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THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [Nov. i, i885. 



RM« 



dift'erenfc countries. In the Indian Archipelago Ehea 

 i3 planted under the shade of forest trees. In 

 Algeria and in Egypt it is grown in the open field 

 entirely exposed to the sun. Mr. Minchin advocates 

 partial shade, ami in clearing his forest land he has 

 left some of the larger trees for this purpose. 

 Manure can scarcely be despensed with, but the plant 

 gratefully responds to every attention paid to it. 

 Xo crop for the purpose of fibre extraction should 

 be expected until after the plants have been left 

 undisturbed in the ground for at least 12 months, 

 during which time the fields must be kept free from 

 weeds, an expense that will not recur when the Rhea 

 has thorougly established itself. The cost cf upkeep 

 after tlie first year wUl, therefore, be light in com- 

 parison with most other crops. When in full vigour, 

 Rhea should afford in India from four to five crops 

 in each year according to localitJ^ The stems are 

 said to be in their best condition for cutting when 

 they begin to ripen, which may be known by their 

 commencing to turn brown at the butt. An interest- 

 ing account has recently appeared in one of the ^lan- 

 chester piipers of a visit to the Rhea plantation 

 near Zagazig, on the Suez Railway, where there are 

 over 300 acres of Rhea inider cultivation, the prop- 

 erty of the Ramie Company of Egypt. Here it is 

 said that no shade is necessary, and the fields are 

 irrigated in the customary Egyptian manner. The 

 treatment of the crop differs very materially from 

 that recommended under the Favier system, and I am 

 unable to say whether the introduction of decortication 

 by steam would enable them to obtain better results 

 than they have yet realised. It appears to be the 

 practice in Egypt to cut the stems while still young 

 and pale green in color, and they do this because 

 they find that when the stem once begins to 

 change colour, the bark hardens, and the re- 

 sinous m'.tter becomes stronger and decoitication 

 almost impossible. Of course this is so, and as 

 the flowering stage approaches, the entire structure 

 of the plant will be undergoing considerable chiuges, 

 which, in all probability, will, to some extent, affect 

 the character of the fibre, as well as the bark and 

 the wood. 



The steaming process enables the bark to be re- 

 moved with all the fibre attached, at a much later 

 period when the plant has reached its most perfect 

 vigour, and when it is reasonable to assume that 

 all its component parts are in their best possible 

 condition. In Egypt the stems would then be S or i) 

 feet in length, but they cut them when from 4 to 5 

 feet long, and the delicate fihn of bark can then 

 be easily stripped off the stalk by hand, and an 

 hour's exposure to the sun is sufficient to dry it 

 ready for packing. When removed from the half- 

 matured stem, the bark is described as "a thin 

 pellucid ribbon as translucent as green Persian silk 

 when in a moist state." No doubt, in this condition 

 the gum will be much less tenacious than at a later 

 period, and therefore more easily treated, but on the 

 other hand the weight of fibre lost by premature 

 cutting must be very considerable, and the decision 

 as to which of these two systems is the most ad- 

 vantagpous will turn upon the relative qualities of 

 the filasse so produced. If there is but trifling differ- 

 ence in the value of the fibres, the balance of ad- 

 vantage must rest with the .system that affords the 

 heaviest crop. 



On this point I am not in a position to afford a 

 decisive opinion, never having seen any of these 

 delicate Egyptian ribbons, but of the fibre produced 

 from the mature .stems by Favier's steaming pro- 

 cess, some of the leading flax spinners have spoken 

 in the highest term's, de.scribiug the yarns made from 

 it as possessing " quality and strength superior to 

 other Clhina grass yarns from other sources," and 

 again "very superior to that which is obtained by the 

 application of mechanical methods." The testimony 

 is sufficiently conclusive as to the commercial value 

 of the filasse from steamed ribbons, and is satisfactory 

 evidence that the fibre is in no way injured either 

 by the action of steam or by the subsequent chemicul 

 treatment by the Fremy-Urbain process. Some 



notion of the probable crop may be arrived at 

 from an interesting observation of Mr. Minchin's, who 

 selected three one-year old plants, and ou the Gth 

 March cut them down close to the ground. On the 

 t>th May following he cut from these three plants 62 

 stems, weighing in the aggregate ^Mb., and on the 

 1st July he again cut from the same plants 83 stems 

 weighing ll^lb. 



