is due to the fact that the leaves are fumigated for
four or five months, so that the natural flavour is disguised.
Nicotiana persica grows in Persia and produces the mild
Shiraz tobacco. It is a small plant with a pretty white
flower. The one which grows in our gardens is Nicotiana
finis.
In the Empire, though India (Bombay, Madras, and the
Punjab) is the chief tobacco-growing country, our imports
from her used to be small, as the native method of curing
does not suit our tastes. There are, however, some European
factories, and our Indian imports have increased during the
last few years.
Nyasaland grows good tobacco, especially in the Shire
Highlands, and our imports from Nyasaland used to be
greater than from any other British country, but recently
North Borneo has come to the front, and in 1917 our imports
from these two countries were almost equal in amount.
Rhodesia, too, has a soil and climate very suitable for
tobacco, and our imports from here used to be considerable,
but of late years maize has to a certain extent ousted tobacco.
In the Union of South Africa tobacco is grown (especially
in the rich limestone district of Oudtshorn) and in the Trans-
vaal as well as in Natal, and there seems no reason why the
quantity grown should not be much greater than it is, but at
present our imports from these countries are small.
Cyprus has a suitable soil and climate, and our imports
from here show a considerable increase. The difficulty
against which growers have to contend is the lack of care and
diligence on the part of the labourers.
In the West Indies, especially in Jamaica, the production
of tobacco is increasing.
SUMMARY. In 1913 our imports of unmanufactured
tobacco amounted to 162 million pounds, of which 2 million
were from British countries. In 1917 our imports had fallen
TOBACCO
155
to 46 million pounds, of which 3 million were from British
countries.
* Our chief foreign source of supply is America, and before
the war we also bought a considerable amount from Turkey
and the Netherlands, and smaller quantities from many other
countries, including Germany and Portuguese East Africa. 1
Of British countries Nyasaland and North Borneo send us
moot, though we also import from India, Cyprus, Egypt,
FIELD OF TOBACCO, SOUTH AFRICA
Rhodesia, Canada, the West Indies, and the Union of South
Africa. 2
Foreign cigars we buy mainly from Cuba, the Netherlands,
and the Philippines ; British from India, the Channel Islands,
and the West Indies.
British cigarettes come from Canada and Egypt, 3 foreign ones
from the United States.
1 America 142 million pounds ; Turkey, 6 ; the Netherlands, 6 ; Ger-
many, 2; P E. Africa, 1. (1913.)
2 This is the order for 1917.
3 Much of the tobacco from which they are made is imported from
Greece.
156
APPENDIX I
IMPORTS OF WHEAT
1913
1914
1915
1916
1917
cwt.
cwt.
cwt.
cwt.
cwt.
Russia . . J
5,011,100
7,234,827
796,300
12,500
111,406
Germany
447,600
977,500
Netherlands .
1,600
1,600
Belgium
10,800
Bulgaria . . j
192,500
Rumania . . j 38,600
343,500
Turkey, European .
35,700
26,500
,, Asiatic
5,300
12,800
26,000
Persia . . . 10,000
52,000
149,100
United States of
America . . 34,037,944
34,220,166
41,649,000
64,544,100
64,208,200
Chile . . . 1 765, ICO
50,700
116,900
500
Uruguay
17,800
6,700
Argentine Republic
14,756,200
6,497,760
12,156,000
4,495,700
6,700,600
Other Foreign
Couatrie'3 .
2,100
200
600
eco
10,200
Total from Foreign
Countries .
55,141,244
49,638,653
54,783,700
69,169,CO
61,031,006
British India
18,766,100
10,708,900
13,956,500
5,611,COO
2,744,700
Australia
10,126,658
12,113,400
180,300
3,699,620
9,243,700
New Zealand
56,200
8,500
S0,500
3,500
Canada
21,787,900
31,457,090
19,725,300
21,551,000
18,408,300
Other British Pos-
sessions
200
22,100
7,500
3,800
Total from British
Possessions
50,736,858
54,288,090
33,884,200
30,900,520
30,404,000
Total .
105,878,102
103,926,743
88,667,900
100,070,320
91,435,006
APPENDIX 1
157
IMPORTS OF MAIZE
.
1913
1914 1915
1916
1917
cwt.
cwt. cwt.
cwt.
cwt.
lussia . . . 1,684,100
811,900 1,000
talgaria . . 259,200
lumania . . 1,002,300
7,004,641
t'urkey, European . 31,200
26,800
,, Asiatic
8,200
135,200
Sgypt
100
28,800
Jnited States of
America .
6,879,300
232,925
1,695,300
6,991,800
10,670,300
Jrazil .
4,800 142,100
34,900 295,618
Jruguay
19,600 56,SOO
12,900
200
Argentine Republic 38,854,073 28,642,884
44,152,400
20,843,700
9,578,200
)ther Foreign
Countries .
81,480 294,640
285,200
373,210
129,960
?otal from Foreign
Countries .
-
48,565,153 37,635,990
46,146,800
28,243,810
20,674,018
Cgypt ...
15,200
1,161,300
600
Jritish West Africa 179,300 ; 49,700
22,00
18,900
7,500
Jritish South Africa 34,700
1,317,800
2,173,500
2,490,600
2,679,000
Canada
211,00
148,000
2,174,000
1,635,700
Hher British Pos-
sessions
45,400
21,957
9,600
16,200
11,600
^otal from British
Possessions
589,800
1,404,757
2,434,500
5,915,400
4,334,900
Total .
49,154,953 39,040,747
48,581,300
34,159,210
25,008,918
158
APPENDIX I
IMPORTS OF BEEF
1913
1914
1915
1916
1917
Chilled :
United States of
America
Uruguay
Argentine Republic .
Other Foreign Coun-
tries .
cwt.
31,982
5,216,022
cwt.
2,079
160,412
4,649,718
cwt.
608,908
289,113
1,702,186
18,339
cwt.
388,611
166,944
1,275,647
30,511
cwt.
335,803
58,891
1,073,102
23,939
Total from Foreign
Countries .
5,248,004
4,812,209
2,618,546
1,861,713
1,491,735-
Total from British
Possessions . .
' - Y
6,204
3,340
Frozen :
United States of
America . .
Uruguay
Argentine Republic .
Other Foreign Coun-
tries . . .
1,462
397,378
1,955,853
85,510
569,367
1,343,408
392,443
74,500
3,394,275
29,303
541,596
34,972
2,762,031
44,822
602,323
171,912
1,598,030
55,011
Total from Foreign
Countries .
2,354,693
1,998,285
3,890.521
3,383,421
2,427,276
Australia
New Zealand .
Canada . .
Other British Pos-
sessions . .
1,347,464
244,168
6,555
1,551,001
476,680
8
1,132
1,236,938
735,226
71,880
46,483
765,493
875,086
121,191
38,865
1,107,704
760,094
286,510
45,061
Total from British
Possessions .
1,598,187
2,028,821
2,090,527
1,800,635
2,199,369
Total .
3,952,880
4,027,106
5,981,048
5,184,056
4,626,645
APPENDIX I
159
IMPORTS OF SUGAR (UNREFINED)
1913
1914 1915
1916
1917
cwt.
cwt. cwt.
cwt.
cwt.
Beetroot :
Denmark (including
Faroe Islands) . 1 628,996 1 400,232
Germany . . i 9,428,937 3,039,083 i
Netherlands
217,687
114,494
2
_
36,294
Belgium
49,323
Austria-Hungary
3,217,169
1,303,429
Total .
13,542,112
4,857,218
2
36,294
Cane, and other Sorts :
Danish West India
Islands
4,836
3,018
Germany
11,583
30,727
Netherlands .
6,467
12,551
13
Java .
1,979
5,827,655
5,871,923
5,633,526
5,414,046
Dutch Guiana
92,120
85,760
31,920
49,318
50,365
France .
358
2,293
Portugal
94,077
3
Portuguese East
Africa
203,594
337,211
274,257
11,254
1,5,607
Egypt .
10,528
China .
.
3,870
United States of
America .
61,441
387,826
1
7,247
2
Philippine Islands
and Guam
.
54,400
120,769
1,344,485
129,303
Cuba .
4,484,546
5,237,335
7,194,922
11,089,053
13,987,047
San Domingo .
188,249
349,315
5,600
72
Mexico .
82,685
109,527
2,261
Guatemala
61,705
22,116
1,317
San Salvador .
5,176
5,711
1,109
Costa Rica
21,873
13,686
26,013
Colombia
2,883
19
Venezuela
6,169
48,670
53,614
19,154
Peru
549,735
930,855
628,809
1,112,262
1,017,867
Brazil . ...
102,655
399,141
465,621
183,916
470,046
Uruguay
4,230
Argentine Republic .
Other Foreign Coun-
518,543
287,089
.
tries
217
272
4,887
5,094
990
Total from Foreign
Countries
5,957,592
14,384,437
14,965,994
19,469,067
21,111,299
160
APPENDIX I
IMPORTS OF SUGAR (UNREFINED) (continued).
cwt.
cwt.
cwt.
cwt.
cwt.
Cane, and other Sorts
(continued).
Union of South
Africa
578
COO
8 1,483
Mauritius and De-
pendencies .
401,COO 979,507
2,221,624 1,612,576
625,351
British India . .
77,005 200,349
17,327 944
2
Straits Settlements
and Dependen-
cies (including
Labuan)
9,949
Hong Kong .
3,007
Australia
150,215 4,893
Canada .
794 ! 133
137
British West India
1 1
Islands
587,273
624,755 1,477,826
1,194,798
1,869,910
British Guiana
367,439
772,533 849,826
1CO,383
717,931
Total from British
Possessions
1,434,589
2,741,348
4,571,C04
2,990,321
3,213,194
Total .
7,392,181
17,125,785
19,537,498
22,459,388
24,324,493
Sugar, total value of :
Foreign Countries .
22,135,688 28,993,273
25,275,178
32,340,337
30,002,317
British Possessions .
930,933 3,124,897 6,536,982
5,027,338
6,707,279
Total value
23,066,621 32,118,170 31,812,160
37,367,675
36,709,596
PART II
RAW MATERIALS AND THE PRODUCE OF
MINES
CHAPTER XIII
FIBRES
COTTON. The cotton plant belongs to the genus Oossypium
of the Order Malvaceae. There are several varieties, both
wild and cultivated, growing in different parts of the world. 1
One of the most valuable is a variety of the Oossypium
Barbadense, known as Sea Island Cotton.
The plant if left to itself grows to a height of from six to
twelve feet, sometimes shooting straight up and bearing its
flowers at the top of its stem, as hollyhocks do, and sometimes
sending out many branches sideways, which in their turn bear
flowers and send out other branches, so that the final shape of
the plant is that of a pyramid. This pyramidal plant does not
grow so tall as the simpler kind (four feet is the usual height),
and, for this and other reasons, is considered to be the most
desirable form to cultivate.
The leaves are large and either three- or five-lobed. The
flowers occur singly in between the stem and the base of
the leaf -stalk. They resemble those of the hollyhock and
mallow, having five overlapping petals which are usually
sulphur yellow in colour with a blotch of purple at the base.
The small calyx is completely hidden by three large tooth-
edged bracts which are at first dark-green, but afterwards
change to brown. The stamens are very numerous, and are
joined together to form a tube, which is joined on to the base
of the petals. The tube is dotted all over with slender filaments
1 Between 40 N. and 30 S. of the Equator.
2203 T
162
COTTON
which support the yellow anthers. The style has a three- or
five-lobed stigma which passes from the seed-vessel through,
and some distance beyond, the staminal tube.
The fruit consists of a green capsule or boll containing
numerous dark- brown seeds, each covered with long, white,
COTTON PLANT
flattened, and twisted hairs. The capsule is surrounded at the
base by the three tooth-edged bracts. When the fruit is ripe
the capsule bursts open and discloses a mass of white fluffy
material. This is the cotton of commerce, and it consists of
the innumerable hairs covering the seeds, which are themselves
entirely hidden from view.
These hairs or fibres vary very considerably in length and
thickness : one and three-quarter to two inches is the usual
COTTON
163
length of Sea Island cotton ; their thickness varies from e~o o
to 20*00 f an inch. Cotton in which the fibres measure less
than one and one-eighth inches is said to be short-stapled,
that in which they measure more than this, long-stapled.
CULTIVATION. The cotton plant grows best on rich well-
drained soils, though it often does fairly well on thin poor soils.
Whilst forming its stems and leaves and flowers it requires
plenty of moisture ; a hot steamy atmosphere and frequent
COTTON
A, flower. B, boll. c, open boll. D, seed with cotton attached.
showers suit it admirably ; but while the seeds are ripening
it requires dry sunny weather with little or no rain.
In different parts of the world therefore the time of sowing
the seed varies. In St. Vincent, for instance, June or July is
considered a favourable time ; in Barbados May or June ;
and in the United States, March.
When the ground is in a suitably moist condition shallow
holes are made, and four seeds are put into each hole, and
covered with earth to the depth of about an inch. The holes
should be about twenty inches apart, and the rows four or
L2
164 COTTON
five feet wide. The young shoots usually appear in about eight
days, and are thinned out until only one- is left in each hole.
Three or four months later the flowers begin to appear, and
in the hot sunshine bees, and wasps, and humming-birds are
seen buzzing over the plantations, carrying the yellow pollen
from one flower to another. Later on the flowers wither and
the capsules burst open, and then the cotton has to be picked.
PICKING. This is a wearisome and toilsome operation, and
at present is almost entirely done by hand, as no satisfactory
picking-machine has yet been invented.
' The picking season is the busy time on a cotton plantation.
All hands are requisitioned, as the quality and cleanliness
depend, to a large degree, upon its being quickly gathered
after the bolls have opened. Should it be left long on the plant
after opening, it is liable to be injured by the heat of the
sun, which overdries it ; or again by the winds which load
it with sand, or dust, and dirt of various kinds. The cotton
fields are so arranged that a section can be given to each picker,
who, provided with a bag tied round his body, and a sheet
or large basket, which he leaves at the end of his section,
passes rapidly between the rows, using both hands, picking
the open bolls on each side, until he gets to the end, when
he empties the contents of his bag upon his sheet, and recom-
mences his work.
' Picking is an operation requiring considerable skill and
expertness. The picker has to seize at the first effort the whole
of the contents of each boll ; and bring it away in his fingers,
taking care not to bring away any of the boll-leaf, or petals,
which it is difficult to remove subsequently, and which seriously
deteriorate its quality.
' The average amount picked by each labourer in an
ordinary field is about one hundred pounds of seed -cotton
each day. The pickers go to the field with the opening of
the day and work with little intermission till darkness closes.' 1
In the West Indies the method is slightly different. The
writer of Cotton Cultivation in the West Indies says :
' The pickers should be trained to hold the boll firmly with
the left hand, with two fingers and the thumb inserted from
1 Richard Marsden, Cotton Spinning.
COTTON 165
below between its segments. They should remove the seed-
cotton with the right hand in one pull ; if they take two
pulls they will take much longer to pick the cotton.'
The wages of course vary in different parts of the world.
In the West Indies they receive from ^d. to \d. for every pound
of seed- cotton they pick.
GINNING. The cotton which is brought in from the planta-
tions is known as seed- cotton, and the first process after
COTTON GINNING
harvesting is to remove the seed from the lint. Before the
invention of machinery this was done slowly by hand ; it
has been calculated that it took one person two years to
produce one bale (500 Ib.) of cotton, whereas now one machine
turns out from three to fifteen bales in a day.
Eli Whitney's Saw Gin was in vented in 1793 ; it consists
of a number of circular saws, which, as they revolve, tear the
lint from the seeds.
There are now many other kinds of cotton gins, but the
166 COTTON
object of all is the same, namely, to get rid of the seeds with
as little injury to the lint as possible.
BALING. When the seeds have been removed, the cotton
is pressed together and formed into great bales, or bundles.
These generally weigh 500 lb. each, but Indian bales weigh
only 400 lb. The Indian ones are bound up in black hemp,
and are secured by iron bands.
CARDING. When the bales arrive at the factories the cotton
undergoes various processes, all with the object of removing
extraneous matter and separating the fibres from one another.
At last, having been reduced to a long sheet or lap of uniform
thickness, it is ready for carding.
The word Card, used in this sense, comes from the Latin
carduus, a thistle, and a card was an instrument for combing
wool or flax, or for cleaning and smoothing the hair of animals ;
it was usually made by inserting bent teeth of wire in a thick
piece of leather, fastened to a piece of wood.
The modern carding machine is more complicated, but the
principle is the same. Instead of a thick piece of leather
studded with teeth, there are several rollers covered with
sharp little steel teeth, and the * lap ' after having passed
under these rollers emerges in the form of a soft untwisted
rope called the Sliver.
The ' sliver ' is still further straightened and lengthened,
until at last it is no thicker than a thread, and then it has to
be twisted or spun.
SPINNING. A spinning machine consists of a number of
spindles which revolve rapidly and spin or twist the thread.
This is then wound on to bobbins, or reels, and either forms
the yarn for weaving, or, after being subjected to other pro-
cesses, appears as our sewing cotton.
WEAVING. Weaving is doing by machinery on a large scale
what we do by hand on a small scale when we darn. The first
process consists of putting the long strong threads (called
the Warp) in position on a roller at the back of the loom or
frame. These threads must be as long as the piece of cloth
COTTON 167
to be woven. The ends of these threads pass through steel
eyes which can be raised or lowered in sets. All the even
threads form one set ; the odd ones another.
The Weft or Woof is the yarn wound on to a shuttle (corre-
sponding to the needle in darning). When one set of warp
threads is raised, the shuttle passes between them and those
which remain unraised. Then the process is reversed ; the
unraised ones are raised, and the others lowered, and the
shuttle passes back.
After each journey of the shuttle from side to side, an
instrument pushes the weft up close against the preceding weft.
CENTRES OF MANUFACTURE . In England the South Lancashire
and Cheshire coalfield on the western side of the Pennines is
the chief seat of the cotton manufacture.
The abundance of coal and water, the dampness of the
atmosphere, and the nearness to the sources of supply in the
New World, were some of the advantages which told in favour
of this locality in the past, and they are advantages which
still exist, though the raw cotton used does not at present
all come from the west.
Manchester, with nearly one million inhabitants, is the centre
of this district, and Liverpool, on the coast, the most important
town, both for the import of the raw material and the export
of manufactured goods, though ocean steamers can now come
by the Ship Canal right up to Manchester itself.
SPINNING is carried on chiefly in the South, at Oldham,
Bolton, Ashton, and Rochdale ; WEAVING in the North, at
Blackburn, Burnley, Preston, and Bury.
Cotton goods, chiefly hosiery and lace curtains, are also
manufactured at Nottingham on the York, Derby, and
Nottingham coalfield. As the threads used in these articles
are necessarily very strong, the dry atmosphere is not a disad-
vantage ; they are not liable to become brittle and snap as
fine threads do.
In Scotland Spinning is carried on in the west at Glasgow
and Paisley, on the Clyde coalfield.
168 COTTON
The different kinds of cotton are many and various. Some
of them are as follows : calico, muslin, dimity, corduroy,
gauze, nainsook, ticking, madapolam, flanelette, fustian,
chintz, cretonne, sateen, grenadine, zephyr, silesia, tape,
lamp-wicks, pique, jean, mull, lace, lace curtains, and many
others.
Cottons have many valuable qualities. In the first place
they are cheap, and are therefore procurable by the poorest
classes of the populations of all the world. Besides this they
lend themselves to various methods of treatment, so that they
can be manufactured into cloth of an almost infinite variety
of texture and colour, and, in consequence, are increasingly
popular among the more well-to-do classes in our own and
other countries.
As a result of this the demand for raw cotton continually
increases.
Our average annual import of raw cotton is two thousand
two hundred and ninety million pounds, 1 and ' there is no
industry in Great Britain, except agriculture, which affords
so much employment, directly or indirectly, for the masses
of the people, as the manipulation of cotton, or which is of
more importance to the whole mercantile and industrial
system of England '. 2
SOURCES OF SUPPLY. The modern system of cotton manu-
factures dates from the middle of the eighteenth century,
and was largely the result of the series of wonderful inventions
which took place at that time. 3
In early days Lancashire manufacturers bought their raw
cotton from the West Indies (as late as 1790 only 300 bales
were bought from the United States), but conditions rapidly
changed, and later on the States became the chief source of
our supplies.
1 Calculated on the five years, 1909 to 1913.
2 R. J. Peake, Common Commodities of Commerce.
3 For instance : 1709, Arkwright's machine for spinning by rollers ;
1770, Hargreave's spinning jenny; 1779, Crompton's Mule; 1785, Watt's
steam engine applied to cotton manufacture.
COTTON 169
Since 1901, however, owing mainly to the energy and
enterprise of the British Cotton Growing Association and
similar organizations, efforts have been made to increase the
production of cotton within the empire.
The chief empire producing countries are :
India. From prehistoric times the cotton plant has been
grown in India, and the fibre woven, and dyed, and worn
by the people of India. After the Crusades had opened up
trade between Europe and the East, calico (from Calicut)
was one of the materials brought to Europe from India.
Later on, other cotton materials were exported, and this trade
grew and flourished down to modern times, so that hand-made
Indian cottons formed a very important source of wealth
to the various East Indian Companies.
When we began to manufacture cotton by machinery this
export declined, and it became the custom for us to buy our
raw cotton from America, and sell it manufactured to India
and other countries, and to such an extent has this plan been
pursued, that we have come to regard it as an unalterable,
almost a divine, law, that we should buy our raw cotton from
America, and sell it manufactured to India and the East.
Now, however, this condition of things is changing, and
we are beginning to look to India as one of our most hopeful
sources of supply of raw cotton. The land available is almost
limitless, 1 her climate in many places is suitable, and in many
others, where it is too dry, the defect could be remedied by
irrigation.
The chief cotton districts at present are Gujerat, in the
Bombay Presidency, the North-West Provinces, and the
Central Provinces, also, to a smaller extent, the Punjab, and
Madras.
In addition to these districts, there are thousands of acres
in Sind and Hyderabad under cotton on irrigated lands, and
millions more will be available as soon as the irrigation works
are extended.
1 In 1914 over 13 million acres were under cotton.
170 COTTON
The chief cotton centres are Cawnpore, Nagpur, and Mirza-
pur, and the chief ports for export Bombay and Surat.
One great advantage which India possesses in connexion
with cotton growing is her abundant supply of cheap labour.
The long hours of work in the fields and the tediousness of
picking cotton under a hot sun are not to an Indian the
intolerable burden which they are to men bred in cooler
climates and accustomed to a more complicated mode of
existence.
The length of staple of the native Indian cotton is shorter
than American or West Indian cotton, and in the past the
bulk of the Indian export has gone to the Continent of Europe,
chiefly to France and Germany, Austria, and Italy, there to be
used in the manufacture of the coarser kinds of material,
which these countries produce in great abundance for their
own populations.
One result of this has been that more long- stapled cotton
from America has been available for the mills of Lancashire,
which, in addition to vast quantities of coarse cottons, produce
an even greater abundance of materials remarkable for the
extraordinary fineness of their texture. So skilful are the
workpeople in the factories, and so perfect the complicated
machinery which they use, that, aided by the dampness of the
atmosphere, they are able to spin cotton threads as fine and
supple as the most delicate silk.
Conditions in India, however, are changing ; long stapled
cottons are now grown, and the methods of cultivation are
being improved, so that in the future there will in all prob-
ability be a great increase in the export of Indian cotton to
Liverpool.
In connexion with this question of Indian produce, it must
be remembered that in Bombay, and to a certain extent in
other places, there are now a great many factories, which
manufacture quantities of the coarser kinds of machine-made
materials, which in former days were imported from England.
Egypt. In Egypt the soil of the Delta is very suitable for
COTTON 171
cotton-growing, but the rainfall, which varies from fourteen
inches at Alexandria to one and a half inches at Cairo, is
insufficient. This disadvantage, however, is removed by
irrigation, which in Egypt is marvellously skilful and exten-
sive, so that cotton has in recent years become one of the most
important crops. 1
There are several varieties of cotton grown in Egypt, some
of which have been grown from time immemorial, but that
known generally as Egyptian, 2 though not so long stapled as
Sea Island, has qualities of its own which render it especially
valuable ; it is very strong and can be spun as fine as silk.
We have been accustomed to buy cotton from Egypt since
the time of the American Civil War, when Egyptian growers,
realizing their opportunity, devoted their energies to increasing
their supplies. As a rule we buy about half their crop.
The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. To the south of Khartoum
stretches the great Gezira Plain, ' where Providence has
already done half of man's work for him, and cleared and
levelled the millions of acres that some day should be white
with cotton '. 3 Kassala, in the east, and Tokar, near the
Red Sea, as well as the Atbara Basin are considered suitable.
But here, as in many other places, three things are necessary:
improved cultivation, irrigation, and the building of railways.
The progress made, however, is satisfactory, and ' in its
live-stock and cotton the Sudan has two assets on which it
may rest secure for its economic future '. 3
The West Indies. The best variety of cotton, Sea Island, is
said to be a native of the West Indies, and to have been intro-
duced from there to the southern states of America as late as
1775.
In the beginning of the eighteenth century and onwards
we bought most of our raw cotton from the West Indies, but
1 At present about 1,800,000 acres are under cotton.
2 This was introduced from the Isle of Bourbon (now called Reunion)
by the French. In 1821 M. Jumelle saw the plant growing in a garden in
Cairo, and at his suggestion seed of this kind was sown in large quantities
in Lower Egypt. 3 The Sudan of To-day.
172 COTTON
the planters found that they could obtain greater profits from
the cultivation of sugar, and, in consequence, cotton-growing
was abandoned. When sugar failed them they turned again
to cotton, and now they are able to export considerable
amounts. In St. Vincent the Sea Island cotton industry has
become the principal industry of the colony, and in Barbados,
Grenada, and several other islands, cotton is an important
crop.
West Africa. Kano, in Northern Nigeria, has for centuries
been renowned for the manufacture of blue cotton cloth, which
has been exported from there to many other parts of Northern
Africa. 1 Both the soil and climate of this central belt of the
Sudan are suitable for the cultivation of cotton and indigo,
and in recent years long-stapled cotton has been introduced
with excellent results. Large quantities are also grown in
Southern Nigeria in the Lagos district.
In the highlands of Nyasaland they grow a special kind of
cotton, having a long silky staple, but down in the lowlands
by the Shire River Egyptian cotton is grown. Both here and
in Uganda cotton is the most important of all the crops
cultivated.
In Kenya Colony cotton is being grown in rapidly
increasing quantities, especially in the basin of the Tana
River, and in Rhodesia it is considered a promising crop.
The cotton grown in Cyprus at present is harsh and short-
stapled and only suitable for coarse yarns, but, with improved
varieties of seed and better methods of cultivation, it is
considered probable that cotton may become the chief export
of the island.
Two other possible sources of supply in the future are
South Africa and Queensland.
In the Transvaal, near Rustenburg, and in Cape Colony,
in the neighbourhood of East London, in favourable seasons
1 ' They go in a long cotton garment close about them like a woman's
smocke, full of blue stripes, like feather bed tikes.' ' A Description of
Guinea, A.D. 1600.'
COTTON 173
cotton-growing has proved a success, but in times of drought
the crops are liable to be destroyed. Nevertheless, it is believed
that in the future cotton may become an important export.
The industry is at present in the experimental stage, but three
advantages point to a successful future : the excellent quality
of the cotton produced, the suitability of the climate, and the
abundance of cheap labour obtainable.
In Queensland, labour is the difficulty. There are many
districts where both soil and climate are all that could be
desired, but, as before explained, cotton-picking is a slow and
tedious operation, and Australians do not care to engage in it.
And, eyen if they did, their wages are so high that the final
cost of the cotton produced would be much greater than that
grown in other lands, where labour is cheaper and more
abundant.
On the other hand, it is contended that the quality of
Australian cotton is so good that it can command a high
price, and it is suggested that by co-operation among growers
the cost of picking might be reduced, so that the final price
of cotton might enable them to compete with those of other
countries.
Another suggestion made is that immigrants from over-
crowded Malta, accustomed to work in the cotton-fields of
their own island, might be encouraged to settle in Queensland
and engage in similar work there.
SUMMARY. The amount of raw cotton consumed in the
United Kingdom is 2,008 million pounds a year, which works
out to about 44 pounds for each person in the nation. 1
Of this enormous quantity more than three-quarters comes
from the United States.
Of the remainder Egypt supplies us with a little over
14 per cent., India 2 per cent., and other countries the rest.
The amount of empire-grown cotton (neglecting the Indian
crop), exported to foreign countries, is calculated to be sufficient
1 This is the average of the five years 1909-13, and of course takes no
account of the cotton goods exported.
