770 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[Mav I, 1884. 



Only those conversant with the tact tba.t all the fibre 

 obtainable from a stem of Kamie is accorJing to its length 

 oue-teuth to one-twentieth of an ounce can understand that 

 the magnitude of the work comprized in machining hundreds 

 of tons, renders the adoption of a system of steam and 

 water power, serious to a large cultivator, and impossible 

 to a small one ; we are, however, principally influenced by 

 the knowledge that the /i'//oi (on whose co-operation we 

 count largely) with his small holding, could spare neither 

 the capital to purchase nor the space required for plant 

 of any kiud, and the syatem of the Lini-Soie Syndicate ] 

 requires of him neither capital nor space ; besides, machin- 

 ery includes machinists, and to create in new countries 

 such a vast body of machinists as would machine the 

 quantity produced, would be too slow aud expensive a 

 work, demanding an amount of space and motive power 

 impossible to procure, and an outlay for plant, on which 

 no satisfactory results would ever be realized. 



Therefore, recognizing the objections to machinery iu 

 India where labour is so plentiful, we submitted to Pro- 

 fessor Fremy, Member of the Institute of France, the 

 difficulty in which we were placed, having to deal with 

 an enormous quantity of ribbons obtained by Favier's 

 process {vide appeiiili.v), begging him to supply, if possible, 

 a means of completing M. Favier's discovery. "We stated 

 our requirement to be a process so simple as to resem- 

 ble Favier's process, which requires of the cultivator 

 neither skilled labour nor plant of any kind, aud parti- 

 cularly a process whose result would be ahsohttdy reliable, 

 and also that on reception from the cultivator of his 

 crop, it should not be subjected to machinery, the con- 

 census of opinion denoting that, even if machinery could 

 be made to act on the enormous quantity of raw mate- 

 rial necessary to produce a given weight of filassc (un- 

 gummed fibre), the delicate fibres would be injured and 

 their textile strength diminished. 



Professor Fri'my undertook this task and associated 

 with liimself his chief assistant, M. Urbain. He has suc- 

 ceeded in .satisfying every requirement. 

 Oar readers will observe that every element of doubt is 

 eliminated : Professor Fremy has " succeeded in satisfying 

 every requii-ement." If this statement is sustained iu 

 practical application, it is most important, aud this is 

 what we are fm-ther told: — 



A whole year has been occupied in experiments, the 

 inventors insisting, as a preliminary to permitting their 

 names to be associated in any commercial enterprize, that 

 the processes should pass through all tentative stayes to their 

 satisfaction. This has been done on a scale sufficiently 

 large to approximate with the actual working of the two 

 patents, and manufacturers are specially iuvited to visit 

 the works in France, and to send there any quantity, 

 up to one ton, of freshly cut rhea, sending at the same 

 time a sample of the finished iiroduct required, so that, 

 on return of the rhea converted into yarn the senders 

 may judge for themselves of the remarkable simplicity, 

 wonderful celerity, and absolute perfection obtained. 



We have thus overcome all difficulties and reduced the 

 cost of treatment, (particularly in countries, where, as iu 

 India, labour seeks employment at low wages.) 



We increase the amount of fibre obtaiued, aud that 

 without its being torn or beaten by any contrivance, and 

 produce yarns of any number, with the suppleness, mar- 

 vellous strength, silky brilliancy and the numberless ad- 

 vantages of China-grass at half the cost of flax. 

 The " we" who profess to have done all this, sign thera- 

 Belves merely as "The Lini-Soie Syndicate," the very 

 body they wanted to form. It may be all right, but we 

 naturally desiderate names. The Synilicate, or rather 

 the projectors of the Syndicate, go on to say: — 



We propose that with (he production and cutting of 

 the stems, the work of the agriculturist ceases, and that 

 these stems be purchased by the Company wt; desire to 

 f<>rm, at such a price as woidil give the cultivator a better 

 projit than aiij/ other crop he eould rai^^e. 



It is not proposed that the Company insist on pur- 

 chasing any crop. It woidd willingly arrange with each 

 producer to allow the advances maile to remain until 

 the crop had been converted into fibre and sold in the 

 open markel. charging him meiely interest, comniis.sion, 

 aud an agreed price for the conversion, just the same 

 as a miller would charge for converting wheat into flour. 



