Januari i, i8go.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
S°7 
the stems) the workmen, apparently not specially 
trained in the work, produced 5*600 kilos, of ex- 
cellent ribbons. 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 furuish most 
of the fuel necessary. The process can, however, only 
oe utilised in a few special countries where labour is 
very cheap. 
M. Orozat states that ribbons produced by this pro- 
cess can be dried, baled, and delivered ready for 
shipment at a cost not exceeding 8 to 10 centimes 
per kilo, (about 85 shillings per ton). In Tonkin it 
could be done for even less than this. 
It will be noticed that the Fleury-Moriceau prosess 
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 oircum- 
stanoes of the grower. 
The inventors of the Fleury-Moriceau process are 
evidently of opinion that wherever cheap labour is ob- 
tainable it is in every way preferable, in the production 
of Ramie ribbons, to the best machine. After all, 
placing the Ramie stems in boiling water is only a modi- 
fication 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 he carefully con- 
sidered, and especially in its applicability to the circum- 
stances of India. There the ryots might grow Ramie 
in small areas, prepare the ribbons and sell them to 
merchants for export, or to a neighbouring 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, and the 
subject is one which deserves careful consideration 
wherever labour is sufficiently abundant to permit of 
ribbons being produced at a price that will complete 
with machine-cleaned ribbons. 
The relative value of the several machines, and of 
the Fleury-Moriceau process, tried at Paris in 1889, 
may be gathered from the following tables : — 
Table 1.— Fiest Series of Trials. Green stems, 
without leaves. 
»1 >» 
cu d ED 
o fl -o 
Machine. 
a 
W 
Efi 
a 
00 
a 
0 
CO 
m 
CO 
Rib! 
los.) 
it of Green 
(Kilos.) 
rime emploi 
"a 
■s § 
OB 
'3 
is 
cj 
3 
& 
10 
6 m. 
1-300 
10 
44 m. 
2-820 
7 
1| m. 
1-000 
36 
2im. 
10-000 
18 
46m. 
5-6C0 
•~ 3 p.*. 
CD t —' 
CO t— I 
96 
276 
l,763f 
161 
Armand-Barbier 
Favier (No. 1) 
Michotte 
De Landtsheer (large 
machine). ... ... 
Fleury-Moriceau pro- 
cess... 
* In preparing this estimate the wet ribbons are 
calculated to jield one-third of their weight of dry 
ribbons, and the kilo, is taken as equivalent to 2 204 
pounds avoir. 
t This large yield of ribbons must be reducod about 
20 per cent, on account of the pith and wood lightly 
adhering to them. 
Table 2.— Second Series of Trials. Green stems, 
with leaves. 
13 
CD 
o 
% 
a 
Blachine. 
02 
M 
C4— < ' 
o 
43 
•B 
op 
'3 
10| m. 1-200 50 
18 m. 18-100 443 
2im. 6-000 — 
Armand-Barbier ... 2 26 
Favier (No. 1) ... 2 60-350 
Michotte 2 17-400 
De Landtsheer : 
(a) Large machine 2 46 lljm. 15-000 575 
(b) Small machine 1 24-400 10 m. 6'500 28? 
Awards of the Jury. 
As was the case last year, the official report of the 
jury will probably not be published till the appearad 
of the December number of the Bulletin cletil 
Agriculture. In the meantime it may be mentioned 
that the jury, following the rules applicable to the 
other exhibits at the Exposition Universelle, awardec 
a gold medal to M. Favier ; a gold medal to M. de ( 
Landtsheer ; and a silver medal to MM. Fleury- 
Moriceau. These awards, it will be noticed, follow 
closely the results already detailed above, and they 
may be accepted as affording a clear indication of the 
relative value of the several machines and processes 
submitted to the jury. 
To those generally interested in Ramie culture it 
may be mentioned that the trials of 1889 have proved 
much more favourable than those of 1888, and the 
subject is evidently ripening for solution in many 
directions not thought of before. 
This can be best shown by a comparsion of the 
results as follows : — 
Table 3. — Results obtained in 1889 compared 
with those obtained in 1888, 
Quantity of Dry Ribbons pro- 
ducible in a day of 10 
hours (pounds Avoir.) 
working on Green stems. 
Machine. 
1888. 
1889. 
1,763* 
287 
96 
443 
161 
De Landtsheer: 
Large machine ... 
Small machine 120 
Barbier ... 71 
Favier, No; 1 
Fleury-Moriceau 
It will be noticed that the best results obtained 
in 1888 were at the rate of 120 pounds of dry rib- 
bons per day of 10 hours. This was with the De 
Landtsheer small machine. In 1889 this machine, 
with improvements, produced at the rate of 287 pounds 
of dry ribbons (more than double the quantity) for 
the same period. With the large machine (make 
due allowance for the pith and wood lightly adher- 
ing to the wet ribbons) the returns of dry ribbons 
would be at the rate of over half a ton per day t 
Other Machines and Processes. 
Before closing this report it is desirable to pass 
under review a few of the machines and processes 
not represented at Paris which have recently come 
into notice in this country and elsewhere. In the 
absence of carefully arranged public trials under the 
control of men throughly conversant with the subject, 
it must be understood that it is impossible to ex- 
press an authoritative opinion as to the merits of 
such machines and processes. They are noticed here 
solely for the purpose of furnishing a more or less 
* See note in Table 1. 
