Fibrous Wealth
The talk of finding a home for exiled Jews in British Guiana reminds me of a correspondence of some years ago, when there was a question of the commercial growing of certain fibrous plants. An .experiment was indeed carried through in Suffolk. The most valuable plants of this nature are found in Guiana, which has remained a foolishly neglected country. Samples of the fibre, of both a strong and soft texture, are in my possession, and reached me with the following commendation from a resident in Guiana : British Guiana, although small (about the size of England), is admitted to be one of the richest countries in South America, not only in mineral wealth, but for its vegetable growths, amongst which are fibrous plants of great com- mercial value. Among others, are the Bromelia or wild pine- apple species, which grow wild in large quantities. The value of these fibres has been recognised for many years, but they have not been gathered and placed upon the market through the lack of machinery capable of extracting the fibre from the fleshy part of the leaf.
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