463 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[Janttary I, 1884. 



causes the slria or bark, as a whole, fibre included, to 

 adhere to the wood. The Professor, therefore, proceeded 

 to carefully investigate the uatau-e of these various 

 substances, and in the result he found that the vascu- 

 lose and pectose were soluble in an alkaU under cer- 

 tain conditions, and that the cellulose was imfioluble. 

 He therefore dissolves out the cutose, vaacutose, and pectose 

 by a very simple process, obtaining the iibre clean, and free 

 from all extraneous adherent matter, ready for the spinner. 

 In order, however, to insure as a result a perfectly uniform 

 and marketable article, the Professor uses various chemicals 

 at the sevi-ral stages of the process. These, however, are 

 not administered haphazard, or by rule of thumb, as has 

 been the case in some processes bearing in the same 

 direction, and which have consequently failed, in the sense 

 that they have not. yet taken their places as commercial 

 Bucesses. The Professor, therefore, carefully examines the 

 article which he has to treat, and, according to its nature 

 and the character of its components, he determines the 

 proportions of the various chemicals which he introduces 

 at the several stages. Ail chance of failure thus appears 

 to be eliminated, and the production of hbre of uniform and 

 reliable quality, removed from the region of doubt into 

 that of certainty. The two processes of M. Fa\'ier and 

 H. Fr6my have, therefore, been combined, and machinerj' 

 has been put up in France on a scale sufficiently large to 

 fairly approximate to practical working, and to demonstrate 

 the practicability of the combined inventions. 



The process, as carried out, consists in first treating the 

 rhea according to M. Favier's invention. The apparatus 

 employed for this purpose is very simple and inexpensive, 

 consisting merely of s stout deal trough or box, .about 8 ft. 

 long. 2 ft. wide, and 1 ft. Sin. deep. The bo.x has a hinged 

 lid and a false open bottom under which steam is ad- 

 mitted by a perforated pipe, there being an outlet for the 

 condensed water at one end of the box. Into this box 

 the bundles of rhea were placed, the lid closed, steam 

 turned on, and iu about twenty minutes it was invari- 

 ably found that the bark bad been sufficiently softened to 

 allow of its being readily and rapidly stripped off by hand, 

 togetlier with the whole of the fibre iu what may be called 

 ribands. Thus the process of decoration is effectively accom- 

 plished in a few minutes, instead of requiring, as it some- 

 times does in retting the process, day.s, and even weeks, 

 and being at the best attended with uncertainty as 

 to results, as also is the case when decortication is 

 effected by machinery. Moreover, the retting process, 

 which is simply steeping the cut plants in water, 

 is a delicate operation, requiring constant watching, 

 to say nothing of its serious inconvenience from a sani- 

 tary point of view, on account of the pestilential 

 emanations from the retteries. Decortication by steam 

 having been effected, the work of M. Favier ceases, and the 

 process is carried forward by M. Frcmy. The ribands 

 having been produced, the fibre in them has to be freed 

 from the mucilaginous secretions. To this end, after ex- 

 amination in the laboratory, they are laid on metal trays 

 which are placed one aliove the other in a vertical perfor- 

 ated metal cylinder. TMien charged, this cylinder is placed 

 within a strong ron cylinder, containing a known quantity 

 of water, to which an alkali is added in certain proportions. 

 Within the cyliuder is a steam coil for heating the water, 

 and, steam having been turned on, the temperature is 

 raised to a certain point, when the cylinder is closed and 

 made steam-tight. The process of boiling is continued 

 underpressure until the temperature — and con.^equently the 

 steam pressure — within the cylinder has attained a high 

 degree. On the completion of Ibis part of Uie process, 

 which occupies about four hours, and upon which the suc- 

 cess of Ihe whole mainly depends, the cemeutitious matter 

 surrounding the fibre is found to have been tran.sformed 

 into a substance easily dissolved. The fibrous mass is then 

 removed to a centrifugal machine, in which it is quickly 

 deprived of its surplus alkaline moisture, and it is then 

 placed in a weak solution of hydrochloric acid for a short 

 time. It is then transferred to a bath of pure cold 

 water iu which it remains for about an hour, a'ld 

 it is subsequently placed for a short time in a weak acid 

 bath, after which it is agaiu washed in cold water, tfnd dried 

 for the market. Si.' h are the proces.ses by which China 

 grass may become u source of profit alike to the culti- 

 yatoi aud the spiiuuier, A factory situuto at Louvkro bu 



been acquired, where there is machinery already erec'ed 

 for preparing the fibre according to the process we have 

 described, at the rate of one ton per day. There is also 

 machinery for spinning the fibre into yarns. 



