May 1907.] 



275 



Fibres. 



is when the base of the stem is of a brownish tint for a height of about 10 inches. 

 The stems must be worked up immediately they are cut. The decortication is 

 much more readily performed if carried out within 12 hours of the cutting. When 

 they have been allowed to dry decortication is more difficult, and the fibre is 

 inferior. If circumstances render it necessary to defer decortication, the stems, 

 having the leaves removed, are made into little bundles of thirty or forty, and 

 preserved in water, where they will remain unchanged for forty-eight hours. 



" Fibre containing 30 per cent, of gum does not easily^dry in the climate of 

 Bengal. The syndicate has, therefore, been obliged to have special drying apparatus 

 constructed in Paris, and installed on each plantation. The fibre on leaving the 

 decorticating machine passes first through a centrifugal drier, made by Dehaitre, 

 which removes 70 per cent, of the water it holds. It is then hung up in a large 

 closed-in straining-room, supplied with a current of warm air set in motion by a fan. 



" The fibre, when ready, must be at ouce baled, for it readily absorbs a quantity 

 of fresh moisture from the air, which would soon produce fermentation and mouldi- 

 ness. At Dalsing Serai a hand press is used. 



" A 20-h.p. engine is sufficient to drive all the machines required for 500 acres. 

 As the fibre has to be washed as it passes through the decorticators, a good and 

 sufficient water supply is indispensable. 



" The fibre must not be twisted, as this imparts to it a permanent undulation 

 which depreciates it from the spinner's point of view. 



" Many samples of Ramie fibre produced by the syndicate were sent to Europe 

 to several spinners, They were considered quite equal in quality to China grass, 

 and very shortly orders were received totalling 1,500 tons. Some 20 tons of better 

 quality fibre, more carefully prepared than hitnerto, have been lately exported from 

 the syndicate's estates. 



" From a forecast of the next year's crop (1906) the syndicate should be in a 

 position to deliver at least 200 tons of fibre from the 1,950 acres already under 

 cultivation. This is said to be a very moderate estimate, since the normal production 

 from this area will be, it is estimated, 800 tons when in full maturity. 



" It is the intention of the syndicate, in the near future, to de-gum the fibre as 

 well as decorticate the stems, in order to save the freight charges on 30 per cent, of 

 gummy substance contained in it. But, as every spinner of Ramie has his own 

 particular method of de-gumming, all of them require the fibre to be delivered to 

 them without its having been subjected to any chemical treatment. It is hoped, 

 however, that flax spinners will some day take up Ramie as well, and will accept the 

 fibre de-gummed on the plantation." 



In connection with this account of the operations of the Bengal Rhea 

 Syndicate, the " Queensland Agricultural Journal" publishes certain critical remarks 

 on the prospects of successful cultivation of Ramie in Queensland. But Queensland 

 is not the only Colony where there are considerable areas with climatic conditions 

 approximating to those that are known to prevail in Tirhut, and the questions 

 raised in the Journal deserve consideration by those who contemplate the extensive 

 cultivation of Ramie elsewhere. These remarks are therefore reproduced below. 



" From the above account of the operations of the Bengal syndicate, we can 

 form some idea of the initial difficulties to be encountered in entering upon Ramie 

 cultivation. After six years' work the company has 1,950 acres under cultivation, 

 from which they have obtained 20 tons of fibre, and, posssibly, 200 tons will be the 

 result of the 1900 crop. Two hundred and twenty tons is not a large return from 

 such an area. The expenditure on over 3,000. acres must have been very considerable 

 during six years. With cheap and abundant and reliable labour, the necessary humid 



