UTILISATION OF FIBRE 



YI-: '. 



Uses of 



China- 



graae. 



; a , 



BCEHMERIA 



NIVEA 

 European Uses 



if vield wouM I"- L"..(>00 lh. (say 13 toiiM n' t!.- 



. had t'een reiim \vd. At Aliiii-r- (according to the late Director of the 



ual Hardens Mr. Hardy) the yield was 48,000 Ib. of green stems 



with their I.MV.-V or 'JT.MXMb. of stems : this amount on drying is reduced 



"K) Ib. and affords 1,400 Ib. of fibrous thongs. But two such crops 



may he obtained a year, so that the total of ribbons would be 2,800 Ib. 



i. lua, according to M. Goncet de Mas, 26,300 Ib. per acre were ob- 



1 in the second year, and 32,360 Ib. per acre of stems without leaves 



in flu- third year of the plantation. The last quotation worked out at 



Ib. of raw fibre. Lastly, M. Favier gives 1,285 Ib. of fibre per acre 



a< the approximate average annual yield. 



European Industrial Uses. I do not attempt to express a 



definite opinion on this aspect of the rhea question, though essentially 



irv to any full comprehension of the financial issues of production 



in which India is at present concerned. The fibre would appear to be used 



for sacking, sailcloth, belting, table-cloths, sheeting, shirting, dress cloths, Textii-. 



nets, thread, string, cordage, ropes, fishing-lines and paper. Wiesner 

 (Denkschr. Akad. Wiss. Wien. Math.-Nat., 1902, Ixxii., 7, 22, 28) makes 

 ny references to the Chinese use of this fibre in the manufacture of 

 ,per. On the authority of Karabacek (Das Arabische Papier, 28-9) he 

 states, for example, that it was used in ancient times in China for the pro- 

 duction of the best document papers. But the applications of rhea are more Chinese Paper, 

 varied and diversified than those of almost any other known fibre. Still, 

 its progress in popular favour has been remarkably slow. It is employed 

 .at present very largely for giving strength to other textiles, and has hardly 

 assumed an independent or recognised position of its own. It might 

 be said that its disadvantages are its abnormal strength and lasting pro- objections to 

 perties under all vicissitudes ; its stiffness and glossiness ; its want of Rhea< 

 rustle ; its peculiar lustre (which has not caught popular fancy) ; and its 

 imperfections in dyeing (especially black shades) these are the sort of 

 objections often urged against rhea. But it seems possible that they would 

 all disappear if two further adverse circumstances could be overcome, viz., 

 r*t the necessity for special and expensive machinery, and second the special 



high cost of production. The difficulty that long obstructed rhea, M*^ 1 ^- 

 mely the discovery of a good decorticating and degumming machine 

 or process may, however, be said to have disappeared, and the chief 

 objection now advanced by the growers is that the price offered is not cost of 

 remunerative, and by the manufacturers that more 'cannot be paid until a Productlou - 

 special position has been secured for the fibre in the markets of the world. 

 In The Agricultural Ledger (1898, No. 15) are given 3 pages of references to 

 reports, books, newspapers, etc., in which information regarding Rhea will be 

 found. [Many of the additional sources of information consulted while writing the 

 present article have already been cited, but the following enumeration in sequence 

 of dates may be added: Schulte im Hofe, Die Ramiefaser, 1898 ; Sadebeck, Die 

 Kulturgew. der Deut. Kolon., 1899, 293 ; Times of 2nd., Jan. 7, 1899 ; Ramie, 

 Strait* SettL, in Ind. Text. Journ., April 1900 ; Ramie, in Proc. Inter.' Cong., 

 June 28-30, Oct. 1-1 1, 1900 ; Schanz, Die Boehmeriakultur, China, in Der Tropen- 

 pflanzer, 1901. v.. 126-36 ; Jumelle, Lea Cult. Colon. (Indust.), 1901, 27 ; Greshoff , 

 Ramie, Dutch. E. Ind., in Indische Mercuur, Jan. 6, 1903 ; Van Maanem, 

 La Cult, de la Ramie, in Rev. dee Cult. Colon., 1903, xiii. 82 ; Wiesner. Die Rohst. 

 de Pflanzenr., 1903, ii., 319 ; Birdwood. Anglo-Ind. Rev., Jan. and Feb. 1903 ; 

 Pioneer, Feb. and Aug. 1903; Van Maanem, Ramie and Ramie-Union, in 

 Indische Mercuur. April 19, 1904 ; Edwards-Radclyffe, series of articles in Ind 

 Plant. Gaz., concl., June 11. 1904; Barraclough in Capital, April 21, 1904; 

 V*tpeuterwTrop.Agrist.,May, 1904; Ind. Text. Journ., Jan. and Feb., etc., 1904.] 



159 



