January i, 1890.! 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST 
45 S 
GEE AT IMPROVEMENT IN FIBRE CLEAN- 
ING MACHINES AND APPLIANCES. 
SISAL OE ALOE HEMP : A NEW INDUSTRY READY XO BE ES- 
TABLISHED IN CEYTON I WHO WILL BEGIN ? — COLOMBO 
MERCHANTS URGED TO TAKE THE INITIATIVE. 
The great difficulty in regard to most fibrous 
plants is that of getting rid of the extraneous 
matter in leaves and stems, cheaply, expeditiously 
and without injury to the colour and strength of 
the fibre. The lengthened retting process applied 
to flax, in temperate climates, is ruinous in a 
tropical climate, and chemioal applications are ex- 
pensive and likely to act injuriously on the fibre. 
In the case of rhea or ramie, which yields the 
China grass of commerce, the difficulties of pre- 
paration are intensified by the large proportion of 
gum which binds the woody matter and fibre (one 
of the finest in the world) together. Our readers 
are aware that the Indian Government offered a 
prize of R50.000 for a machine which would success- 
fully overcome the difficulties, but the perfect machine 
has not yet been produced. Trials of machines at 
Paris in 1888 did not give satisfactory results, and 
we havo waited with special anxiety for Mr. D. 
Morris's report on the competition of machines in 
the Grtat Paris Exhibition of this year. It has 
reached ua in the Kew Bulletin for November, and 
shows an immense and most encouraging advance, 
so that evidently we are within a near distance of 
a simple, cheap and effective fibre-cleaning machine. 
For instanoe, green stems being dealt with, 287 lb. 
of perfectly clean " ribbons" per diem were obtained 
by an improved machine against only 120 lb. from 
dry stems in 1888. A larger machine gave results in 
proportion, equal to half a ton per diem of ribbons, 
not quite clean, but requiring some after-treatment 
of washing to remove woody matter and gum. 
The report in full will appearlater on to that readers 
can judge for themselves as to various machines and 
their peiformances ; but we must draw special atten- 
tion to one appliance which is not a machine, but 
merely a zinc tank which, where labour is cheap, 
can, with a table to receive the treated stems, be car- 
ried about the fields where the Rhea is growing. The 
stems are placed in water in this tank, which is heated 
by the waste of the stems themselves, and 
after steeping for a short period, until the 
gum and woody parts are loosened, the stems are 
taken out and cleaned by hand. We believe 
labour is cheap enough to make the process a 
success here in Ceylon, and we do not see why it 
Bhould not be applied to aloes, Calotropis gigantaa 
and many other fibrous plants. Besides giving Mr, 
Morris's elaborate report in full further on we here 
quote the description of the simple and wonderfully 
effective tank and boiling water process: — 
Fleury-Moriceau Process. 
Only one process was shown, This was singularly 
simple, and consisted of steeping the fresh (or dry) 
stems for a short period in boiling water and removing 
the ribbons by hand. An open galvanised taDk about 
6 feet long, 2 feet wide, and about 4 feet deep, filled 
with water, was raised on bricks (or stones) about 18 
inches from the ground over an open fire. When the 
water had reached boiling point a crate containing 50 
to 10U fresh stems was lowered into it and (depending 
on their age and character) left in it for 5 or 15 minutes. 
At the end of that time the crate was lifted out, the 
stems leit to drain while another lot was put in. The 
stems already bteeped were then taken up by a couple 
of workmen and quickly and eil'ectually cleaued by 
hand. The action of the boiling water had apparently 
thoroughly looseued the attachment of the cortex to 
the wood, and ribbons were produced perfectly clean 
and regular, aud apparently without any loss of fibre. 
This method was tested in the first trials only. The 
operation began by placing 18 kilos, of fresh stems in 
boiling water and allowing them to remain there for 
10 minutes. In 36 minutes (or in 46 minutes inoluding 
the time occupied in immersing the stems) the work- 
men, apparently not specially trained in the work, 
produoed 5,000 kilos, of excellent ribbon?. This would 
be at the rate of 73 kilos, of wet ribbons per day of 10 
hours ;or of 161 pounds (avoir.) of dry ribbons for the 
same period. 
This process, it will be noticed, is of the simplest 
possible description. The only apparatus necessary 
is a tank. This tank could easily be moved from place 
to place in the field, and the wood of the stems after 
the ribbons are removed would probably furnish most 
of the fuel necessary. The process can, however, only 
be utilised in a few special countries where labour is 
very cheap. 
M. Crozat states that ribbons produced by this 
process can be dried, baled, and delivered ready 
for shipment at a cosb cot exceeding 8 to 10 
centimes per kilo, (about 85 shillings per ton.) In 
o nkin it could be done for even less than this. 
It will be noticed that the Fleury-Moriceau process 
follows somewhat on similar lines to that of the Favier 
process of 1882. In this latter the stems were steamed 
for some time in a close fitting cylinder. The former 
is, however, much simpler, and requires absolutely no 
skilled labour, nor any plant except an open tank, 
large or small, according to the circumstances of the 
grower. 
The inventors of the Fleary-Bloriceau process are 
evidently of opinion that wherever cheap labour is ob- 
tainable it is in every way preferable, in the pro- 
duction of Ramie ribbons, to the best machine. After 
all, placing the Ramie stems in boiling water is only 
a modification of the old retting process practised so 
long by the Chinese, and by means of which probably 
the China grass of commerce is still produced. In any 
case the Fleury-Moriceau process deserves to be care- 
fully considered, and especially in its applicability to 
the circumstances of India. There the ryots might 
grow Ramie in small areas, prepare the ribbons and 
sell them to merchants for export, or to a neighbour- 
ing factory or usine. The steaming process of M. 
Favier, designed for use under similar circumstances, 
failed no doubt on account of the restrictions placed 
on the use of the patent, and the uncertainty of the 
demand for ribbons. The Fleury-Moriceau process 
re-opens the question under circumstances much more 
favourable, aud the subject is one which deserves 
careful consideration wherever labour is sufficiently 
abundant to permit of ribbons being produced at a 
price that will compate with machine-cleaned ribbons. 
Will any planter who has plenty of green aloes try 
the experiment and report the result? Plantain 
stems might also be tried, although in this case 
the proportion of fibre (suitable for paper making,) 
to waste matter is very small. A little soda in the 
hot water might be useful. 
We have been indebted to Sir Bruce Burnside 
for a good many interesting and valuable extracts 
with reference to the development of the " Sisal " 
Fibre industry in the Bahamas of late years under 
the auspices of Governor Sir Henry Blake. These 
have duly appeared from time to time in our pages, 
and recalling the fact that " Sisal " is but another 
name for " Aloe," and that Mauritius — with fewer 
advantages than Ceylon — has developed a really 
important export trade in Aloe Fibre, we do not 
see "why this Colony should lag behind. It behoves 
one or other of our Colombo merchants to take 
the initiative : just as the " Kapok " trade has 
riseD, so, and much faster, ought exports of Aloe 
and other fibres to be set agoing. 
Since writing the above, we have received from 
Mr. F. Cummins, well and favourably remembered 
in Ceylon, in connection with the P. W. D , copy of 
a report of the South Florida Fruit Company, in 
which a passage oocurs respecting " Sisal Hemp," 