In the case of purchase of crops, it is within bounds 

 to assume that there would soon be at least 5,0')0 acres in 

 cultivation, which would give in the first year one crop of 

 about 2,000 tons of ungummed fibres ; doubling the quantity 

 the second year ; trebling it in the third, and quadrupling 

 it the fourth, from which time four crops a year would 

 be regularly obtained, and (/' the Coinpani/ sell at £60 per 

 ton what is now sold for £100, a most satisfactory result 

 would follow. 



We propose (and we have already provisionally a< cepted 

 important propositions) to have in each district a res;ions- 

 ible Agent, who would be supplied with plants of the most 

 approved growth ; with very small portable boilers, aud 

 with money to advance on the growing crop, and that at 

 every cutting, each Agent would go round his district, 

 steaming the produce of each holding, (the ashes of the 

 wood burued for fuel for the boiler, and the dead leaves, form- 

 ing excellent manure for the next crop,) and paying the owner 

 on the spot for the quantity of ribbons produced. The 

 process used (Favier's) requires merely wooden boxes, and 

 the small portable boiler sent by the Agent, wherewith to 

 make the steam required. Thus, instead of carrying 10 

 tons weight of stems, but one ton of rilibons have to 

 be transported. The agriculturalist is not troubled with 

 any calculations as to royalty, patent rights, or purchase 

 of machinery. He utilizes every foot of his hoMing, aud 

 the transaction is limited to .au operation familiar to him 

 viz: : the raising a crop, and the selling it on the ground, 

 and he has four crops in each year, no seed to buy, aud 

 cuttings to sell. 



The grand merit of this scheme is that it proposes to 

 cany a portable boiler and a steiiming trough to every 

 field; the weak point is the anticipation of four crops 

 per annimi in perpetuity, iivcu vith the ashes of the 

 stems and the aid of the fuel used for heating the boiler, 

 there would uot be manure enough, and, to prevent utter 

 exhaustion of soU, rotation of crops would have to be 

 resorted to. But scepticism is shamed out of the field 

 by a quotation made from Sir William Wedderbtu'u, to 

 the eflect that 



Of all debtors in the world, the Indian ryot is the most 

 frugal, the most industrious, and the most religiously 

 desirous to pay all that he owes. 



This is entirely new to us, and will be, we suppose, to 

 the vast majority of members of the service to which 

 Sii- William belonged. But to quote again :^ 



The ribbons containing all the fibres would be conveyed 

 to the works of the Company, fixed at some convenient 

 and central spot, and would there, by the Frcmy-Urbain 

 process be converted into filasse ready for the spinner. 

 Tliis system would be adopted wherever Khea-grass can be 

 advantageously grown, and would secure to the Company 

 three results : — 



1st. The obtaining, at a price remunerative to the 

 grower, and adv.antageous to the Company, of an enor- 

 mous supply of the raw material. 



2nd. A limitless tieid of operations in transforming, as 

 already shewn, the raw material obtained into perfectly 

 clean filasse for which it would, as an invariable rule, 

 accept the market price. 



3rd. The small capital sunk in plant would enable the 

 Company to treat a maximum of produce with a mini- 

 mum of cost. 



With the progress of years and the consequent exten- 

 sion of the Company's business, its profits from treating 

 purchases, aud its commissions on sales would of course 

 grow with the extension and cultivation of the plant. 



As to the cultivation of the Rhea and its markets it is 

 only by a visit to our offices that a just idea can be formed 

 of its future. 



We exhibit: — 



1st. Eamie decorticated by Favier''s process. 



2nd. Kamie decorticated by Favier's process and then 

 treated by the B'remy-Urbain process. 



3rd. Kamie so treated and converted into fibre, divested 

 of its gum, so that no loss of weight is incurred by buyer, 

 this we call Filasse, 



4th. Filasse converted into slivers, yams and thread. 



5th. Trowser material of excellent quality and texture 

 produced with the most indifferent • shoddy worked to- 

 gether with China-grass, whicli can be made to closely 

 lesemble wool. 



