RHEA llr.HK OF 1NMA 



BCEHMERIA 

 NIVEA 



Cultivation 

 The late Mr. Gollan (then Superintendent of the Botanical Gardens) Number of 



' .I'..'!-'-. 



.[union that at Saharanpux three or even four cuttings might be 



, tin- .second in monsoon crop ln'in'_ r the best and yielding about one 

 >n of green wands, stripped of leaves, per acre. He was very correct 



nl 1 when he observed that " rhea will grow, or to be precise, exist in 



arlv all classes of cultivable soils with a minimum of attention, but in 

 der to make it produce long straight wands of good fibre-yielding quality, 

 requires a warm, humid, equable climate, a rich friable loamy soil, which 

 further enriclieil with liberal dressings of fertilising manures, such as 

 ;inl hor^e dung, bazar refuse, etc., so much the better." Mr. Gollan 

 would appear to have given the total yield at, say, 2 tons green stems, 

 Yielding at 4 per cent, under 200 Ib. of fibre per acre a year. But he Yield 200 ib. 



nod to add : " I do not look upon rhea as a crop that can be grown 

 with profit in the United Provinces or anywhere in Upper India, at the 

 rice being offered for the ribbons." " I, therefore, take this opportunity 

 warning the Upper Indian planter, to make sure of his ground, by 

 on a small scale, before he largely sinks his capital in rhea 

 iltivation." 



South India. It may suffice to give but one illustration of the South 

 suits and experience of South India, since there is no Native industry India. 

 id it is believed that all European experiments have been practically 

 indoned. The Glenrock Company, Ltd., laid out a plantation of 400 European 

 eres at Pandalur in South- East Wynaad, and 100 acres at Kullar, some 

 miles from Mettapollium. These were worked for five years from 1884 

 ) 1889, and ultimately abandoned because " the fibre obtained at the Abandoned. 

 rice ruling, did not pay for the cost of production." In one year 8 tons 

 green steins were cut from a measured acre, or 128,000 stems, but that Yield. 



an experimental case. Mr. Minchin shows that the range of quantity 

 water in the green stems is very great namely, from 75 to 90 per cent, 

 the total weight, and that it depends on the humidity of the locality 

 of the season of production. At his plantations the ribbons 

 are stripped both by the Death and Ellwood machines and by the Fremy Machinery 

 .stem, but during the rains " great difficulty was experienced in drying Used - 



ribbons." Three good cuttings were normally obtained in the Wynaad 

 i< 1 with irrigation as much as six, but there is always very little rain for Humidity and 

 )ur or five months of the year. Commenting on this feature Mr. Minchin Rain - 

 ire Manager of the Glenrock) observes : " It may be that a more equable 

 stribution of rain might give a fourth cutting." In another part of 

 report he says : "I consider that Dr. Forbes Watson's estimate 

 750 Ib. of ribbons per acre is the utmost that can be obtained per annum 

 >m rhea, and that quantity only under very high cultivation. These 

 Ib. of ribbons should give after degumming about 500 Ib. of clean 



Unless the market is prepared to give up to 70 per ton for Prices Realised, 

 ribbons I do not think there is any inducement to undertake the 

 Itivation." Let it be clearly observed Mr. Minchin means ribbons, and 

 ie market quotation for these seems to be anything from 15 to 30, or a 

 ttle less than half the price necessary to make rhea cultivation profitable 

 South India. 



Mr. Minchin's experience and opinions are likely to be admitted as 

 the only ones with which the public have as yet been favoured, that are 

 entitled to be accepted as something more than speculations and esti- 

 mates. It will be seen that the Glenrock had to close their plantations, 



153 



