° 
59 
ere pressed against a horizontally moving knife, which split hi 
ath their whole length. After this they were bent in such a mann 
to separate the fibrous bark from the stems, and deliver the former in 
broad ribbons, ashiioet intact. No attempt was made to remove the 
corky epidermis or separate in any way the constituent fibres. This 
machine was worked by steam power, and required three men to attend 
to it. The cost was not given. It was tried on green stems only, and 
produced at the first trial 7 kilos. of wet ribbons in 18 minutes, At the 
second trial it produced 12°8 kilos. of wet ribbons in 38 minutes. 
These results would be equivalent to 21 kilos. of wet ribbons per hour 
(or allowing otie- shed of the weight for dry aran be to about 
15 pounds avoirdupois of dry ribbons per hour. t, however, be 
borne in mind that the ribbons produced by this ASMAU were simply 
the crude fibrous bark without any cleaning. The actual value of these 
Paris, y is needless to remark, was practically useless for commercial 
purpose 
THE ROYER CHEMICAL PROCESS. 
The only chemical process for converting Ramie T into m 
(or the beautifully white silky threads which Ramie is capable 
yielding) for textile purposes was shown by M. Ras, This was 
described by the inventor as “Dégommage de la Ramie Brute: 
“ Systeme E. Ro nA Paris. Le traitement nine complet de la 
“ Ramie Brute par e Système constitue une Toy e de 10 à 12 fr. 
“ par 100 kilos. de manta re brute The details of ie process were 
not made "a The ribbons were laid Fersan in small portable 
wooden crates, and submitted to the action of certain chemicals in 
successive baths. Afterwards they were placed in an iron cylinder or 
closely — steam = and perrie exposed to the solvent power 
of steam igh pres The filasse produced was steeped white 
in some so, fag t in pie it was mixed with portions of bark and 
discoloured. The system appeared to be laborious ax costly. The 
jury was unable to arrive at a satisfactory conclusion as regards th 
merits of the process during the session of the trials between the 25th 
and the 30th Septe mber] eni the general opinion of those present was 
not favourable to the pro 
The actual trials commence pi ar the 26th September and closed on 
the 30th. The first eo was iiaeo to trials with dry Ramie stems, 
the second to green Ramie stems, w while the third was chiefly devoted 
— by a dynamometer the powers necessary to drive each one, and 
n some instances retried the machines in order to correct or confirm 
the results already obtained. 
anian OF THE JURY. 
As regards the awards o e jury, in a letter received from the 
Foreign Office, dated the ea instant, enclosing a despatch from the 
English Embassy at Paris, it is stated that “since the International 