174 COTTON
to supply 16 per cent, of our present consumption, so that,
even if we imported all the cotton that the empire grows,
we should have certainly less than 39 per cent, of the amount
we need. 1
On the other hand, India produces enormous quantities of
cotton, and, if the quality were improved, the imports from
India alone might go a long way towards making us self-
supporting.
In addition to this, the output of other empire countries
is constantly increasing, and the possibilities for future
production are almost unlimited ; the fertile plains of the
Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, if sown with cotton, would, it % is said,
be capable of providing enough raw material to supply all
the mills of Lancashire, without taking into account ouch
prosperous countries as the West Indies, West Africa, Kenya
Colony, Uganda, and Nyasaland, where the output is already
such as to give cause for satisfaction in the present and hope
for the future.
CHAPTER XIV
FIBRES (continued)
WOOL. ' Who shore me like a tame wether all my precious
fleece.' MILTON.
The sides and shoulders of a sheep furnish the best wool ;
that from the head and throat is of inferior quality. The
first thing, therefore, that has to be done after the fleece is
shorn from the sheep, is to separate the different qualities -of
wool from one another, and to clip off tufts of fibres which have
become matted together.
SCOURING. The fleece contains a large quantity of a greasy
compound called yolk or suint, and the next operation is to
remove this. The wool is put into a long tank containing
1 The amounts produced are : Egypt, 750 million Ib. ; West Africa,
4 million ; East Africa, Uganda, and Nyasaland, together, 11 million ;
West Indies, 2 million.
WOOL 175
pure soft water and soap or ammonia. The water is kept at
a uniform temperature, and the wool is gently moved along
from one end of the tank to the other, and at last passed
between rollers, which squeeze out the dirty water. It is then
dried.
CARDING. 1 When the wool has been thoroughly cleansed,
it is necessary to open it out, and separate the fibres from one
another. With this object it is passed through several
machines which tear the fibres apart. The mass of wool to
be operated upon is spread out on the feed- sheet and sprinkled
with oil. The feed- sheet moves forward and carries the wool
on to two rollers. As it passes through these it is caught up
by the teeth of a revolving cylinder called a ' swift '. 2 Three
other rollers, also studded with teeth, are placed at the top
of the swift ; these revolve in the opposite direction. The
first one tears the wool from between the teeth of the swift
and gives it back again, the second and third do likewise,
and finally it emerges a fine white down. But it is not yet
ready for spinning.
It next passes through the Carding Machine. The action
of this machine is similar to that of the one just described,
but the process is more thorough, and in it the fibres are
separated literally one from the other. It consists of numerous
revolving cylinders each covered with card- clothing, i.e. of
leather into which sharp wire teeth have been inserted. In
each carding machine there are about fifty- six million of these
teeth operating on the wools.
CONDENSING. The last action of the carding machine is to
divide this fine downy wool into narrow strips. These strips
or slivers then pass through the condenser, where they are
pressed between rollers. These rollers not only revolve, but
also sway sideways, so that the slivers are compressed into
loose soft threads, which only require twisting to make them
into good strong yarns.
1 See p. 166.
2 It makes from 400 to 500 revolutions a minute.
176
WOOL
SPINNING. The spinning machine consists of two parts, one
movable and one immovable. The latter holds the bobbins
containing the loose sliver from the condensing machine.
The bobbins revolve, and from them the sliver passes between
rollers.
The movable part of the machine contains revolving spindles.
The sliver from the rollers is attached to the spindles and the
AN AUSTRALIAN MERINO SHEEP
carriage containing them recedes a certain distance, and then
the bobbins containing the sliver cease to revolve and no
more sliver is given out. But the carriage still recedes and so
the sliver is extenuated. At last the carriage, too, stops, but
the spindles continue to revolve, and their speed is increased.
As long as the sliver is not wound upon the spindles, and no
more is given out from the bobbins, its length remains un-
altered, and the revolutions of the spindles merely twist the
thread. When sufficient twist has been given the thread is
WOOL
177
wound upon the spindles and the carriage moves forward
again.
Weaving. This operation is similar to that described on
page 166.
Fulling. A fibre of wool besides being curly has an uneven
surface ; it is covered with innumerable tiny notches, and this
characteristic makes possible the operation of fulling. The
SHEEP SHEARING, SOUTH AFRICA
cloth, after the grease has been removed, is saturated with
soapy water and pounded. This was formerly done by
placing it in a trough and thumping it with great hammers ;
now more complicated machinery is employed, but the result
is the same. The heated soapy fibres expand, and the little
notches dovetail into one another so that a compact surface
is formed, and all traces of the original weft and warp entirely
disappear.
2203
178 WOOL
Raising. A huge cylinder covered with thousands of teasel
heads set in rows revolves, and the tips of the teasels raise
up the surface of the cloth and make it rough.
Cutting. All these little roughnesses are next shorn off
by a machine which acts on the same principle as a lawn-
mower. Finally the cloth is steamed, and pressed, and it is
then ready for use.
Felt. The wool of which felt is made is not spun or woven,
only pressed. After the wool leaves the carding machine
the thin lap is spread out and other layers placed upon it.
These are then subjected to great pressure under rollers
some of which contain steam. The heat, and moisture, and
pressure cause the fibres to expand and mat together, so that
a close compact cloth is formed ; it is called felt.
Mohair is the cloth woven from the long silky hair of
the Angora goat. Angora is a town in Asia Minor whence
these goats originally came. The word mohair is of Eastern
origin.
Cashmere. The soft woolly hair of the Thibetan goat was
woven into the handsome shawls, called, from the place of
manufacture, Cashmere shawls. Later on the word was used
to designate any fine soft woolly material.
Alpaca is a mixture of silk, and the long, fine, woolly hairs
of the alpaca, an animal which in some respects resembles
the camel. It is a native of Peru, and the word alpaca is of
Peruvian origin.
Worsted. The slivers of fine downy wool which leave the
carding machine consist of every sort of fibre intermixed in
the most thorough manner possible, but for worsted only wool
with the longest fibres is used, and these are carded so as to
lie, as far as possible, side by side, in parallel lines. Worsted
is a town in Norfolk where this method of preparing yarn was
first practised.
Merino. This is a material very like cashmere, originally
made of the fine wool of merino sheep. The word merino
comes from a Latin word meaning Inspector of sheep walks.
WOOL 179
In the winter Spanish sheep, from time immemorial, have
been driven down from the bare and bleak uplands to the
sheltered lowlands for pasturage. The Romans appointed
officials to look after these sheep walks, and the word, which
originally meant ' inspector ', came to mean the animals
inspected.
In the Middle Ages England produced wool, and Flanders
manufactured it. But in the reign of Edward III Flemish
weavers began to settle in the east of England, and Norwich
became the centre of the woollen manufacture. These
Flemings taught us the arts of fulling, bleaching, and dyeing
cloth, and from this time onwards we began gradually to
export woollen cloth instead of raw wool. The Eastern
Counties became famous for their worsted, and the Western
for their broadcloths. Later on, York, and Halifax, and
Manchester were added to the list of woollen towns.
After the Industrial Revolution, however, all this was
changed. As soon as machinery, worked by steam, took the
place of the ancient spinning-wheel and hand-loom, the coal-
fields determined the position of manufacturing districts, and
the towns of Yorkshire outstripped in importance the older
manufacturing towns of the south and west.
SOURCES OF SUPPLY. The fc chalk and limestone hills of
England provide excellent pasturage, as do also the uplands
and mountains of Scotland and Wales. On June 5, 1916, there
were in the United Kingdom nearly 29 million sheep ! l For
our own use here at home we need 566 million pounds of
wool a year, without reckoning the amount we use for our
exports. 2 Our own sheep supply us with 136 million pounds
a year, the rest we import.
We buy wool from various countries, but within our own
empire we have an almost unlimited supply.
1 In England 14 + , Scotland 7 + , Wales 3|, Ireland 3| millions.
2 In 1913 we exported 80 million pounds of yarn, and 105 million yards
of woollen and worsted cloth, to say nothing of carpets, and flannels, and
hosiery (over 2 million dozen pairs of stockings and socks), travelling
rugs, &c.
M2
180 WOOL
Australia. In 1788 Captain Phillips, the first governor,
brought with him from England 7 horses, 7 cattle, and
29 sheep, 1 besides pigs and poultry. These were the first
sheep hi Australia. Later on, in 1797, some merinos were
introduced into New South Wales, and from that year onwards
wool began to be an important product.
New South Wales is the principal wool-producing state in
Australia. From the base of the tableland westwards for
over 600 miles stretch the Great Plains. In the eastern part
of these plains, on the slopes of the tableland, the rainfall
varies from 20 to 30 inches, and the temperature from 60 to
69 F. ; but farther west the rainfall decreases, and over a great
part is not more than 10 inches annually.
Except in the valleys of the rivers, these great plains are
treeless, but over all this vast expanse there grow in abun-
dance many kinds of succulent grasses, which nourish millions
and millions of merino sheep. In dry seasons, when all these
grasses are burnt up and the land looks a parched and barren
wilderness, the salt-bush still survives, and affords sustenance
to the animals.
In times of drought the difficulty is not so much to obtain
food as to find water for the flocks. Across the plains the
Murray-Darling and its many tributaries flow, and in wet
seasons these overflow their banks and flood the country for
miles around, so that the lakes within their basins become
vast inland seas. But in dry seasons the rivers and lakes
dwindle, and become merely a series of long-distance ponds,
while mud, baked hard by a burning sun, occupies the space
of what, in more favourable times, was a sheet of life-giving
water.
Then the sufferings of the poor animals are terrible. In
1884 ten million sheep died of thirst, and this is no isolated
instance ; always in the past in dry seasons millions of animals
have perished. The following poem vividly describes these
conditions :
1 In 1914 there were in Australia 82,014,296 sheep.
WOOL 181
DROUGHT 1
My road is fenced with the bleached, white bones,
And strewn with the blind, white sand,
Beside me a suffering, dumb world moans
On the breast of a lonely land.
On the rim of the world the lightnings play,
The heat-waves quiver and dance.
And the breath of the wind is a sword to slay,
And the sunbeams each a lance.
I have withered the grass where my hot hoofs tread,
I have withered the sapless trees,
I have driven the faint-heart rains ahead
To hide in their soft green seas.
I have bound the plains with an iron band,
I have stricken the slow streams dumb !
To the charge of my vanguards who shall stand ?
Who stay when my cohorts come ?
The dust-storms follow and wrap me round ;
The hot winds ride as a guard ;
Before me the fret of the swamps is bound,
And the way of the wild-fowl barred.
I drop the whips on the loose -flanked steers ;
I burn their necks with the bow ;
And the green-hide rips, and the iron sears
Where the staggering, lean beasts go.
I lure the swagman out of the road
To the gleam of a phantom lake ;
I have laid him down, I have taken his load,
And he sleeps till the dead men wake.
My hurrying hoofs in the night go by,
And the great flocks bleat their fear,
And follow the curve of the creeks burnt dry,
And the plains scorched brown and sere.
The worn men start from their sleepless rest
With faces haggard and drawn ;
They cursed the red Sun into the west,
And they curse him out of the dawn.
1 From Hearts of Gold, by Will. H. Ogilvie, quoted by special permission
of Messrs. Angus and Robertson, Sydney, owners of the copyright.
182 WOOL
They have carried their outposts far, far out.
But blade of my sword for a sign !
I am the Master, the dread King Drought,
And the great West Land is mine !
To remedy this state of things and provide water for the
flocks is the crying need of the country, and in irrigation
lies the hope of the future. At present not only is water being
obtained from underground by means of artesian wells, but
vast schemes also are in operation for storing the surface
water.
One district which is well supplied with water from artesian
wells is the lower basin of the Gwydir, a stream which rises
in the New England Range. Many of these wells yield
a million gallons a day, and convert what would otherwise
be a series of ponds into rivers brimful of running water.
Of surface irrigation works, the most important is at Bur-
rinjuck, three miles below the junction of the Murrumbidgee
and Goodradijbee. Here an enormous dam has been con-
structed of solid masonry, capable of holding back water
to a depth of 200 feet. Thirty- three million three hundred
and eighty- one cubic feet of water will be contained in the
reservoir, which, in addition to fertilizing large areas of arable
land, will supply water to the thirsty flocks of one million
acres of pastoral land.
Queensland. The area of Queensland is 688,000 square
miles, and the treeless plains of the western interior, the sheep
country, occupy about half this area. The conditions are
similar to those of New South Wales, except that of course
the temperature is higher. Here, too, are nutritive grasses,
and the drought-resist ing salt-bush, with its pale green leaves
and its curious salty taste. Of the 360 different kinds of
grasses, which grow in Australia, 270 are said to be natives of
Queensland. And here, too, in these Queensland plains is the
same lack of water and the same problems with regard to
irrigation awaiting solution.
Artesian wells can be sunk over three-fifths of Queensland,
WOOL 183
and many of these supply three million gallons of water a day.
With regard to the utilization of the surface water, to take one
instance, it is computed that the waters of the Diamantina,
if arrested in time of flood, would, as in the case of the
Murrumbidgee, form a large inland sea capable of watering
many square miles of country ; and there are many other
rivers which could be utilized in a similar manner.
Victoria. In the western district to the south of Wimmera
are miles and miles of rich undulating grassy plains which
feed millions of sheep. This is the chief sheep-grazing district
of Victoria, though in Wimmera itself and Mallee, and also in
the mountains of the north-east, there are grazing lands.
The people of Victoria are beginning to manufacture their
wool for themselves. At Geelong, on the western shore of
Port Phillip, are nine factories which manufacture blankets,
and tweeds, and many other materials.
The other states of Australia also graze sheep, and of these
Western Australia and South Australia have the largest
number. Tasmania, too, has over a million.
New Zealand. All the islands of New Zealand are moun-
tainous, but nearly all the land is suitable for sheep, and they
seem to thrive equally well on the cold hill slopes and on the
warmer moister plains. New Zealand has no difficulties with
regard to climate ; it does not suffer from lack of rain, and,
in consequence, there are no breaks or unevennesses in the
fibres of wool, such as those which occur in the wool of sheep
bred in dry countries ; for when the unfortunate animals are
suffering from thirst or hunger they are in poor condition,
and their wool at that time is of poor quality too.
In the South Island on the east of the mountains are the
famous Canterbury Plains. These are 130 miles long, and in
their broadest part 30 miles wide, and all these 2,000 square
miles or so of land are for the most part of a dead level, and of
great fertility. At one time they were covered with rich
grass and on them grazed millions of sheep. From here came
our ' Canterbury mutton ', but nowadays much of this land
184 WOOL
is ploughed up and sown with wheat,- and the sheep have to
live on less valuable soils.
There are many different breeds : on the high mountain
pastures and in the drier lands are merinos, while in the
moister plains, Lincolns and Romney Marsh thrive best.
Much land that was at one time covered with forests is
being cleared, and sown with grasses for sheep. When this
has been done, it is estimated that there will be fourteen
million acres in the North Island and thirteen millions acres
in the South Island fit for sheep grazing.
The Union of South Africa. The Cape of Good Hope is
more than twice the British Isles in area, the Karroo Plateaux
having between them an area of 100,000 square miles. Of
these plateaux the largest and most important is the Great
Karroo lying between the Nieuwveld Mountains in the north
and the Zwarte Bergen in the south. The Great Karroo alone
is about half the size of England, and most of it is 3,000 feet
above the level of the sea.
In the hot dry season nothing could be more desolate than
these sun-baked plains ; all vegetation is apparently burnt up,
and the watercourses are dry. Dotted all over the land is
a little insignificant bush, which never grows more than ten
inches high, and which in summer looks like a miserable
little bunch of dried-up twigs. Yet, like the salt-bush in the
Australian plains, this Karroo bush affords sustenance for
millions of sheep. Down by the watercourses the mimosas
grow, and these are the favourite food of the Angora goats.
When the rains come, all these brown, dusty plains
suddenly burst into life ; the little Karroo bush becomes
a pleasant shrub with pale green aromatic leaves, the heaths
and mimosas blossom, and all the land is a glorious blaze
of colour.
To the north of the Orange River is British Bechuanaland,
the eastern half of which is a high, dry, grassy plateau support-
ing large numbers of sheep.
The Transvaal and Orange Free State. Of these the
WOOL 185
Transvaal is about the size of the United Kingdom, and the
Orange Free State the size of England.
In the Transvaal the lower parts of the Bush Veld are
infested with the tsetse fly, and neither sheep nor cattle can
live there, while on the higher parts of the High Veld the soil
is too poor and stony for grass to grow, but with these excep-
tions the whole country is grazing land, and very large sheep
and cattle farms are characteristic of it.
The Orange Free State is one large grassy plateau affording
ample pasture for sheep and cattle.
Natal is about two-thirds the size of Scotland, and the
inner terrace, the uplands, has excellent grass on which sheep
and goats live.
With regard to the rest of British Africa, the high dry
plateaux all afford excellent pasture ; especially is this the
case in the eastern part of the Protectorate of Bechuanaland,
in Basutoland, in Swaziland, in Matabeleland (i. e. the southern
part of Southern Rhodesia), and in the western part of British
East Africa.
In India the sheep pastures are chiefly on the hills in the
north-west.
Sheep are long-suffering, hardy animals. Not only do they
thrive on the dry, hot plateaux of Australia and Africa, but
they seem equally at home in the cool, moist, ungenial climate
of the Falkland Isles. Indeed, here grass and sheep are
the only features of the landscape, and wool is the only
product.
In the Dominion of Canada the principal sheep pastures are
situated on the eastern slopes of the Rockies and in Ontario.
SUMMARY. 1 The amount of wool consumed in the United
Kingdom shows a steady increase. The average yearly con-
sumption amounts to 566 million pounds, which works out
to between 12 and 13 pounds per head of the population.
Our own sheep in the British Isles produce enough to
supply us with about 24 per cent, of our requirements, but
1 Taking the average of the years 1909-1913.
186 WOOL
empire countries (Australia, New Zealand, South Africa,
British India, 1 Egypt, 2 and the Falkland Islands) produce not
only sufficient for all our needs at home, but almost twice the
amount necessary for the needs of the whole empire.
Not only so, but of all the wool produced in the world, over
40 per cent, is from empire sources. 3
Nevertheless we import from many foreign countries, the
largest amounts coming from South America (the Argentine,
Chili, Uruguay, Peru) and France.
CHAPTER XV
FIBRES (continued)
FLAX ( A.S . flax, Latin linuln) . ' And the flax and the barley
was smitten : for the barley was in the ear and the flax was
boiled.' Exodus ix. 31.
In England we call the plant by its Saxon name flax, but
the material, which is woven from its fibres, we call linen,
from linum, the Latin name for flax.
There are many plants belonging to the flax tribe, but the
one from which linen is made is linum usitatissimum. It is
not the one which we find growing wild on chalky and sandy
land, though the two plants are very similar. Linum usitatis-
simum grows about two feet high. It generally has one stalk
with little slender leaves on alternate sides of it, while towards
the end smaller stems branch out, each bearing one pale blue
flower with five petals.
When the petals fall, and the fruit is formed, in the place
of the pretty blue flowers are little round brown balls, each
containing ten small seed about a quarter of an inch long.
1 Australia, 702 million pounds ; New Zealand, 197 ; South Africa, 145 ;
British India, 60 ; other places (chiefly Egypt and the Falkland Isles), 6.
But though Australia produced this enormous quantity, of the wool actually
consumed in the United Kingdom only 25 per cent, came from Australia.
2 All the Egyptian wool, and a good deal of the Indian, is coarse carpet
wool.
3 Of the merino wool imported into Germany 80 per cent, was from the
British Empire.
FLAX
187
They, too, are brown in colour, and smooth, and flat. Inside
they are almost white. These seed-vessels are sometimes
called bolls, and when the flax is in seed it is said to
be boiled.
Harvesting. Flax has to be pulled up by the roots, and the
best time for doing this, if a fine solid fibre is required, is
just before the seeds begin to
ripen.
Rippling. ' To rip ' is to tear
something away from something
else, and a ripple is an instrument
for separating the seeds from the
stalks of flax. It consists of
a comb having pointed iron teeth
about eighteen inches long. This
comb is fixed in a wooden frame
and the flax is pulled through it ;
the space between the teeth is
too small for the seeds to pass,
and they fall on to the ground
below.
Retting. When the seeds have
been removed, the stalks have to
be steeped in water until they
begin to ret or rot. Besides the
fibres from which linen is woven,
the stalks contain a woody core,
and the object of retting is to remove the gummy matter
which binds the fibres to this core.
Bundles of flax are placed upright in a shallow pond, with
their roots downwards, and kept immersed for about a fort-
night. At the end of that time it is found that the woody part
can be separated from the fibre, and the bundles are then taken
out from the water and spread upon grass for a few days to dry.
The water in which flax is retted must be soft water ; in
some countries the flax is simply retted by exposure to moist
FLAX
188 FLAX
air and dew. It is then said to be dew-retted. This takes
longer but produces good results.
Breaking. After the flax has been dried it is passed between
rollers so that the woody part may be thoroughly broken.
Scutching. It is next beaten or scutched. This is either
done by hand or machinery. In both cases the method is
the same. The flax is hung up and beaten from top to bottom
by the blade of a knife, so as to beat out the woody core.
Heckling. Finally the fibres have to be combed out and
the long perfect ones separated from the short broken ones.
This is done either by hand or machinery. A hand-heckle is
simply a piece of wood covered with steel teeth. The small
broken pieces of flax which are combed out are called tow.
At last, after all these processes, the flax is ready to be
spun and woven into linen.
One of the advantages which flax possesses over other
plants is that its fibres are very long, and fine, and supple, so
that linen, besides being one of our most beautiful fabrics, is
also exceedingly durable.
There are many different kinds of linen. For instance,
there are the coarse heavy materials, such as ticks, and
huckabacks, and crash, and fine ones such as cambric and
damask. Beautiful lace, too, such as Valenciennes lace, is
made from fine linen yarn.
Linseed. Not only the fibre but also the seeds of the
flax plant are very valuable. These seeds when crushed yield
linseed oil, which is used chiefly in paints and varnishes.
After the oil has been extracted, there remains a crushed
mass of seed which is called oil-cake ; it is used for feeding
cattle. Ground up, this oil-cake is called linseed meal ; we
use it for making poultices, &c. Carroll oil is a mixture of
equal parts of linseed oil and lime water ; it is used for burns.
LINOLEUM (from linum, flax ; and oleum, oil) is made in
the following way : boiled linseed oil is poured on to a layer of
cotton material and allowed to dry. This operation is repeated,
until the mass of dried oil is about half an inch thick ; it is
FLAX 189
then cut up and ground to powder, and mixed with resin and
kauri gum. Powdered cork is added, and colouring matter,
and the whole mixture spread on to a sheet of jute, and rolled
to the required thickness. Kirkcaldy manufactures linoleum.
History. Linen is one of the oldest materials known to us.
The quotation from the Book of Exodus refers to the plague
of hail, which ' smote every herb of the field ' in Egypt, when
Pharaoh refused to let the Israelites depart from his land.
This happened about 1491 B.C. There are many other refer-
ences to flax in the Old Testament ; the Egyptians were very
skilful in weaving it, and we are told that their mummy -
cloths are made of linen as fine as any that is woven nowadays.
As time went on, the cultivation of flax spread to the north
of Europe, to France, Flanders, Britain, and other countries.
The famous Bayeux Tapestry was worked on linen. In
Henry Ill's reign many Flemish weavers settled in England
and improved our methods of spinning and weaving. Later
on, in Edward Ill's reign, some Scots settled in the north-
east of Ireland and grew flax and manufactured linen. The
province of Ulster is now the principal seat of the linen
industry in the British Isles. Belfast is the chief manufactur-
ing town.
In Scotland the eastern counties have long been famous
for their linen ; Dundee, Dunfermline, Kirkcaldy are the chief
towns.
Our home-grown supplies, however, long ago ceased to be
sufficient for our needs, and we imported most of our flax
from Russia, and also a considerable amount from Belgium
and Holland. Since the war, we are growing more flax in our
own country, and at present Essex, Somerset, and Yorkshire
have considerable areas under this crop.
Flax grows equally well in temperate and in hot climates,
and though hitherto the amount of fibre grown within the
empire has not been great, there is no reason why this should
continue to be the case .
Canada. Flax for seed has long been grown in Canada, but
190 FLAX, SILK
now increasing attention is being devoted to its cultivation
for fibre. In the south of Ontario hundreds of tons have
already been produced, and Quebec and British Columbia have
shown that they can grow it successfully.
Egypt for many years has devoted her chief attention to
cotton, but since the war she has begun to grow more flax,
and now has many acres under this crop.
Kenya Colony produces good fibre, especially in the high-
lands, at Lumbwa,
In the Commonwealth of Australia, Victoria is the chief
flax-growing state at present.
Linseed or Flaxseed. Canada and India supply us with most
of our linseed, though we also buy large quantities from the
Argentine and from Russia.
Silk. More than 2,000 years before the birth of Christ,
silkworms, we are told, were reared for their silk in China,
but it was not until the sixth century A.D. that silkworms
were brought to Europe. In the beginning of that century
two Persian monks, travelling westwards, concealed some
eggs in the hollow of a cane, and brought them to Constan-
tinople. From this small beginning the wonderful modern
silk industry of Southern Europe has come into existence.
Within the empire our interest centres at present in India.
At Changa Manga, in the Punjab, stands a great mulberry
forest, and in the heart of this forest is a silk camp at which
many workers and students are engaged in rearing silkworms.
The forest, we are told, was planted by accident. A plantation
of Shisham trees was being made, but the canal waters
brought down from the Himalayas great quantities of mul-
berry seeds, which sprouted and grew, and, eventually, ousted
the original plants, so that in course of time there stood
a glorious mulberry forest.
At first, it was only valued because its wood made good
fuel, but this fuel was found to be so valuable that other
forests were planted, so that to-day in the Punjab there are
quantities of mulberry trees the leaves of which are now being
SILK 191
used to feed silkworms, and as a result of this before long there
will in all probability be a nourishing silk industry in the
Punjab, as there is already in the neighbouring state of
Kashmir. What is possible in the Punjab and Kashmir is
possible in other parts of India and Ceylon, and the Govern-
ment are now taking energetic measures to revive the ancient
silk industry of these countries. Working in conjunction with
the Government is the Salvation Army, from whose admirable
report this account is mainly derived.
' " Grow Mulberry " is an order which should be issued in
capital letters which " he who runs may read " to all Govern-
ment Departments having anything to do with the planting
of trees. Morns Indica is a native of India, as its name
implies. It is one of the richest and most neglected gifts of
God to India. . . . You can cut the tree to its root every fifteen
years and sell its timber, and it will spring up again luxuriantly
without the trouble of replanting, and present its owner with
a second forest in another fifteen years. Scatter its seed along
water-courses and in forests and it will take care of itself.' l
One ounce of eggs produces 30,000 silkworms, 2 which con-
sume about half a ton of mulberry leaves, so that for every
ounce of eggs fifteen to twenty trees are required. Kashmir,
with an annual output of 40,000 ounces, requires nearly
one million trees.
Besides the silkworm which feeds on mulberry leaves
(i. e. the Bombyx mori) there are in India many kinds of so-called
' wild ' silkworms which live on many other kinds of trees.
The two most important of these ' wild ' varieties are the
Tasar and Eri.
Tasar is a Hindoo word, which the French first corrupted
to tussore, and since its introduction into England various
other incorrect spellings have from time to time been adopted.
The Tasar is a native of Central and South India, and is
found living on about twenty-five different kinds of trees.
1 The Annual Report on the. Silk Centres of the Salvation Army in India and
Ceylon, 1915-16, by F. Le L. Booth-Tucker.
2 The Salvation Army imported 350 ounces of seed in 1915, and distributed
it to various centres throughout India.
192 SILK, JUTE
The name ' Tussore ' is, however, applied to almost any kind
of native Indian fawn-coloured silk, whether it comes from
the Tasar moth or not.
In Assam there is a silkworm which lives on the Castor-oil
Plant, which is there known by the name of Eri, and hence
this name is given to the silkworm. The silk from the Eri
cocoons cannot be reeled off in the same way as that from
ordinary cocoons ; it has to be spun for weaving (just as cotton
is), hence the silk is called spun silk. Large quantities of it
are manufactured in Yorkshire, Lancashire, Cheshire, and
Staffordshire. As the castor-oil plant grows wild in many
parts of the empire (e.g. in the West Indies and Kenya
Colony) there seems no reason why we should not be able to
produce large quantities of beautiful spun silk in the future.
It must be remembered, however, that, with silk as with
cotton, a large amount of cheap labour is required, and it
appears to be hopeless to try to produce silk in countries
where this labour is unobtainable.
We import silk from China, France, Japan, Italy, and
British India. This was the order of importance in 1913,
but during the war the imports from France have very
seriously declined and those from Japan greatly increased.