Ou»tbe whole, the conclusion is that the results of the 

 combined processes, so far as they have gone, are emi- 

 nently satisfactory, and justify the expectation that a 

 large enterprize in the cultivation and utilisation of China 

 grass is on the eve of being opened up, not only in 

 India and our colonies, but possibly also much nearer home. 

 A writer in the Flcmters' Guzette of 1st ^November 

 backed up by Mr. Thos. Christy maintains however that 



The Ekman process is a long way iu advance of the 

 one above described, and theoretically at all events it satis- 

 fies all the requirements of the situation. Nay, further, 

 the clean fibres turned out by it are simply magnificent 

 as specimens, but whether they can be actually used as 

 they are by the spinner and weaver still remains an open 

 question, for it has not yet been tried. 'We say to all 

 appearance this has been accomplished, and it will be put 

 to the test as soon as Air. Ekman can obtain a sufficient 

 supply of rhea plants. Still it must be understood that 

 there would be no market for the article unless manufac- 

 turers were assured of regular and abundant supphes, so 

 as to make it worth while for them to adapt their machinery 

 to the peculiarities of the material. 



Mr. t hristy writes almost contemptuously of the French 

 inventions : — 



The Favier process consists of placing the stems of China 

 grass or other plants having a hard wood barrel or core in a 

 tank composed of wood, or it might be called a box with a 

 pipe underneath leading from a boiler or vessel iu which 

 steam can be generated. The action of the steam upon the 

 stems causes the gummy matter to dissolve, and when the 

 stems are taken from the box or steam chest, their skin 

 comes away with the greatest ease, but it leaves the outside 

 brown skin adhering to the fibre ; therefore, it is no nearer 

 being a practical result than if some native had stripped the 

 bark off himself. These steam chests are exactly similar to 

 those used in China and also iu some parts of India, and I 

 entirely fail to see how any patent could be held for this part 

 of the process. 



To have made the process any success worth the notice 

 of financiers they ought to have had over a Death Sc 

 Elwood machine, which can be purchased for about £30, and 

 which turns out a large quantity of fibre iu the twelve hours, 

 because then the sticks could have been taken from the 

 steam chest, and the action of the air acting on one side 

 of the skin or mass of fibre and the water acting on the 

 other side, as in that process, would have, in my opinion, 

 disintegrated the fibre and removed a large quantity of the 

 gummy matter. But we shall not have long to wait for these 

 experiments, as they are being tried here. 



One disadvantage in the Favier machine is that fuel, 

 which is always very expensive in India, is a necessity, 

 whereas with the Death & Elwood machine it is quite inde- 

 pendent of heat if only water power can be obtained. 



There is another point which must not be lost sight of in 

 these trials, and that is the quality of the Chma gi'ass or 

 any fibre that is looked upon as a staple article. I have 

 shewn in my No. 6, " New Commercial Pl.".nts," that certain 

 Asiatic plants grown iu Europe only yitld poor weak fibre 

 compared with the strong elastic fibre they produce in their 

 native soil ; and I believe it will be found that if hemp and 

 flax were treated by the Favier process when the plant is 

 ripe, they would get a better fibre from these plants grown 

 in Europe than they will from the European China grass. 

 This question will also be shortly set at rest by trials now 

 being made by Mr. George Fry, F. r, s,, in this country. 

 He proposes to allow the plants to properly ripen, and by 

 treating them by some process other than retting. 

 But it is pointed out that Wr. Christy has faiJeil to 

 note the fact that the Fr^niy process is now amalgam- 

 ated with Favier's. and that the one should not be 

 judged without the other. We may be sure tluit 

 if the Fiench process is a practical success the inventors 

 will not be long in taking advantage of the best and 

 widest fields available for the utilization of their patent-, 

 and therefore through the Uovemnient of India — if not 

 at the Calcutta Exhibition— we shall be sure to hear 

 ftbput the prooesees, if continuously sncceseful ere long^, 



