CHINA-GRASS AND RAMIE 



Did not pay 



Working 



Expenses. 



Disappointing 

 Besulte. 



BCEHMERIA 



NIVEA 



Will Rhea Pay ? 



and lose their capital, because a yield of 750 Ib. of ribbons or 500 Ib. of 

 filasse (the so-called cleaned fibre of Bengal and Assam) would not pay 

 working expenses. It will be for the practical planter to consider whether 

 indications of a trustworthy nature have been adduced for Bengal and 

 Assam in support of a higher and a more profitable yield than obtained 

 in the Wynaad (with its abundant cheap labour), and whether that differ- 

 ence will make the profit. 



Conclusion. 



By way of bringing these observations to a close, it may be remarked 

 in passing that the disappointing Indian results can be contrasted with 

 Mr. Frank Birdwood's opinions (Journ. Soc. Arts, 1904, 401). " What 

 remains to be proved," he says, " is, can it be grown in India, and 

 be prepared for the market at a profit ? Many questions have to be 

 considered ; chiefly cultivation. It is impossible to lay down hard 

 and fast hypothetical rules ; the planters in India are busying them- 

 selves in the matter and their experience is worth all the textbooks 

 ever written." Naturally, but perhaps Indian planters may ask them- 

 selves how many failures and heavy losses such as those of Mr. Mont- 

 gomery in the Panjab, of the Rajah S. S. Hoy in Joyganj, Bengal, and 

 of the Glenrock Company in South India, to say nothing of Mr. Baxendale 

 of Selangor, may be necessary to establish the conviction that India at 

 least, more especially outside the area indicated by me, is not the most 

 promising of rhea-growing countries. In Tirhut, recent endeavours seem 

 to have given some promise of a possible future success, and Mr. Bernard 

 Coventry has recently furnished full particulars of the results obtained 

 (see the passage below, p. 157). In Assam the plant grows freely, but 

 with exception of the Jokai experiment, cultivation has not hitherto^ 

 been seriously entertained by planters. The Jokai plantation had been 

 abandoned some time previous to the date of my personal inspection of 

 the rhea cultivation of India, and the Company's Manager could only 

 show me a few miserable shoots not eighteen inches high, as all that, 

 survived. I could discover no trace of Col. Hannay's experimental 

 plot, thus once again proving that when abandoned the plant cannot 

 hold its own against indigenous vegetation, and has, therefore, not become 

 acclimatised even in Assam. Perhaps the most hopeful country of ally 

 Upper Burma, remains to be commercially exploited. But the real 

 issue, I venture to suggest, is not " Can India grow rhea ? " but " Can 

 wai Khea Pay ? the purchaser afford to pay a price that will leave a margin of profit 

 to the Indian producer ? " And this will meet its solution in the further 

 question, " Can and do other countries (China more especially) produce 

 it profitably at a lower price than India is able to do ? " Hence if there 

 is a manufacturer's side that requires expert knowledge for its full com- 

 prehension, there is also an agricultural aspect that demands careful 

 consideration. Both issues must go hand in hand, and perhaps the 

 most hopeful solution would be found in the owners of patent machinery 

 and of spinning and weaving factories undertaking , for a time at 

 least, the production of the plant and the fibre they require. This- 

 would save the disappointment of finding no market for the fibre 

 when produced. 



SEPARATION AND MANUFACTURE OF THE FIBRE. 

 As already observed, Dr. Buchanan-Hamilton has the honour of 

 having first published an account of rhea fibre in Bengal. Of the 



154 



Past Failures. 



Tirhut 

 Experiments. 



Assam. 



Burma. 



Combination of 

 Interests. 



Separation 

 of Fibre. 