In April, stems feet long when decorticated, yielded 

 7 5 per cent of their weight in ribbons, but in the 

 rains the green stuff contained more water, and the 

 percentage of ribbons was somewhat less. In Algiers, 

 where the ripe stems only averaged about an ounce and 

 a half in weight, it is stated that an average yield of 

 10 per cent of ribbons is obtained, whereas in India, 

 owing to the greater vigour of Indian grown Rhea, 

 the stems of which averaged three ounces in weight, the 

 percentage of ribbons to the weight of the bulk may 

 very well be much less, whilst the actual yield of fibre 

 per acre may be as much as, or even more than, in 

 Algeria. 



It will be seen that an enormous quantity of green 

 stuff must be cut and handled for every ton of fibre 

 that is produced. One hundred pounds weight of green 

 stems, after the leaves have been removed, will not 

 yield more than 3!b. of fibre, treated by the machine, 

 the average will probably not exceed 2ilb. The same 

 weight of stems, when decorticated by steam, will 

 furnish Tpb. of dry ribbons. The process of decor- 

 tication can be carried out on the field by the use of light 

 easily portable steam generators, and this will render 

 the carriage of but seven and a half per cent of the 

 gross weight necessary. Now the machines, I am 

 speaking of Death and Eliwood's patent, require a 

 strong pressure of water, and can only be used where 

 there is an abundant supply of water, and either 

 steam or water-power for driving. They must, there- 

 fore, be located where these requisites are available, 

 and the entire weight of green stuff must be carried 

 to the mills. Fancy carrying 35 to 40 tons of stems 

 for any distance to produce a single ton of machined 

 fibre. It is in this direction that the planter must 

 exercise all his ingenuity and close supervision to 

 effect economy in labour and carriage to prevent 

 his profits from being eaten up at the very first stage 

 of treatment. 



With these figures before them will be possible for 

 planters to draw up approxima-te estimates of cost of treat- 

 ment according to the scales of charges current in their 

 several localities. I will now proceed to furnish some 

 idea of the probable crop to be expected. To ob- 

 tain a ton of ribbons per acre, assuming the per- 

 centage obtained from the bulk to be 7 per cent, 

 it will be necessary to cut 12,000 lb. weight of green 

 stems, and assuming them to average eight stems to 

 the pound, that will be 256,000 stems, .so that if 

 five crops are obtained in the year, it will be neces- 

 sary to get 51,200 stems at each cutting from the 

 acre, or per square yard (4,840 square yards=-l 

 acre), s.ay lOi stems. To get two tons of ribbons 

 per acre 21 stems must be cut from each square 

 yard. At Glenrock, in many places, over 30 mature 

 stems have been counted to the measured square 

 yard. Two tons of ribbons per acre is not, there- 

 fore, an unreasonable estimate of the probable yield 

 of established cultivation in favourable localities. 

 I have already stated that the dry ribbons produced 

 by the Favier system of steam decortication will 

 yield at least 45 per cent of fine filasse when treated 

 by the Fremy-Urbain process. If the yield per acre 

 be two tons of ribbons, the produce in filasse will 

 be 2,016 lb., the present market value of which is 

 stated to be from seven pence to nine pence per lb. 

 according to quality, the gross proceeds of the pro- 

 duce of one acre would therefore be .£67-4, from which 

 must be deducted the cost of cultivation, handling, 

 treatment, carriage, drying, packing, freight, chemical 

 treatment, commissions, kc, to ascertain nett results. 

 I cannot, however, as yet say that there is a large 

 present demand for the filasse of Khea in England, 

 tor the simple reason that no considerable quantity 

 has yet been offered in the market, and manufactur- 

 ers naturally hesitate going to the exjjense of altering 



