t 



2 hours. Bundles of boiled stems are afterwards dashed on 

 a board, first one end then the other, until all the pith is 

 removed. The fibre is again boiled for half an hour in the 

 original liquor and then again beaten and washed on the 

 board which is arranged like a dhobie s board by the side of 

 water. 



444. Scraping of the outer bark or parenchyma is practised 

 in most districts, before the fibre is hand-stripped. In Assam 

 after the leaves have been stripped off a stem, it is divested 

 of the outer skin by rubbing it with a blunt knife, after which 

 the stem is left to dry for 2 or 3 days in the hot sun. The third 

 morning after the stem has been exposed to dew for several 

 hours the fibre is drawn off the stem by breaking the woody 

 stalk right through towards the thicker end and then separating 

 the fibre therefrom by drawing it off gently towards the slender 

 end, some care being required in giving the fibre the peculiar 

 twist in order to draw it off without breaking. A good deal 

 of the fibre (about. -J-th) remains adhering to the stem after the 

 drawing off has been done as described. 



445. A maund of green stems produces about a seer of 

 fairly white fibre treated in this way i.e., only 2\ per cent. 

 Seven to eight maunds of fibre may be obtained per acre 

 per annum, but the separation of the fibre from the stems is 

 so difficult and costly that cultivators actually go in for culti- 

 vating a few square yards and no deductions as to cost and 

 outturn can be definitely drawn with regard to this fibre from 

 the data they are able to furnish. Others estimate the pro- 

 duce at as much as 50 to 55 maunds per acre. 



446. In Spain and other European and American coUn^ 

 tries where rhea is grown and where machinery is used for 

 the extraction of fibre, 5co acres of a properly managed plant- 

 ation is estimated to produce 7000 to 9000 tons of green 

 stems per annum, out of which 5 per cent, of fibre is obtained, 

 which is equivalent to 1792 Ibs, of fibre per acre per annum. 

 The average weight of 100 stems of full grown rhea without 



