166 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, [September i, 1885. 



component parts, if not the whole, was apparently caustic 

 eotla, the top of the kier was fastened down, and steam 

 at a high pressure (30 pounds) was turned in from the 

 bottom of the kier. The boiling extended over a period 

 of five hours. On the kier being re-opened the whole 

 mass of fibre was seen in a black condition. Mr. Urbain 

 took about a pound weight of ribbons and treated them 

 as follows ; — He washed them in cold water, then in a solu- 

 tion of hydrochloi-ic acid, again in water, then in chloride 

 of lime, and lastly thoroughly in cold water. The ribbons 

 then appeared in the form of whitish gi^ey filasse, 

 ungummed and free from the brown pellicle ; the fibres 

 could then then be easily separated from each other, and 

 were apparently in the condition for treatment by machin- 

 ery. The operation lasted ten minutes. The inventors 

 claim that by their process 5 per cent of pure ungum- 

 med fibre is obtainable from the green stems. 



I see little difference betwi.xt the process I have de- 

 scribed and the one used by bleachers of cotton cloth 

 for dyeing or printing which is necessary to make the 

 cloth chemically pure, and similar drugs are used to 

 kill" the husk and brown bark often left in the yarn; 

 this is done without the least injury to the fibre. J 

 am of opinion that the merit of the invention consists 

 in the knowledge, obtained by experiments of the strength 

 of the caustic soda required for destroying the 

 pellicle and reducing it to a state of pulp without injury 

 to the fibre. The after process is a clearing one ; it 

 removes the gum and pulp, and the chloride takes away 

 any coloring matter that may remain. This invention 

 may be considered a satisfactory and inexpensive method 

 f ungummiug the Ramai fibre, and if the patent rights 

 , e obtained by the producer of the yarns it will add to 

 ts popularity. 

 I shall now deal with the cost and production of the 

 plants and the probable future of the industry. Of late 

 years the French have given a great deal of attention 

 to the cultivation and utilization of the Ramia plant. 

 It has been grown in the basins of the Gironde and 

 Khone, in Algeria, and in Egypt. M. Norbert de Landt- 

 sheer, who has written much on the subject, gives the 

 following table, showing the latitude in which the plant 

 can be grown : — ■ 



Latitude of No. of Names of countries 



couutry. crops. corresponding to latitudes. 



36° to 46° 2 Bordeaux, Grenoble, Avignon, Turin. 



38° to 42° 3 Corsica, Sardinia, JIadrid, Nai)les. 



35° to 37° 4 Algeria, Tunis, Northern China, New 

 Zealand. 



25° to 32° 4 to 5 Egypt, Delta, Lahore, China, Florida, 

 Mexico, Chili, Bns. Ayres, Australia. 



15° to 20° 5 Madras, Bombay, Cochin China, Brazil, 

 Jamaica, Cuba, Hayti. 



0° to 10° 5 to C Sumatra, Johore, Gej Ion, Jayana, Vene- 

 zuela. 

 He states also that an acre of cultivated Eamai can give 

 200,000 stems at a cutting, each stum averaging H oz. In 

 Algeria, where four crops a year can be grown, a profit 

 of £19 128 6d per acre has been obtained. If we take 

 these figures as being correct — and I have not he.ard of 

 them being disputed — we have 20,000 stems per acre 

 or 18,750 lb. weight, which will produce about 1,875 lb. 

 of ribijous, and by the Frfimy-Urbain uugumming process 

 9373 lb. of lilasse, which at £50 per ton gives 5fd. per lb. 

 I was told by the director of the Societo de Oruilit, &c. 

 that they had signed contracts for 10,000 tons of ribbons 

 at £10 per ton, to be delivered in two years, and that 

 they were jirepared to take 100,000 tons at that price. 

 Therefore, if we take two tons of ribbons as costing £20 

 which will produce one ton of filasse ; ungumming, two 

 tons, at £8 per ton, £16 ; charges, shipping expenses, 

 £4, or 4hd per lb. — £40 per ton. A ton of cotton cloth 

 can be bfeached for £6 per ton ; the ungumming process 

 being a quicker one should not cost over £5 per ton. 



