A Valuable Fibre.

Manawatu Herald, 23 October 1897, Page 2

A Valuable Fibre.

The kapok, or floss, is, according to presant demand, a fibre of cod siderable importance. Id is said that its elasticity and harshness prevent it from becoming matted like the generality of flosses. Serious complaint is made in Australia and elsewhere of the quality of the kapoc shipped from India. " Even at the low price of Indian kapok (about 31 per lb) it i9 found better to pay B|d or more per lb for kapok grown in Java. The former ig frequently received in such a filthy condition as to be almost unsaleable. The hydraulic or steam press packing of kapok tends to destroy that peculiar elasticity to which it owes its value. In addition the packing tends to press a dark coloured oil from the seeds left attached to the fibre, and hence a noticeable difference in colour between the Indian and the beautifully white Java pro ducts. At Java the trade has assumed a uniform practice. No unclean stuff is shipped, but the different grades of cleaning denote standards of quality ; the first "extra cleaned," is the firafc picking

of the crop, and is cleaned by machinery : the second, denoted as " best cleaned picked," is all hand-picked and free from seeds, except an odd one here and there ; the third is simply designated "cleaned." It contains a few seeds, together with the " slubs," or little knotty curly lumps, which are cast aside from the higher grades. Packing is all done in straw mats and the floss is never tightly pressed.