62 
machine, it may be mentioned, was not constructed for the special. wig 
ment of Ramie. In spite of "thi is, however, it has cleaned Ram 
fairly satisfactory manner, and the inventor claims that, sae a oe 
necessary alterations in detail, he will be able to treat the stems either 
green or dry, and pro aosce clean fibre at the rate of 1 cwt. per hour. 
The machine can be driven yat two-horse power engine, and it requires 
two persons to feed sia tend it. 
Small quantities of Ramie st — grown at Kew have been guoa 
passed through the machine. It is proposed by the inventor, when he 
has completed the alterations, to aaa this machine to a So test 
similar to that adopted at the Paris trials. For this Parnes: he states 
that a arge. supply of Ramie stems will be obtained from France. 
There are some special adv: vanes connected with this machine which 
dese: = fe be mentioned. In the first place the feed tabie is so large 
that at least 40 stems can be fed a the rollers at once. When t she mioma 
have been fully grasped by the rollers, the operator need n 
his hold upon them any longer. They pass on uninterru e. anes 
the machine, and they can be followed immediately by a fresh lot 
without the return action, which is an essential pe “of the treatment 
c 
rough usage to which the fibre is subjected in nearly all the purely 
mechanical processes which have hitherto come under my notice. 
Personally, I am unable to express an opinion upon the Wallace 
machine. To say that it is more promising than any machine exhibited 
at the Paris trials is merely to affirm that it is not altogether a failure. 
When the machine is fairly tested on its merits, and it is worked con- 
tinuously on large quantities of Ramie stems, the results will speak for 
themselves. Until this is done it ie keie undesirable to do more 
which, with further improvements, a ‘be rendered of service in the 
production of marketable fibre 
GENERAL CONCLUSIONS. 
An eminent firm of brokers recently informed me: “There is no 
“ doubt that Ramie is exciting great interest in many parts of the world, 
st Big er 02. per ton in likely to eases in chron a a 
This opinion expresses very briefly and tay the a a, at ede 
I have arrived in connexion with the preparation of Ramie fibre. It is 
T possible that some machine or process will eventually solve the 
oblem, but at present the exploitation of Ramie, in spite of years of 
bor and the expenditure of large sums of money upon it, cannot be said 
to have yet emerged from the experimental stage. 
D. Morris. 
APERE ie 
eT ORE N e 
PAER E E AA ARP TIA eR gd OE eI PAEA E NES pE 
e MLE a AE art k ee E ater ea 
