$5^ 



fnt fROPrCAL AGRICULTURIST. [March i, 1887. 



INDIAN FIBRES SUITABLE FOR 

 PAPER MAKING. 



We have been favoured with a copy of the follow- 

 ing official Report of a Conference held in the 

 Oonjmercial Room of the Imperial Indian Court of 

 the Colonial and Indian Exhibition, 2nd July 1886. 



Present :— Sir E. C. Buck, i.l. d.. Dr. G. Watt, 

 C. I. H., Mr, John AVilson, Mr. F. G. Lloyd, Mr. 

 E. H. Joynson, Mr. E. Bevan, Mr. ClaytOQ Beadle, 

 Sir. J. Buchanan, Mr. T. Christy, Mr. W. E. Death, 

 Mr. F. P. Banlow, Mr. Routledge, Mr. Lascelles-Scott, 

 ]Mr. B. Doukin, juu., and Mr. T. A. Archer. 



On the tables were displayed, a large assortment of 

 fibres suitable for paper-making, as also Indian power 

 and hand manufactured papers. The following may 

 be mentioned as the more importaut fibres shown : — 



Pollinia eriopoda. Rice straw and roots. 



Saccharum Munja. Dhup and other wild grasses. 



Also bamboo half stutf and paper, prepared by Mr. 

 Routledge, of Sunderland, and a number of the cheaper 

 bark fibres of which those of Bcnihinia vahlii were 

 deemed the most hopeful. Opuntia dillenii, the 

 cactus which has overrun large tracts of the drier 

 regions of South India, was pronounced useless, but 

 plantain fibre and half stuff was viewed as most hope- 

 ful. Jute waste and rags, and other waste materials 

 used in India for paper-making, were also placed on 

 the tables, but as these are articles of established trade 

 they received only a passing remark. 



It was admitted by the gentlemen present that 

 paper might be made from almost anything; the 

 question was one of price. It would never, for ex- 

 ample, pay to cultivate any fibre for paper, and 

 especially a fibre that required to be put through a 

 preparatory process before being thrown into the paper- 

 makers' vats. 



Mr. Death said that, in his opinion, the most promis- 

 ing fibre in India for paper-making was the common 

 edible plantain, but the great difficulty in utilizing it 

 was the cost of carriage. What was therefore 

 ■wanted was a machine that would strip the fibre on 

 the spot, reducing the stems and leaf-stalks to a con- 

 dition in which they would be baled economically. 

 Experiments were being tried, with this object, in 

 Costa Kica, and he expected to receive a report in a 

 few days, which, he believed, would be favourable. 

 He very kindly promised to communicate this for the 

 information of Government in case it might be desired 

 to have the same experiments repeated in India. 

 Should his anticipations be realized he felt sure the 

 fibre would come into general use in papermakiug, and 

 there was no doubt very good paper could be made 

 from plantain stems, in fact this had been proved by 

 practical test, and he would be glad to furnish 

 samples of plantain paper. 



D . Watt explained that this fibre had received con- 

 side i able attention in India, and that the Bally Paper 

 Mill, showed in their case, samples of plantain paper. 

 The difficulty that, in his opinion, would always stand 

 in the way of a great development of plantain fibre 

 was the collection of the stems. It was all very well 

 to talk about a machine that could be used on the 

 spot, but for whatever cost such a machiue might be 

 had, the owner of half a dozen plantain stems was not 

 likely to purchase it. There are few plautations of 

 plantains, and the supply would have ultimately to 

 comi; from the hundred peasant homes within every 

 square mile, since the plantain did not exist in suffi- 

 cient abundance as a wild product in accessible regions. 



It was stated to be indispensably necessary in a 

 fibre intended for paper to reduce the bulk to a 

 minimum so as to lessen the cost of freight to Europe, 

 provided that this reduction did not entail any elaborate 

 or costly process. Simple methods for doing so are 

 known, such, for example, as beating to remove dirt, 

 hydraulic baling of the fibre into conveniently sized 

 packages. 



It was urged that it was essential that information 

 should be afforded respecting the quantity available 

 and the probable cost of any proposed new fibre. 