Several companies in India are now growing Rhea, 

 notably tlie Glenrock Company, and a conqiany has been 

 formed to plant 20,000 acres in Johore where it is ex- 

 pected that five or six crops can be obtained yearly. It 

 will be seen that before many years have passed an 

 enormous quantity of this fibre will be shipped to Europe, 

 and as the plant ia perennial, and once planted wiUlasj 



a hundred years, some idea may be conceived of the 

 yield in prospect. A manufacturing community like Lan- 

 cashire cannot afford to ignore the new industry which 

 will undoubtedly spring up within a few years, I 

 readily ailmit that a vast sum of money has been lost 

 by manufacturers in their attempts to develop tliis new 

 fibre, but, as I have shown, the conditions are now some- 

 what changed. Formerly, the quantity of fibre imported 

 did not exceed a yearly average of 100 tons, con- 

 sequently the value has been much afl'ected by the de- 

 mand, the price at some periods rising to £120 per ton, 

 and at others falling below £50 per ton. 'We have now 

 the prospect of large supplies of the fibre at a reason- 

 able rate and under more favourable conditions. Makers 

 of Spinning machinery will do well to give their speciaj 

 attention to the preparation of machines capable of treat- 

 ing the long silky fibres of the Ramia, The French 

 are already at work. During my visit to Louviers the 

 gentlemen who accompanied me were granted the priv- 

 ilege of an inspection of the preparing, carding and 

 spinning machinery, but this courtesy was denied to myself 

 on the plea that secrets might be revealed before they 

 were secured by patent right. I was, however, shown 

 the fibre in the silver and also in yarn equal to to lO's, 16's, 

 24's, 30's cotton, all of which seemed satisfactory, and 

 I have since received samples of the fibre I saw treated 

 at Louviers, which are excellent. It will be a.sked, in 

 what is Ramia better than cotton or hemp ? I reply that 

 it is better in many respects. It is nearer in appearance 

 to silk than any other fibre, and, like silk, it is a non- 

 conductor, or nearly so. It can be mixed with silk or 

 wool, and it will give strength to both. It can be 

 produced more cheaply than flax or hemp, and is three 

 times as strong. It is stronger than cotton, and takes 

 better colours — faster and more lustrous. It is invaluable 

 for healds, ropes, hose, sailcloth, cloth for waterproofing 

 clothing for men, Indian army clothing, furniture covering 

 and hangings, cambrics, and summer dresses ; and, in 

 the words of a well-known chemist, " It is difficalt to 

 say what it is not good for. It is the strongest fibre 

 in nature." 



Mr. P. Nursey, O.E., Vice-President of the Society of 

 Engineers, who accompanied Sir J. 0. Lee in his visit 

 of the works at Louviers, reports as follows : — 



I may premise that the successful utilization of the 

 rhea fibre necessitates that decortication, or the stripping 

 off the skin off the stems of the plant shall be per- 

 formed by a method which shall ensure that no frag- 

 ments of the woody stem shall be left adheriug to the 

 skin in which the fibre is contained. Sloreuver, the 

 stems must be decorticated as soon as cut, as the resin- 

 ous matter in which the fibres are embedded rapidly 

 hardens, a fermentation is set up which injuriously affects 

 the fibre, and it is extremely diflicult to deal with the 

 ribbons afterwards; besides which, when decorticated in 

 this condition, some of the fibre is left adhering to the 

 wood, and great waste results. The process of decortic- 

 ation invented by M. A. Favier having beeu proved to 

 be thoroughly successful in dealing wilh rhea, and having 

 inspected its working on two occasions, I think it as 

 well first to briefly refer to it, especially as it appears 

 to me to be the most perfect, as well as the most natural, 

 method of producing +'vi aibbons containing fibre for 

 further treatment by the Tiemy-Urbain process. 



M. Favier's process consists in submitting the stems 

 of the rhea or other fibrous plants to the action of 

 steam at a low pressure for a period of about twenty 

 minutes. The apparatus required is of the most simple 

 and inexpensive character, consisting only of wooden 

 trough-shaped boxes and a low-pressure steam boiler, whilst 

 the operation of stripping the stems after they have 

 been steamed can be performed by unskilled labour, 

 or even by children. This process insures the obtaining 

 of the whole yield of fibre from the plant, without 

 deterioration or waste, and at a small cost. 



The Fromy-Urbain process is the joint invention of 

 the distinguished French chemist, Profi'ssor Frimy, 

 member of the Institute of France (wlio is well known 

 for his researches into the uature of fibrous plants and 

 the question of their preparation for the market:, and 

 M. Urbain, who is Trofessor Frcmy's principal assistant 



