December i, 1881.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
55i 
fungi 
clean them. He had also a smaller manual machine 
costing only £G0, but unsuitable for a regular factory. 
4. Laberie and Berthet's machine crushed the stems, 
Hemileia Vastatrix 
which has so well 
I would rather now 
a bad weed. 
An attack of lea 
nor would the trea 
was no chance of 
treated. 
Kut unless the tr 
ous throughout th 
white proprietors i 
by the natives, it < 
for which my metl 
ever the Colonial 
a view to makiug i 
take to stamp the 
known 
) ctwecn 
certain area of 
re a number of 
stumps of old 
1, and slow to 
t after a while 
so to this clay, 
vegetation had 
he disease, the 
and my own 
iments, and I 
b treatment of 
the pm'suit of 
ualified success, 
iigus than with 
ten weeks, 
vided there 
f the area 
after, any or 
P. Stokck. 
Storck is ready to extirpate 
I. If the larger design is not 
by blig 
CHINA GRASS DRESSING MACHINES. 
By C. G. Warnfobd Lock. 
(Journal of tin: Society of Arts, 21st October 1881.) 
I have just rcceivod from the Agricultural Depart- 
ment of the Indian Government a report on the trials 
of the China glass machines,* which was intended for 
Hborporatiou in the article on "Fibrous Substances" 
in Spous' " Encyclopredia." It has arrived too late for 
this purpose, but will probably interest readers of the 
Jon rmil. 
The seven competing processes may be 1 1m - briefly 
described : — 
1. J. P. Vander Ploeg'a appliances consisted of a crush- 
ing anil u scutching machine: he cleaned the fibre lina.K 
by boiling it in a prepaicd li'plnr. 
2. J. Nagoiia used a combined crushing and scutching 
machine, adaptable to both operations. 
X. H. H. Collyor boiled tbo stems first in water with 
u very little soda, then passed them through a machine 
■pah broke thorn up, ami again through the samo to 
* See 1 a ;e 1 7'.» of the .1.— Ep. 
ty wetted ; the fibre was then 
uor and an alkaline liquor, 
ed the machines described in 
ight a hand implement, 
ic stems in a crushing machine, 
ic solution, and again passed 
earned the stems, peeled them 
ihem by hand with mallets, 
rts upon all the samples turned 
lcur in placing them far below 
lugland from China, which is 
The most favourably received 
[escribed as containing "some 
irketable," and valued at £26 
i Cameron priced at £15, £18, 
ly. One of Cameron's samples 
% the best as far as freedom 
but the fibre was broken and 
so large a yield of silver as 
would not he so long. The 
the samples are nearly up to 
ua's is the oniy one which 
grass purposes, and this would 
only sell freely in a market bare of the regular article. 
Accordingly, the prizes originally offered will not be 
awarded, but certain of the competitors are recom- 
mended for smaller grants. The lesser value placed 
upon Vander Plocg's fibre is attributed to the fact that 
he aimed at producing it in a finished state lit for the 
spinner, and not to the inability of his machines to 
compete with Nagoua's and Cameron's. It is also re- 
marked that Cameron's process is but an improvement 
upon native methods current in India, anc" 
applied in many of the Indian gaols for c: 
fibre ; it can be employed upon green or 
long stems, but would hardly be applicable 
tion where many acres had to be clea 
his specification, and bro 
G. C. F. Amery broke t 
boiled tbern in an alkali 
them through the breakii 
7. C. E. Blechynden s 
by hand, and then beat 
The reports of the exp 
out by the competitors co 
the fibre imported into ] 
valued at £50 a ton. 
samples were Nagoua's, 
good fibre, and fairly m 
a ton ; and three lots froi 
and £11 a ton respective 
was approved of as beir 
from bark was concerned 
tangled, <vould never giv< 
Nagoua's, and the silver 
brokers say that none of 
the requirements. Nag 
could be used for China 
Therefore the recommendations are 5,00( 
to Nagoua and Vander Ploeg, and 1,000 
The committee conclude that, from the 
put upon the samples produced at the c 
does not seem probable that the Indiai 
yet be able to compete with the Chinese 
plant can be grown in the moist climate 
of parts of Bumia, Upper Assam, am 
northern Bengal, with only the ordinary 
for a rather superior crop, it may pos 
commercially. Until this has been satbfa 
ng aloe 
hort or 
planta- 
ruickly. 
s each 
eron. 
luation 
and j 
treati 
the ol 
some 
roots 
Th 
:ie Government has no intention c f renewing 
izes ; and will content itself with maintaining 
f the plant under cultivation, for supplying 
i after much experience has been gained in 
the matter, and with every incentive to success, the 
machinists of Europe are compelled to confess their 
complete inability to match the manual work of the 
Chinese. It may be incidentally remarked that out of 
the 6even competitors, no less than four departed from 
their proposed plans, these four including all the English. 
This fact seeni9- to indicate an imperfect previous 
acquaintance with the material to be d, and 
amounts to an acknowledgment at the eli •"b hone 
that they had been working in the wrong direction. 
This may probably help to account for their laokward- 
ness. On the other hand, of the remaining tluce, two 
(the Frenchmen) have presumably not ne lecti 1 to ex 
pcriiuent upon the plant which is under cultivation in 
tbo south of France, and they are in fact already well 
known among Continental textile mnchiuists. The 
moral of tliis is the necessity for fun. i eriutent 
on the part of English machinists. 