JUTE (Corchorus capsularis). As you walk along the quays
of Dundee you see the great ships unloading their merchandise.
Many of these ships have come from Calcutta, and from their
holds the cranes haul up great bales of drab-coloured jute,
and deposit them upon the pavement.
In its native soil in Bengal the jute plant grows to about
ten feet high ; sometimes it even reaches fourteen feet. It
requires great heat and plenty of moisture, though the best
kind of fibre is obtained from plants raised in well-drained
land. When grown on muddy swamps they are taller, but
their fibre is coarser. Jute is raised from seed, and the sowing
usually takes place in March or April ; it bears yellow flowers,
and when these appear it is time to cut the plants down.
This usually happens in August or September.
JUTE 193
Like flax, jute must be retted in order to separate the
fibre from the other parts of the stem. It is also passed between
rollers, so that the hard parts may be thoroughly broken.
In order to soften the whole mass, oil and water are sprinkled
upon it before the rolling takes place.
' Every homestead in Bengal has suspended from a beam
in the roof of the verandah a few bundles of jute fibre, which
while talking pleasantly with a neighbour the peasant twists
into twine of varying thickness intended for domestic purposes
or for the yarn from which the women prepare the homespun
cloth or gunny-bags' l
At one time all the poorer people of India were clothed in
material woven by their own hands from jute, but nowadays
all this is changed, and cheap, brightly- coloured, machine-
made cotton goods have largely taken the place of their own
jute fabrics. Besides clothes, they made coarse sacks to put
their grain into ; these are called gon, or guni, hence oair
word gunny.
When our ships began to bring some of this grain to England,
we needed sacks to bring it in, and we bought these jute
gunny-bags from the peasants of India. Later on, when grain
from America, and Australia, and Africa was added to the
world's supply of food, more and more bags were needed by
us and by other countries, and the making of jute gunny-bags
became an industry by itself.
It was in 1832 that a Dundee manufacturer found that jute
could in many cases be used as a substitute for hemp, and from
that time onward it began to be imported in increasing
quantities. Gunny-bags were made by machinery in Dundee
and exported all over the world. During the Crimean War,
when supplies of flax from Russia were cut off, Dundee con-
centrated her attention more and more closely upon jute, so
that now its manufacture is carried on on a gigantic scale.
There are very many different qualities of jute fibre, but
they all have certain drawbacks ; they cannot be bleached
1 Dr. Watt, Dictionary of Economic Products.
194 JUTE, HEMP
a pure white, and when dyed they do not keep their colour ;
they are also easily rotted by moisture, so that fabrics wholly or
even partly made of jute cannot be constantly washed as cotton
and linen can ; it is not durable. But it can be grown and
manufactured at a small cost, and therefore things made of
it are cheap, and for that reason enormous quantities are used.
Besides coarse materials such as Hessians, and tarpaulins,
and foundations for linoleum, and sail-cloth, various finer
fabrics are made of it. Every devout Mohammedan, no
matter where he may be, at certain hours of the day turns
his face towards Mecca, and kneels down to say his prayers.
He carries with him for this purpose a small prayer-mat, and
thousands and thousands of these small brightly -coloured
prayer-mats, made of jute, are sent out year by year from the
mills of Dundee. Besides these prayer-mats many ordinary
cheap carpets are nowadays made of jute. It is also often
made to look like silk, and either used alone or with real silk
to adulterate it. Towels and sheeting, too, are often made
partly of jute, and partly of linen or cotton. On account of
its cheapness it is an invaluable substance for all materials
where strength and durability are not essential.
In Bengal over three million acres are under jute, and,
though now the mills of Calcutta manufacture all the sacks
that are required for Indian produce, the amount of raw jute
exported shows no signs of decreasing, and this is hardly
surprising when we remember that nearly all the sacks in the
world are made of it, in addition to the various other uses
to which it is put.
In 1828, 364 cwt. were sent to Europe ; in 1913 we imported
from India 347,548 tons, and we exported more than 313
million yards of jute material, besides over 41 million pounds
weight of yarn.
HEMP (Cannabis sativa). The hemp plant is an annual,
which grows to a height of from three to ten feet. It has
a slender rough stalk, with numerous patinate-shaped leaves
growing out from it. Each leaf consists generally of five
HEMP 195
leaflets, the edges of which are indented like the edges of
a saw. The flowers are pale yellow.
The fibre obtained from the stalks is exceedingly strong,
and is used for making ropes, and twine, and sailcloth, and
other materials of great strength and durability. Old hempen
ropes pulled to pieces are called oakum ; this is used for
caulking ships, that is, stuffing up the crevices between
the boards.
Hemp, like flax, grows in temperate as well as in warm
climates, and, though frost kills it, it can be cultivated in
places where the winter is very severe, because it grows
quickly, and forms its seeds before the frost comes.
SOURCES OF SUPPLY. Russia, at present, is the great hemp-
producing country of the world, and we buy large quantities
from her, especially for use in the navy. Italy, however,
produces the best hemp, and during the war our imports from
her have increased.
The seeds of hemp, which are about one-twelfth of an inch
long, are of a pale brownish-grey colour, and are used for
feeding birds. When pressed they yield an oil, which is used
in making varnish.
We also buy large quantities of hemp from India, but it
is another kind, known as Bengal hemp ; its fibre is not so
strong as that of Cannabis sativa. Still another kind is that
obtained from the M usa textilis, a plant allied to the banana,
growing in the Philippines ; it is called Manila hemp, and our
imports of it are even greater than those of Russian hemp.
SISAL HEMP, or SISAL (Agave sisalana) is often called
the American aloe, though it is not really an aloe at all. Its
original home is Yucatan, where it grows in great profusion ;
indeed its name sisalana was given to it because it was first
exported from Sisal, a town on the coast of Yucatan.
The plant has a short trunk, and all round this great leaves
grow out, like iris leaves in shape ; they vary in length from
three to six feet. Sometimes it continues to grow for seventy
years without blooming, and then, at last, from the middle
196 HEMP
of the plant a gigantic stalk shoots forth, twenty, thirty, or
even forty feet high. From each side of this stalk or ' pole '
smaller stems branch out, and at the end of each are clusters
of flowers. After a time the flowers wither, and then at the
HEMP
base of the flower-stalks little buds occur, which after growing
about two inches long fall to the ground ; it is from these
buds that the new plants are generally produced.
The original plant having flowered withers and dies. Its
length of life varies considerably ; seventy years is an extreme
age. In Mexico it generally lives for about twenty years,
and in hotter countries its life is shorter still.
HEMP
197
The fibre is obtained from its great sword-like leaves, and
is very strong ; it can be used instead of ordinary hemp
fibre (Cannabis sativa). When the plant is four years old
some of its leaves are ready for cutting, and the cutting is
continued until the plant flowers. The fibre is now generally
extracted by machinery, and after being washed is hung out
in the air to dry ; it is of a pale straw-colour.
Sisal hemp requires heat and a moist atmosphere, but not
FIELD OF SISAL HEMP
too much actual rain. The soil in which it grows must be
well drained.
SOURCES OF SUPPLY. The Bahamas are famous for their
sisal production, but nearly all their crop goes to the United
States, where the fibre is used to make binder twine to tie
up the great bundles of cereals in the harvest- time. It is
now, however, cultivated successfully in Kenya Colony.
' Experiments in the cultivation of sisal were begun by the
Department of Agriculture in the Nairobi district seven years
ago, and more recently in the Coast-belt and other districts.
During the past few years extensive sisal plantations have
198
HEMP, RAMIE
been established along the coast, with factories for treating
the fibre. The soil, temperature, and rainfall are admirably
adapted to the growth of the plant. The leaves attain
a length of five to six feet; the yield and quality of the
fibre are both considered excellent.' Nyasaland, too, has sisal
plantations in the neighbour-
hood of Blantyre, and now
that the railway to Blantyre
from Port Herald is com-,
pie ted, most probably more
plantations will be made. It
is also grown in Papua ; and
many other places, such as
Fiji, Mauritius, Queensland,
and Jamaica are considered
promising for its cultivation
in the future.
RAMIE (Malay zami) is
a plant in many respects
like the stinging nettle,
though it does not sting. It
grows from three to eight
feet in height, and has large
leaves (almost white on the
underside), and little insig-
nificant, pale-green flowers
arranged along a slender stalk.
It is valuable for its fibre, which occurs under the outer
covering of its stems, but it is difficult to obtain, as it is
united to the bark by a very sticky gum, which has to be
removed. This fibre, however, is one of the strongest known
fibres in existence, and, when satisfactory machinery has been
invented for decorticating the stems, the plant will be even
more widely cultivated than it is at present ; for, given a fairly
equable rainfall, it is easy to grow, and its strong fibre i&
useful for a variety of purposes, besides the manufacture of
RAMIE
RAMIE, PHORMIUM TENAX 199
incandescent gas mantles. Paper, for instance, can be made
of it, and ropes and canvas.
SOURCES OF SUPPLY. Malaya and Further India are con-
sidered to be the original home of the ramie plant, but it is
now extensively cultivated in many other places. Within the
PHORMIUM TENAX
empire India, the West Indies (especially Jamaica), Queens-
land, and Kenya Colony are the chief sources of supply.
Phormium tenax. This plant is a native of New Zealand,
where on swampy lands it grows wild in great abundance.
It is sometimes called the New Zealand Flax, but it bears
no resemblance to the flax plant. It belongs to the natural
order Liliaceae, and grows in great tufts, from the centre of
which it sends up a long spike of yellowish-brown flowers.
The leaves are often six feet in length, and it is from these
that the fibre is obtained. They are softened by being laid
200 PHORMIUM TENAX, KAPOK
in water for a few days, and then the fibre is separated from
the gummy matter which is mixed with it.
Just as the peasants of India used to clothe themselves
in material woven from their native jute, so the Maoris of
New Zealand used to make their garments from this native
flax. The fibre is very strong. Besides clothing, they made
ropes, twine, and baskets, and many other things from it.
The fact that they used it for making baskets has given it its
name Phormium, which is taken from a Greek word meaning
Basket.
The Maoris extracted the fibre by hand, but this is now
done by machinery. It is a difficult operation, and efforts are
constantly being made to improve the machinery. The chief
mills are at Wellington, though there are others at Otago
and Auckland.
The cultivation of Phormium tenax has been introduced into
St. Helena, where it is hoped that it will flourish and help to
bring prosperity to the island.
KAPOK is a fibre obtained from the Eriodendron anfractu-
osum or white cotton tree.
It is a tall tree, rather like our elm in shape, but with
a straight smooth trunk. It bears white flowers, and its
seeds are covered with a fine floss and are contained in a pod,
which when ripe bursts open in the same way as cotton bolls
do. The floss is blown to the ground, and has to be separated
from its seeds, and from the leaves, and twigs, and dirt, with
which it gets mixed up.
Its fibres are too short and brittle for weaving, but for
upholstery work of all kinds they are invaluable, for not only
are they elastic and waterproof, but they are also bad con-
ductors of heat, and exceedingly light, so that bedding made
of Kapok is very comfortable and hygienic.
In consequence of its extreme lightness (it is six times
lighter than cotton), and its impermeability, it does not
sink in water, and for this reason increasing quantities are
being imported for making life-jackets and similar garments.
SUMMARY 201
The tree grows in the hot forests of India and Ceylon, and
also in the East Indies and West Indies and in tropical
Africa and America.
SOURCES OF SUPPLY. At present we import Kapok chiefly
from Java ; but India, and Ceylon, and the Sudan, and
New Zealand will probably be sources of supply in the
future.
SUMMARY. With regard to fibres the empire is rich in wool,
but poor, at present, in cotton.
More than 40 per cent, of all the wool produced in the
world is produced within the empire, 1 and this is nearly
twice the amount the empire needs for its own con-
sumption.
Of cotton, the empire 2 produces only 39 per cent, of the
amount consumed in the United Kingdom ; 3 but the pro-
duction is increasing.
Flax and silk, too, though not at present produced in
sufficient quantities to make us self-supporting, yet show
signs of improvement, and afford hope of increasing supplies
in the future.
Jute and Phormium tenax are practically empire mono-
polies ; the former the product of India, the latter of New
Zealand.
Sisal hemp and Russian hemp at present we import from
foreign countries, but sisal is being grown in increasing
quantities in the Bahamas, Kenya Colony, and Nyasaland.
Kapok, though at present imported only from Java, is
grown in India and Malaya, and in the future will probably
be imported from those and other British countries.
1 Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, South Africa > India,
the Falkland Isles, Egypt.
2 Egypt, East Africa, West Africa, Sudan, West Indies, Nyasaland,
Uganda. This is neglecting the Indian supply, see p. 170.
3 The amount imported from foreign countries into other parts of the
empire is not great
202
FIBRES
Summary : Fibres
Sources of Supply.
Foreign.
British.
Remarks.
Cotton.
United States,
Brazil, Peru.
Egypt, India,
Kenya Colony,
Three-quarters of our supplies
come from the United States,
West Africa,
and a small amount from other
Sudan,
foreign countries. Of empire
West Indies,
countries, Egypt is our most
Nyasaland,
important source of supply.
Uganda, Cyprus.
Omitting India, the cotton pro-
duced in the empire is sufficient
to supply only 39 per cent, of
the amount consumed in the
United Kingdom.
Wool (i.e.
The Argentine,
Australia,
The United Kingdom produces
sheep or
France, Chili,
New Zealand,
24 per cent, of the amount it
lamb's wool).
and other
The United King-
consumes, but the empire pro-
countries.
dom,
duces double the amount the
South Africa,
empire consumes and over 40
India, the
per cent, of all the wool pro-
Falkland Isles,
duced in the world.
Egypt.
Flax.
Russia,
The United King-
At present the imports from
Belgium, and
dom.
empire countries are small
other coun-
Possible future
compared with those from
tries.
sources : Egypt,
foreign countries. Russia sup-
Kenya Colony,
plies us with 80 per cent, of our
Victoria.
total imports.
Jute.
India.
Practically all the jute of the
world is grown in India.
Hemp.
Russia, Italy.
Bengal hemp.
India.
Phormium
New Zealand.
New Zealand produces practi-
tenax.
cally the world's supply.
Sisal hemp.
Yucatan.
Bahamas,
Most of the Bahama crop is
Kenya Colony,
exported to the United States.
Nyasaland.
Ramie grass.
India,
West Indies,
Kenya Colony.
Kapok.
Java.
Silk.
China, Japan,
British India.
Not much more than 3 per cent.
France,
from British sources.
Turkey.
,
203
CHAPTER XVI
METALS
ALUMINIUM. This is a comparatively new metal. It was
not until 1886, after repeated experiments and discoveries
by distinguished scientists of various nationalities, that an
English chemist found a method by which it could be prepared
cheaply in sufficiently large quantities for use in commerce.
Aluminium is obtained from various sources, but chiefly
from clay, and of all the clays which contain it, bauxite yields
the largest quantities. Ten miles north-east of Aries, in the
Rhone Valley, is the village of Les Baux, and the particular
kind of clay from which aluminium is now obtained was first
found there ; hence this clay is now called bauxite.
After the bauxite has been purified it is mixed with molten
cryolite. 1 The mixture is then electrolysed, when the melted
aluminium sinks to the bottom of the vessel and is drawn off.
Hence aluminium extraction works are usually situated near
waterfalls, so that electricity may be generated easily.
Aluminium has many valuable qualities, chief among which
is its lightness : it is four times lighter than silver. It is not
very tenacious, however, and therefore when strength as well
as lightness is required, alloys of it instead of the pure metal
are employed.
These alloys are used in the construction of parts of torpedo
boats, and air-ships, and submarines, and motor-cars, and
for all parts of ordinary ships where it is desirable to save
weight.
Besides lightness, aluminium has other valuable qualities.
It does not corrode with acid, nor tarnish in dry air, and it is
a good conductor of heat. For these reasons it is very suitable
for making surgical instruments, and chemical apparatus, and
cooking utensils. But none of these should be washed in
1 The only place in the world in which this mineral is being worked is
Ivigtut in Greenland. The deposit is owned by a Danish company.
204 ALUMINIUM, ANTIMONY
soda-water, as soda quickly attacks aluminium ; nor should
the brown film which forms on the inside surface of aluminium
kettles be removed, for this is caused by the action of boiling
water on the metal, and serves to protect it.
SOURCES OF SUPPLY. Bauxite clay occurs in Antrim in the
north of Ireland. It is sent by way of Loch Linnhe and the
Caledonian Canal to be treated at the works situated by the
Falls of Foyers on Loch Ness. There are also known deposits
in India, and British Guiana, and in New South Wales
and Western Australia, but at present these are not much
worked.
In Canada there are great aluminium works at Shawinigan
Falls, twenty-one miles from the mouth of the St. Maurice
River, which flows south into the St. Lawrence at Three
Rivers ; but the bauxite is imported from the United States,
and after the aluminium is obtained it is exported to that
country.
We have not, however, at present enough to supply our
needs, and we import it from foreign countries.
ANTIMONY is a white metal very much like tin in appear-
ance. It is hard and brittle, and a bad conductor of heat.
Sometimes it is found alone, but more often in combination
with sulphur, forming a grey ore called stibnite. To remove the
sulphur the ore is powdered, and mixed with old pieces of iron,
and heated. The iron then unites with the sulphur, and the
antimony is set free.
On account of its brittleness antimony is not used alone,
but its extreme hardness makes it a very useful component of
alloys in combination with softer metals. It is used, for
instance, with lead to make bullets, especially those called
shrapnel, contained in explosive shells. Britannia metal, too,
is a hard alloy consisting chiefly of block tin and antimony.
Molten antimony expands as it cools, and for this reason
is used with other metals to form alloys, which are to be
moulded to an exact shape. In printing, the raised letters
called type are made by pouring molten type-metal, a mixture
ANTIMONY, ASBESTOS 205
of lead, antimony, and tin l (in the proportion of lead 75,
antimony 20, and tin 5), into moulds, formed in the shape of
the letters required. As the alloy cools, it expands, and fills
up each little crevice in the mould, so that the tinest letters
are shaped with perfect accuracy.
SOURCES OF SUPPLY. Antimony is widely distributed through-
out the world, but China contains the largest known deposits.
Within the empire, Australia is our chief source of supply;
There are mines at Costerfield in Victoria, whence a consider-
able quantity is exported ; and at Hillgrove, in New South
Wales ; and near Northcote, in Queensland.
Antimony is also produced in Canada, and to a small extent
in New Zealand and South Africa, and it is believed that when
the deposits in these countries are worked to their full extent
they will be able to satisfy our needs.
At present we import from China and Mexico as well as from
Australia and Canada.
ASBESTOS (from Greek asbestos, indestructible). This
wonderful substance is found lying in seams in rocks, sometimes
as long silky fibres, and sometimes as a compact mass. It is
usually of a whitish-grey colour, but sometimes it is green,
sometimes blue. The fibres are flexible, and can be separated
from one another, and woven into cloth.
In ancient days dead bodies were wrapped in asbestos cloth
before they were placed upon the funeral pyre ; the body
inside the wrapping was burnt to ashes, but the cloth itself
remained intact, and so it was possible to secure the ashes of
the body, unmixed with any others.
Nowadays we use asbestos for a very great variety of pur-
poses. As the fibres give out great heat, but do not themselves
burn away, they are used in the construction of gas stoves.
The asbestos is enclosed in a network of iron, and jets of gas
placed under it. When these are lit they raise the asbestos
to a white heat, and so long as the gas is alight the asbestos
1 Sometimes the proportions are altered and bismuth is added to the other
metals.
206 ASBESTOS, COBALT
is incandescent and radiates heat. It is also used for table-
covers ; a table covered with asbestos remains uninjured even
though red-hot vessels be placed upon it. In theatres and other
places of public entertainment, the great curtain 1 which divides
the stage from the other part of the building is made of it.
SOURCES OF SUPPLY. The Province of Quebec (south of the
St. Lawrence River) is the main source of the world's supply
of asbestos.
' It is quite clear that the Canadian production is more
than sufficient to meet the demand for raw asbestos within
the British Empire, but it is to be noted that the United
Kingdom, although possessing the most up-to-date plants and
methods, is largely dependent on foreign sources for the
manufactured asbestos it uses.' 2
The reason of this is, that the bulk of the Canadian output
is exported to the United States (whence some of it is re-
exported to us), and we have to make up our deficiency from
Russian and other foreign supplies, although we do import
a certain amount from South Africa.
Other countries within the empire produce asbestos, but
not at present in large quantities. These countries are
Rhodesia, Newfoundland, Tasmania, and Cyprus.
COBALT. Until recently cobalt was chiefly valued because
oxides of it were useful for colouring pottery and glass.
The metal itself, however* is very similar to nickel, both in
appearance and qualities, and it can be used for many purposes
for which nickel at present is exclusively employed, so that
in the future it will probably be still more highly valued than
it has been in the past.
SOURCES OF SUPPLY. The Cobalt District near the eastern
boundary of Ontario is the chief source of the world's supply
of cobalt ; so that the empire could be entirely self-supporting
with regard to this valuable metal.
COPPER. This beautiful metal has many valuable qualities
and was one of the earliest substances known to man. Large
1 Most asbestos goods in sheet form contain a large proportion of china
clay, and become very friable after being highly heated.
* Pominions Royal Commission,
COPPER 207
deposits of it were found in Cyprus, and it was known simply
as the Cyprus metal, Cyprium aes.
It is sometimes found pure, but more often in the form of
ores, the most important of which is copper pyrites, or sulphide
of copper and iron.
Copper is very tenacious, though not quite so strong as
iron ; it is also very malleable, and can be beaten at ordinary
temperatures into almost any shape or design. As a conductor
of heat and electricity it stands next to silver, and hence
large quantities of it are used for telegraph wires, lightning
conductors, and for all kinds of electrical apparatus.
But though used alone for a great number of purposes, it
is perhaps still more useful as an alloy. Mixed with zinc it
forms brass, with tin, bronze.
SOURCES OF SUPPLY. The copper mines of Cornwall were
once very famous, but they are now nearly worked out.
We still mine copper in North Wales, and in Wicklow,
but the output is small, and in consequence we have to import
most of our supplies from abroad. 1
These imported ores are smelted at Swansea, Widnes, and
Glasgow.
Within the empire the chief copper-producing countries
are Australia, Canada, South Africa.
1. Australia, (a) South Australia yields more copper than
any other state in the Commonwealth. One of the most
famous mines is at Wallaroo, in Yorke's Peninsula, to the east
of Spencer Gulf.
(6) Queensland. Mount Morgan, south-west of Rock-
hampton, the Cloncurry district, and the hinterland of the
port of Cairns, are the chief copper districts. Of the Cloncurry
district we read that ' it is the largest tract of copper-bearing
country in Australia, and one of the largest in the world.
As the crow flies it extends north and south for more than
150 miles, and east and west some 80 or 90 miles. Over this
large area, covering at least 15,000 square miles, copper has
1 27 per cent, from empire sources, 73 per cent, foreign sources.
208 COPPER, GRAPHITE
been proved to exist. The outcrops throughout the district
have been described by the Government geologists as in-
numerable and phenomenally rich '- 1 Cloncurry is 480 miles
west of Townsville, with which it is connected by rail.
(c) New South Wales. The Great Cobar Mine, 464 miles
west of Sydney, is the most important mine worked at present ;
though copper occurs in many other places.
(d) Western Australia. Copper is widely distributed, though
the mines at present are not much worked.
(e) Tasmania. Mount Lyell, in the west of the island, is
one of the principal sources of supply in Australia.
2. Canada, (a) British Columbia supplies more than half
the Canadian output. The mines are chiefly in the south, in
the boundary district, though large bodies of ore are known to
exist in many other places.
(6) In Ontario copper ores occur mixed with nickel ores in
the Sudbury district, north of Lake Huron. There are also
small deposits in the Province of Quebec (chiefly at Sher-
brooke, south of the St. Lawrence) and in the Yukon district.
3. South Africa. Copper stands second in importance
among the mineral products of South Africa. Oakiep, in
Namaqualand, ninety-two miles from Port Nolloth, and
Concordia are the chief centres, though mining is also carried
on in the north of the Transvaal, and to some extent in the
Orange Free State and Natal.
In all these places the amount of metal at present produced
bears but a small proportion to that which is known to
exist. Yet it is estimated that the present actual production
of copper within the empire is sufficient to supply 72 per cent,
of Britain's requirements and 60 per cent, of the whole
empire's requirements.
We import, however, now, from empire sources only 27 per
cent, of what we use.
GRAPHITE is a form of carbon and is chemically identical
with the diamond. As it is black, and was formerly supposed
1 Our First Half Century : a Review of Queensland Progress.
GRAPHITE 209
to contain lead, it was called black-lead or plumbago (Latin
plumbum, lead).
The name graphite was given to it because it makes marks
on paper, from graphein, to write.
It is found in very ancient rocks, such as gneiss, sometimes
in layers and sometimes in great lumps.
Pencils are not now made of graphite alone, but of a mixture
of graphite and fine clay. Both substances are ground to a fine
powder, and then mixed with water to form a stiff paste.
This is put into a cylindrical vessel, perforated with holes
in the bottom, and forced through them. It emerges in the
form of long thin sticks. These are cut into convenient
lengths and allowed to dry. They are then made red hot,
after which they are ready to be inserted into the cedar-
wood holders prepared for them.
Graphite is used as a dry lubricant for machinery, and for
this purpose alone we import large quantities every year ; it
is also used to polish fire-grates.
As graphite is a very poor conductor of heat it is used
to line moulds into which white-hot metals are to be poured,
and (mixed with clay and sand) to make crucibles, in which to
melt ore and metals. These are its two most important uses.
SOURCES OF SUPPLY. Borrowdale, in Cumberland, in former
days produced large quantities of graphite, but these mines
are now practically exhausted.
Of countries within the empire Ceylon is the most important
contributor, though India, and to a smaller extent Canada, send
us supplies. Australia, and New Zealand, and the Transvaal
have deposits, but at present they are not much worked.
The Ceylon mines are in the southern mountains, and the
' output is much more than sufficient to render the empire
independent of foreign sources of supply '- 1
As, however, she sends us only about one-fifth of her total
export, we have to buy more than half our supplies from foreign
countries.
2203
1 The Dominions Royal Commission.
O
210 IRON
IRON.
Gold is for the mistress silver for the maid,
Copper for the craftsman, cunning at his trade.
' Good ! ' said the Baron, sitting in his hall,
' But Iron Cold Iron is the master of them all.'
RUDYARD KIPLING.
Although iron is so valuable and so widely diffused (there
is scarcely a country in which it is not found), it was not one
of the first metals employed in the service of man. One of the
reasons for this is that it is scarcely ever found pure, but
always mixed with some other substance forming what are
called iron ores. These ores are very different in appearance
from iron, and it was long before men discovered that it was
possible to extract iron from them, and even after the
discovery, the process was always slow and difficult.
The chief iron ores are :
1. Magnetic Iron Ore, or black oxide of iron. This is
a mixture of iron and oxygen, and contains more iron than
any other of the iron ores.
2. Haematite (Greek haimatites, blood-like). There are two
varieties of this ore, one called Red Haematite, the other
Brown Haematite. They are compounds of iron and oxygen,
but both contain a little more oxygen than the magnetic ore,
and mixed with the brown haematite is a certain amount of
water.
3. Carbonate of Iron is a compound of iron and carbon and
oxygen. An impure form of this, mixed with clay, is called
clay-band ironstone, and another containing, besides clay,
a considerable proportion of coaly or bituminous matter, is
called blackband ironstone.
When the ores have been dug up out of the ground, the next
step is to separate the iron from the other substances with
which it is combined. The ores themselves, however, are
rarely pure, and pure iron (which is white in colour) is never
obtained except in a chemical laboratory. Carbon when
heated joins very readily with oxygen, and the easiest way of
IRON 211
obtaining iron was to heat iron ore and carbon together in
a furnace. The carbon then joined with the oxygen of the
iron ore, and the molten iron, united with some of the carbon,
flowed out from the bottom of the furnace.
In some such primitive fashion as this the Romans smelted
iron in the Forest of Dean, but so imperfect were their methods
that, after they had extracted all the iron they could, the
great heaps of refuse left by them supplied iron ore in later
times to numerous factories worked under more modern
conditions.
The carbon used in smelting was always charcoal (made by
charring wood under turf), and as a consequence of this
practice the forests of England were to a great extent destroyed.
It is true, of course, that wood was almost exclusively used
for house fuel ; still, the amount used in smelting iron was
enormous.
To obtain one ton of pig-iron four loads of timber were
required, and so serious was the destruction of forests that in
1581 an Act was passed making it penal to convert wood into
fuel within fourteen miles of London, to erect new ironworks
within twenty-two miles, or to increase the number of Sussex,
Surrey, and Kent furnaces beyond certain limits. The Sussex
industry never recovered from this blow, and by 1790 had died
out altogether.
