926 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[June 2, 1884. 



with rhea only. The waste by above macbiue, I may men- 

 tiou, is almost "nil." 



(Fi'om a Correspondent in London.) 



You ask ill the Ceylon Observer which is ]ust to hand, 

 how it was that Dr. Forbes "Watson did not go to Cal- 

 cutta to test the Death & EUwood or Smith patent 

 fibre-cleaning machine. 



The best answer to be found to such an enquiry is the 

 report brought home from Oeylon by Mr. Arthur Camp- 

 bell of the cajjacity of one of these machines. 



It is reported that he worked to the very utmost, having 

 the stems handed to him by natives, and the utmost 

 quantity that could be turned out was the equivalent of S 

 lb. of dry fibre per hour. 



He naturally admits that no native would work the 

 machine at its utmost, speed nor would he exert himself 

 as he and liis partner did, for ten hours in the day; there- 

 fore it would be too much to calculate the outturn of one 

 of these machines at 50 lb. of dry fibre a day. That would 

 be 18s a day, suppo.sing the fibre sold at £40 a ton here, 

 from which would have lo be deducted the cost of grow- 

 ing the fibre, bringing it to the machine, treating it, dry- 

 ing it baling it and sending it to England, and then 

 having to pay the brokers charges and warehousing. 



There is no doubt this machine turns out excellent stuff, 

 but improvements .will have to be made ujion it to 

 prevent the necessity of having to draw the fibre back 

 with the hand and then turn it to put in the otter end. 



A similar report is sent over of the quantity that can be 

 turned out of this machine in India, and also from Jamaica; 

 so it shows that all the difierent people have been work- 

 ing their very utmost and calculating upon the result of 

 an hour's work at high pressure. 



