346 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[October i 1882. 



MR. T. CHRISTY ON FIBRES. 



Mr. Thomas Christy's new work ou fibres, of which 

 he has sent us a copy, is the subject of the following 

 letter from the author : — 



"155, Fenchurch Street, London, E C, 11th Aug. 1SS2. 



** 1 forward you my new work upon 'Fibres' and 

 also upon 'Drugs.' I have been requested by some 

 of the professors during the progress of the work to 

 publish the plate of diawiuys separately, and I pro- 

 pose to have a new set of lithographs struck. I am 

 trying to induce Mr. Leechinan to represent the 

 Ekman patent for Ceylon. He was with me yester- 

 day, and I liave offered to take him to the works 

 and shew him the oiitturn of coconut fibre : by placing 

 the skin or busk of the nut in the boiler or cylinder 

 with the bi-sulphite of magnesia, the pithy matter 

 in the nut is dissolved and it leaves a fibre suitable 

 for bristles within the hour. But the beauty of this 

 process is that the operation can be stopped at any 

 stage ; that is to say that, should a fibre be under 

 operation, supposing that the operator desires to have 

 a filament, that is lo say the fibres agglomerated to- 

 gether, he can so have them by arresting the pro- 

 gress after a certain time. Should he desire the 

 ultimate fibre or normal fibre, that is to say, the 

 pure cellulose, he can continue the operation until 

 he knows he has arrived at tliat result. Up to the 

 present time, it is impossible to say which fibre will 

 be decided the best, but I may inform you that hemp, 

 as grown in England or India, gives a most lovely 

 white silky fibre. Jute that has not been retted also 

 gives a good normal fibre, but, where labour is cheap, 

 it will be a great advantage, for, when the cylinder is 

 spened and the fibre shot out the natives will be able 

 to handle it as soon as it is cool and keep the whole 

 in straight lines and so prevent it "knotting." Some 

 Americans who are returning this week, who have 

 decided to work the patents for America and Canada, 

 were at the paper mill ou Wednesday, and theyincreased 

 the speed of the paper macliine up to aproduction of 

 126 feet per minuie, aud the paper it yielded was of 

 excellent quality for printing purposes, although there 

 was nuthiug whatever in it but pulp made from wood. 



"I much wanted Dr. Trimen to go down and see 

 the whole of this work before he returned to Ceylon, 

 but he had not the time. I am sure it would have 

 amply repaid the Government of Ceylon to give him 

 an extra week to study out this subject. The raw 

 product Magnesite has been found near Madras, but, 

 as it is an extremely low price in the Mediterranean, 

 and sulphur also, the raw cbemicala can be taken 

 to Ceylon and turned into bisulphite of magnesia at 

 a very low cost. So far it is found that any plant 

 that is re:JIy ripe in its foliage, that is, fully devel- 

 oped, yields better fibre than a plant in an unripe state. 



"I have endeavoured in my book to shew that the 

 only apparatus that is necessary to carry out the 

 Ekman process is the cylinder with valve and a 

 small apparatus for making the bi-sulphite of magnesia. 

 There is nothing whatever intricate in the operation, 

 but onlv what the most ordinary native can carry 

 out. Skilled labour is entirely unnecessary, but it 

 is only fair to tell you that the operation is of 

 that peculiar nature that a rather careless 

 chemist, who was under Mr. Ekman's directions to 

 obtain certain results, made the operation perfectly, 

 but, owing to his not keeping proper notes he could 

 not repeat it and it took over a year to arrive at 

 the same result. It is therefore necessary that any 

 one who is going to work should be properly shewn 

 how to operate, but this need not be a skilled operator, 

 either chemist or engineer. 



" My book also shews another point : that unless fibre 

 can be got at a remarkably low price it will hardly 

 day to ship to Euglaml to compete against wood 

 pulp which caube made hcie at a low price ; therefore 



I do not wish Ceylon merchants to run away with 

 the idea that they cau immediately commence this 

 operation, and rely upon England for her market." 

 There are plenty fibrous plants, wild as well as 

 cultivated, in Ceylon, and fibre would be taken at 

 low freight as dnnnage. The difficulties are the cost 

 of collecting a sufficient quantity at convenient centres, 

 and the cost of operating and conveyance to port of 

 shipment. Trials might be made, however. The 

 contents of the pamphlet we shall notice hereafter. 