The din of the iron hammer was hushed, the glare of the
furnace faded, the last blast of the bellows was blown, and
the district returned to its original solitude. Some of the
furnace ponds were drained and planted with hops and willows,
others formed beautiful lakes in retired pleasure grounds.' 1
At last, in 1619, James I granted to Dud Dudley, the son of
Lord Dudley of Wolverhampton, a monopoly ' of the mystery
and art of smelting iron ore and of making the same into cast
works or bars with sea-coals or pit-coals in furnaces with
bellows '.
One of the chief difficulties of the early smelters was
1 Dr. Smiles.
02
212 IRON
to keep the fire in their furnaces alight, and from the earliest
time some sort of bellows was used. To-day the blast furnace
has taken the place of the ancient bellows.
A modern blast furnace is a great hollow iron tower (some-
times as high as 100 feet) lined with firebrick. Near the
bottom of this tower are pipes called tuyeres (French tuyau,
a pipe), through which a blast of hot air is driven at a pressure
varying from 8 to 20 Ib. per square inch, and at a temperature
of 800 to 1,100 C. (In the Black Country they call these
tuyeres, twyers, or two irons.)
Into the furnace are put iron ore, or ' mine V coke, and
limestone. As before explained, the oxygen of the iron ore
unites with the carbon, and the iron is set free, though some
of the carbon unites with the iron. The lime mixes with
some of the various other impurities and form slag or cinder,
which being lighter than the molten iron, floats on top of it.
This slag is let out from a hole in the furnace, and lower down
the iron is run off from another hole into moulds made of
sand. The pieces of new cast-iron in the moulds are called
pigs, and the iron is called pig-iron. Each pig weighs about
one hundredweight. The iron still contains a good deal of
carbon and other impurities and is very brittle.
Cast-iron articles are obtained by melting together various
qualities of pig-iron, mixed with some scrap iron, and then
casting it into sand-moulds of the shape of the article required.
It can stand great heat, but is still rather brittle.
Wrought Iron. Pig-iron is put into a reverberatory furnace,
i.e. a furnace in which the fuel is in a separate compartment
from the iron. The flame from the coal passes through the
compartment containing the iron. The roof of this compart-
ment slopes downwards and the flame is beaten down on to
1 Often the ironstone or ore is heaped up in beds or ' rucks ' about
4 feet high, 20 to 50 feet wide, and 100 or more feet long, and is burned or
calcined in the open air, the carbon, hydrogen, and sulphur contained in
the ore in some cases contains sufficient fuel to burn the whole bed ; these
and other impurities are thus separated from the mass, the residue being
the ' mine ' or iron in its first stage of manufacture, and a varying percentage
of ashes containing silica, &c.
IRON 213
the iron, hence the name reverberator y. The flame passes
onwards and finally escapes from a chimney.
The walls of the compartment are lined with oxide of iron,
and the heat causes the oxygen of the oxide to be set free ;
some of it unites with the impurities of the iron and forms
other oxides.
The purified iron is not melted, only made soft by the heat,
and while in this condition is worked or wrought by long
bars of iron put through a hole in the furnace door. It is
then taken out, and, while still soft, is hammered with great
steam hammers, and then rolled under steam rollers. Wrought
iron is not brittle, and at a red heat may be hammered into
any shape required, and two pieces may be welded together.
This latter quality is a very valuable one, and is possessed by
very few of the metals.
STEEL is iron combined with a small quantity of carbon,
the proportion of carbon varying from i to 2j per cent. The
ancient iron makers had no means of regulating the amount
of carbon contained in their steel, and, in consequence, though
it was often of excellent quality, there was no fixed standard
by which it could be judged. Modern methods have overcome
this difficulty.
There are various methods of producing steel, and we can
now obtain it from ores of various degrees of purity, though
the finest steel, called crucible steel, is made from the purest
ores and the purest carbon. This is the steel used in making
cutlery.
In 1856 Sir Henry Bessemer invented his method of making
steel. The principle is first to get rid of all the carbon, and
some of the other impurities of pig-iron, and then to put back
carbon in the proportion required.
Impure molten pig-iron is poured into a great pear-shaped
vessel, called a converter, at the bottom of which is a plug
riddled with holes.
Through these a fierce blast of air is driven, the pressure
of which is so great that not only is the molten iron prevented
214 IRON
from falling through the holes, but it is made white hot and
forced to bubble about like water boiling inside a kettle. The
air-blast is continued until all the carbon in the iron has united
with the oxygen of the air. (This takes about twenty minutes,
and during this time some of the other impurities unite with
the oxygen and form other oxides.)
Next molten spiegeleisen is poured in. This is a mixture
containing iron, carbon, and manganese, in known proportions,
so that the amount of carbon added to a given amount of iron
can be regulated.
The steel is then poured into moulds, and left until the
outside has become solid, and while still hot is pressed between
shaped rollers, and finally is cut into the lengths required.
The iron most suitable for this process is the Red Haematite,
which occurs in great abundance in the Furness district of
North Lancashire. Barrow is the centre of this district.
Iron is also mined :
(a) In the oolitic limestone of (i) the Cleveland district of the
North York moors. The ore which occurs here is an impure
form of clay-band ironstone, yet it is from this region that we
obtain nearly half our total output of iron. Middlesbrough
is the chief town, (ii) The hills of Lincolnshire, Leicester, and
Northampton.
(6) In the carboniferous limestone of South Lancashire, North
Staffordshire, South Staffordshire, West Cumberland, Ayrshire,
Lanarkshire, Stirling, Clackmannan, Edinburgh, and Fifeshire.
The fact that so much of our iron was mined near our
coalfields, that these fields were near navigable rivers, or near
the sea- coast, and that it was in Britain that the chief inven-
tions connected with improved methods of producing iron
were made, caused us to become in the nineteenth century
the greatest iron-producing country in the world, but districts
that once produced iron produce them no longer, so that
we now stand third 1 among iron-producing countries and do
not produce much more than half the iron we require. It
1 1, the United States ; 2, Germany ; 3, Britain.
IRON 215
therefore becomes very important for us to consider from what
parts of our own empire we can supply our needs.
Newfoundland and Canada (Ontario, British Columbia, and
Nova Scotia) both send us supplies, by far the largest amount
coming from Newfoundland. There is a wonderful iron mine
in Bell Island off the coast of Newfoundland. The iron-bearing
district in which it stands extends along the shore and under
the sea ; the amount of ore which it is estimated to contain
is no less than three or four billion tons. There is iron, too,
in other parts of Newfoundland.
South Australia. Iron Knob, in the north of Eyre's Peninsula,
and Iron Monarch are described as ' mountains of solid iron
ore ', and the iron is of excellent quality.
In Tasmania valuable deposits occur, especially near the
north coast, in the Blythe River Valley, but they are not yet
worked.
In New South Wales iron is found in various parts of the
state ; it is mined chiefly in the Blue Mountains, at Carcoar,
and at Cadia, where the beds are estimated to contain millions
of tons of ore.
In Queensland, too, there is an abundance of ironstone :
mining is carried on chiefly at Rockhampton, Cloncurry, and
Chillagoe.
In New Zealand, at Parapara, on the west coast of the North
Island, there is a large deposit of iron ore, and on the west
coast there are wonderful iron sands, from which inexhaustible
supplies of iron could be obtained.
South Africa. In the Cape Province and in the Transvaal
and in other parts of the Union large quantities of iron ore
are known to exist, but they are not yet worked.
At present, then, we produce in Britain about one-half of
the iron we need, and the bulk of the imported ore comes
from foreign countries (chiefly from Spain, and Norway, and
Sweden).
Yet the deposits within the empire are enormous and
sufficient to supply all our needs.
216 IRON
The difficulty of carrying such a heavy substance as iron
ore long distances is very great ; still, it is to be hoped that
in the future this difficulty will be overcome and that our
own Dominions, especially Newfoundland, will be able to send
us large supplies.
CHAPTER XVII
METALS (continued)
TIN (A.S. tin, Latin stannum). Opposite Penzance, sur-
rounded at high tide with the brilliant blue sea of the Cornish
Riviera, but at low tide joined to the mainland, stands the
little hill called St. Michael's Mount, whither in ancient days
the merchants brought their tin for sale.
' They prepare tin, working the earth which yields it with
great skill. . . . After casting this into the form of cubes they
carry it to a certain island adjoining Britain called Ikiis.
During the ebb of the tide the space intervening is left dry,
and they transport large quantities of tin to this place in their
carts. From hence, then, the merchants buy tin from the
natives and carry it into Gaul, and at last after travelling
through Gaul on foot for about thirty days they bring their
burdens on horseback to the mouth of the River Rhone.' l
This export of tin continued through the centuries, and so
extensive did it become that in the fifteenth century we were
the chief tin-exporting country in Europe. The Black Prince
in the preceding century, we are told, paid his expenses in the
French wars from the proceeds of his tin mines in Cornwall
and Devonshire.
But at the present time these mines do not supply us with
sufficient for our needs, and we have to buy it from abroad.
The country which stands foremost in the world's supply of
tin is the Malay Peninsula. Formerly two-thirds of all the tin
used in the world came from there ; now it produces about
one-half of the total supply.
1 Diodorus Siculus (first century, B.C.), quoted by Archibald Williams,
TIN 217
Stretching down the whole length of the Peninsula from
north-west to south-east is a long range of granite mountains,
flanked with hills of slate and similar rocks. In these highlands
veins or lodes of tin ore occur. The rainfall of the Malay
Peninsula varies from 68 inches to 167 inches a year, the
average over the whole Peninsula being 90 inches. These
heavy rains in course of time have worn down the highland,
CHINESE WOMEN CLEANING TIN ORE
and washed down the tin-bearing rocks to the lowlands and
valleys, so that vast alluvial deposits have been formed, and in
these ' nearly pure tin ore occurs in the finest of dust up to
lumps several hundred pounds in weight '.
In the Peninsula tin ' is found in every conceivable kind
of soil from the stiffest of clays to the lightest of sands ; from
the very grass roots down to depths of 250 feet ; in the lowest
valleys and on the tops of mountains. The tin-bearing ground
may be in some exceptional cases so rich as to be black with
grains of tin ore \ l and yet on the other hand, worked with
modern machinery, even land yielding half a pound or a quarter
of a pound of tin ore to the ton of ground may be worked
with profit.
1 Mining in Malaya, by F. J. B. Dykes, F.G.S.
218 TIN
Pure tin ore or cassiterite is a compound of tin and oxygen,
and the removal of the oxygen is effected by heating the ore
in a furnace with coal and lime. The oxygen combines with
the carbon of the coal, and the lime with the other impurities
(for the ore is seldom pure), and the tin is set free ; it is run off,
and poured into moulds, where it forms blocks or ingots of tin.
Pure tin is a silvery- white metal, harder than lead, though
not so hard as gold. It is so malleable that it can be hammered
out to the thinness of roVoth part of an inch. These thin
leaves, or, as they are called, tinfoil, are used for making
capsules, for wrapping up delicate articles and for many other
purposes.
Alloyed with lead, tin forms pewter ; with copper, bronze.
It possesses one great advantage over iron in that it is but
slightly acted upon by air and water, whereas iron very quickly
rusts and wears away.
For this reason tin is used as a coating for iron, and thus
a substance is obtained having the strength of iron, and the
air-resisting power of tin. This tinplate industry is chiefly
carried on at Swansea in South Wales. When the iron has
been cut to the required size it is subjected to various processes
until it has become quite clean and bright. It is then immersed
in melted grease, and left until it is perfectly coated, after
which it is dipped into a bath of molten tin.
Afterwards the superfluous tin is removed by putting the
plates into a vessel containing tallow and palm oil, maintained
at a temperature just high enough to allow the tin to run off.
(The melting-point of tin is 449 F.)
Besides Cornwall and the Malay Peninsula, tin is mined in
Tasmania, where it forms one of the most important mineral
products. The best-known mine is at Mount Bischoff, in the
west of the island, but there are others. Tin-smelting is carried
on at Launceston.
Queensland. The Herberton district of Northern Queens-
land is the principal, though by no means the only, tin-field
The port of Cairns is the outlet for this district.
TIN, LEAD 219
New South Wales (chiefly in the New England Tableland),
and Western Australia, and South Australia also have deposits
of tin, and it is mined in South Africa, near Stellenbosch, in
Cape Colony ; and in the Rustenburg and Waterburg districts,
in the Transvaal.
Northern Nigeria has enormous areas of tin-bearing land,
and ' it is anticipated that the tin-mining industry will
ultimately develop into one of the greatest sources of wealth
of the Protectorate '.
From these places we buy tin in the form of blocks, ingots,
bars, and slabs, as well as in the form of ore, to such an extent
that only small quantities are imported from foreign countries.
And these foreign imports are not due to necessity, for not
only does the Empire produce enough tin for its own use, but
(including the tin used in tin-plate) foreign countries are
dependent on us to the extent of nearly 60 per cent, of their
requirements.
LEAD (A.S. lead, Latin plumbum).
The lazy leaden-stepping hours
Whose speed is but the heavy plummet's pace.
MILTON.
This heaviness of lead is one of its best-known characteristics,
and one which caused it to be used from early times for all
kinds of weights, and, later on, for bullets and shot of every
description.
Some metals, notably iron, when exposed to moist air
combine with its oxygen to form oxides, or as we say to rust
or tarnish, and though this happens at first in the case of
lead, so that it quickly loses its lustre and becomes dull looking
or wan, yet afterwards oxidation proceeds so slowly that lead
can be used for making cisterns, and water-pipes, and roofs,
and for various similar purposes.
As neither sulphuric acid nor hydrochloric acid in the
dilute state act on lead, it is largely used in tho fittings of
chemical works. It is so soft that it can be scratched with
the nail and can be easily hammered into any shape required,
220 LEAD
but unlike copper, its tenacity is small, a wire of one-twelfth
of an inch in thickness being unable to support a weight of
20 Ib.
Another useful property of lead is its fusibility at com-
paratively low temperatures, and for this reason it is used
with tin to form solder (from Latin solidus), an alloy for
uniting the surfaces of two metals less fusible than itself.
Lead united with tin forms pewter, with tin and antimony
type metal.
GALENA, or sulphide of lead, a compound of lead and
sulphur, is, like the pure metal, of a bluish-grey colour. It
is the commonest of lead ores, and was supposed to exert
a calming influence in cases of extreme suffering, hence its
Greek name, galene, tranquillity, stillness of the sea.
Mixed with the galena is nearly always a certain amount
of silver, and after the sulphur and other impurities have been
removed, the silver has to be separated from the lead.
SOURCES OF SUPPLY. The chief lead mines of Britain are in
the Crossfell district of the Pennines, in the Lake District, in
Derbyshire, and in Lanarkshire, in the Isle of Man, in North
Wales, and in Wicklow. There are smelting works at Alston
Moor, in Cumberland, at Holywell in Flintshire, but most of
the imported ore is smelted at Swansea.
As in the case of some other minerals, the mines of Britain
supply us with but a small proportion of the amount we need.
Fortunately, however, our own Dominions have an abundance
of the metal, though at present we buy only about half our
imported supplies from them.
In the west of New South Wales, near the border of South
Australia, 333 miles from Adelaide, and 809 miles from
Sydney, amid arid and desolate country stands Broken Hill,
at the southern extremity of the Barrier Range of mountains.
Here are the most important lead and zinc mines of the
British Empire, and with the lead occur large quantities of
silver. Thousands of .miners are employed here, and the town
of Broken Hill has a population of 33,900 people. At Port
LEAD, MANGANESE 221
Pirie, on the north-east side of Spencer Gulf, increasing
quantities of this lead are smelted.
Next in importance comes Tasmania, with her mines at Zee-
ham, in the rainy, mountainous county of Montagu hi the west.
Queensland and Western Australia also have important
mines, those of Queensland are in the Burketown district of
the west as well as in the mineral belt of the east, while those
of Western Australia are in the Northampton Field, to the
north of Geraldton.
British Columbia produces most of the Canadian lead, the
mines being at Kootenay, in the south of the state ; but
smaller amounts occur in the Yukon Territory, and in Ontario.
Newfoundland and South Africa also have deposits of lead,
but their output at present is not great.
One of the newest and most promising sources of supply
for the future is Burma. The silver-lead mines are at Bawdwin,
in the Northern Shan States, and the produce can be brought
down by rail to Mandalay and thence to Rangoon.
It is estimated that the output of these mines, in addition
to the other empire supplies, will enable us to be entirely self-
supporting.
MANGANESE is a greyish metal slightly tinged with red.
It is extremely hard, and brittle, and difficult to melt. It
is not found alone, but generally in combination with oxygen
(MnO 2 ) ; iron, too, is often present in the manganese ores.
Manganese is used in colouring pottery and in removing
the yellowish tinge from glass ; it is used in electricity, in
making disinfectants, and for many other purposes, but its
most important use is in hardening steel.
Manganese steel, besides being very hard, is also tough, and
it has no magnetic power, so that when used in shipbuilding
it has no influence on the ship's compass.
SOURCES OF SUPPLY. British India 1 produces more manganese
1 The most important mines are at Gosalpur, in the Jabalpur District
of the Central Provinces, but there are also mines in the Nilgiris, in Mysore,
in Hyderabad, and in many other places.
222 MANGANESE, MONAZITE
than any other country in the world, and could easily satisfy
all our needs, but at present we receive from her less than
a third of her total export : the rest (except for a small
quantity which we produce ourselves in Carnarvonshire) we
buy from Russia and Brazil.
Manganese is also found in all the states of Australia, and
in New Zealand ; in Canada, South Africa, and West Africa,
but the output from these countries at present is small.
Egypt, too, has large deposits of a manganese ore very rich
in iron, and Newfoundland has abundant supplies, near
Conception Bay, in the south of the island.
MONAZITE. In the extreme south of Southern India, within
the Presidency of Madras, lies the state of Travancore, one
of the most progressive of the native Indian states. From
Cape Comorin it extends along the west coast northwards
for 150 miles, and inland to the crests of the mountains.
The climate is very hot, and the rainfall abundant, so that
the slopes of the mountains and hills are clothed with thick
forests, and in the lowlands are plantations of rice, and sago
palms. There are very many rivers, and these on reaching
the coast are pushed back by the currents of the Arabian
Ocean and form lagoons along the shore. The mountains and
hills are made of ancient rocks, such as granite, and in them
occur particles of the mineral Monazite.
The torrential rains beating down upon the land, year after
year, through the ages, have worn away the surface of the
rocks, and washed down the debris to the valleys of the
mountains. Among this debris are the precious Monazite
crystals, which being heavier than the other constituents of the
rocks, sink to the ground first, and are now found in the lower
layers of the sands and gravels, on the margins of the rivers,
and streams, and lagoons.
To obtain the mineral the sand and gravel is powdered and
put into a trough, through which a stream of water is driven ;
the monazite being heavier, sinks to the bottom, and the
lighter constituents are carried away by the water.
MONAZITE, NICKEL 223
Monazite contains many useful elements, among the best
known at present being Thorium and Cerium, both of which
are used in the making of incandescent mantles.
After much labour, and many experiments, it was found that
a little mesh of cotton, soaked in a solution containing nitrate
of thorium, and a very small proportion of nitrate of cerium,
burned with an intensely bright light, and after many more
experiments the modern incandescent mantle was produced.
Instead of cotton, ramie fibre is now generally employed.
A small cylinder of ramie net is soaked in the solution until
it is completely saturated. It is then wrung out and drawn
together at one end by an asbestos thread ; a loop of the same
material is added. The ramie is then burnt off and a very
delicate network of the oxides of the metals is left behind.
This is strengthened by being dipped in collodion, 1 which
in its turn is burnt off, after the mantle has been placed in
position on the gas-burner.
Not only gas, but oil is used with incandescent mantles.
For instance, the Bell Rock Lighthouse, ten miles out at sea
from Arbroath, is lit by oil lamps having incandescent burners.
These throw a light across the waters equal in brilliance to
that of many million candles, and it is interesting to remember
that the intensity of this light is due to a large extent to
the elements thorium aud cerium.
Cerium also helps to produce the brightness of searchlights,
and it is useful in many other ways.
NICKEL is a hard silvery- white metal, and a small propor-
tion of it added to steel makes the latter exceedingly tough, so
that nickel steel is used when especial toughness and strength
are required. It is also lighter than ordinary steel. Armour-
plates, and parts of motor-cars, and burglar-proof safes, and
various munitions of war are made of it.
Another valuable property of nickel besides its hardness
1 Cotton soaked in nitric and sulphuric acid becomes highly explosive
and is called gun-cotton. Collodion is gun-cotton dissolved in ether or
alcohol.
224 NICKEL, TUNGSTEN
is the fact that it tarnishes but slightly in damp air. For this
reason it is used to coat or plate other metals, thus rendering
them brighter and safe from rust. Rifle bullets are sheathed
with it.
SOURCES OF SUPPLY. Sudbury in Ontario produces two-thirds
of all the nickel in the world. The nickel- ore district covers
an area of 800 square miles, and ' there is no doubt that
Canada is able to furnish all the nickel ore required for use
in the empire '.
There are also deposits in Tasmania, Newfoundland, South
Africa, and Egypt.
Tungsten is not found alone in nature, but always in com-
bination with some of the other metals. It occurs principally
in wolfram and schulite.
Wolfram (FcWO 4 ) is a dark- brown mineral consisting of
iron and tungsten combined with oxygen, and the tungsten
(generally in the form of a powder) has to be extracted from
it by a complicated process.
.In schulite (CaWO 4 ) calcium takes the place of iron. The
importance of tungsten lies in the fact that a small proportion
of it added to steel increases the hardness of the latter in the
most wonderful manner, and not only its hardness, but its
6 temper ', for it can be made red-hot without changing its
quality.
Thus, all sorts of cutting tools are made of tungsten steel, for
these need special hardness, as they have to cut hard substances
such as iron and steel.
To take one instance. A modern ship is built of steel.
After the keel has been laid down, and the ribs securely fastened
into place, the whole is covered with large plates of steel.
These plates are fastened on to the framework of the ship
with rivets. In each plate holes are bored or punched out,
and these are placed over corresponding holes in the frame-
work. Then a white-hot rivet about two inches long is put
through each hole and hammered flat at each end, so
that it becomes in shape like a double-headed nail. As it
TUNGSTEN 225
cools it contracts, and so draws the plates firmly against
the frame.
The whole ship is thus put together by rivets, so that in
a large vessel there are many millions of them, and the holes
through which they pass have all been drilled or cut by tung-
sten steel tools.
In battle-ships the armour-plates are made of a very hard
tungsten alloy, and, indeed, the need for specially hard steel
in all engines of war is vital.
MOLYBDENUM, which occurs in a mineral called molyb-
denite, also like tungsten hardens steel, and is sometimes
employed instead of tungsten.
SOURCES OF SUPPLY of tungsten and molybdenum :
In Cornwall wolfram ore is found, but generally in associa-
tion with tin ore, from which it has to be separated before
the tungsten can be obtained from it.
Burma. The principal wolfram mines are at Tavoy, on the
coast of Tenasserim, and the output of these mines is about
one-third of the world's total production. There are deposits
in other parts of Burma, but these are not so extensively
worked, on account of difficulties of transport.
Australia. From Port Cairns, on the Queensland coast,
a railway runs inland to Georgetown. There is a branch
southwards to Herberton and one northwards to Chillagoe.
The wolfram-bearing country in this part of Queensland is
estimated to extend over an area of three thousand five
hundred square miles, and it is stated that these Chillagoe
and Herberton mineral fields alone ' can supply the world's
demands and have a good deal to spare afterwards '. Besides
wolfram, molybdenite is extensively mined.
In New South Wales wolfram occurs in many places, but
the chief mining centre at present is at Torrington to the
north of Emmaville, on the New England tableland.
Victoria has deposits of wolfram, molybdenite, and schulite,
and Tasmania of wolfram, and there are deposits of schulite
in New Zealand.
2203 p
226 TUNGSTEN, ZINC
In Canada the production of molybdenite is rapidly increas-
ing, and both wolfram and schulite are found in the Malay
States.
Great factories have now been erected at Widnes, in South
Lancashire, for refining the ores and obtaining tungsten, and
within our own empire we can produce sufficient quantities for
our needs.
ZINC is a comparatively modern metal, its usefulness not
having been fully discovered until early in the nineteenth
century. When pure it is of a bluish-white colour, but when
exposed to the atmosphere it loses this brilliancy and becomes
coated with a greyish film, though, as in the case of lead, after
this first tarnishing little further action takes place, so that
zinc is very useful for coating objects which are to be exposed
to a damp atmosphere. '
Aloysis Galvani of Bologna in the eighteenth century
discovered a new method of coating one metal with a dissimilar
one by means of electricity, and iron coated with zinc is now
called galvanized iron, though at present the coating is generally
accomplished in a similar manner to that used in the tin-
plate industry, i. e. by plunging the iron, when perfectly
cleaned and polished, into a bath of melted zinc.
Zinc is harder than -lead or tin, but not so hard as brass
(an alloy of copper and zinc). At ordinary temperatures it
is rather brittle, but when heated to the temperature of
300 to 320 F. it becomes malleable and ductile. It was the
discovery of this property which led to its extensive use in
sheets.
The ores of zinc, namely blende, or sulphide of zinc, and
calamine, or carbonate of zinc, frequently occur with lead ores.
SOURCES OF SUPPLY. In Britain zinc ores are found in Cum-
berland, North Wales, Leadhills (in Lanarkshire), and the Isle
of Man, but the amount of zinc produced is small.
In the production of zinc, as of lead, Australia stands first
in the empire, enormous quantities being mined at Broken
Hill (N.S.W.) and at other places, notably in Tasmania.
ZINC, GOLD 227
The Canadian zinc mines are chiefly in the Kootenay district
of British Columbia, though Quebec and Ontario produce
a certain amount.
In Newfoundland there are said to be extensive deposits,
along with silver and lead, in the Red Indian Lake District.
Bawdwin, in the Northern Shan States of Burma, besides
lead, has large deposits of zinc ores and is regarded as a piomis*
ing source of future supplies.
It is estimated that the output from these mines is suffi-
cient to make the empire self-supporting, though at present
we import from various foreign countries, chiefly from Italy,
Spain, Algeria, and (before the war) from Germany.
CHAPTER XVIII
METALS (continued)
GOLD. We read that in ancient days Jason, accompanied
by all the heroes of Greece, sailed in the good ship Argo to
Colchis, on the Euxine, to fetch the Golden Fleece, which
hung on an oak-tree in the grove of Mars, and was guarded
night and day by a fiery dragon.
Since Jason's day men have been willing to brave ' fiery
dragons ' innumerable in order to obtain the precious metal,
which on account of its beauty and its many valuable qualities
has always been an object of intense desire.
Gold is one of the heaviest of the metals, and it is extra-
ordinarily malleable and ductile ; it can be beaten out into
' sheets ' or ' leaves ' so thin that 250,000 of these placed one
on top of the other measure only one inch in thickness, while
one grain in weight can be drawn out into a wire 167 yards
long. In consequence of its softness it is not used pure either
for ornaments or coins, a certain amount of copper or some
other metal being used with it to harden it. 1
1 English sovereigns contain 8-33 per cent, of copper. Often the propor-
tion of gold is reckoned according to the number of parts out of 24. Each
P 2
228 GOLD
Gold has a great affinity for mercury, but it does not join
readily with oxygen, nor is it acted upon by acids, hence
it is not affected by exposure to the atmosphere and remains
always bright and clean. It is a good conductor of heat and
electricity.
The men who first found gold found it in the sands by the
side of a stream, or in the bed of the river itself. Sometimes
they fastened down a sheep-skin in the current of the stream
to catch the golden grains as they sank to the bottom, and the
skin became indeed a ' golden fleece '. This was how the
inhabitants of Colchis obtained gold from the River Phasis,
and in the same manner to-day gold is obtained from the rivers
of Hungary.
All sorts of theories were propounded by the ancients to
account for the presence of these grains of gold by the side of
streams. The Lydian Pactolus, for instance, a tributary of
the Hermus, was extraordinarily rich in gold, and this was
the explanation which was given. Midas, one of the kings of
Phrygia, had asked in his folly that everything he touched
might be turned to gold, and lo ! his prayer was answered,
so that even his food on its way to his mouth was changed
into gold. To remove this curse he was bidden to go up into
the mountains, and bathe in the springs which fed the
Pactolus. This he did, and was cured, but ever after the
stream washed down precious grains of gold, so that Croesus
and other kings of Lydia became by- words for their wealth.
In modern times men were not content with such explana-
tions. They followed the streams up into the mountains, and
after patient search found the origin of the golden sands.
Imbedded in the heart of the rocks, they discovered veins or
lodes of pure gold. Many different kinds of rock contain these
veins, but quartz is the commonest.