We add to the above commuuicatious the follow- 

 ing extract from the London letter of our moruiiig 

 contemporary : — 



In a recent issue of the Titiies of Cei/loii, I noticed an 

 editorial commenting favourably on samples of various 

 fibres prepared at the Beddegamma estate by one of the 

 Death and Ellwood machines, chiefly aloe, plaintaiu, and 

 pine-a])ple, but you went on to remark that, although the 

 quality of the fibres was excellent, the jiractical utility 

 of the machine depended upon the quantity it could turn 

 out in a working day, and the cost of the labour and 

 power employed. Now Jlr. Campbell, by whom these 

 trials were personally conducted, has just arrived in this 

 country, and at first it looked as though his report was 

 most damaging, if not fatal, to the machine, for he de- 

 clared that, when worked by two Europeans doing their 

 level best, and therefore twice as much at least as coolies 

 in the ordinary w.ay, the best jaeld was .5 lbs. of dry 

 fibre per hour obtained from aloe leaves, whilst that 

 from pine-apple leaves and plaiutain s'alks was much 

 less. It needed no argument to demonstrate that, if this 

 really was the utmost capacity of the machine it was 

 practically worthless, but it is only fair to say that 

 .after an interview with the manufacturers, Mr. Camp- 

 bell has greatly modified his \'iews, being convinced 

 that he could have done vastly better, if he had been 

 in possession of proper instructions for working, and had 

 been able to remedy certain defects in the machine, of 

 which he is now conscious. Chief amongst these latter 

 was the absence of a suflicient head of water to 

 •create the necessary pressure from the jet, which 

 forms the cushion pressing the leaf or plant against 

 the beaters, and also serving to clean the fibre 

 from the gums and other extraneous matter adher- 

 ing to it. Mr. Campbell admits that this was wanting, 

 whereas it is an essential feature of the invention, and 

 will make a considerable eUfference. Then, too, experience 

 in other places has proved that, as those working the 

 machine become accustomed to it. the outturn steadily 

 increases, and the actual result obtained in one instance 

 has been ll:Hb. of rhea fibre in a day of 10 hours from 

 stalks of inferior quaUty giving only 3 per cent of the 

 gross weight, instead of .5 jier cent, which is the ordinary 

 yield ; and of course there would be no more labour eni- 

 jiloyed. and no more time occupied in obtaining the latter, 

 th.'in the tormer, if it were there. I think therefore that 

 judgment must bi^ suspended until the machmo had been 

 t'airiy tested under satisfactory conditions, and I have no 



doubt that a gi'eat effort will be made to do this at the 

 exhibition to be held in the Agricultm-al Hall in August 

 and .September next, though it will obviously be no easy 

 matter, owing to the difficulty of obtaining a sufficient 

 quantity of fresh leaves and stalks. This is an exhibition 

 of textile fabrics, aud the machinery for manufacturing 

 them, including also the raw materials, and I understand 

 that the inventors of several of the processes and appU- 

 ances for the treatment of fibrous plants intend to com- 

 pete. 



MR. ARMSTRONG ON MR. HALLILEY AND 

 HIS WEED THEORY. 

 Rookwood, Deltota, 15th May 1884. 

 Dkar Sir, — May I ask you to be good enough to 

 insert the following letter which 1 have written to 

 the editor "Times of Ceylon," as you gave such 

 prominence to Mr. Halliley's remark concerning my 

 former estate, Rahatungoda, and weeds ? — I am, yours 

 faithfully, C. SPEARMAN ARMSTRONG. 



l.")th May 1884. 

 The Editor the " Times of Cejdou," Colombo. 



Dear Sir, — With reference to Mr. Halhley's remark 

 anent Rahatungoda, in Ills letter appearing iu your issue 

 of the loth instant, viz. : "I was told by the former pro- 

 prietor of Rahatungoda, that when that was a weedy 

 estate it used to give good crops," iSrc, I beg to inform 

 him, I was the immediate former proprietor of that estate, 

 and that I have known it for 19 years, and can say, 

 during the time it gave GOOD crops, it was >iut a weedy estate. 

 A friend, who has known the estate sis years longer than 

 I have, endorses what I have said. 



Where weeds have been allowed to gi'ow, coffee has, in 

 every instance under my knowledge, succumbed to them. - 

 Had we not enough varieties in Ceylon already, I would 

 i-ecommend Mr. Halliley to import a new weed, to try his 

 theory on. — I am, dear sir, yours faithfully, 



C. Speakman Aemstkono. 



[We cannot help thinking that Mr. Halliley re- 

 ferred to a period anterior to Mr. Armstrong's con- 

 nection with Rahatungoda. — Ed.] 



G. W. ON CEARA RUBBER TREES. 



Sir, — Referring to an inquiry of one of your recent 

 correspondents, I may s:iy that I have nothing satis- 

 factory to communicate further about Ceara. The 

 collection was continued from trees of different aeea 

 aud in different localities as long as I could afford to 

 carry it on, but, except on rare occasions, the quantity 

 collected did not pay for the labour of collecting. 



The last method tried was to take advantage of 

 tho'e times when the trees yielded milk freely, and 

 to take from them at such times as much as could 

 be got, and to neglect them at all other times. But 

 even this method has not hitherto succeeded in the 

 all-important matter of a remunerative result. In fact, 

 all that I have done leads me to the conclusion, that, 

 except at some pariicular times, the quantity of milk 

 procurable by any known means does i.ot pay for the 

 labour of extraction. 



Having lately had to cut out some Ceara trees that 

 were occupying ground required for other purposes, I 

 had a few of them iiricked all over belore they were 

 cut down and all the milk taken from them that could 

 be got. But even this drastic treatment failed to 

 yield a remunerative result. 



During the late drought of the first three months 

 of the \ear, a great many of the trees on several 

 estates eulfcrcd vcy severely, and not a few have 

 died. It was at tirst supposed that the Icifless con- 

 dition of the trees was natural, and indicated only a 

 change of leaf; but when the new foliage began to 

 appear only partinlhj, and showed that many of ihe 

 branches and some individual trees had entirely sue 

 cumbed, it became pretty evident that, uulcsaourioh 



