BGEHMERIA 

 NIVBA 



Machinery and Processes 



CHINA-GRASS AND RAMIE 



Cleaning the 

 Fibre. 



Tibre Softened 

 toy Boiling in 

 Bice-water. 



Prepara- 

 tion of 

 T"ibre. 



Decortication 

 tefore Stripping. 



Decorticating 

 Machine. 



'Chinese Kibbons. 



Steaming 

 Process. 



Fremy System. 



Various 

 Operations. 



pletely dried and the adhering fibre more or less bleached. They are then 

 each broken across, a little below the middle. The finger or scraper is inserted 

 underneath and run upwards and downwards until the whole of the fibre is 

 removed. For this purpose the central stem may have to be broken more than 

 once. This stripping stage is considered the most troublesome of all. After 

 being removed from the stem, the fibre is drawn rapidly once or twice between 

 the scraper and the flat surface of the forefinger, in order to free it from any 

 adhering particles of the stem or bark. The after cleaning of the fibre, pre- 

 paratory to its being spun into thread, is done for the most part by the women 

 and children, and consists entirely in splitting up the cords by means of the 

 fingers. Sometimes, however, it is dipped for a few minutes into a boiling 

 solution of haldi (turmeric), from the idea that it is thereby softened and rendered 

 more easily separable into its finest bands of fibre. In one instance, while in 

 Bogra, I was told that the partially cleaned fibre was boiled for a very short 

 time in the water obtained after cooking rice. This was also said to soften the 

 fibre. It is probable that both with haldi and rice-water the advantage secured 

 might have been obtained through boiling in water only, but it is perhaps 

 desirable that this question should be chemically investigated." 



Ribbons. It is customary to find (in reports published in Europe) the state- 

 ment that rhea ribbons are exported from India. I cannot say definitely that 

 that is not so, but I should think it highly probable that the supply must have 

 been derived exclusively from European experimental plantations (the Glenrock, 

 for example) or that it was prepared to order. The Bengal cultivator invariably 

 scrapes off the bark before separating the fibre from the stem, and thus offers 

 for sale what may be a crudely cleaned fibre (or China-grass) but is certainly 

 not the much condemned " Indian rhea ribbons " that have given an evil name 

 to, and greatly lowered the value of, the Indian fibre. The Bengal cultivator, 

 strictly speaking, decorticates first, then strips the fibre, and it seems to me his 

 process is a more rational one than that followed by each and every one of the 

 inventors of the so-called decorticating machines hitherto placed on the market. 

 These either strip off the bark with its adhering fibre or smash up the contained 

 stem (scutching) and liberate the bark and fibre in that way. No doubt by a 

 subsequent action some of them get rid very largely of the adhering bark, but 

 they fall far short of the operation of complete removal of the bark and of the 

 green pulpy external tissue which is immediately effected by the cultivator on 

 the stems being cut. Whether his subsequent process of drying the exposed 

 fibre before separating it from the stem is advantageous or not I have had no 

 opportunity of testing, but long acquaintance with the Indian cultivator has 

 prejudiced me in favour of the view that he rarely does much within his own 

 sphere of life that is useless, and he certainly never imposes on himself very 

 considerable additional labour to no purpose. 



According to the description given by Col. Hannay in 1850, the Chinese 

 strip the bark and fibre into ribbons as the first operation. The ribbons are then 

 steeped in water for a couple of hours, and thereafter scraped to remove the 

 bark and gum. He then adds that this is quite different from the 

 method pursued by the Dooms in Assam, and observes, " A cheaper method 

 of preparation, and one which is best suited for separation on a large scale, is 

 to subject the strips of fibre, after being taken from the stalks, to the steaming 

 process in boxes, tubes or cylinders. The steaming will soon carry off the 

 sap and its bad qualities, and the bundles well dried will then, I think, be quite 

 in a marketable state." Here we have what may be regarded as the principle, 

 if not also the actual manipulation, of the process patented many years after- 

 wards as the Fremy system. Speaking of the Wynaad experiments, Mr. Minchin 

 says, " Small portable boilers on wheels were used, which followed the coolies 

 who were cutting the stems along roads through the cultivation. The steam 

 was turned into closed wooden boxes into which the stems were placed. The 

 skinning by hand was a slow process, but the ribbon was saved." 



Machinery and Processes. So much has been written for and against the 

 various machines and processes that have been invented and patented for 

 stripping the bark into ribbons, for degumming the fibre, or for producing filasse 

 direct from the stems, either by chemical or mechanical contrivances, etc., etc., 

 that it seems undesirable to venture further, in this very brief sketch of the 

 existing Indian rhea industry, on so very controversial a subject, and one which 

 has hardly assumed practical importance in India. It may, however, be said 

 that by one set of writers it has been upheld that the proper way is to treat 



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