It was from these that the river-side grains had come,
for wind and weather had in course of time broken off solid
twenty-fourth part is called a carat ; so that 22 carat gold consists of 22 parts
of pure gold, and 2 parts of another metal.
GOLD 229
lumps of rock and gold, which, tossed about from place to
place, had been further reduced, and finally washed down by
the streams to the beds of the rivers.
All this gold thus ' washed down ' is called Alluvial Gold,
and the gold-bearing sands are called Placers, from a Spanish
word placer having that signification, and used by the Spaniards
in their mines in Brazil and Mexico. Sometimes the grains are
so small as to be invisible to the naked eye, at others so large
as to constitute a fortune for the lucky finder. These large
pieces are called Nuggets. At Ballarat (in Victoria) one inch
below the surface of the ground a nugget weighing 2,520 ounces
was found. It was called ' The Welcome Stranger '.
Placers often occur in the beds of rivers which have long
since ceased to flow, and are therefore now found many miles
away from present-day streams, sometimes even on the tops
of mountains, so much has the surface of the earth changed
in the course of the ages.
In the early days of modern gold-mining the miners simply
dug up the soil (' pay-dirt ', as they called it) by the river
side, and washed it in a pan. They held the top of the pan
just under the surface of the water, and stirred the contents,
so that the lighter materials were carried off by the current,
and the heavier gold sank to the bottom of the pan. Nowadays
improved methods are used, but the principle on which they
depend is the same, namely, the sinking of the heavy gold
and the floating away of the lighter materials.
Mercury is often added to the water in which the gold is
washed. It unites with the gold so that even the finest
particles are not lost ; afterwards this mercury is volatilized
and the gold recovered.
In order to obtain gold from the veins or lodes in rocks
the 'whole auriferous mass has to be crushed, and the gold is
obtained from the powdered material by methods similar to
those in use in alluvial mining. In the goldfields of the
Transvaal, and other places where the rocks have to be
crushed, the noise is described as deafening. Enormous iron
230 GOLD
stamps, shaped like a pestle, and weighing from 600 to 900 Ib.
or more, deliver from 30 to 100 blows a minute on to the
masses of rock placed beneath them. Mining for gold from
veins in the solid rock is called vein-mining.
In addition to free gold found in alluvial sands, and in the
solid rocks, there is the gold found in combination with other
metals. The methods for obtaining the gold from these
ores vary according to the minerals with which they are.
combined. The following is an account of the principal gold-
fields.
Australia.
1. Victoria. In the beginning of 1851 on the northern slopes
of the Great Dividing Range was situated the Ravenswood
sheep-run, many square miles in extent and supporting many
thousands of sheep. Part of it was called Bendigo's Creek,
from the name of a famous shepherd who worked there.
On December 10, 1851, gold was discovered here, and by
the next year 40,000 miners were encamped on the spot. We
read that ' vast areas of ground were turned over and rifled
of their treasures. Whole forests of great iron-bark trees with
the dense undergrowth growing beneath them disappeared '- 1
Gold had been found in several other places during the
preceding year, notably at Ballarat, and. a feverish ' rush ' to
the goldfields began. In Melbourne work was at a standstill ;
farmers, shop-assistants, lawyers, the crews from the ships
in the harbour, all rushed off to the goldfields, and later on
when gold-seekers from other parts of the world arrived,
tents had to be erected for their accommodation in the out-
skirts of Melbourne. The pioneers, as usual, suffered terrible
hardships, though as the gold country was situated among the
sheep-runs of the squatters, meat was available from their
flocks and herds, and we read to-day without a thrill that
butcher's meat rose from Id. to Qd. per pound. A cabbage,
however, cost 5s.
1 Bernard Mannix, Mines and their Story.
GOLD 231
These and several other goldfields were discovered as the
result of a reward offered for the discovery of gold within
200 miles of Melbourne.
The Bendigo goldfield is fifteen miles long and three miles
wide. Many of the mines on it are very deep ; one called
the Victoria Shaft is 4,614 feet down.
The town of Bendigo is the chief gold-mining town of
Victoria, and it is the third largest town in the state ; Ballarat
is the second. Other goldfields are situated in the centre and
east of Victoria, and of all the minerals found in the state,
gold is the most important.
2. Western Australia. The most important goldfield of
Western Australia is East Coolgardie, 360 miles inland by rail
from Perth. It was discovered in 1892. The average yearly
rainfall is 10 inches, or less, so that the country is practically
a desert ; bare monotonous dreary sandy wastes with a few
bushes and gum trees here and there, ' a gaunt land stricken
with barrenness and thirst '. The long lines of Afghan camels
with their tinkling bells are the only objects which impart
a little life and interest to this depressing wilderness.
The area of the goldfields is 632 square miles, one square
mile of which is so extraordinarily rich as to be known as the
' Golden Mile '. It was discovered in 1893 and is near the
present town of Kalgoorlie. To the west of Kalgoorlie is
the town of Coolgardie, the Government Head-quarters of the
West Australian goldfields. Water is brought to these and
other mining towns in the neighbourhood by pipes from the
hills near Perth.
Mount Margaret, to the north-east of Coolgardie, and
Murchison, 200 miles or so east of Geraldton, are also important
' fields ', and there are others, for West Australia is the most
important gold-producing state of Australia, and is responsible
for half the total yield of the Commonwealth.
3. New South Wales. Although gold was discovered in
New South Wales in 1851, and was for many years the most
valuable of the minerals produced, at present this state stands
232 GOLD
fourth among the gold-producing states of the Commonwealth.
The chief gold-mines are those of the Cobar field.
4. Queensland. Gold is widely distributed in Queensland.
The principal mines are at Gympie to the north of Brisbane,
Charters Towers south-west of Townsville, and Mount Morgan
south-west of Rockhampton.
New Zealand. The chief gold-mines are in the districts of
Auckland, West Coast, and Otago ; the production is not so
great as formerly, but gold is still an important article of export.
Gold is also found in Tasmania, at Beaconsfield, on the
north coast, and in some districts of South Australia.
South Africa.
1. The Transvaal. About thirty-five miles south of Pretoria,
rising above the high, treeless, grassy plateau, extending due
east and west for about eighty miles, is a low range of hills
known as the Witwatersrand, i. e. the White Water Ridge.
At both ends the Ridge or Rand curves southwards towards
the Vaal, in the west towards Klerksdorp, and in the east past
Heidelberg. For fifty miles along the northern rim of this
basin the rocks contain gold. Its presence was discovered in
1885 by a man working on a farm in the district, and soon the
usual ' rush ' of gold seekers followed. They pitched their
tents and tied up their wagons on the spot where Johannes-
burg now stands. The town was laid out towards the end of
1886.
The rock in which the gold occurs is a conglomerate of sand,
and clay, and quartz. The w r hite lumps of quartz resemble the
almonds in almond toffee, and hence the ridges or reefs are
known as banket reefs, banket being the Dutch word for
almond toffee.
The gold is distributed uniformly throughout the sand and
clay, and is in such minute particles that it is invisible to the
naked eye, yet the quantity obtained is so enormous that
Transvaal gold is the most important of all the products of
South Africa. No other country in the world produces so
much.
GOLD
233
Other goldfields are at Lydenburg and Barberton in the
east of the Transvaal, but these are of less importance than
those of the Rand.
2. Rhodesia. The chief mines are in Sou them Rhodesia in the
district of Gwanda, about 100 miles south-east of Buluwayo. The
country here is well wooded, and not far a way is the Tuli coalfield.
GOLD MINING, JOHANNESBURG. QUARTZ BEING RUN INTO
TRUCKS FOR CRUSHER.
3. Swaziland, 4. Bechuanaland Protectorate, and 5. Natal
also produce gold, but compared with the Transvaal and
Rhodesia their output is insignificant.
West Africa.
1. The Gold Coast. From time immemorial gold has been
found among the sands of the sea-shore, and the margins of
the rivers, of that part of West Africa known as the Gold
Coast Colony, but in modern times it was the Portuguese who
were the first to work the diggings, and later on, when in
Charles II 's reign we acquired this territory, we struck a new
234 GOLD
coin called the guinea because it was made of gold from the
colony whose shores are washed by the Gulf of Guinea.
The unhealthiness of the climate and the difficulties of
transport hindered exploration, so that, although alluvial gold
was worked, the rocks in which the gold veins were imbedded
remained untouched until about 1880, when a French trader
called attention to the presence of gold at Tarkwa in the west
of the colony. A railway has now been built from Sekondi,
on the coast, through Tarkwa, on to Kumasi, in Ashanti, and
the yield of gold from the colony is now considerable.
In British Guiana, too, gold is found in the river gravels,
but, as in West Africa, the climate and dense vegetation have
hindered progress.
Canada.
1. British Columbia. In 1857 and 1858 gold was discovered
in the sands and gravels of the Fraser and Columbia Rivers, but
these early ' finds ' have been superseded by the quartz mines
of other districts, chiefly by those in the West Kootenay
district, and in the south of the province. Here the chief
mining town is Rossland, reached by rail over the Crow's
Nest Pass of the Rockies.
2. Klondike. From 1886 onwards gold had been obtained
in the Yukon Valley, but it was not until ten years later that
miners, working their way up the various tributaries of the
main river, discovered the rich ' fields ' of Klondike. Then
ensued the usual rush, and in the desolate inhospitable waste
Dawson City arose. It stands at the junction of the Yukon
and Klondike Rivers.
The average temperature for January in this district is
5 F., i. e. thirty-seven degrees of frost, and during the other
winter months the cold is not much less intense. Under these
circumstances the ground becomes as hard as cast-iron and
digging is an impossibility. After various experiments the
miners hit upon the following plan. They lit great fires
which thawed the ground under them, and, while the earth
was still soft, the men dug it out and piled it up, ready for
GOLD 235
c washing ' in the summer when the river-ice would be melted.
In the holes thus excavated they built more fires, thus gradually
working their way down. Later on they adopted another
method. By means of a strong hose and sharp nozzle they
injected a continuous supply of hot steam from a huge
cylinder into the earth and thus melted it.
There are various routes to Klondike, but all of them are
long and difficult, so that the wonder is that men were willing
to endure such hardships in their search for gold. Yet in four
years' time no less than 30,000 miners had entered the country.
In the short summer from the beginning of June to the end
of September it is possible to proceed from St. Michael at the
mouth of the Yukon by a river steamer up to Dawson City,
a long and uncomfortable journey.
The usual way now is to start from Skagway, on the coast of
Alaska, go by rail over the White Horse Pass to White Horse
on the Lewes River, and thence by steamer down the Lewes
and Yukon to Dawson. But in early days this railway did not
exist, and many a pioneer lost his life in journeying over the pass.
The gold in the Klondike district is found in alluvial
gravels, and so far no veins or lodes in the rocks have been
discovered. In consequence, the miners, having to a certain
extent exhausted the surface workings, are drifting away
from Klondike lower down the Yukon into Alaska, and the
Klondike output is not so great as it was.
3. Ontario. Gold is found in various places in Ontario, but
at present Porcupine, to the north of Sudbury, is the most
productive ' field '.
There is also gold in Nova Scotia, but the yield is decreasing
in quantity.
Canada as a whole stands fourth in the list of gold-producing
countries within the empire.
British India,
Mysore, in the south, produces most gold, though a certain
amount is found in the valleys of the Himalayas and in the
Central Provinces.
236 GOLD, SILVER
SUMMARY. Among British countries the Transvaal and
West Australia stand pre-eminent as gold- producing coun-
tries, the former producing about eight times as much as the
latter.
Next in order of importance come Rhodesia, Canada,
British India, Victoria, Gold Coast Colony, New South Wales,
British Guiana, Tasmania.
Smaller quantities of gold are also produced in the territory
of Papua, Swaziland, South Australia, Bechuanaland Protec-
torate, and Natal.
Altogether the empire produces about 60 per cent, of the
world's total output of gold, so that we could be entirely self-
supporting with regard to this commodity.
SILVER, though a soft metal, and exceedingly malleable
and ductile, is, nevertheless, harder, and less malleable and
ductile than gold.
It occurs in nature either pure, or in ores wherein silver
is the only metal present, or in ores which contain other
metals as well as silver. Two of the commonest silver ores
are silver glance, or sulphide of silver, and horn silver, or
chloride of silver ; and of other metals which occur in silver-
bearing ores, lead, cobalt, copper, and gold are the com-
monest.
The celebrated Broken Hill Mines, in New South Wales,
are silver-lead mines, and they are described as ' the richest
silver- fields of modern times '. Next in importance come the
silver-cobalt mines of the cobalt district of Ontario, and
others are the Rossland mines of British Columbia. These
last form part of the great silver region, which extends all
along the Western Cordilleras of North and South America,
and in which occur the rich mines of Nevada, Colorado,
Montana, &c. in the United States, and of Peru, Bolivia, and
Chile in South America.
Japan also has important silver mines, and there are
mines, though of less importance, in Germany, Spain, and
Austria.
METALS
237
SUMMARY. It thus appears that, as regards iron, copper, lead,
and antimony, the present actual output from mines within
the empire is not sufficient to supply the needs of the empire,
but that there are undeveloped resources in these metals,
which are more than sufficient to make us self-supporting.
With regard to asbestos, graphite, cobalt, manganese,
nickel, tungsten, zinc, and tin, the empire's production is
sufficient for its needs, while in the case of tin and gold we
not only produce sufficient for ourselves, but actually supply
60 per cent, of the whole world's needs.
SUMMARY
Sources of Supply.
Foreign.
British.
Metal.
Present.
Future.
Remarks.
Alumi-
France,
Ireland.
British Guiana,
nium.
United States,
India,
Italy.
Australia.
Anti-
China,
Australia.
New Zealand, The present
mony.
Mexico.
Canada,
empire sup-
South Africa,
plies are not
Newfound-
sufficient for
land, India,
the empire's
Transvaal.
needs.
Asbestos.
Russia.
Canada
Rhodesia,
The Canadian
(Quebec).
Newfound-
deposits alone
South Africa
land,
are more than
Tasmania,
sufficient for
South Aus-
the empire's
tralia,
needs.
New Zealand,
Cyprus.
Cobalt.
New Cale-
Canada
.
donia.
(Ontario).
Copper. United States,
Britain (5 per
Rhodesia.
Present empire
1 Chile, Japan,
Mexico, Spain,
cent.),
Australia,
! *
supplies are
sufficient for
Portugal, and
Canada,
60 per cent, of
many others.
South Africa.
the empire's
,
needs.
238
METALS
Metal.
Sources of Supply.
Remarks.
Foreign.
British.
Present. Future.
Graphite.
Japan,
Ceylon, India,
Australia,
The Ceylon out-
Germany,
Canada.
New Zealand,
put is more
Madagascar,
Transvaal.
than sufficient
Italy.
for the em-
pire's needs.
Iron. Spain,
Britain
South Africa,
Present empire
Sweden,
(50 per cent.),
Australia,
supplies are
Algeria, 1 Newfound-
New Zealand.
sufficient for
Norway, land,
58 per cent, of
Canada.
the empire's
needs.
Lead. Spain,
Britain,
Burma.
Present empire
United States,
Australia,
supplies suffi-
Mexico.
Canada.
cient for 73 per
cent, of the em-
pire's needs.
Manga-
Russia,
Britain
Australia,
The Indian sup-
nese.
Brazil.
(small),
New Zealand,
ply is sufficient
British India.
Canada, New-
for the em-
foundland,
pire's needs.
Cape Province,
Egypt,
West Africa.
Molyb- Norway.
Australia.
Canada,
denum.
New Zealand,
South Africa,
Newfound-
land.
Monazite.
Brazil.
India (Travan-
core).
Nickel. New Cale-
Canada.
Tasmania,
The Canadian
donia.
Newfound-
output is suffi-
land,
cient for the
South Africa,
empire'sneeds.
Egypt.
Tin. Bolivia, Chili.
Cornwall,
The present
Malaya,
output of the
Australia,
empire is more
Nigeria,
than sufficient
South Africa.
for the em-
pire's needs.
Tungsten.
Cornwall
Malaya.
The present em-
(small),
pire output is
Burma,
1
probably equal
Australia,
to the empire's
New Zealand.
1
needs.
METALS, COAL
239
Source of Supply.
Foreign. British.
Metal.
Present.
Future. Remarks.
Zinc.
Italy, Spain, Britain
Burma. The present em-
Algeria, (small),
pire output is
Germany Australia,
sufficient for
(Silesia). Canada.
the empire's
Gold.
Transvaal,
IIGGCIS.
The empire pro-
West Aus-
duces about 60
tralia,
per cent, of the
i Rhodesia,
world's total
ifq :-.
Canada, India,
output of gold.
Victoria,
Gold Coast,
New South
Wales,
British
Guiana,
Tasmania.
"
Silver.
New South
Wales,
Ontario,
British
Columbia.
CHAPTER XIX
COAL
OUR word COAL is derived from the Anglo-Saxon col, which
at first meant a piece of glowing fuel, and, later on, fuel of
any kind, whether alive or dead. The different kinds of fuel,
or coal, were distinguished by different prefixes, and the coal,
which was dug out of the earth, was called pit-coal.
But in England, owing to the supreme importance of pit-
coal, we gradually omitted the prefix, and called it simply
coal.
Origin of Coal. Once upon a time, a very, very long time
ago, dense, silent, gloomy forests covered enormous areas of
what is now Britain. Year after year, century after century,
240 COAL
the trees in these forests lived and died, and the forests became
denser, and gloomier, and the masses of decaying vegetation
more and more impenetrable.
In course of time, owing to changes taking place on the
surface of the earth, these forests were submerged ; the tossing
restless sea covered them, sand and mud fell upon them, and
the weight of the waters crushed them to death.
Thousands of years passed by, and the forests had ceased
to be forests ; in their place had been produced a hard, shiny,
black mass, which we call coal. Yet in the coal we can still
find traces of these ancient trees, and can in imagination picture
the bygone forests of the carboniferous age.
Nowadays, wandering over a desolate moor, or climbing
the steep sides of a lofty mountain, we may come upon little
mosses, which bear a most curious resemblance to the fossils
found in the coal-beds.
One of these mosses is called Selaginella. It is a species
of club moss, and produces spores which contain resin. In
the coal-beds great fossil trunks, forty feet long, or more,
have been found, which are exactly like the trunks of the
selaginella, and spores, and other parts, too, have been
discovered which correspond to the spores of the selaginella.
These trees are called Lepidodendrons, from lepis, a scale,
and dendron, a tree. They are on the right-hand side in the
picture.
In a similar way the little equisetum, or horsetail, of our
marshes, corresponds to the catamite of the coal forest ;
another very important tree was the Sigillaria, and besides
these there are fossil remains of many other great trees, and
ferns, and mosses.
Still the centuries rolled by, and other changes occurred
in the earth's crust ; the sea receded, and the accumulations
of sand, pressed by the weight of the waters into sandstone,
became dry land ; plants again grew, and other forests were
formed, and so on during countless ages, until there came
a time when the surface and vegetation of the land were such
COAL
241
as we know them now, and men wandered over hill, and plain,
and cut down forest trees for fuel, all unaware that, deep
down under their feet, lay these vast stores of hard black
A FOREST OF THE COAL PERIOD
coal, whose use would one day work such wonderful changes
in the life of the nation.
The Discovery of Coal. Sometimes, owing to a bending of
the earth's surface, the seams of coal instead of lying horizontally
lie in a sloping position, and one end of the slope comes to
the surface. This was probably how the existence of coal was
discovered. At any rate, here, in England, at the time of
2C03
Q
242 COAL
the Romans, coal was mined, but the quantity obtained was
very small. It was not until 1238 that the first coal-mine
was opened at Newcastle, and after that date, very gradually,
coal became an article of commerce.
Difficulties connected with Coal-mining. One of the great
difficulties is to keep the mines free from water, and the
miners of old days had very inadequate pumps for this
purpose. Then there is the difficulty of raising the coal from
the depths of the earth, where it is mined, to the surface ;
the difficulty of taking it from the pit's mouth to the place
where it is to be used ; and many other difficulties, all due
to the fact that coal lies underground and is exceedingly
heavy.
Not much, therefore, could be accomplished until some
force was discovered whereby the water could be pumped
out from the mines and the coal moved from place to
place.
James Watt. In the year 1736 there was born at Greenock
one who was described later as ' no common child ', and he it
was who invented the wonderful steam engine. Difficulties
which had before been insuperable now vanished ; new mines
were discovered and worked, the iron trade revived, cotton
and woollen manufactures increased by leaps and bounds ; and
there took place what was known as the Industrial Revolution.
Before the revolution, wherever the grass nourished good
sheep and there were streams in which their wool could be
washed, there the woollen cloth was woven; and the east,
with Norwich as the centre, and the west, with Stroud and
Taunton, were the chief woollen manufacturing districts of
England.
The cotton industry was as yet in its infancy, and the bare
hills and bleak uplands of the north were but thinly populated.
With the advent of the steam-engine, and the working of the
coal- and. iron-mines, all this was changed. Instead of lonely
mills by the side of little mountain streams, there grew up
enormous factories and prosperous towns wherever there was
COAL 243
coal, so that the population of England shifted from the south
to the north, and the position of the coalfields determined the
position of the towns.
Not only did the population increase and the position of
the populous areas change, but the wealth of England also
increased enormously ; and it was largely owing to this increase
in wealth that we were able to emerge victoriously from the
devastating wars of the beginning of the nineteenth century,
and that at their termination we were ' the foremost nation
of Europe in economic matters and, consequently, in all
other matters also '. l
Since, then, coal is of such paramount importance to our
national well-being, it becomes interesting to consider what
supplies exist in Britain and the empire, and whether there
is anything else which could take its place when the mines
are exhausted or become too expensive to work.
Nowadays we obtain our supplies of coal from seams deep
down under the surface of the earth. The seams vary in
thickness, and 4,000 feet is considered to be the maximum
depth for profitable working. The layers, or strata of rocks,
occur in a certain order, and geologists know where coal-
bearing rocks are likely to occur. They make a small hole
with a sharply-pointed rod, and then fasten on other rods
until they have cut down to the place where they believe
the coal to be. They then pull up the rods, and insert a small
scoop at the end of them. The scoop brings up fragments of
rock, and if coal is found among them they know that their
surmises are correct. In a similar manner they try other
places, and at last ascertain the district in which coal is to
be found. This coal-bearing district is called a coalfield.
Next they cut a deep pit down to where the coal seams are,
and build a wall of bricks round it. This is called sinking
a shaft. The shafts vary in size and shape, but generally they
are round, and about twenty feet in diameter. They are
divided across the middle by a framework of steel.
1 H. de B. Gibbins, Industrial History of England.
Q2
244 COAL
The miners descend into the mine in a cage, to which is
attached a rope, two inches thick, of twisted steel wire.
This rope passes over a pulley, which lets down and pulls
up the cages. The cage consists of a wooden floor, supporting
an open iron framework, something like a large box with open
sides ; it has two or more stages or decks, and holds about
twenty men.
The miner cuts the coal with a sharp-pointed, double-ended
pick. One of the most important of his operations is holing.
This consists in cutting a horizontal slit, about three feet
deep, in the wall of coal, so that the overhanging mass falls
of its own weight. To do this he has to lie upon his side,
or in some other cramped position, and the darkness in
which he works is barely relieved by the glimmer of his
lamp.
When the coal has been cut, it is put upon wagons and
brought to the bottom of the shaft. Here it is placed on a cage
and pulled up to the pit's mouth. The amount of coal brought
up varies in different mines, but is generally from 100 to 150
tons per hour.
Dangers in Coal-mining. During the period when the woody
fibre of the trees and plants was fossilizing, or changing into
coal, some of the carbon of the fibre united with hydrogen
to form Marsh Gas. This is an inflammable gas, which, when
united with air, becomes explosive. It occurs in all coal-
mines, and often escapes with great violence during the working
of coal-seams. It is the presence of this gas that sometimes
causes terrible explosions in mines, and it is for this reason
that miners carry safety lamps. 1
Sometimes, too, water enters a mine, and the miners are
in danger of being cut off from their comrades. A very
exciting adventure of this kind is described in Sans Famille,
by Hector Malot.
1 Marsh gas is the ' Fire damp ' of the miner. During an explosion
a chemical change takes place, and large quantities of carbon dioxide are
formed. This carbon dioxide is the ' choke damp ' of the miner, and
probably causes more deaths than the actual explosion.
COAL
245
THE COALFIELDS OF BRITAIN.
Name.
1. The Yorkshire coal-
field.
2. The South Wales
coalfield.
3. The Northumberland
and Durham coal-
field.
4. The Scottish coal-
fields.
5. The Lancashire coal-
field.
6. The Staffordshire
coalfields.
7. The Warwick coal-
field.
8. The Leicester coal-
field.
9. The North Wales
coalfield.
10. The Cumberland
coalfield.
11. The Gloucester coal-
fields.
12. The Somerset coal-
field.
13. The Shropshire coal-
field.
14. Kent.
15. The Irish coalfields.
Position. Output (in tons)
Between Leeds and Derby, in 68 million.
Yorkshire, Derby, and Notting-
ham.
Between Pontypool and St. 50 million.
Bride's Bay, in Monmouth,
Glamorgan, Carmarthen,Brecon,
Pembroke.
Between Warkworth and Dar- 44 million,
lington.
Chiefly in Lanark, Fife, Ayr, Stir- 35 million.
ling, Edinburgh, Linlithgow,
Haddington.
Between the Ribble and Dee in 21 million.
South Lancashire and Cheshire.
In North Staffordshire and South 13 million
Staffordshire.
In Warwickshire.
In Leicester.
In Denbigh and Flint.
In the west of Cumberland.
In the Forest of Dean and near
Bristol.
In the west of Somerset.
4 million.
3 million.
3 million.
2 million.
1 million.
1 million.
Near Coalbrookdale in the east of 782 thou-
Shropshire. sand.
158 thou-
sand.
In Kilkenny, Queen's County, Tip- 82 thou-
perary, Roscommon. sand.
Different kinds of Coal. There are many varieties of coal,
the three chief ones being : 1. Steam coal, or Welsh coal, or
Anthracite (from the Greek anthrax, charcoal). This is a very
hard coal, containing only a small proportion of bitumen. It
gives out great heat, and burns without smoke or flame. The
ships of the navy are coaled with it, our supplies being obtained
from the South Wales Coalfield.
2. Bituminous coal contains bitumen, or pitch, and is softer
than anthracite, and lights more easily. It produces flame
and smoke.
246 COAL
3. Brown coal, or Lignite (from the- Latin lignum, wood),
retains its woody texture and smell. It is of later formation
than the other varieties of coal, and at present is chiefly
useful for producing gas.
With regard to coal it is important to remember that
a definite Quantity of it exists, and that every ton we burn
lessens that quantity. From time to time attempts have been
made to estimate how much coal still remains in the kingdom
In 1905 a Final Report was issued by the Royal Commission
on Coal Supplies. This is what they said : ' We have adopted
4,000 feet as the limit of practicable depth in working, and
one foot as the minimum workable thickness and ... we
estimate the quantity of coal in the Proved Coalfields of the
United Kingdom to be 100,914,668,167 tons.
Probable duration of our Coal Supplies. In 1913 the output
of coal in the United Kingdom was 287 million tons. But
from year to year the output varies, and the Commissioners
say ' we hesitate to prophesy how long our coal resources are
likely to last ... we look forward to a time, not far distant,
when the rate of increase of output will be slower, to be
followed by a period of stationary output, and then a gradual
decline '- 1
POSSIBLE SUBSTITUTES.
1. Petroleum. It is possible to use this instead of coal for
many purposes, see p. 264.
2. Water-Power. The only part of the United Kingdom
in which we can look forward to a large development of water-
power is Scotland, and even there only a few places are
capable of developing powers of over 1,000 horse-power during
the whole year. 2
Tides. There remain the tides. The rise and fall of the sea
all around our shores seems to offer an illimitable source of
1 Final Report of tJie Royal Commission on Coal Supplies.
2 'The water power of the Dominions, especially of Canada and New
Zealand, are great, and as they provide a cheap, convenient, cleanly, and
inexhaustible form of energy, their potentialities in respect of industrial
development are immense.' Dominions Royal Commission.
COAL 247
power, but the cost involved in utilizing it renders it unavail-
able.
Finally the Commissioners say : ' We are convinced that
coal is our only reliable source of power, and that there
is no real substitute. There are, however, some possible
sources of power which might slightly relieve the demand
for coal.'
Reserves of Coal in the Empire. It is cheering to find that,
in addition to our own still considerable reserves of coal, there
are vast stores within the empire. At Toronto, in Canada,
there was held recently an International Geological Congress
to which was presented a Report on the Coal Resources of the
World. This Report puts our reserves in Britain at a higher
figure than that given by the Commissioners of 1905, and
gives the following estimate for the Dominions :
Million Tons.
