The plant is essentially suited to certain parts of the Colony and Protectorate and is not subject to any serious diseases, the only recorded one being a fungus which attacks the rhizomes and causes yellowing of the leaves. This can be prevented from spreading if the plants be removed and burned as soon as the signs of attack are apparent on them. =FIBRES.= =Jute Class.=—In the last few years several fibre plants indigenous to the country have been experimented with at the Imperial Institute, in order to ascertain whether any were capable of being exported for use as substitutes for Indian jute. _Honckenya ficifolia_, known by the Timani name of “Napunti,” a plant which occurs in great profusion in the swamps and low lands, yields a fibre of excellent quality, but owing to the difficulties experienced in the extraction of it, further experiments are necessary to devise a means by which it can be economically prepared. The analyses of the fibre from this plant which have been made at the Imperial Institute (see _Selected Reports from the Imperial Institute_, Part I. [Cd. 4588], Fibres, p. 40) are very satisfactory, and this, combined with the fact that the natural supply of the plant is very large in districts which are quite useless for agricultural purposes, renders it important that the methods of extraction should be more carefully studied. Among the other fibres of this class which have shown promise, _Hibiscus quinquelobus_, to which the Mendis give the name of “Korwey,” is found in a wild state in variable profusion throughout the country. Unlike the last, which produces erect stems growing close together, this plant has stems of an almost scandent character, growing under the shade of moderately large trees and perforating the upper branches, so that the flowering stems are often seen fifteen feet or more above the ground. Under cultivation the experiments seemed to show that the elongated character of the stems was not maintained, and this defect requires to be remedied if the fibre is to be prepared upon a commercial scale. The extraction is easily done by retting, and experimental shipments to Europe of several tons have shown that the product is quite marketable and is classed with, or a little below, medium jutes (_ibid._ p. 39).