May 



1884.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



-.(9 



CHINA GRASS, EAMIE, OR RHEA. 



From a gentleman who has taken great interest in 

 the development of the rhea fibre industry, Ave have 

 received a commimication which we quote below : — 

 Ragalla, UdapusseUawa, 2nd April 1884. 



Dear Sir, — Enclosed are two letters from manufacturers 

 of fancy cloths about ''China grass." They speak for 

 themselves, but one may hope to hear before lung that 

 fibre turned out by the Favier-Fremier or other processes is 

 being worked up by the manufacturers in quantity. The 

 fact, if correctly stated, of SI. Favier having taken, in 

 payment for the use of his machines in Johore, a num- 

 ber of shares in the new t'ompany in Johore, is a proof 

 of his belief in the machinery and the fibre as investments. 



As Messrs. IMark Dawson & Son say, " the thing is 

 too tempting " but " the moment a machine is invented 

 that will thoiuuyhly strip the outside bark without breaking/ 

 it, then" &c. 



Let us hope that time has come, hut, until we are sure, 

 let us take the warning expressed so strongly in the 

 letter above quoted. — Yours faithfully, 



S. M. Kay-Shuttlewoeth. 

 This is just what we have been sajTng recently, in the 

 face of the extraordinai^ non-appearance of Dr. Forbes 

 Watson at the Ciilcutta Exhibition with the machine 

 which Death & Elwood had patented, and the miserable 

 fiasco in the case of the fibre- cleaiiuf; machines which 

 were tried. The difficulty about all fibre-yielding plants 

 is the enormous proportion of water and waste to 

 commercially valuable fibre. The machine must, therefore, 

 be brought to the material instead of the material being 

 earned to the machine-house, whUe in the case of "China 

 gi'ass" or rhea, the bark is in such hirge proportion and so 

 intractable that the mere products of the engineer's skill 

 can never alone be successful in eflecting the process 

 of decortication : the chemist must be called in to aid 

 the engineer, especially as there is much gum mixed 

 with the ramie fibre. And after all is done, it would 

 apiiear that the fibre, though much superior to jute in 

 fineness, possesses some of the objectionable features of 

 that fibre, especially its hardness and the liability of 

 fabrics made from it, if crumpled, to remain so. No 

 person can speak with more authority than Messrs. 

 Dawson & Son of Bradford, and their letter sent to 

 us by our correspondent runs thus: — 



Dear Sir, — We have been asked by Messrs. Wm. 

 Ecroyd & Sons to give you what information we could 

 about " China grass." We may state that we are the 

 only spinners of the above article in this country and 

 have used it now for some years, and at the Paris Ex- 

 hibition of 187S we h.id the gold medal awarded for yarns 

 out of China grass. Up to the present time it has only 

 been used for fancy articles because, of the price, which 

 is caused through the bark having "to be stripped (in 

 China) by band labour. We may also state that the 

 ludia Office sent us all the samples to examine that had 

 been used in the competition in India for the £5,000 award 

 offered by Government, and there was not a single sam- 

 ple deserving of the prize, and we wrote to the India 

 Office to that effect. We consider that there has been 

 more money got out of the public by theorists, with the 

 object of pushing the sale of "China grass" than any 

 other article we know. For years past we have been 

 asked for our opinion re " China grass " from various 

 people, and, when we have given them a true statenitnt 

 of facts, the bait lias been too tempting, and they have 

 of course lost their money, ^\■e may state that the whole 

 thing Hls in a "nutshell"; the moment a machine is 

 invented that will thorouyld 1/ strip the outside bark 

 vilkout hrealim it, then it will be a commercial succe.'-s ; 

 but, to judge of that, it requires to be seen by some one 

 used (o the material. Its growth is very rapid- three 

 or four crops per year— and the above is'lhe only diffic- 

 98 



ulty we know of. We ourselves shall be only too glad 

 if it can be done, but we must see it before believing. 