Canada . . .. 408,323
Australia .
New Zealand .
Union of South Africa
Newfoundland
2,253
985
55,322
92
In addition to these actual reserves there are vast probable
and possible reserves.
Canadian Coalfields.
1. Nova Scotia, (a) At the far eastern extremity of Cape
Breton Island, stretching for miles under the Atlantic Ocean,
is situated the chief colliery district of Nova Scotia. The
collieries give employment to thousands of miners, and supply
the iron and steel works of Sydney, which has risen from a small
fishing village to a large and prosperous town. This is the
coalfield nearest to England.
(6) On the mainland, along Northumberland Strait, in Pictou
County, is a group of little mining towns. They are near the
Transcontinental Railway which runs from Halifax to
Montreal, and thence across Canada.
Half the coal in Canada is obtained from the collieries of
Nova Scotia, and the coal is of excellent quality.
248 COAL
2. British Columbia, (a) The principal coalfields of British
Columbia are on Vancouver Island, at Nanaimo, on the
eastern coast, where there is a magnificent harbour, and
excellent facilities for shipment. Nanaimo is opposite the
town of Vancouver, the terminus of the Canadian Pacific
Railway, and it is connected by rail with Victoria, the capital
of British Columbia.
Sixty miles to the north of Nanaimo is Comox, where there
are more coalfields.
(6) In Queen Charlotte Islands there are large deposits of
very good coal. These are opposite the town of Prince Rupert,
the terminus of the Grand Trunk Line.
(c) There are also enormous deposits of coal in the south-
eastern extremity of British Columbia near the Crow's Nest
Pass. A branch railway from the Canadian Pacific goes over
this pass to Rossland in British Columbia.
3. Alberta, (a) There are important coal-mines at Leth-
bridge, and other places in the south of Alberta, on the branch
line from the Canadian Pacific to the United States.
(6) On the Alberta side of the boundary by the Crow's
Nest Pass.
' The coal deposits of Canada are enormous, amounting . . .
to one-seventh of the world's known supplies, the estimate
for Alberta alone being over a million million tons.
' A very large proportion of this great total, however, is
lignite, or lignitic, and the amount of this quality now raised
is the merest scratching of the surface of these deposits. . . .
Careful thought and study and scientific research are being
devoted to the ascertainment of the best means of utilizing
this lignite for developing power and for domestic purposes.' 1
Australian Coalfields.
New South Wales is the chief coal-producing state of
Australia. The mines are situated up the Hunter River at
Maitland, at Newcastle (where there is a large export trade,
but where many of the collieries are nearly exhausted), at
1 Royal Commission on the Natural Resources of His Majesty's Dominions*
COAL 249
Illawarra, about fifteen miles south of Newcastle, and at
Lithgow, ninety -five miles from Sydney.
In Queensland, too, coal-mining is one of the most prosperous
mining industries of the state. The chief mines are at Ipswich,
Maryborough, Rockhampton, and on the Darling Downs.
Both Victoria and Tasmania have large deposits of brown
coal, but at Monthaggi, in Gippsland (between the South
Australian Alps and the sea), and near Fingal, in the eastern
part of Tasmania, good bituminous coal is also mined.
Western Australia has a small deposit of coal at Collie,
to the south-east of Perth.
' So far as it is possible to forecast the industrial conditions
of the future, coal will remain in Australia in superabundant
supply.' !
The New Zealand coalfields are chiefly in the South Island,
at Greymouth and Westport, and in the valley of the Clutha,
though there are also mines in the Waikoto Valley of the North
Island. Though the supply is not abundant, the coal is of
good quality, and the Westport mines are regularly used
to supply the navy.
The South African Coalfields.
In the Transvaal the chief collieries are at Middleburg, to
the east of Pretoria ; and at Boksburg, to the east, and
Vereeniging, to the south, of Johannesburg.
In Natal the mines are at Dundee and Newcastle to the west,
and at Utrecht and Vryheid to the east, of the Buffalo River,
and in the Valley of the Klip (a tributary of the Upper Vaal).
These two states are the main sources of supply in the
Union of South Africa (though the Orange Free State has
collieries at Heilbron, and there are also collieries at Molteno
in the Cape of Good Hope), and besides supplying the needs
of the home market they export a considerable amount to
the east, and to South America.
The encouraging fact about the South African collieries is that
the present output is ' utterly insignificant in comparison with
1 Ibid.
250 COAL, DYES
the actual existing deposits. . . . An enormous proportion of
this coal is, of course, at present inaccessible, but undoubtedly
railways will be provided as soon as it becomes profitable
to work the seams, and meanwhile it is obvious that one of the
essential elements of industrial enterprise exists in abundance.' 1
There are also deposits of coal in many parts of Rhodesia,
the chief mines at present worked being at Wankie, to the
north-west of Buluwayo.
Coal is also being mined in Nigeria.
In India, the principal coal-mines are in Western Bengal,
in the Damodar Valley ; and there are also mines in the
Narbada and Godavari Valleys ; in the hills of Chutia Nagpur ;
and in the north-east of Assam. The output compared with
ours in Britain is small, but it has increased in recent years.
To sum up, then, Britain's stores of coal, though vast, are
not inexhaustible ; they are variously estimated as sufficient
to last from three to five hundred years.
In substitutes for coal, such as petroleum and water-power,
she is not rich ; the idea of using the tides as a source of
power is fascinating and a project is at present under the
consideration of the Government.
In other parts of the empire there are immense deposits
of coal, for the most part undeveloped, but representing
a possibility of enormous economic power in the future ;
while Canada and New Zealand possess, in addition to coal,
vast stores of potential energy in their unlimited supply of
water-power.
CHAPTER XX
DYES
DYES (A.S. deag, colour). ' Fine linen with broidered work
from Egypt was that which thou spreadest forth to be thy
sail ; blue and purple from the isles of Elishah was that
which covered thee.' Ezekiel xxvii. 7. 588 B.C.
1 Royal Commission on Natural Resources.
DYES 251
These words occur in Ezekiel's Lamentation for Tyre,
written about 588 years before the birth of Christ, and,
together with very many other references to colours by ancient
writers, testify to the antiquity of the art of dyeing.
Of all the ancient dyes, the Tyrian purple was the most
famous ; it was adopted as the badge of royalty, and camels
laden with it crossed the burning deserts of Asia to convey
it to distant kings, while nearer home the costly treasure
was carried in ships to the shores of the Mediterranean
Sea.
It is believed to have been discovered by an inhabitant
of Tyre 1,500 years B.C., and the Roman writer Pliny tells us
how the dye was prepared. It was derived from a species of
murex, a kind of whelk. A single drop of fluid was obtained
from a sac in the throat of each animal, and this after a com-
plicated process yielded the coveted dye.
Two other very ancient dyes are Indigo and Madder. From
time immemorial the art of dyeing has been practised in India,
and Persia, and China, and from these countries the dyes
were brought by Arab merchants to Phoenicia and Egypt.
Some of the mummy -cloths of the ancient Egyptians are
embroidered with blue and red threads, and it has been
ascertained that these dyes were obtained from the indigo
and madder plants.
From Phoenicia and Egypt the art of dyeing spread to
Greece and Rome, but we know little about the use of colour
by the Greeks and Romans ; and during the time of the
barbarian invasions, from the fifth century onwards, men had
little leisure to think about beautifying their surroundings,
and the art of dyeing almost disappeared.
In the beginning of the thirteenth century, however, matters
improved. The Venetians grew rich by the importation of
eastern merchandise from Egypt, and in Venice and Florence
the art of dyeing revived. It was a Venetian who later on
in 1429 published the first European book on dyeing, and the
Florentines by their trade in coloured cloths grew so rich
252
DYES, INDIGO
that they were enabled to erect those stately buildings which
are still the admiration of the world.
From Italy, Germany, France, and Flanders learned the
art, and in Edward Ill's reign a Guild of Dyers was formed in
London, but it was not until the reign of James I that we
began to practise the art to any considerable extent.
INDIGO. FINISHING STEEPING VAT
The dyes used were nearly all vegetable dyes, such as
indigo and madder. It was not until the middle of the
nineteenth century that Coal Tar dyes were discovered.
Since then their use has become more and more extended,
so that most of the time-honoured vegetable dyes seem likely
to be ousted altogether.
Some of them, however, still hold their own, and quite
recently vegetable indigo has begun to win back some of its
former renown.
Indigo (from Latin Indicum, indigo, from Indicus, Indian).
Indigo is, therefore, the Indian dye.
INDIGO
253
The plant from which the blue colouring matter called
indigo is obtained is a small shrub which grows between four
and six feet high ; its stem is about a quarter of an inch
thick. It has slender spreading branches and its leaves
resemble those of the acacia, that is to say, they consist of
several leaflets arranged in opposite pairs along the leaf-
INDIGO. HAND BEATING
stalk. Its flowers are pinkish in colour, and they grow along
a stalk just in the same way as the flowers of currant bushes do.
The seeds are contained in dark-brown pods, eight or ten to
a pod.
There is nothing at all in the appearance of the plant to
suggest blue dye, yet on an indigo plantation in the manu-
facturing season everybody and everything is stained blue.
Though a shrub, the indigo plant is usually grown from
seed every year, and before the seed is sown, the ground is
very carefully prepared ; after several ploughings, women and
254
INDIGO
children are finally sent into the fields to break up any lumps
of earth which may still remain.
Sowing takes place just before the rainy season, in Bengal
usually at the beginning of March, and by the middle of June,
just before they begin to flower, the plants are ready to cut.
The stems quickly sprout up again after cutting, so that
two and sometimes three harvests are obtained from the same
INDIGO. BEATING WHEEL
plant. Nevertheless, the indigo crop is a precarious one ; too
much or too little rain, or rain too soon after the seed is sown,
will spoil the whole crop, and the sowing has to be done all
over again.
As soon as the plants are cut, they are loaded up on carts
and sent to the factory. ' At a moderate -sized factory some
hundreds of cart-loads of plant are treated every day
throughout the manufacturing season. The scene presented
in the morning round the steeping vats, with long lines of
INDIGO 255
heavily laden bullock-carts slowly wending their way from
various points towards the factory, is a busy and imposing
one.'
The plants are stacked in the steeping vats in a more or
less upright position, and the vats are then nearly filled with
water. During the first hour or two nothing happens, for the
indigo plant is covered with little hairs and so is not easily
CUTTING INDIGO INTO CAKES
wetted, but later on the water is seen to rise in the vat and
the surface becomes covered with a thick foam.
After about ten hours the steeping is finished and the
liquid is run off into the beating vats ; it is now of a bright
orange colour, which, however, quickly changes to olive-
green. When the beating is done by hand, as it still is in many
parts of India, coolies armed with long sticks go into the vat
and energetically beat the liquid.
When machinery is employed, in each vat three great wheels,
256 INDIGO, WOAD
each bearing six spokes terminating in large fiat blades, churn
up the liquid for two or three hours, during which time its
colour changes from green to dark blue.
The indigo in the water is now left to settle, after which
the clear water is drawn off, and the colouring matter is taken
to the boiling tank, where it is generally boiled for about
a quarter of an hour, after which it is allowed to settle
again; the clear water is once more drawn off and the
remaining indigo -saturated liquid is strained, and filtered,
and at last the pulpy mass of colouring matter is ready for
pressing.
After this operation it is cut into cubes of about three inches
deep ; these little cubes are laid out on shelves in the drying-
room ; and after they have dried there for two or three
months they are ready for market.
1 Fowre things are required in Nil : 1 a pure graine, a violet
colour, his glosse in the Sun, and that it be dry and light, so
that swimming in water, or burning in the fire, is cast forth
a pure light- violet vapour.' 2
Woad (I satis tinctoria). This plant, a biennial which grows
about three feet high, was formerly extensively cultivated
on account of the blue dye obtained from its leaves. It
is the vitrum, mentioned by Caesar, with which the ancient
Britons stained their bodies. Its flowers are yellow, and it
forms curious large brown seed-pods, each about two inches
wide and half an inch long.
Sir Arthur Young, in his Agricultural Survey of Lincolnshire
(1799), gives a minute account of the preparation of the dye
from the plant. The leaves were ground in a mill, and
subsequently formed into balls, which were dried in the sun ;
inside they were of a violet colour.
For many years after woad ceased to be used as a dye by
itself, it was used in combination with indigo, the colour
1 From the Sanskrit nila, blue ; whence the Arabic al-nil or an-nil, the
indigo plant, and the Spanish anil.
2 * Observations of William Finch, Merchant, taken out of his large
Journall, 1607 ' (PurcJias his Pilgrimes).
WOAD, CUTCH, MADDER, LOGWOOD 257
thus produced being considered superior to that produced by
either alone.
Woad (Reseda luteola). This is our own native plant which
grows on the waste places of chalky or limestone soils. It has
various names, such as Dyer's Rocket, Yellow Weed, Weld or
Wold. It is very much like wild mignonette, but grows taller,
sometimes attaining a height of three feet, and its spikes of
flowers are longer and more slender. It yields a beautiful yellow
dye which, when mixed with indigo, produces a fine green colour.
Cutch, or catechu, is a dry, brown substance obtained from
the wood of the Acacia catechu, in India and Burmah. The
wood is boiled in water, after which the water is evaporated and
the cutch remains. The tannin it contains can be dissolved
out with cold water and the dye separated from it.
It is still extensively used. It produces on cotton a cheap
and very good fast brown, but the cotton is made somewhat
harsh and the process is long ; it is, therefore, used for
dyeing awnings and for similar purposes where harshness of
texture does not matter.
Madder (Rubia tinctorum). This is the plant whose roots
yield the brilliant red colour known as Turkey red. It used
to be extensively cultivated in the south of Europe, and after-
wards in France and Holland, being after indigo the most
important of the vegetable dyes. It is a bramble with rough
leaves, and stems, and sharp prickles ; it bears small yellow
flowers and forms a black fruit. As a dye it has been super-
seded by artificial alizarin.
Logwood is the heart- wood of Haematoxylon campeachianum,
a tree growing abundantly throughout Central America and the
West Indies. It is a red, heavy wood, containing a yellow
substance from which the colouring principle is subsequently
obtained.
The dye is cheap, and produces fast blues and blacks,
especially on silk and leather ; it is likely to continue to be
an important dye-stuff. The imported wood is called logwood
because it is brought over in logs.
2203
258 PERSIAN BERRIES, FUSTIC, ETC.
Persian Berries are the fruit of a tree called Rhamus infec-
torius. They are about the size of a pea, and a decoction of
them yields a bright yellow dye.
Fustic is also a yellow dye. It is obtained from the wood of
the Morus tinctoria, a species of mulberry tree growing in the
West Indies.
Quercitron is the inner bark of the Quercus tinctoria, or
Dyer's Oak, which grows abundantly in the forests of Eastern
Canada and the United States. The bark yields a yellow dye.
Cochineal, or little berry, so called because for a long time
it was believed to be the grain or seed of a plant, is an insect,
having six minute legs, no wings, and a tiny head, in appear-
ance very much like our ladybird.
These insects feed on the sap of a species of Mexican cactus
to which they remain attached until brushed off by the
collector. They are killed by being put into a bucket and
then shut up in a great hot stove. The colouring matter,
called carmine, is afterwards extracted from them by boiling
them in water. It takes about 70,000 to produce a pound of
dye. This carmine is often used for colouring sweetmeats,
as it is not poisonous.
Cutch, Logwood, and Fustic are the only vegetable dyes
which still maintain their position in the dyeing industry ; the
others tend more and more to be superseded by artificial
preparations, though during the war indigo won back some
of its former renown.
Coal-Tar Dyes. ' Without experiment I am nothing. Still
try, for who knows what is possible ? ' MICHAEL FARADAY
(b. 1794, d. 1867).
During the Easter Vacation of 1856 Mr. W. H. Perkin, an
assistant at the Royal College of Chemistry in London, was
engaged in trying to make artificial quinine. He was eighteen
years old. In the course of his experiments he produced
' a dirty black powder, which seemed to promise nothing ',
but ' he washed the deposit ; he liquefied it, and the lovely
colour Mauve was revealed to his almost bewildered gaze '.
COAL-TAR DYES 259
The next year, with money lent to him by his father, who
risked all his hard-earned capital in the enterprise, he set
up works at Greenford Green, near Harrow, on the Grand
Junction Canal, and here in company with his brothers he
produced the new dye, which soon became the rage.
' As I look out of my window now,' remarks a writer of
1859, ' the apotheosis of Perkin's purple seems at hand :
purple hands wave from open carriages, purple hands shake
each other at street doors, purple hands threaten each other
from opposite sides of the street ; purple stripe gowns cram
barouches, jam up cabs, throng steamers, fill railway stations,
all flying countryward like so many migrating birds of
paradise ; purple ribbons fill the windows ; purple gowns
circle out at shop entrances ; purple feather fans beckon to
you in windows. We shall soon have purple omnibuses and
purple houses ; there is everywhere a glut of this white and
violet which is a great deal more agreeable than perpetual
partridge.' l
This was the beginning of the Coal-tar Colour Industry, for
Perkin obtained his mauve from Aniline, and aniline is obtained
from Coal Tar.
If we put some powdered coal into the bowl of a clay pipe,
and seal it up so that no air can get to it, and then heat it,
after a time gas issues from the other end of the pipe. This
is the coal gas which we burn in our houses. In gas works,
in the place of the bowl of a pipe great retorts are used which
are heated by furnaces, and the gas which is obtained is stored
in those enormous gasometers with which we are all familiar.
But the gas which issues from the retorts is not pure, and,
in order to purify it, it is passed into water contained in
a great pipe called a hydraulic main.
Some of the impurities sink to the bottom of the main,
and some pass on with the gas, which has to be subjected to
other processes of purification before it is suitable for purposes
of illumination. The impurities at the bottom of the hydraulic
main form a thick, black, sticky substance, called Coal Tar.
1 Quoted in Burnley's Romance of Modern Industry.
R2
260 COAL-TAR DYES
In early days this coal tar was a source of great annoyance
to gas companies : they did not know how to get rid of it.
We know now, and the enormous quantities we produce are
one of our most precious sources of wealth.
When coal tar is subjected to dry distillation, i.e. put into
a closed retort and heated, there issue from it vapours which,
on being passed through a spiral pipe and cooled, condense
into various kinds of oils.
The first oils which are condensed are called light oils ;
then, as the temperature of the retort is increased, various
heavy oils, known as carbolic oils, and creosote oils, and
anthracene oils are obtained.
On further distillation the light oils yield among other
products Benzene. 1 It is a clear, colourless liquid, which,
when acted upon by nitric acid, produces nitro-benzole,
which again when treated with nascent hydrogen produces
Aniline, a combination of carbon, hydrogen, and nitrogen.
Aniline 2 is itself a colourless, oily liquid, but, when acted
upon by various other chemicals, it produces many compounds
of beautiful colours, known as aniline purple, aniline green,
aniline magenta, &c.
Aniline had been discovered in 1826 as a product of the
dry distillation of indigo ; it was called aniline from the
Spanish anil, this being the name given by the Spaniards to
the indigo plant of the West Indies.
But though aniline existed it was very rare and costly,
and found only in a few scientific laboratories : it was only
after Perkin discovered that it could be obtained from coal
tar that its use became a commercial possibility, but from
1856 onwards its production has constantly increased, and
aniline dyes have tended more aAd more to take the place of
the older vegetable dyes.
When the Aniline Mauve was first introduced, the silk dyers 3
1 Benzine C 6 H C . 2 Aniline C,H 7 N.
3 Sir Robert Pullar on seeing the first specimen wrote : ' If it is possible
to apply that in a practical way it should be a very valuable thing.'
COAL-TAR DYES
261
adopted it at once, but it was not until the French had shown
what beautiful patterns could be produced upon cotton
fabrics by its use that English cotton-printers realized its
value. After this its use spread very rapidly. There is an
amusing story told of how a traveller wandering in the
regions of North-West America came upon a party of native
Indians dyed to a man from head to foot in Perkin's mauve !
To Scrubbers
t, Hm'fttr*
DIAGRAM OF A GAS -MANUFACTURING PLANT
A, retort in which coal is heated. B, the hydraulic main. C, outlet
for the tar. D, gas pipe. E, tank in which the ammoniacal liquor collects.
F, cooling pipes.
The next important discovery was made by Messrs. Graebe
and Liebermann in 1868 and 1869, and independently by
Perkin in 1869. Perkin found that Alizarin, the colouring
principle of Madder, could be produced from Anthracene,
another product of coal tar, and thenceforth this artificial
madder ousted the natural dye.
In 1879 Professor Baeyer announced the chemical com-
position of Indigo, and in 1880 he found how it could be
produced artificially, but it was too dear for general use.
262 COAL-TAR DYES
Since then various methods have been tried, and at present
Indigo is produced by a very complicated process in which
naphthalene, 1 another coal-tar product, is the initial com-
ponent.
It is now produced cheaply and in large quantities, and
is a serious rival to natural or vegetable indigo.
ANALYSIS AND SYNTHESIS. Water is composed of hydrogen
and oxygen. It can be separated into its component parts by
passing steam over heated magnesium, when the oxygen of
the steam joins with the magnesium to form magnesium oxide,
and hydrogen is given off as a gas. In this case an Analysis
of water has been made (Greek analusis, from analuein, to
unloose, from ana, again, and luein, to loose).
On the other hand, when hydrogen is passed over copper
oxide (i.e. copper and oxygen), the hydrogen joins with the
oxygen to form water, and the copper is left. In this way
water has been formed synthetically, by putting together its
elements (Greek sunthesis, from suntithenai, to put together).
The whole history of the discovery of artificial dyes consists
of these two processes ; first, an analysis of the natural
product, in order to find out of what elements it is composed,
and then a synthesis of these elements, obtained from other
sources.
There are at present about 700 Synthetic Dyes, obtained
from Coal-tar Products.
Although the foundation of the coal-tar colour industry
was laid by an Englishman, and although many subsequent
discoveries were made by us, the bulk of the trade passed
into German hands, so that in 1910 out of 20,000,000 worth
of coal-tar dyes, three-quarters were produced in Germany.
During the war we have tried to remove this national
disgrace, and to some extent have succeeded, although five
years' strenuous effort has not been sufficient to make up for
forty years of slackness.
1 C 10 H 8 ; it is a white solid, one of the products of the carbolic oils
263
CHAPTER XXT
PETROLEUM
PETROLEUM (Latin, petra, a rock ; okum'oil).
' Lord ! Lord ! this great airth holds a hundred things
covered up for them as knows how to look, and do not mind
digging. But, gentlemen, the greatest gift the airth has to
bestow, she gave to me abundant, spontaneous, etarnal
free and that is He ! He ! ' l
This is what Gilead P. Beck said about petroleum, and we
are told how, when he had made up his mind that oil existed
in a certain district, in spite of ridicule from his neighbours,
he went on boring and boring, until at last to his delight one
day oil did indeed come welling up to the surface. He had
' struck ile ! ' This happened in the United States in the
'sixties.
But in many cases a great deal of valuable oil was wasted,
because the finders had made no preparation for gathering it
or storing it, and it went flowing away over the land to the
nearest stream, and finally was lost in the sea.
Soon, however, they grew wiser, and the oil was put into
barrels and carried away in carts to the nearest railway
station, and then sent off by ordinary trains to its destination.
Other improvements followed, and nowadays in oil districts
the oil is made to flow from the wells into underground pipes,
from which it is pumped into great storage tanks or into tank
steamers.
Petroleum is a bituminous oil which oozes from hollows in
sedimentary rocks such as sandstone. It is mainly composed
of carbon and hydrogen, and is very inflammable. In colour
it varies from pale yellow to almost black.
From very early days people knew about it ; they found
it floating on the surface of the water in wells or on ponds,
Walter Besant, The Golden Butterfly.
264 PETROLEUM
and they used it for a variety of purposes, but it is only in
modern days that its use has become so extensive. 1
The depth at which oil occurs varies ; in Ontario the wells
are about 400 feet deep. Sometimes it comes up of its own
accord, but more often it has to be pumped up. The oil thus
obtained is crude oil, and before it can be used it has to be
refined.
A large iron cylinder, called a still, is filled with oil and
then heated. The vapour from the boiling oil passes through
a long pipe which is kept immersed in cold water. In this
pipe the vapour condenses into naphtha and refined oils of
various kinds. These are further purified, and at last petroleum
such as we know it is obtained. In the still there remains
a residuum, which on being distilled yields oil and vaseline.
Altogether during the process of refining about 200 useful
by-products are obtained.
Petrol, such as is used in all kinds of motors, is a volatile
spirit obtained from petroleum by distillation, and the amount
required for this purpose alone is enormous and is continually
increasing. In addition to this, experiments are constantly
being made with oil as fuel instead of coal, and as a result
of these experiments we shall in the future most certainly
require larger and larger supplies of petroleum.
Far and away the largest producer at present is the United
States, and next in order comes Russia, who possesses impor-
tant wells at Baku on the Caspian Sea. Roumania and
Galicia, too, have large oilfields, though small compared
with those of the United States.
In our own empire, unfortunately, our supplies are altogether
insufficient for our needs, but there are many promising
fields for experiments and enterprise, and there is but
1 ' Neere unto this Town (Baku), is a very strange and wonderfull Foun-
taine under ground, out of which there springeth and issueth a marvellous
quantitie of blacke Oyle, which serveth all the parts of Persia to burne in
their houses ; and they usually carrie it all over the Country, upon Kine
and Asses, whereof you shall oftentimes meete three or foure hundred in
company.' John Cartwright, 1603 (Purchas his Pilgrimes).
PETROLEUM 265
little doubt that we shall greatly increase our output in the
future.
India. One of our oldest oilfields is in the valley of the
Irrawaddy in Upper Bunnah, and there are also wells in the
Punjab, and in Beluchistan and Assam.
Trinidad. Petroleum, exposed to the air, thickens, and
becomes solid, or nearly solid ; it is then known as asphalt,
and less correctly as pitch. The Asphalt Lake of Trinidad
has long been famous, and immense quantities are taken from
it every year. There is, however, no perceptible diminution,
as new supplies continually rise from below. ' The very ship
anchors in pitch ; the passengers disembark on a pitch wharf ;
pitch lies heaped up everywhere ; in whatever direction
the eyes are turned they light on nothing but pitch ; pitch,
and the current market price of pitch, is the one burden
of conversation.' ' The Lake is so solid that people can walk
on it, and yet it is in a state of continual " boil ".' 1
It was not until 1912, however, that Trinidad began to
export petroleum. Mr. Algernon Aspinall 2 gives an interesting
account of the difficulties and discomforts of the pioneer
work in connexion with these oilfields. He tells how one day
a hunter brought in a sample of oil, which he had found in the
forest, but it was so pure in quality that the expert who
examined it refused to believe the man's story, and considered
that he was trying to palm off a specimen of refined oil as the
crude product, and so nothing was done.
However, courageous and enterprising men persevered in
their researches, and at last, on April 29, 1912, at Brighton,
in the south of the island, the governor turned on a tap, and
oil from the wells flowed through the pipe into a tank steamer
which lay alongside the quay, and the next day she sailed
away with her cargo.
Ever since that date petroleum has been regularly exported,
and the quantity is steadily increasing.
1 Meiklejohn, A New Comparative Geography.
3 A. E. Aspinall, The British West Indies.
266
PETROLEUM
Egypt. One of the most interesting ' finds ' of oil of recent
date is at Jemsa, at the southern extremity of the Gulf of
Suez, and these fields, and others in that locality, are being
energetically developed ; and though it is early yet to say
whether they will yield large supplies in the future, if they do
their importance will be great, as they lie on the sea-route to
India, and ships would be able to ' oil ' from them.
THE FIRST PETROLEUM WELL IN TRINIDAD
New Zealand produces some oil of very excellent quality,
but the quantity at present is small. Papua, too, is believed
to contain oil, but boring has not yet been begun.
There are extensive oilfields in the south-west of Ontario
in Kent and Lambton counties, between Lakes Huron
and Erie, but the yield from the wells is decreasing.
In New Brunswick, too, a certain amount of oil is pro-
duced, and in Newfoundland, but these supplies are small
in importance with those believed to exist in Alberta, in
PETROLEUM
267
the Athabasca Valley, and indeed in the Mackenzie Basin
generally.
' Reference must be made to the indications that a mineral
asset of the Mackenzie Basin, and one of enormous importance,
is oil, for it appears from the evidence that here is one of the
largest areas of oil-bearing country yet unexplored on the face
of the earth. It is estimated that the rocks, the, Devonian
OILFIELD IN TRINIDAD
strata, which are believed to be the source of this oil, cover
an area of not less than 300,000 square miles.
