I'KKl'ARATlnN i)K K1IWK 



Finally 

 Cleaned Fibre. 



Bengal Rliea 

 Syndicate. 

 Faure 

 Machine. 



BCEHMERIA 

 NIVBA 



Indian Uses 



and product- din-it \\lutt might be called a green filasse ; by GIMO VflMM. 

 __ since the fibre from such a process han still t<> undergo an elaborate 

 ii, .il treatment Ill-ton- lieing tit for tin- spinner, there is nothing gained by 



out tilan.se on the spot. All that is rfijinn-d is the production of dry itibboM or Dry 



My still another set of writers it has been upheld 



tin- p.-rct -ntakie of til.i-e to bark varies so very greatly that it would be 

 to . .iv.miso a future trade on such a basis. The prices offered for 

 bark would have to be very low, in order to safeguard against an 

 yield of fibre thus ruinous to the grower of good stock. It has 

 liet-n contended that success can alone be obtained if the clean fibre, 

 state very nearly, if not altogether, fit for the spinner, be produced by the 

 ii -h perhaps at central factories adjacent to the areas of cultivation. 

 In the Kew Bulletin (add. ser., ii., 1898), the reader will find full particulars 

 line the various methods of cleaning the fibre, and of all the machinery 



th'-ll ill ll-c. 



liernard Coventry's highly interesting paper in The Agricultural Journal 

 lii'ii't (I'.i'iT. ii., pt. i., 1-14) reached my hands after the above observations 

 n passed to the press. It has thus been only possible for me to make 

 fi ! a brief notice. He would seem to lay more stress on the machinery used 

 on the climatic and soil conditions of the countries of production or the 

 of plant grown. In that he may possibly in the future find himself mis- 

 In any case the yield of 2| per cent, of clean fibre is practically that 

 itioned by not a few of the past Indian investigators, from Hannay, Stans- 



etc., downwards. But Mr. Coventry narrates the circumstances under Tirhut 

 ch rhea fibre cultivation had been undertaken in Tirhut. These, it would Experience. 

 were precisely those recommended by me some years ago (Agri. Ledg., 

 No. 15, 466-7). And briefly as follows : A company of Calcutta 

 merchants (the Bengal Rhea Syndicate, Ltd.) undertook to supply the Faure 

 machines for the decortication of the plant, and to ship and sell the produce. 

 Certain Indigo plantations were to grow the plant and prepare the fibre, " the 

 enses and realisations in connection with the whole enterprise being brought 

 ler a joint account." " The area covered by these contracts aggregated 

 3,000 acres. As the planting and cultivation progressed it was found, 

 wt-ver, that many localities which had been selected were unsuited to the 

 nmwth of rhea, so that ultimately the area actually put down did not exceed 2,000 

 acres " (Coventry, I.e. 4). In a further passage Coventry mentions incidentally 

 the area in Dalsing Sarai as having been 500 acres. Speaking of the subject of 

 yield, he says, " The stems in well-established plants should be as tall as possible, 

 from 4 to 6 feet, but never less than 3 feet. Four good cuttings should be secured 

 per annum if it is to pay, and the total weight of these four cuttings of green stems 

 .should not be less than 30,000 Ib. per acre, or say 15 tons. The yield of dry Yield. 

 tihre from these stems should not be less than 2 per cent., making 750 Ib. per 

 acre per annum. This amount will vary with the efficiency of the decorticating 

 machine. The possible amount of fibre to be obtained from the stems is be- 

 lieved to be 5 per cent., but owing to the large amount which is broken and 

 way in the rough process of decortication, only 2J per cent, can be relied 

 on for an average yield with existing machinery, and this is given by the Faure 

 machine." It is thus not quite clear whether these are the results actually 

 obtained at the Research Institute, Pusa, or only indicate Coventry's per- 

 sonal opinions and expectations. It is all the more disappointing, therefore, 

 that this uncertainty has to be concluded by the opinion that " if the spinners 

 are truly desirous of developing this important industry they must encourage 

 the growers and offer a price more commensurate with the intrinsic value of 

 product." What is doubtless wanted is a remunerative demand. [Cf. Agri. 



1898, No. 15, 466; Kew Bull., 1907, 4-8.] 



Indian Industrial Uses. I came across no Natives of India who were Use of Fibre, 

 aware that the fibre could be spun into such fine yarn that it might be woven 

 into fabrics. In the case of Bhagalpur it is stated that it had been used some 

 twt-Pty years ago in admixture with silk. Whether it is still so employed I 

 have been unable to discover, but throughout Bengal and Assam it is spun 

 into coarse thread, three strands of which are again spun together to make 

 fishing-lines and the cord of which the kai jalaa or fishing-nets are made. While 

 travelling in Dinajpur and Rangpur I heard of one or two markets or annual Markets where 

 fairs at which the fibre, the cord, or the nets of rhea were said to be regularly ^ ibr *m; 

 offered for sale, such as the Bora Daroga mela and fair at Kaunia. 



157 



Rough 

 Decorti cation. 