 We shall be only too glad to give you any further in- 

 formation you may require, and, if you should be in Brad- 

 ford at any time, we can explain to you more fuhy than 

 it is possible in writing. — Yom-s truly, 



Mark Dawson & Son. 



When Messrs. Dawson & Son speak of four crops 

 of this nettle per annimi, they may not be aware that 

 to procure such crops, rich soil to begin with and very 

 heavy manuring must be premised. The second letter 

 enclosed by om- correspondent runs as follows: — 



I am expecting on Saturday to receive full partic- 

 ulars in reply to your enquiries about "China Crrass." 

 I have not been able until this week to meet with any 

 manufacturer who could give me much reliable information 

 Some years ago, we tried it at Domesba} e in one or two 

 cloths, but it did not answer the purpo."-!! intended, and 

 was abandoned. It has one great defei t. When it is 

 crumpled, it retains the creases. This is a serious defect 

 as regards its use for dress-goods. It has latterly been 

 used tor curtains. I believe the trade is only of a very 

 limited character. 



Such is the testimony of English manufacturers ; but 

 amidst the floods of rhea Uteraturo which pom' in upon 

 us, are testimonies from continental authorities of a 

 much more sanguine character. Amorgst the latest is 

 a prospectus of a proposed Sjndicate, intended for the 

 double piu'pose of making advances to Indian cultiv- 

 ators of rhea, and of carrying to eveiy field where the 

 plant may be gi'own, steaming troughs represented as 

 just perfect in then- efl'ect on the hard bark and the fine 

 fibre, the one being eifectually separated fiom the other. 

 It is unfortunate that the paper sent to us is anonymous, 

 but we shall quote some of its statements, leaving om- 

 readers to judge for themselves as to the bona JUUs of 

 the writer. The project for the " Lini-soie Syndicate," 

 though not signed, in consequence probably of the moilesiy 

 of the writer, is dated from 220, Gresham House, Old 

 Broad St., London, E.G., and the statements put forth 

 are qualified by no such " element of doubt," as the 

 letters of Messrs. Dawson and tho other manufacturer 

 might raise. Listen I 



China-grass gives a yarn from which is produced the 

 strongest canvas; the finest gossamer; rich curtain .stuff of 

 every shade and colour, and its noils mixed with si ddy, 

 make an excellent cloth, strong and durable. 



Tho marvellous strength of China-grass Fibre, its aiiapt- 

 ability to every manufacture, whether used alone or in 

 conjunction with other material, and the facility with which 

 it takes every shade of coloin", are qualities very precious to 

 the spinner. 



The basis of this enterprize consists therefore in the 

 fact that China-grass contains fibres callable of being usetl 

 in commerce, but that their cohesion to bark and wood has 

 hitherto rendered their separation a process so slow and 

 difficult as to make the costtoo high to permit any hope 

 of commercial profit from their treatment on a large scale. 



China grass has nevertheless been for many years im- 

 ported into England. It is put in the market altera pro- 

 longed handling by the Chinese, who have never been 

 able to take from thi' stem more than a portion of the 

 fibre, leaving the finest and most valuable part on the 

 wood. China grass in this state is sold at fiom £-).5 to 

 £50 per ton, loaded with at lea.st one-third of its weight of 

 agimmy matter, and the separation of this gum from the 

 fibre entails not only loss of weight but an expensive and 

 tedious process, calculated by Bosky at £32 per ton, making 

 its cost price £100 per ton. 



All efforts to secure a regular relial'le supply of the 

 raw material have hitherto failed, aud whilst it is admitted 

 that many of tho British possessions (lu'iia more partic- 

 ularly), are espcciallv favourable for the grrwtli of the plant, 

 no method of treatment on a scale con inensurate with 

 the possible production has been found practicable. M'e 

 have studied every machine known (some torty) and have 

 found none to fulfil the conditions, we belii ve, indispensable 

 for the purpose under notice. Wherever cheap labour is 

 obtainable it is in every way preferable to the best machine. 