 Quantities of 10 tons were needed for reliable experi- 

 ment, and the material sent should be as much freed 

 as possible from all useless matter, provided the doing 

 K«) did not increase the cost of the fibre too much. 



Sir E. C. Buck suggested, that it would be well if 

 the gentlemen present who were interested in paper 

 making would go through the fibres shown in the 

 Economic Court, and make a list of those which 

 appeared most hopeful as future paper fibres, in order 

 that samples of these might be sent from India beaten 

 out and prepared in the desired manner. This propos- 

 ition met with general approval, and it was again 

 urged that to be useful to paper makers a fibre must 

 be cheap, since all that the paper maker could pay 

 for was waste from the fabric industries, or a fibre that, 

 like esparto, might without any preparation be thrown 

 direct into the vats. Esparto could be purchased at £4 

 a ton at the present moment in Loudon, and wood pulp 

 had so revolutionised the paper industry that, unless 

 for special merit, the paper-maker could not pay more 

 than £10 or £12 a ton. 



The gentlemen present agreed that, while the bhabar 

 and munj grasses were very good for paper it would 

 never pay to import them in that condition, the more 

 so since esparto was obtainable at a price far below 

 what would be charged in freight alone from India. 

 Unlese these grasses could profitably he shipped ia 

 the form of half stuff they were out of the question. 

 The only Indian fibres that seemed hopeful were bam- 

 boo, plantain, jute, and sunn waste, and the long 

 stems of the Baiihinia creeper. Since the Conference 

 perhaps some dozen paper-makers and textile manu- 

 facturers have asked and obtained samples of the last 

 mentioned fibre, and it seems highly likely that as a 

 'direct outcome of the present Exhibition this creeper 

 will come to be extensively used for a number of 

 purposes. Everyone who has seen it has gone away 

 pleased, and fortunately anticipating some such result; 

 steps were taken to send to the Exhibition a large 

 supply, and it has thus been possible to meet all 

 demands for samples. 



The practical result of the Conference may be briefly 

 stated to be that fibres that are good enough for textiles 

 are too good for paper-making. Bamboo has been 

 tried, and may be viewed in as forward a position as 

 it is possible to press a new material.* The gentlemen 

 wlio attended the Conference agreed that the Govern- 

 ment had best concentrate its energies on developing 

 the plantain and Bauhinia fibres. 



It was asked if the GoVf-rnment would grant any 

 inducement to paper manufacturers who would be 

 willing to undertake the necessary experiments, which, 

 to be useful, must include technical trials as well as 

 scientific analyses. 



Sir E. C. Buck feared that there was no fund 

 available for such purpose ; but the fibres selected by 

 any person desirous of experimenting, might be sent 

 from India in the form of "stock," cleaned by the natives 

 as near as possible in the desired manner. 



After the usual acknowledgment to Sir E. C. Buck 

 and Dr. Watt for the kind manner in which they had 

 assisted at the Conference, the company separated. 

 — Planters' Gazette. 



THE VALUE OF MULCHING. 



One of the greatest difficulties with which our New 

 England farmers have to contend is the long and severe 

 droughts with which our seasons are almost always 

 accompanied, the cause being the peculiarities of our 

 climate and the construction of our soils. 



Water is continually passing from the soil into the 

 atmosphere during the Summer months, either through 

 vegetation, by the process of growth or through the 

 soil, caused by the absorption of heat, which rapidly 

 evaporates the moisture as it ascends to the surface 

 through the capillary tubes of the earth. 



The escape of moisture through vegetation, the intel- 

 ligent cultivator would not check if he could, for upon 

 this depends the quantity of our crops at harvest time. 

 To prevent or check the escape of moisture on fallow 

 lands, however, is one of the important labors of the 

 agriculturist. This may be accomplished in two ways. 

 One by repeatedly stirring the soil, by which means 

 the continuity of the capillary tubes is served or bro- 



* Young shoots and not well-grown stems being 

 desiderated, we donbt if bamboo will ever be largely 

 used for paper-making. — Ed, 