' It is hardly possible to exaggerate the importance of this
deposit, the exploitation of which cannot be long deferred,
for the oil reserves of the United States are estimated by the
United States Geological Survey to be sufficient at the present
rate of output for about thirty years, and no other part of the
North American Continent gives such promise of new oilfields
as the Basin of the Mackenzie River.' l
Shale Oil or Paraffin. Shale is hardened clay, and when
1 Dominions Royal Commission.
268 PETROLEUM
there is sufficient bitumen in it so that it will burn, it is called
bituminous shale.
In addition to petroleum, obtained from wells, mineral oil
identical with or at any rate very closely resembling well
petroleum is obtained from bituminous shale, one ton of
shale yielding on an average forty gallons of crude oil.
The shale is heated in a retort and bituminous vapour
passes off. This is condensed, and an oily green liquid is
obtained similar to crude petroleum.
In Scotland, chiefly in the counties of Lanark, Linlithgow,
Edinburgh, and Fife, large quantities of oil are obtained from
shale.
Considerable areas of bituminous shale are known to exist
in South Africa, and in Newfoundland, and the eastern
provinces of Canada, and also in Tasmania.
In view of the extreme importance to us of having within
our own empire a sufficient supply of petroleum for all our
varied and ever-increasing needs, it behoves us to make every
effort to ascertain where oil-bearing lands exist and to develop
them with all the energy and resources at our command.
SUMMARY. Our imports of ordinary petroleum (i.e. refined
for burning in lamps and oil stoves), and also of fuel oil and
lubricating oil, and of motor spirit, come mainly from the
United States, Roumania, Russia, and Mexico ; though the
Dutch East Indies also send us large quantities of motor
spirit, and crude petroleum comes chiefly from Mexico.
From our own possessions, too, we import crude petroleum
and lubricating oils, while, in addition to these, Canada and
the West Indies send us fuel oil, and India, the Straits Settle-
ments, and the West Indies, motor spirit, but the quantities
imported are at present small compared with those from other
countries.
269
CHAPTER XXII
RUBBER
RUBBER (Hevea brasiliensis) . We read that when Columbus
was in Hayti he observed that the balls with which the children
played bounced better than the windballs of the Spanish
children at home, and it was found on inquiry that these West
Indian balls were made of a substance which exuded from
certain trees. They were in fact made of ' rubber ', as ours
are to-day, but rubber at that time had never been heard of
in Europe, and the Spanish children had to be content with
a very poor bounce to their balls.
In 1735, the distinguished French traveller, La Condamine,
made a voyage to the Equator for the purpose of determining
the dimensions of the earth. On his return he published an
account of his ten years' journey, and among other marvels
he described the rubber tree and its wonderful juice. The
tree he called He've, and the solidified juice Cahuchu. These
were both South American names. We called the solidified
juice rubber, because it rubbed out pencil marks. Dr. Priestly
discovered this in 1770, and one-inch cubes of rubber sold for
Is. 6d. each.
Gradually rubber was found to possess many other valuable
qualities ; for instance, that it was impermeable to water, and
in 1823 Charles Macintosh made his famous waterproof
cloaks of it. The material of which these ' macintoshes '
were made was obtained by uniting two layers of cloth with
a layer of rubber between them. As time went on other
waterproof articles were made of it, and high hopes were
entertained of its increasing usefulness.
There were, however, certain drawbacks. Things made of
rubber were found to get soft and sticky in hot weather, and
to become hard and brittle in cold weather.
Then followed other wonderful discoveries : it was found
that Rubber mixed with a small quantity of Sulphur, and
270 RUBBER
subjected to a high degree of heat during the process, not only
lost its stickiness, but was able to endure great extremes of
heat and cold without deteriorating. 1
As Vulcan was the god of fire, who presided over the working
of metals, this process was called Vulcanization. The more
sulphur added, the harder the rubber, and by adding a suffi-
ciently large quantity a solid black substance is obtained,
called vulcanite or ebonite. Vulcanized rubber, it was found,
could be used for a very great many purposes, and from this
time forward the demand for it increased enormously.
There are a great many different kinds of trees which
produce rubber, altogether about a hundred, and they all grow
in hot climates. The forests of the Amazon Valley and of
the Congo were for a long time the chief sources of supply.
The methods of the native collectors were primitive and
extremely wasteful. More often than not the trees were killed,
and the collectors had to probe more and more deeply into the
forests to obtain supplies. (Some of the South American
rubber has to travel 3,000 miles before it is put on board
ship, and it does not reach us till a year after it has been
gathered.)
The very best rubber of all is obtained from the tree called
Hevea brasiliensis. It grows in the Amazon forests, and is
especially vigorous and abundant on the plateau between
the Tapajos and Madeira Rivers in Brazil.
Sir Joseph Hooker, at that time Director of Kew Gardens,
ardently desired to obtain some seeds of these trees, and to
plant them in suitable regions of the empire, so that in course
of time we might produce our own rubber.
It was a great idea, but almost insuperable difficulties stood
in the way of its realization. To begin with, the seeds remain
good only a short time after they fall from the tree (it is best
to plant them within a week), and therefore it is not surprising
1 By accident Charles Goodyear, who was experimenting in rubber,
dropped some of it on a hot stove and found to his surprise that it did not
melt.
RUBBER 271
to learn that great patience and perseverance were needed
on the part of those who brought the seeds to England.
' The credit of initiating the cultivation of rubber in British
territory belongs to the late Marquess of Salisbury, then
Secretary of State for India. With the object of obtaining
seeds or plants for the purpose of introducing the industry into
India, Lord Salisbury communicated with Sir Joseph Hooker,
the Director of Kew Gardens. . . . The British Government
authorized the dispatch of an expedition to the Amazons
to procure seeds and plants for cultivation in India, and
in 1873 Mr. James Collins (afterwards Government Botanist
at Singapore) went to Brazil and obtained some hundreds of
seeds of Para rubber. . . . From the seeds sent by him about
a dozen plants were raised at Kew. Six were sent to Calcutta,
but they died.' l
At last, in 1876, a commission was given by the authorities
at Kew to Mr. Wickham for the ' introduction of the tree
which produced the true Para 2 rubber of commerce '.
Mr. Wickham was himself at that time engaged in cultivat-
ing Hevea brasiliensis at Santarem, near the junction of the
Tapajos and Amazon Rivers, and in his book (On the Plantation,
Cultivation, and Growing of Para Indian Rubber) he gives
a fascinating account of how he successfully overcame every
difficulty that stood in his way.
All around were the great hot forests, and in them, growing
in glorious profusion, were the wonderful Hevea trees. The
season for the ripening of their seeds was drawing near, and
if they were not gathered now a whole year must elapse before
anything further could be done. But it was useless to gather
them, for the problem still remained, how to convey them
quickly to England.
Just at that time the S.S. Amazonas, the first of the new
Inman Line of steamers, had come up the river, and Mr. Wick-
ham and a few other planters were invited to dinner on board.
They passed a pleasant evening and the steamer proceeded
on her way up the river.
1 C. Malcolm Gumming, Rubber Planting in Malaya.
2 Para is a state in Brazil, and one of its ports is also called Pard.
272 RUBBER
The season for gathering the seeds, meanwhile, came nearer
and nearer, and the problem of transport still remained
unsolved. And then came his chance. News was brought
down "the river that the captain of the Amazonas was left
stranded with the ship on his hands, and no chance of a return
cargo, the men who were in charge of these matters having
stripped the ship, and then abandoned her.
Mr. Wickham boldly chartered the ship in the name of the
Indian Government, and arranged to meet the captain on
a certain day at the junction of the Tapajos and Amazon.
He engaged as many Indians as he could get and crossed the
river into the pathless forests between the Tapajos and
Madeira. Here day by day they ranged the forests, rilling
up their baskets with as heavy loads as their backs would bear,
and at the appointed hour he arrived with his precious burden.
To his unspeakable relief he found the ship awaiting him.
The seeds were safely stowed on board, and for the moment
all anxiety was over. The weather was fine, and they made
their way down the river quickly.
But then occurred a new difficulty. How were they to
avoid delay at Para ? In all probability they would be
detained here while inquiries were made of the authorities at
Rio as to whether the ship should be allowed to proceed on her
journey, and by the time the necessary permission was obtained
the seeds would be spoiled. However, thanks to the exertions
of our Consul, matters were speedily arranged with the Portu-
guese authorities, and the good ship Amazonas steered out
into the ocean.
June 14, 1876, must always be regarded as a red-letter day
in the history of British commerce, for on that day the
Amazonas arrived at Liverpool docks with her precious freight
of seven thousand rubber seeds. From Kew Gardens a night
train was sent to meet the ship, and a fortnight later in the
glass-houses of Kew row upon row of young Hevea plants
gladdened the eyes of their owners.
Not all of these plants lived, but 1,919 of them were sent to
RUBBER 273
Ceylon, and some few to Perak in the Malay Peninsula. Of
those sent to Ceylon the greater number survived and
flourished, while seven of the Perak ones were planted in the
garden of the Residency at Kuala Kangsar. Later on plants
were reared successfully at Singapore. 1 It is from these small
beginnings that the present enormous production of British
rubber has sprung.
Climate. Hevea brasiliensis requires both heat and moisture,
but it does not as a rule do well in a swamp ; in the Tapajos
Plateau, where it thrives abundantly, the soil is exceedingly
well drained.
It will grow in suitable climates within latitudes 15 N.
and 15 S. of the equator, but of all the places in
which it is cultivated, the Malay Peninsula seems A
to present the most favourable conditions. \ /
The Malay Peninsula. Here the climate is hot **
and damp, but moderated by sea-breezes, and
there are no extremes of heat and cold, and no
long dry or wet season ; the rain is abundant, but
evenly distributed throughout the year.
Along the coast are extensive lowlands, but
farther away from the sea the country is undulat-
ing. In the middle of the peninsula, stretching its whole
length, are lofty mountains. The rubber plantations are on
the lowlands and the undulating country. Much of this region
was already under coffee, and in that case it was merely
a question of planting rubber instead of coffee, but the
greater part was primaeval forest, and this had to be cut
down and burnt.
CULTIVATION. After the ground has been well prepared,
the little seedling rubber trees are planted. As the object in
growing a rubber tree is to obtain a tree with as big a trunk
as possible, plenty of room must be left between each tree ;
1 In his Annual Report for 1882 Sir Hugh Low, the British Resident in
Perak, states that ' seeds and plants of Hevea brasiliensis have been distri-
buted to Java and Singapore, to Ceylon and India '.
2203
^ /
y
v
274
RUBBER
about fifty trees to one acre is generally considered to be the
right number.
Tapping. When the tree is about four years old, tapping
bagins. An incision is made in the bark lengthways (A to B)
and then two or three more on each side of the A-B line so
that the result is a kind of herring-bone pattern.
TAPPING RUBBER TREES, latex cart on right.
The cutting must be done very carefully, for if too deep
a cut is made it reaches the Cambium or living layer, and the
tree is injured and perhaps killed.
A little tin cup is placed at the base of the tree, and the
Latex (as the juice is called) flows out from the side-cuts into
the vertical one, and then down into the gutter which leads
to the cup at the base. A cart goes round and collects
the latex from all the little cups and takes it to the
factory.
RUBBER
275
A tapper usually has about three hundred trees placed under
his care, and every morning at sunrise he goes round to them
and cuts off a very, very thin slice from the upper edge of each
of the side-cuts.
Manufacture of Rubber. On reaching the factory the latex
is strained and poured into trays : a small amount of acetic
DRYING AND PACKING RUBBER
acid is added to it. After twelve hours or so it has curdled and
become white and soft like cream cheese. It is next passed
under rollers, which press it together and squeeze out the water ;
it emerges firm and elastic.
Drying is the next operation. The sheets of rubber are put
into a shed full of the smoke from dried coco-nut husks.
Rubber prepared in this way is called Smoked Sheet Rubber.
It is dark in colour.
Often, however, the latex is curdled in large quantities and
then passed under heavy rollers, which press it out into long
S2
276 RUBBER
thin creped or crisped strips, which are dried without smoke
in large well- ventilated rooms. It is Amber in colour and is
called Crepe Rubber.
Ceylon also has large plantations, and the method of prepar-
ing the rubber is practically the same as in Malaya, though in
both countries improvements in the methods of cultivation
and manufacture are constantly being made.
SOURCES or SUPPLY. Though the bulk of our supplies comes
from Malaya and Ceylon, rubber is also exported to us from
British India, the Gold Coast, Nigeria, and British Borneo,
besides small quantities from other British countries. 1
Doubtless in the future its cultivation will be greatly
extended in other parts of the empire, especially in British
Guiana, 2 where both climate and soil are almost exactly
similar to the climate and soil of the Brazilian forests.
Uses of Rubber. It seems almost impossible to produce
too much rubber, considering the great variety of uses to which
it can be put. It is required for the great rubber tyres for
motors of all kinds, and for the smaller tyres of other vehicles ;
even perambulators nowadays have rubber tyres. Rubber-
soled shoes of various kinds use up large quantities. It is
used in electrical, and scientific, and medical, and surgical
apparatus. In electrical appliances it is especially valuable,
as it is a non-conductor of electricity. In the future it is
most probable its use will be greatly extended ; floors will
be covered with it, and footpaths paved with it.
Rubber Tree Oil. In addition to rubber produced from the
juice of the tree, Oil produced from its seeds is a valuable
product. It can be used in many cases instead of linseed
oil.
Three seeds are contained in each pod, and in the Brazilian
forests these are greedily devoured by all the animals who
can secure them. On the plantations, as a result of numerous
1 And we still import a good deal from Brazil.
2 * The balata collecting industry ... is the third most important industry
of British Guiana.'
RUBBER 277
experiments, Oil Cake for feeding cattle has been made from
them.
We cannot help feeling a deep debt of gratitude to those
who introduced the tree into our empire and enabled us to
be self-supporting in such a valuable commodity.
CHAPTER XXIII
TIMBER
Canada has an area of more than three and a half million
square miles, i.e. it is a little smaller than Europe and a little
larger than the United States. Stretching right across the
Continent for some three thousand miles, from the Atlantic
to the Pacific, are the great forests, having a width from north
to south of two hundred or three hundred miles. The trees
in them are mostly spruces and larches, but, to the south of
these conifers, in Eastern Canada, is a great belt of deciduous
trees, containing many different species, one of the most
characteristic being the sugar-maple, whose red and yellow
leaves make the Canadian woods in autumn a wonderland of
beauty. In British Columbia, on the western slopes of the
mountains facing the sea, the moist, equable climate favours
the growth of such giants as the Douglas firs and cedars.
The Commissioners say that these forests ' undoubtedly
form one of the most valuable assets of the empire '. The
number of acres covered with timber that can be sawn up
and sold is estimated at 250 million, and besides this there are
quantities which are useful for making wood-pulp and for
providing fuel and for various other purposes. Quebec has
100 million acres of forest land, and next in order come
Ontario, British Columbia, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and
last of all Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba.
As one travels through these endless forests for weeks and
weeks, and sees, day by day, countless thousands of beautiful
trees, it is almost impossible to resist the conclusion that
278 TIMBER
here at least are inexhaustible supplies, and that man is too
small a creature to make much impression on these mighty
reserves of timber. And yet ' it has been estimated that, if
the present cut of timber is maintained in Canada, the supply
of saw timber will be exhausted in 120 years ; but, if the rate
of cutting increases, the supply may be exhausted in half that
period. That the latter contingency is probable may be
gauged from the fact that in spite of the large number of
substitutes available, the demand for wood is continually
growing.'
Until comparatively recent years no attempt was made
to preserve this vast store of wealth, and not only ruthless
felling but insect pests and forest fires were allowed to
carry on their work of destruction unchecked. Now, however,
forestry is becoming year by year a subject of greater impor-
tance among Government experts, and the best means of
conserving the forests is a matter of continual study.
Newfoundland, too, has large areas of forest land and
exports lumber, but during the last few years she has developed
a very successful wood-pulp paper industry, one factory alone
producing 200 tons of paper a day, besides having a consider-
able amount of wood-pulp for export, and it is believed that
Newfoundland ' will become one of the most important con-
tributors to the world's supply of wood-pulp and paper '.
In Australia, on the coastal highlands, there are extensive
forests, and in Tasmania two-thirds of the island are forested.
Some of the principal trees in Australia are Ironbarks and
various kinds of Eucalyptus, of which the specially hard Jarrah 1
and Karri are characteristic of Western Australia.
New Zealand is famous for its Kauri Pines, which take from
600 to 1,200 years to reach maturity, and from which the
wonderful kauri gum is obtained (practically a monopoly of
New Zealand), and there are many other valuable forest trees ;
but here, as in other parts of the empire, reckless felling has
been the rule in the past, and the Royal Commission on
1 We import some of this for sleepers.
TIMBER
279
Forestry says : ' It is at best a guess, and no one can truly
say whether the amount be too much or too little. Our
opinion is that it is not safe to conclude that there will be any
supply of moment at the expiration of thirty years from the
present time (1913), and that unless more stringent methods
are adopted to conserve the supply as far as possible, the
period of supply may be even shortened.'
FOREST SCENE, BRITISH COLUMBIA
The forests of India, too, are exceedingly valuable, especially
those of Burmah, whence the bulk of the world's requirements
of teak are supplied.
SUMMARY. Although the forests of Canada and Newfound-
land are so extensive, the bulk of our imported wood (with the
exception of teak and mahogany) comes from foreign countries.
With regard to all kinds of firs and pines, Russia stands
head and shoulders above all other contributors, though we
280 TIMBER
buy considerable quantities from Germany and the United
States, Sweden and Norway, and smaller amounts from
Canada, Newfoundland, and New Zealand.
In addition to our ordinary imports we buy 3| million
tons per annum of wood for pit-props, and for this we are
dependent to the extent of 80 per cent, of our requirements on
foreign countries. Russia again is our chief source of supply,
though France, Sweden and Norway, Spain and Portugal send
us considerable quantities.
During the war, as a result of investigation, it was found
that Newfoundland and the maritime provinces of Eastern
Canada had almost inexhaustible stores of wood suitable for
these props, and as a result a certain amount has recently been
bought from these countries.
With regard to wood-pulp the truth appears to be that the
actual production in Canada and Newfoundland is in excess of
our needs, but the bulk of the Canadian produce goes to the
United States, and we import our supplies mainly from
Norway, though Sweden, Canada, and Newfoundland also
contribute to our needs.
Teak comes to us chiefly from Burmah, and mahogany from
French West Africa, the Gold Coast, Nigeria, and British
Honduras.
CHAPTER XXIV
CONCLUSION
SOME facts emerge. According to the present state of our
knowledge it appears that of some commodities we are able
to produce enough to satisfy the needs of all the inhabitants
of the empire (some 445 million souls) without having to buy
from other countries ; that is to say, we are (or could be if
we chose) self-supporting. Not only so, but in many cases
we have enough and to spare, so that, after providing for our
own needs, we have a surplus which we can sell to other
countries ; of some again we have practically a monopoly^
CONCLUSION 281
There is a second class of commodities, however, in which
we are at present not self-supporting, and still another in
which we are entirely dependent for supplies on other countries,
as our own empire is deficient in them.
In the first class, that is, commodities in which the empire
is self-supporting, we must place, among minerals, asbestos,
chromium, coal, cobalt, gold, graphite, manganese, mica,
monazite sand, nickel, tin, tungsten, zinc. With regard to
nickel, cobalt, asbestos, and mica, not only are we self-
supporting, but we produce the bulk of the world's output of
these, while with regard to tin * foreign countries are depen-
dent on the empire to the extent of nearly 60 per cent, of their
total supplies ', and with regard to gold the ' empire produces
over 60 per cent, of the world's output '.
Among food products, empire production is equal, or nearly
equal, to empire demands in the case of fish, spices, oil-seeds,
cheese, and wheat.
Our fisheries are an invaluable asset, for not only are we
able to produce enough for our own consumption, but we are
able to export large quantities to other countries.
The empire, too, is very rich in spices, especially cinnamon,
ginger, allspice, and cloves, producing indeed of these last
the greater part of the world's supply.
In oils and oil-seeds also we are very rich. West Africa
has a practical monopoly of palm oil and palm kernels, while
India and Ceylon export enormous quantities of copra,
linseed, castor seeds, cotton seeds, rape seeds, and sesame.
In addition to these, ground-nuts from West Africa and India
have become increasingly importantduring the war ; and though
at present olive oil and almond oil are not produced in suffi-
cient quantities to supply our needs, yet even of these there are
hopeful indications of a much greater production in the future
than in the past, while there are very many other oil-seeds
at present but little known, such as shea nuts, cashew nuts,
and mowra seeds, to name only a few, which the empire is
capable of producing in very large quantities.
282 CONCLUSION
Canada is at present the chief cheese-exporting country in
the empire, but the production of New Zealand is very consider-
able and is increasing, while in all probability South Africa will
in a few years time be in a position to export supplies and thus
render the empire more than self-supporting in this respect.
The case of wheat is more complicated. The United
Kingdom does not at present produce more than one-fifth of
the wheat she consumes ; the empire, however, as a whole
produces 95 per cent, of the amount required by the empire,
but much of this is sold to other countries.
We come next to fibres, and we find that in the case of
wool the empire produces more than 40 per cent, of the whole
world's consumption, while of jute and phormium tenax she
possesses a monopoly.
With regard to rubber, although we still import a certain
amount of wild rubber from Brazil, what is called plantation
rubber is practically an empire monopoly, Malaya and Ceylon
supplying the bulk of the world's needs, though these are
' merely the big brothers of the tropical family under the
British flag which has gone in for rubber. From Papua and
North Queensland to British Guiana and Tobago, the world
is encircled by a rubber band of British make.'
Two other virtual monopolies of the empire are diamonds
and ostrich feathers, both products of South Africa.
In the second class, that is, those commodities in which
at present we are not self-supporting, we must place, among
minerals, aluminium, antimony, copper, iron, and lead. With
regard to antimony it appears that it might be possible to
make the empire self-supporting, and with regard to iron,
although at present the amount of pig-iron produced in. the
empire is only sufficient to satisfy her requirements to the
extent of 58 per cent., yet the amount of iron ore known to
exist in empire countries is enormous, and ' more than enough
to satisfy the demand for many years to come ' ; while with
regard to lead, the mines of Burma are expected to make up
our deficiencies.
CONCLUSION 283
Among the food products which come in this second class
we must put meat, oats, barley, maize, fruits, tea, coffee,
cocoa, sugar, butter, eggs.
The position with regard to meat appears to be that in the
United Kingdom we produce about 60 per cent, of our require-
ments, and the rest we have to import. New Zealand sends
us large quantities of mutton, and Australia both of mutton
and beef, yet we are largely dependent on foreign countries
for our supplies : on the Argentine for beef and mutton, on
the Netherlands and Denmark for pork and bacon, and on the
United States for hams. Nevertheless, there seems every
reason to hope that in the future conditions may be improved,
and that not only Australia and New Zealand, but Canada,
South Africa, Rhodesia, and the Sudan may multiply their
flocks and herds and eventually render the empire self-sup-
porting.
The empire has made enormous strides of late years in the
growing of all kinds of fruit, most notably of bananas in
Jamaica, apples in Canada, oranges and other citrus fruits in
South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand, grapes, both fresh
and in the form of raisins and currants, in Australia, and dried
plums and many other kinds of fruit in South Africa.
With regard to butter the Commissioners say : ' On the
whole it seems doubtful whether the supplies of butter of
empire production available for consumption in the United
Kingdom could be made to exceed 4J million hundredweights
at the utmost. If the consumption remains at about 6J million
hundredweights, the deficiency to be supplied from foreign
countries would be about 2 million hundredweights. The
deficiency could undoubtedly be met by an increasing produc-
tion of margarine, the materials for which exist in adequate
quantities within the empire.'
The case of sugar is notorious. Before the war our imports
consisted chiefly of beet-sugar from Germany ; out of a total
of 23 million pounds' worth, only 1 million pounds' worth came
from British countries. Yet the West Indies, Mauritius,
284 CONCLUSION
British Guiana, and India are capable of supplying all our
needs as far as cane sugar is concerned ; and with regard to
beetroot, we can grow a good deal at home, while Canada can
produce both beet- and maple-sugar.
Of fibres, we are poor at present in cotton, flax, and silk.
Of cotton, omitting the Indian crop, which is at present not
suitable for fine spinning, the empire produces only about
39 per cent, of the requirements of the United Kingdom, but
great efforts are being made to increase the production in
British countries (especially by the British Cotton Growing
Association), and besides such well-known sources of supply
as Egypt, and India, and in a less degree West Africa, the
Sudan, West Indies, Nyasaland, Uganda, and Kenya Colony,
great hopes are entertained that a satisfactory picker may
be invented, so that Queensland may enter the lists as
a cotton-producer on a large scale.
Cotton growing is making good progress in the Tana
River Valley, which is very suitable for its extensive develop-
ment. The rich alluvial lands adjoining the Juba River are
also splendidly adapted for cotton growing, and a Government
experimental cotton farm has been started there.'
Flax and silk, too, though not at present produced in suffi-
cient quantities to make us independent of foreign supplies,
yet show signs of improvement and afford hopes of increasing
British supplies in the future.
There remains the third class of commodities, namely, those
which we do not produce within the empire. The most
important of these are quicksilver, platinum, borax, and
potash.
In connexion with this question of production we must
remember that the empire comprises an area of 13,153,712
square miles, and that it contains within it every kind of soil
and extends through every zone of climate, and that in
consequence there is scarcely a commodity which it is not
capable of producing in great abundance. It behoves us,
therefore, in the case of those commodities in which at present
CONCLUSION 285
we are not self -supporting, to ascertain in which parts of the
empire soil and climate are suitable for their production, and
then to encourage their cultivation in these places. Rubber,
and cotton, and chinchona are notable examples of what may
be accomplished in this direction.
Minerals of course are more difficult. If supplies of ore do
not exist, no amount of endeavour on our part will create
them. Yet in this connexion it must be noted that the
resources of the empire are but very imperfectly known, and
it may very well turn out to be the case that more minerals
exist than we are aware of.
In respect of those commodities of which we possess an
abundance, such, for instance, as coal and fish and timber, it
behoves us to husband our resources instead of squandering
them recklessly as though they were inexhaustible.
By these means we could realize our ideal and become
a self-supporting empire, so that when the necessity arose we
could be independent of supplies from foreign countries, and
at other times could command the respect due to those who
are under no obligation to court the favour of more fortunate
neighbours.
The Commissioners say : ' In our opinion it is vital that
the empire should, so far as possible, be placed in a position
which would enable it to resist any pressure which a foreign
power or group of powers could exercise in time of peace or
during war, in virtue of a control of raw materials and com-
modities essential for the safety and well-being of the empire,
and it is towards the attainment of this object that co-ordi-
nated effort should be directed.'
286
APPENDIX II
IMPORTS OF RAW COTTON
1913 1914
1915
1916
1917
Centals of
100 Ib.
Centals of
100 Ib.
Centals of
100 Ib.
Centals of
100 Ib.
Centals of
100 Ib.
Germany .
11,721
52,225
German East
Africa . : 2,099
1,092
7
Belgium . . i 1,198
5,637
France . 15,633
49.786
4,771
2,841
829
Portuguese East
Africa . . 25,872
7,566
2,146
5,203
2,791
Italy . . { 8,718
3,627
8,180
Turkey . . j 8,615
4,115
Egypt . . . 4,026,694
3,361,021
China (exclusive
of Hong Kong,
Macao, and
leased terri- j
tories) . . 19,828
37,498
50,085
124,389
148,223
United States of i
America . 15,847,695
12,844,347
20,223,859
16,468,638
11,862,413
Hayti
31,225
17,735
14,268
8,510
5,892
San Domingo .
3,108
2,542
224
58
Peru . . 384,060
370,466
384,120
445,804
235,965
Chile . . 2,738
2,671
4,508
3,223
1,533
Brazil . . 618,036
547,474
86,724
13,055
102,903
Other Foreign
Countries
16,606
55,022
36,499
81,122
95,591
Total from For-
eign Countries
21,023,846
17,362,824
20,806,967
17,153,115
12,464,378
Egypt .
4,484,908
3,567,360
2,779,301
British West
Africa .
61,614
55,476
22,913
64,005
50,273
Kenya Colony .
Anglo - Egyptian
111,667
127,922
120,423
59,380
132,994
Sudan .
21,683
55,045
28,881
31,664
British India .
513,039
1,042,902
939,626
800,614
759,628
British West
India Islands .
29,888
29,031
20,123
15,863
11,362
Other British
Possessions .
2,942
1,495
26,156
20,804
2,113
Total British
Possessions . 719,150
1,278,509 5,669,194
4,556,907 3,767,335
Total . ' 21,742,996
18,641,333 26,476,161
21,710,022 16,231,713
287
APPENDIX III
THE BRITISH EMPIRE
Europe :
United Kingdom .
