and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society. 



473 



A LECTURE ON FIBRES. 



AT THE MYSORE DUSSERAH 

 INDUSTRIAL EXHIBITION. 

 Mysore, Oct. 20. — Mr G H Krumbeigel, the 

 President of the Committee, [who was a 

 visitor to Ceylon at the Peradeniya Rubber 

 Exhibition of 1906.— Ed. CO.] set an excellent 

 example this morning by delivering the first 

 lecture of the series arranged in connection with 

 the Exhibition this year. He said a few words 

 first as to the changes which had made it possi- 

 ble to provide a separate Lecture Hall, and of 

 the general object with which lectures were to 

 be delivered, and he then asked the Dewan of 

 Mysore, Mr T Madhava Rao, to open the Hall. 

 The Dewan expressed readiness to do anything 

 he could, and remarked that the Hall was al- 

 ready open on all sides, so that there was not 

 much left for him to do. 



Me. Krumbeigbl's Lecture on Fibres. 

 Mr. Krumbeigel then addressed the audience 

 on the subject of " Commercial Fibres." Tho 

 general tenor of his remarks is shown in the re- 

 port appended, but I should like to add here that 

 many passing references to exhibits that were 

 picked out as illustrations have had of neces- 

 sity to be omitted, and that the lecture, as a 

 whole, constituted an earnest appoal to enlight- 

 ened men in Mysore to take practical steps to 

 utilise some materials that are now thrown away 

 as useless, and to devote attention to the culti- 

 vation of certain fibres that appeared to him 

 likely to prove successful as commercial ventures. 

 The lecture was simple, practical and instructive 

 and was applauded with heartiness. The follo- 

 wing is an outline of what was said : — 



In the commerce of tho world fibres hold a 

 very high place, and a knowledge of this subject 

 is of the greatest importance. To treat the sub- 

 ject anything like exhaustively would require a 

 long series of lectures. My object being a 

 simple introduction rather than a scientific ela- 

 boration of the subject, the remarks must of 

 necessity be brief and general. The uses of 

 vegetable fibres are almost inexhaustible. 

 Besides those very important classes employed 

 in the weaving industry, in paper manufacture, 

 for cordage, etc., there are a very great number 

 that support other special industries, either 

 direct, as in case of the incandescent mantles, or 

 indirect, when they form admixtures to animal 

 wool, silk, etc. 



The Classification of Fibre Plants. 

 Apart from the classification according to 

 their utility we may study fibres morphologi- 

 cally according to their structural distinction ; 

 that is, whether they are derived from the bark 

 and stem and as in case of bast fibres, from the 

 leaves, e.g., agave fibres, or are seed-hairs, such 

 as cotton, otc, You may also study them bota- 

 nically according to their natural order, but this 

 is often complicated by th9 fact that one and 

 the same plant may furnish different kinds of 

 fibres. Notwithstanding the great variety of 

 fibres and the very different kinds of plants 

 yielding them, the essential element on which 

 their value depends is always the same. A fibre, 



to bo of any value, must consist of a substance 

 chemically called cellulose — tho larger the per- 

 centage the better, in a general sense, is the 

 fibre. Cellulose may be described as the essential 

 part of the framework of plants. In the young 

 cells of plants the wall is found to be of a delicate 

 but firm and elastic membrane. This wall con- 

 sists of cellulose. As the plant grows, many cells 

 become encrusted with resins and other 

 substances which in some parts fill tho cavity 

 completely ; in some tissues, however, little or 

 no incrustation is formed, and though the cell 

 walls thicken they consist almost wholly of cell- 

 ulose. The seed-hairs forming the cotton and 

 the floss of the silk cotton are almost pure 

 cellulose. Though cellulose is found in all parts 

 of the plants, the parts of special value for 

 yielding commercial fibres are the cells which 

 occupy a definite area or position in each plant. 

 These are called fibre cells. But it would be 

 going beyond the scope of this lecture to enter 

 into the morphological details in the different 

 kinds of fibre plants. In order, however, to in- 

 vestigate raw fibre, a botanical study is neces- 

 sary. In the great division of plants Dicotyle- 

 dons (plants having the parts of the flowers in 

 fours or fives and with leaves the veins of which 

 form a network) the fibrous cells are to be found 

 in the bark, tie middle or lower layers. In the 

 Monocotyledons (plants with parts of flowers 

 usually in threes or sixes and leaves with parallel 

 veins) the fibre cells are built up with vessels into 

 composite structures known as fibre-vascular 

 bundles, which are regularly distributed in tho 

 fleshy leaves and stems, and are not formed into 

 a continuous tissue as in Dicotyledons. 



The Investigation of Fibres. 



Now on the uniformity of length and diameter, 

 the tenacity, flexibility and smoothness of 

 the fibre, bundles (or filaments) depends the 

 spinning quality, whilst the length, thickness of 

 walls, tapering ends of the fibre cell are very 

 material factors in the strength and durability 

 of the manufactured goods. In careful investi- 

 gation, such as commercial experts have to 

 make, a microscopic examination would there- 

 fore be necessary, as also chemical investigation 

 in order to determine (a) its hygroscopic mois- 

 ture—that is, the moisture taken up by a fibre 

 after being dried in a high temperature ; (6) its 

 mineral constituents, that is, the percentage of 

 ash left after burning the fibre ; (c) its percen- 

 tage yield of cellulose on the raw fibre. Commer- 

 cially, fibres are generally classed according to 

 their utility. (1) Textiles (cotton) flax, Rhea, jute, 

 ramie, etc. (2) Rope or cordage fibres— Manilla 

 — Sisal, Mauritius hemp. (3) Brush and mat 

 fibre (coir, etc.) (4) Paper materials. My pur- 

 pose being an introduction to the principal 

 fibres exhibited, I will take them up now and 

 add a few remarks on the cultivation, geographi- 

 cal distribution and commercial aspect as we 

 proceed. The samples that I shall pick out from 

 the large collection exhibited belong chiefly to 

 the second group, because it is among these that 

 we find some very promising kinds which are 

 either new or not sufficiently known here, while 

 others pertaining to special industries such as 

 the textile and brush manufacture and paper- 

 making must form subjects of separate lectures. 



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