THE LARGE BEE OF CEYLON AND INDIA 



(Apia dorsata), which Mr. F. Benton brought into 

 notice last year, has attracted the special attention 

 of Geniian beekeepers, and their Consul General at 

 Madras has been appealed to in the following letter 

 published in the Madras Mail : — 



To ttie Imperial German Consul, Madras. 



Sir,— In Ceylou aud presumably also ou the ueighbouriug con- 

 tinent is found a honey-coUecting bee tliat surpasses all hitherto 

 known bees in siie, the apis dorsata. As the same lives in a 

 wild state it was not {rossible until very recently to form any 

 idea as to its habits and mode of living. Only last year a cer- 

 tain Mr. Frank Benton of Cyprus succeeded in iinding it in the 

 Island of Ceylon, after seorctiing for it in vain in Java, and he 

 bought and exported 5 families of the same. Unfortunately Ben- 

 ton himself became ill with fever and his bees died on the jour- 

 ney through neglect in consequence. The fact that this bee ac- 

 cording to Benton's report, is mostly found at an elevation of 

 several thousand feet above the level of the sea and flies only 

 after sunset shows that it prefers a cooler temperature, and that 

 it is inconvenienced by the heat of the day. It may therefore 

 be presumed that it would be. able to live and tlirive in cooler climes. 



,\s v^hen brought into a regular bee-house it submitted to pro- 

 per treatment, it is further to be presumed that it may be tamed 

 and cultivated like our home-bees. This premised, it is natm-al 

 to expect from a larger size bee also a greater production, for if 

 it has a larger trunk it will be able also to gather from such 

 blossoms as are inaccessible to our European apis melifica on ac- 

 count of their depth. 



It may therefore be possible through crossing to produce a cul- 

 tivated breed that would combine the properties of both races in 

 the most advantageous manner which would be of tlie greatest 

 advantage to our German Apicultiu-e. 



All w'e German apiarians are therefore anxioas to be nble to 

 turn this dorsata to use and no trouble will be spared from many 

 quarters to get hold of it. 



The same is the case with me, and at the risk therefore of be- 

 coming troublesome, I beg to request the I. G. Consulate to be 

 good enough to inform me whether and how it might be possible 

 to import this bee to Germany. 



In the first place it will be necessary to give a minute descrip- 

 tion of the Dorsata, which is as follows ; 



According to Benton it is 22 millimeter long, of black colour 

 with three orange rings under the wings ; its wings themselves 

 appear blue-yellow. 



it builds its combs of 4 centimeter thickness perpendicularly 

 like our German bees, principally in high trees or on quiet rocks 

 of the mountains. 



The first means of securing it would be to catch it in whole 

 families into cases of proportionate size, each with fly-hole of 2 

 c. m. high by 10 c. m. broad. These cases should be placed and 

 secured in a cool place by the bee hunter. 



The question now is are there in your country any persons 

 able to catch such swarms and are tliey sufficiently acquainted 

 with the habits of bees ? 



There is with every family a queen or mother that lays all 

 the eggs, that unless tlie newly caught family is immediately 

 removed to a distance of at least three kilometer it will return 

 to its old place; the bees will suffocate unless there is fresh air 

 admitted into the case through a wire net, etc, etc. 



All this is necessary to give even the slightest hope of success 

 in obtaining these bees. In case the dorsata could be thus ob- 

 tained in Madras, I wouM ask the I. G, Consulate to allow me 

 to send a completely furni-.hed case to Madras with the request 

 to get a few boxes tilled rich with a queen and 500 to 1,000 bees 

 and to send it by the shortest possible route to my address. 



I would send tlie cost ;ind charges for same with the case if 

 I were informed of the i-robable amount. Cousidering the great 

 interest involved in the importation of the Dorsata for German 

 Apiculture, as well as fur science generally, I trust my request 

 will not be in vain, ami asking the I. G, Consulate for their 

 kind report in thi^ important matter, etc.- 

 Has a similar letter come to the Consul at Colombo ? 

 If so, JNIudaliyar vSainuel Jayetileke of Kuruuegala is 

 the official to whom to apply, to put Mr. Freudeuberg 

 in the way of making arrangements for securing a few 

 colonies of the big be-:; which so excited Mr. Benton's 

 admh-ation as that he risked life itself in . his attempt 

 to secure specimens in the short tune at his command. 