Isle of Man . ,
Channel Island?
Malta and Gozo
Gibraltar .
Asia :
Indian Empire
Ceylon . . .
Straits Settlements
Federated Malay States
Other Malay States
Hong Kong
Weihaiwei
North Borneo
Brunei
Sarawak
Cyprus
Africa :
Cape Province
Natal .
Transvaal . .
Orange Free State
South West Province
Basutoland .
Bechuanaland
Rhodesia
Gambia
Gold Coast .
Sierra Leone
Northern Nigeria .
Southern Nigeria .
' German ' West Africa
Somaliland .
Kenya Colony
Uganda
Zanzibar
Nyasaland .
Sudan
Mauritius
Seychelles
Ascension
St. Helena
Area.
(Square Miles).
Population.
121,030
45,500,000
230
50,000
70
97,000
120
211,000
2
20,000
1,900,000
315,000,000
25,500
4,100,000
1,660
700,000
27,500
1,000,COO
24,800
800,000
390
440,000
300
160,000
31,100
204,000
4,000
30,000
50,000
650,000
3,600
275,000
277,000 \
35,400 [
110,400 [
5,100,000
50,400 )
322,350
120,000
10,300
350,000
275,000
126,000
450,000
1,750,000
4,000
146,000
80,000
1,400,000
34,000
1,100,000
255,700
10,000,000
78,000
7,000,000
333,000
4,500,000
68,000
300,000
566,000
12,000,000
223,500
2,500,000
1,020
200,000
300,000
1,000,000
400,000
12,000,000
1,000,000
2,000,000
720
370,000
150
23,000
40
152
47
3,500
288
APPENDIX III
America :
Ontario . .
Quebec
Nova Scotia
New Brunswick
Prince Edward Island
British Columbia .
Manitoba
Alberta . . .
Saskatchewan
North West Territories
Newfoundland . v
Jamaica
Bahamas
Leeward Islands .
Windward Islands
Barbados
Trinidad and Tobago
British Guiana
British Honduras .
Bermuda . . '
Falkland Islands .
South Georgia
Australasia :
New South Wales .
Victoria
South Australia
Queensland .
Tasmania
Western Australia
New Zealand
Fiji ,
Papua
Pacific Islands
Area.
(Square Miles.)
407,250
706,850
21,500
28,000
2,200
355,900
251,900
255,300
251,700
1,250,000
40,000
4,200
4,400
750
510
170
1,860
90,300
8,600
20
6,500
1,000
310,400
88,000
904,000
670,500
26,220
976,000
105,000
7,500
90,540
12,500
Population.
7,200,000
240,000
850,000
56,000
140,000
200,000
196,000
330,000
310,COO
40,500
19,000
3,240
1,650,000
1,320,000
409,000
606,000
191,000
282,000
1,050,000
130,000
360,000
200,000
289
APPENDIX IV
NOTES ON THE FORMER GERMAN COLONIES
1. Tanganyika Territory now forms one of the nine administrative
districts of the East Africa Protectorate. Some of its most important
products are sisal, copra, ground-nuts, rubber, cotton, coffee, sesame seed,
millet, maize, rice.
2. German South- West Africa is now governed by the Union of South
Africa. Its chief products are diamonds, wool, meat, hides, ostrich feathers,
copper.
3. Kaiser Wilhelm's Land (the north-east part of New Guinea) belongs
to the Commonwealth of Australia. Its chief products are copra, sisal,
rubber, petroleum, tobacco.
4. Samoan Islands. Eight of these have been allocated to New Zealand.
Products : copra, cacao, rubber.
290
AUTHORITIES AND BOOKS OF REFERENCE
Government Reports. Printed by Wyman & Sons, London.
1. Annual Statement of the Trade of the United Kingdom.
2. Statistical Abstract for the United Kingdom.
3. Statistical Abstract for the Self -Governing Dominions.
4. Final Keport of the Royal Commission on the Natural Resources,
Trade, and Legislation of certain Portions of His Majesty's
Dominions.
5. Final Report of the Royal Commission on Coal Supplies.
6 Mines and Quarries : General Report with Statistics.
Imperial Institute Bulletin. Published quarterly.
Imperial Institute Series of Handbooks to the Commercial Resources of the
Tropics, with special reference to West Africa.
Geographical Journal. Published monthly.
The Statesman's Year-BooJc.
Encyclopaedias. Chambers and others.
Handbook for Australia. B.A.A.S.
Our First Half-Century. By authority of the Queensland Government.
Pamphlets on Rubber, &c., issued by the Malay States Agency.
The British West Indies. A. E. Aspinall.
Provincial Geographies of India. Bengal, by L. S. S. O'Malley.
Marketable Marine Fishes. J. T. Cunningham.
Medicinal Plants. Bentley and Trimen.
Pamphlets on Medicinal Herbs. M. Grieve.
Tropical Agriculture. P. L. Simmonds.
A Handbook of Tropical Gardening. H. F. Macmillan.
Origin of Cultivated Plants. A. de Candolle.
A Dictionary of the Economic Products of India. Sir G. Watt.
Peruvian Baric. Sir Clements Markham.
On the Plantation, Cultivation, and Curing of Indian Rubber. H. A. Wickham.
The Oil Palm and its Varieties. J. H. J. Farquhar.
The Banana : its Cultivation, Distribution, and Commercial Uses. W. Faw-
cett.
A' Short History of Sugar. G. Martineau.
The Cane Sugar Factory. F. I. Scard.
Tea. D. Crole.
Golden Tips. H. W. Cave.
Wild and Cultivated Cotton Plants of the World. Watt.
Modern Flax and Hemp and Jute Spinning. H. R. Carter.
AUTHORITIES AND BOOKS OF REFERENCE 291
Jute and Linen Weaving. Woodhouse and Milne.
The Treasures of Coal Tar. A. Findlay.
Coal and what we get from it. R. Meldola.
Dye-stuffs and Coal-Tar Products. Beacall, Challenger, Martin.
Jubilee of the Discovery of Mauve. R. Meldola.
The Romance of Modern Industry. J. Burnley.
Industrial History of England. H. de B. Gibbins.
Mines and their Story. Bernard Mannix.
T2
INDEX
Aberdeen, 45, 47, 56, 57, 90.
Abyssinia, 97
Adelaide, 68, 75.
Aden, 104.
Alberta, 90, 248, 266.
Albury, 75.
Algeria, 227, 238, 239.
Allspice, 116, 119, 281.
Almonds, 79, 81, 281.
Alpaca, 178.
Aluminium, 203, 237, 282.
Amazon, 270.
Annapolis, 60.
Antimony, 204, 237, 282.
Antrim, 203.
Apples, 59-60, 81, 283.
Apricots, 82, 83.
Argentine, 21, 26, 29, 32, 35, 39, 140,
141, 186, 190, 202, 283.
Arrowroot, 32, 34-5.
Artesian Wells, 182.
Asbestos, 205, 237, 281.
Ashton, 167.
Assam, 30, 92, 95, 96, 250.
Atbara, 171.
Atropine, 143.
Auckland, 200.
Australia, 17, 21, 26, 32, 36, 37, 39,
68, 75, 77, 81, 82, 83, 90, 130, 138,
140, 152, 179, 185, 190, 205, 207,
209, 225, 226, 230, 237, 238, 239,
247, 248, 278, 283.
Appendix I, 156-60.
Appendix II, 286.
Appendix III, 287.
Appendix IV, 289.
Bacon, 39.
Bahamas, 78, 197, 201, 202.
Ballarat, 229, 230.
Bananas, 60-5, 81, 283.
Barbados, 163 172.
Barberton, 233.
Barley, 12, 21-3, 32, 283.
Barrow, 214.
Bawdwin, 221, 227.
Beef, 35-7, 39, 158.
Beet sugar, 284.
Belfast, 189.
Belgium, 189, 202
Bell Island, 215.
Bendigo, 231.
Bengal, 30, 35, 86, 88, 192, 250
Bermudas, 34.
Billingsgate, 55, 56.
Blackburn, 167.
Blantyre, 198.
Bolivia, 238
Bolton, 167.
Bombay, 111, 132, 150, 170.
Borax, 284.
Borneo, 154, 155. 276.
Brass, 207.
Brazil, 35, 100, 104. 133, 141, 201,
222, 238, 270, 282.
Brisbane, 36, 76, 79.
Britain, 1 23, 26, 32, 35, 81, 82, 179,
185, 202, 220, 226, 237, 238, 239,
282, 283.
British Columbia, 52, 58, 60, 81, 190,
208, 215, 221, 227, 234, 236, 239,
247, 277.
British Empire, 287.
British Guiana, 87, 90, 100 ,104, 234,
236, 237, 239 ; 276, 284.
British Honduras, 280.
Broken Hill, 220, 226, 236.
Burketown, 221.
Burma, 31, 32, 147, 221, 225, 227,
238, 239, 265, 279, 280, 282.
Burnley, 167.
Burrinjuck. 182.
Bury, 167.
Bussorah, 71.
Butter, 39, 283.
Cacao, 100-3, 104, 283
Cadia. 215.
Cairns, 207, 218.
Calcutta, 20, 192.
Calicut.. 169.
Camphor, 151.
Canada, 15, 21, 23, 24, 26, 30, 32, 36,
39, 59, 76, 81, 83, 90, 140, 155, 185,
1 Britain is equivalent to the United Kingdom.
294
INDEX
189, 190, 204, 205, 206, 208, 209,
215, 224, 226, 227, 233, 234, 235,
236, 237, 238, 239, 247, 248, 277,
282, 283.
Canary Islands, 64, 81.
Canterbury Plains. 20, 183.
Cape Province. 20/37, 67, 71, 76, 79,
82 ; 152, 219, 238.
Carcoar, 215.
Cardiff, '57.
Cashew nuts, 132, 141, 281.
Cashmere, 178.
Castor oil, 131, 138, 141, 190, 281.
Cawnpore, 170.
Central Provinces, 20, 34, 169, 221.
Cereals, 12-32.
Ceylon, 95, 99, 101, 104,107,109, 111,
115, 119, 130, 138, 140, 147, 152,
209, 238, 273, 276, 281, 282.
Changa Manga, 190.
Channel Islands, 81, 82, 155.
Charters Towers, 232.
Cheese, 39. 281, 282.
Chili, 186, 192, 237, 238.
Chillagoe, 215, 225.
China, 104, 140, 141, 190, 202, 205,
237.
Chinchona, 143.
Chromium, 281.
Chutia Nagpur, 250.
Cinnamon, 107. 119, 281.
Citrons, 65, 70.
Citrus fruits, 65-70, 81, 82.
Clackmannan, 214.
Cleveland, 214.
Cloncurry, 207, 215.
Cloves, 117, 119, 281.
Coal, 239-50, 281
Coal-fish, 49, 55.
Coal tar, 251, 258-62.
Cobalt, 206, 237. 281.
Cobar, 208, 232.
Cockles, 54.
Coco-nuts, 126, 140.
Cod-fish, 46-9, 52, 55, 57.
Coffee, 97-100, 104, 283.
Coir, 130.
Colombia, 64, 81, 100, 104
Colombo, 107.
Concordia, 208.
Conger eel, 53.
Congo, 270.
Coolgardie, 231.
Copper, 206, 237, 282.
Copra, 126. 138, 140, 281.
Corn, 12.
Cornwall, 46, 53, 56, 207, 225, 238.
Costa Rica, 64, 81, 100, 104.
Cotton. 161-74. 201, 202, 284.
Cotton seed, 133, 138, 140, 141, 281,
286.
Crabs, 53, 55, 58.
Crow's Nest Pass, 248.
Cuba, 78, 153, 155.
Cumberland, 214.
Currants, 74, 75, 81, 82.
Cutch, 257, 258.
Cyprus, 20, 23, 32, 76, 82, 155. 172,
202, 206, 207, 237.
Dairy produce, 39.
Damodar, 250.
Darjeeling, 95.
Dates, 71, 82.
Dawson City, 234.
Deccan, 20.
Demerara, 87.
Denmark, 39, 283.
Devon, 46, 56.
Diamonds, 282.
Dogger Bank, 49, 50, 57.
Dominica, 69, 82.
Drugs, 142-52.
Dundee, 189, 192, 249.
Dunfermline, 189.
Durrah, 32.
Dyes, 250-62.
East Indies, 35, 116, 118, 119, 140,
153.
Ecuador, 104.
Eden, 52, 58.
Edinburgh, 214.
Eels, 52, 58.
Eggs, 39, 283.
Egypt, 12, 34, 37, 39, 71, 82, 88, 133,
136, 140, 141, 155, 170, 173. 186,
190, 202. 222, 224, 238, 266, 284.
Ely, 52.
English Channel, 51, 56, 58.
Essex, 14.
Eucalyptus, 148.
Euphrates, 71.
Falkland Isles, 85, 186, 202.
Falmouth, 46.
Faroe Isles, 47, 49, 51, 57, 58.
Fibres, 161-202, 282, 284
INDEX
295
Fife, 214.
Figs, 60, 82.
Fingal, 249.
Fiji, 89, 95, 130, 140.
Firth of Forth ; 56, 58.
Firth of Tay, 56
Flax, 140, 186-90, 201, 284.
Fleetwood, 47, 57.
Florida, 78.
Food Fishes, 40-58, 281.
Formosa, 151.
Fort Beaufort, 67.
Fortune Bay, 45.
Francs, 39, 46, 74, 76, 81, 82, 138,
141, 153, 186, 192, 202, 237, 280.
Fraser River, 52 ; 58. 234.
Fraserburgh, 45, 56.
French West Africa, 280.
Fruits, 59-83, 283.
Fundy Bay, 56
Furness, 210.
Fustic, 258.
Gambia, 126, 135, 141.
Geelong. 182.
Germany. 26, 32, 35, 59, 104, 126,
152, 153, 238, 280, 283.
Gezira, 171.
Ghazipur, 150.
Ginger, 111, 119, 281.
Gladstone, 36.
Glasgow, 167, 207.
Godavari, 250.
Gold, 226-36, 237, 239, 281.
Gold Coast, 79, 126, 131, 135, 140,
233, 235, 239, 276, 280.
Gosalpur, 221.
Goulburn, 38.
Grand Banks, 47, 48, 57.
Grapes. 74, 82.
Graphite, 208, 237, 238, 281.
Great Fisher Bank, 47. 50, 57.
Greece. 74, 82.
Greenland. 203.
Grenada, 116, 119, 172.
Greymouth, 249.
Grimsby, 45, 47. 49, 50, 51, 55, 56, 57,
58.
Ground-nuts, 133, 138, 141.
Guatemala, 100, 104.
Gujerat, 169.
Gwanda. 233.
Gwydir, 182.
Gympie, 232.
Haddock, 48, 49, 55. 57
Hake, 49, 55, 57.
Halibut, 51, 55. 58
Hams, 39.
Hamilton, 76.
Harwich, 47.
Havana, 153.
Hawaiian Islands, 78, 83.
Hawkesbury Valley, 68.
Hemp, 194, 201, 202.
Herberton, 218, 225
Herrings, 41-45, 48, 53. 56.
Hobart, 60.
Holland, 189.
Hominy, 27.
Hudson Bay, 15.
Hull, 45, 47, 50, 51, 53, 57, 58, 132.
Humber, 47, 50, 57.
Huon Valley, 60.
Hyderabad, 169.
Iceland, 47, 50, 51, 57, 58.
Illawarra. 249.
India, 20, 21, 23, 30, 31, 32, 34, 35,
82, 88, 95, 99, 100, 104, 112, 116,
119, 130-40, 141, 147, 150-5,
169, 173, 185, 186, 190, 192, 195,
199, 201, 202. 209, 221, 222, 235-
9, 250, 264, 276, 279, 281, 284.
Indian corn, 26.
Indigo, 251, 252-6
Indo- China, 31.
Inverary, 45.
Ipswich, 249
Ireland, 15, 23, 24, 46, 53, 203, 237.
Irish Sea. 56.
Iron, 210-16, 237, 238. 282.
Italy, 67, 81, 82, 138, 141, 153. 192,
195, 202, 227, 237, 238, 239.
Ivigtut, 203.
Jabalpur, 221.
Jamaica, 34, 65. 67, 81, 99, 112, 116,
117, 119, 147, 151, 199, 283.
Japan, 119, 141, 153, 192, 202, 237,
238
Java, 35, 104, 119, 151, 201, 202.
Jemsa, 266.
Jute, 192-4, 201, 202, 282.
Kalgoorlie, 231.
Kano, 172.
Kapok, 200 5 201, 202.
Karachi, 20.
296
INDEX
Kashmir, 190.
Kassala, 171.
Kenya Colony, 20, 28, 65, 68, 79,
81, 89, 99, 100, 104, 111, 119, 131,
132, 133, 135, 136, 140, 141, 172,
174, 190, 192, 197, 199, 201, 202,
284, 286, 287.
Klondike, 234.
Lagos, 126, 172.
Lake Peninsula, 76.
Lanark, 214.
Lancashire, 167, 214.
Latakia, 154.
Launceston, 218.
Lead, 219-21, 237, 238, 282.
Leicester, 210.
Lemons, 65, 68, 82.
Lentils, 32 ; 33-4, 35.
Lethbridge, 248.
Limes, 65, 69, 82.
Limpopo, 28.
Lincolnshire, 14, 214.
Linen, 186.
Ling, 49, 55, 57.
Linseed, 138, 140, 188, 281.
Lithgow, 249.
Liverpool, 167.
Lobsters, 53, 55, 58. .
Loch Findon, 49.
Loch Fyne, 45, 56.
Lofoten Islands, 47.
Logwood, 257, 258.
Lowestoft, 45, 46, 51, 56, 57.
Lumbwa, 190.
Lydenburg, 233.
Macaroni, 1J.
Mackay, 89.
Mackenzie River, 267.
Mackerel, 41, 46, 48, 55, 56-
Madagascar, 238.
Madder, 251, 257.
Madeira, 270.
Madras, 169.
Mahogany, 280.
Maitland, 248.
Maize, 12, 26-31, 157, 283.
Malabar, 110, 111.
Malay Peninsula, 33, 35, 78, 83, 90,
100, 104, 111, 116, 119, 126, 130,
135, 138, 140, 199, 201, 216, 226,
238, 273, 276, 282.
Mallaig, 45.
Mallee, 19.
Malt, 23, 32.
Manchester, 167.
Manganese, 221, 237, 238, 281.
Manitoba, 15, 23, 24.
Margarine, 130, 135, 136.
Maryborough. 249.
Mauritius, 87', 88, 90, 130, 140, 583.
Mealies, 27.
Meat, 35-9, 283.
Melbourne, 230.
Merino, 178.
Metals, 203-39.
Mevagissey, 46, 56.
Mexico, 100, 101, 104, 205, 237.
238.
Mica, 281.
Middlesbrough, 214.
Mildura, 75.
Milford. 57.
Millet, 12, 31-2.
Mirzapur, 170.
Mocha, 98.
Mohair, 178.
Moluccas. 118.
Molybdenum, 225, 238.
Monazite, 222-3, 238, 281.
Monthaggi, 249.
Montserrat, 78.
Moray Firth, 56.
Morecambe Bay, 58.
Morocco, 81.
Mount Bischoff, 218.
Mount Lyell, 208.
Mount Margaret, 231.
Mount Morgan, 207, 232.
Murchison, 231.
Murray River, 18 3 75.
Murrumbidgee, 68.
Mussels, 54, 55, 58.
Mutton, 37, 39.
Mysore, 99, 235.
Nagpur, 170.
Nairobi, 99, 197.
Namaqualand. 208.
Nanaimo, 248.
Narbada, 250.
Natal, 27, 37, 68, 69. 71, 79, 82, 89,
95, 135, 185, 208, 249.
Netherlands, 35, 39, 90, 140, 148,
151, 155, 283.
New Brunswick, 45, 277.
New Caledonia, 237, 238.
Newcastle, 75, 248, 249.
INDEX
297
Newfoundland, 25, 45, 53, 57, 58,
206, 215, 216, 222. 224, 237, 238,
247, 278.
New South Wales, 17, 25, 36, 38, 68,
75,90, 180,205,208,215,219, 220.
225,231,236, 239,248.
.New Westminster, 52, 58.
New Zealand, 20, 26, 32, 37, 38, 39,
90, 130, 183, 185. 201, 202, 209,
215. 225, 232, 237, 238, 247, 249,
278, 282, 283.
Nickel, 223-4, 237, 238, 281.
Nigeria, 79, 126. 133, 135, 137, 140,
141, 172, 219, 238, 250, 276, 280.
Nilgiri, 95, 99, 147.
Norfolk, 14, 46.
North Sea, 41, 49, 50, 51, 56, 57, 58.
North- West Frontier Province, 20.
Norway, 46, 47, 53, 215, 238, 280.
Nova Scotia, 60, 81, 215, 247.
Nutmegs, 113, 119.
Nyasaland, 65, 68, 81, 99, 100, 104,
154, 155, 172, 174, 198, 201, 202,
284.
Oamaru, 38.
Oats, 12, 24-6, 32, 283.
Oil seeds and oils, 120-41, 281.
Okanagan, 60.
Oldham, 167.
Olive oil, 137, 141, 281.
Ontario, 16, 23, 24, 39, 59, 81, 82, 90,
190, 206, 208, 215, 224, 235, 236,
237, 239, 277.
Ookiep, 208.
Opium, 150, 151.
Orange Free State, 20, 184, 208.
Oranges, 65, 82, 283.
Orkneys, 24, 49, 57, 58.
Ostrich feathers, 282.
Otago, 20, 200.
Oysters, 53, 55, 58.
Paari, 76.
Paddy, 30.
Paisley, 167.
Palm oil, 120, 138, 140.
Panama Canal, 17.
Para, 27.
Paraffin, 267.
Paramatta, 68.
Parapara, 215.
Patna, 150.
Peace River, 161.
Peaches, 76, 82.
Peinba, 119
Penang, 119.
Penzance, 46.
Pepper, 109, 119.
Perak, 273.
Persia, 154.
Persian berries, 258.
Peru, 141, 145, 186, 202.
Peterhead, 45, 56.
Petroleum, 246, 263-8.
Phormium tenax, 199, 201 202, 282.
Philippines, 140. 153, 155.
Pilchards, 41, 46, 55, 56.
Pineapples, 77, 81, 83.
Plaice, 49, 50, 55, 57.
Plantain, 64.
Platinum, 284.
Plums, 83.
Plymouth, 46, 51, 53, 56.
Poppy seeds, 138, 141.
Poonac, 130.
Pork, 39.
Porthleven, 56.
Port Pirie, 221.
Portugal, 46, 56, 74, 81, 82, 237
Potash, 284.
Prawns, 53, 55, 58.
Preston, 167.
Prince Edward Island. 25.
Punjab, 20, 88, 95 ; 169, 190.
Quebec, 25, 190, 205, 237, 277.
Queen Charlotte Islands, 248.
Queensland, 19, 36, 38, 68, 69, 71, 73
76, 77, 78, 81, 82, 88. 138, 141, 172.
182, 205, 207, 215, 218. 221, 225,
232, 249, 284.
Quicksilver, 284.
Quinine, 143, 151.
Raisins, 74, 75, 76, 81, 82.
Ramie, 198, 202, 223.
Ramsgate, 51.
Rangoon, 31.
Rapeseed, 138, 141, 281.
Rays r 51, 55.
Renmark, 75.
Rhodesia, 20, 29, 37, 39, 68, 132, 141,
154, 155, 172, 206, 233, 236, 237,
239, 250.
Rice, 12, 30-1.
Rochdale, 167.
Rockhampton, 36, 215, 249.
Roina, 76.
298
INDEX
Rossland, 234.
Roumania, 23, 29, 32, 268.
Rubber, 269-77. 282.
Russia, 21, 23, 26, 29, 32, 35, 39, 141,
153, 195, 202, 206, 222, 237, 238,
264, 268, 279.
Rye, 12.
Sago, 32-3, 35.
Salmon, 51, 52, 58.
Sardines, 46.
Saskatchewan, 15, 25.
Scallops, 54.
Schulite, 224.
Scotland, 15, 23, 24, 46, 53, 189.
Selangor, 100.
Semolina, 14.
Sesame, 136, 138, 141, 281.
Seychelles, 109, 119.
Shale oil, 267.
Shea nuts, 138, 141, 281.
Shetland Isles, 49, 57, 58.
Shrimps, 53, 55, 58.
Siam/31, 32,35,83, 119.
Sicily, 69, 82.
Sierra Leone, 100, 112, 119, 126, 135,
140, 141.
Sikkim, 147.
Silk, 190-2, 201, 202, 284
Silver. 236, 239.
Sind, 169.
Singapore, 78, 83, 273.
Sisal, 195, 201, 202.
Skates, 51, 55.
Smyrna, 71, 151.
Soles, 51, 55, 58.
South Africa, 20, 27, 29, 32, 37, 67,
76, 81, 82, 83, 89, 147, 155. 172,
184, 185, 202, 206, 207, 208, 215,
224, 232, 237, 238, 249, 282, 283.
South America, 78, 186.
South Australia, 19, 23, 68, 75, 138,
183, 207, 215, 219, 237.
Southern Rhodesia, 28.
Soya beans, 141.
Spain, 66, 67, 74, 81, 82, 138, 141,
215, 227, 237, 238, 239.
Spey, 52, 58.
Spices, 104-19, 281.
Sprats, 41, 46, 55, 56.
Starch, 14, 2,1.
Stellenbosch, 76.
Stornoway, 45, 56.
St. Helena, 200.
St. Ives, 46, 56.
St. John, 45.
St, John's, 49, 56, 57.
St. Vincent, 34, 163, 172.
Sudan, 37, 39, 71, 135, 171, 174, 284.
Sudbury, 208 224.
Sugar, 83-91, 159, 283.
Sugar beet, 87, 90.
Surat, 170.
Swansea, 207, 218, 220.
Sweden, 215, 238, 280.
Sydney, 17.
Syria, 137, 154.
Tana, 172.
Tangerine, 67.
Tapajos, 270.
Tapioca, 32, 35.
Tarkwar, 234.
Tasmania, 60, 81, 183, 206, 208, 215,
218, 221, 224, 225, 226, 232, 236 ;
237, 238, 239, 249, 278.
T'avoy, 225.
Tea, 91-7, 104, 283.
Teak, 279, 280.
Timaru, 38.
Timber, 277-80.
Tin, 216-19, 237, 238, 281.
Tobacco, 142. 152-5.
Tokar, 171.
Torrington, 225.
Transvaal, 20, 27, 68, 89, 183, 208,
209, 219, 229, 232, 236, 237, 238,
239, 249.
Travancore, 95, 222, 238.
Trinidad, 101, 265.
Tungsten, 224-5, 237, 238.
Turbot, 51, 55, 58.
Turkey, 23, 32, 67, 82, 151, 153, 155,
202.
Tussore silk, 190.
Uganda, 99, 100, 104, 131, 135, 136,
141, 172, 174, 284.
Ulster, 249.
United States, 21, 23, 26, 29, 30, 32,
38, 39, 67, 81, 82, 83, 133, 141, 152,
153, 155, 163, 168, 173, 201, 237,
238, 264, 268, 280, 283.
Uruguay, 186.
Utrecht, 249.
Vancouver, 248.
Vermicelli, 14.
INDEX
299
Victoria, 19, 23, 25, 32, 75, 77, 81,
141, 183, 190, 202, 205, 225, 230,
239, 249.
Vryheid, 249.
Wales, 207.
Wallaroo, 207.
Wankie, 250.
Wellington, 38, 206.
West Africa, 101, 104, 125, 126, 134,
135, 136, 138, 140, 141, 172, 174,
202, 233, 238, 281, 284.
Western Australia, 19, 71, 76, 82,
183, 208, 219, 221, 231, 236, 239.
West Indies, 34, 35, 65, 67, 69, 78,
81, 82, 85, 87, 90, 100, 101, 104,
112, 116, 119, 126, 130, 131, 132,
133, 140, 141, 152, 155, 168, 171,
174, 199, 202, 283, 284.
Westport, 247.
Wheat, 12-21, 32, 156, 281, 282.
Whiting, 55, 57.
Whitstable, 53.
Wick, 45, 56.
Wicklow, 207
Widnes, 207, 226.
Wimmera, 19, 38, 183.
Wine.. 74, 75, 76, 82.
Winnipeg, 15.
Witwatersrand, 232.
Woad, 256, 257.
Wolfram, 224.
Wool, 174-80, 201, 202, 282.
Worsted, 178.
Yarmouth, 45, 56.
Yorkshire, 189.
Yucatan, 195, 202.
Yukon, 16, 234.
Zambesi, 28,
Zanzibar, 119, 131, 140.
Zeehan, 221.
Zinc, 226, 237, 239, 281.
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