37 



centage of fibre. In the long stems the fibre is not so fine as in the 

 medium ones ; in short, the medium stems from 3 ft. to 4 ft. are about 

 the right length to cut. This has an important bearing upon the ques- 

 tion of the number of crops which can be obtained. It is clear that 

 if you allow the plant to grow 6 or 8 feet high, you cannot expect to 

 get as many crops as when only 4 ft. Moreover, there is this charac- 

 teristic ; all these stalks which you see here are from the same plant, 

 that is to say, the shoots have come from the same root. Having de- 

 termined the proper length, the stems should be gathered accordingly, 

 only those being cut which have attained the right height ; in this way 

 a continuous crop may possibly be secured. 



" We find that with China grass there is a great variety in quality. 

 These variations in quality give rise to the complaints which are fre- 

 quently made. If you grow it, however, a certain standard length, 

 it will be likely to produce it of a definite quality, and that is what is 

 wanted for commercial purposes." 



The following paragraphs are taken from a Eeport on Formosa by 

 Mr. Alex. Hosie, acting Consul at Tamsui, submitted in March, 1893: — 



" The workman seizes each stem 9 inches above ground between the 

 thumb and fingers of the right hand, snaps it over to the right causing a 

 fracture, lays hold of the stem below the fracture with his left hand, 

 pushes down and sideways the upper part of the stem on the fracture to 

 complete the division of the wood, inserts the forefinger of the right hand 

 in the fracture, which is now compound, and draws it up between the peel 

 on the left and the wood and adhering peel on the right, removing on 

 its way branchlets, leaves, and tip. He then draws down the peel on 

 the left with his left hand to the root, where it is readily detached. In 

 like maimer the peel and wood on the right are removed at the root, and 

 the wood, being but loosely attached, can be readily separated from the 

 peel. The whole operation is simplicity itself, and can be conducted with 

 the greatest rapidity. The result of repeated timing is that 100 stems 

 can be peeled without haste in fifteen minutes, that is, at the rate of 400 

 an hour. The peeled stems and the discarded leaves, &c, remain on the 

 field as manure. . . 



" The next process is the removal of the cuticle and the bleaching of 

 the fibre. The ribbons are made up into loosely tied bundles, which are 

 placed in a tub of cold water. When the workman is about to remove 

 the green cuticle from the fibre, he places on the thumb of his right hand 

 a wide copper ring, on which a small flat piece of bamboo has been fixed, 

 the piece of bamboo resting against the face of the thumb. In the same 

 hand he holds an iron instrument like a shoe-horn, in such a position that 

 he can grasp anything between the piece of bamboo and the blunt inner 

 edge of the hand instrument. A bundle of the ribbons is then taken 

 from the tub and unfolded. Taking ribbon by ribbon from the bundle 

 with his left hand he grasps it about 6 inches from the wide or butt end, 

 — ;the cuticle or outside of the ribbon against the piece of bamboo, — and 

 scrapes it to the tip. After a couple of scrapings the whole of the cuti- 

 cle, with the exception of the 6 inches or so at the butt, is removed, and 

 when ten or a dozen ribbons have been treated in this manner, the work- 

 man reverses them, and removes the cuticle at the butt ends. The 

 fibres, which remain in his left hand, are hung out over bamboos in the 

 sun to dry and bleach for six hours, when they are white and ready to 



