Dec i, 1893.3 The Tropical Agriculturist. 
399 
the Report of the Board of Experts, acting as jury, 
has just been published.* 
The resul s of tlie Is'ew Orleans trials do not appear 
to carry us any nearer to the solution of the prob- 
lem that has been so long under consideration in 
regard to the extraction of Ramie fibre. The 
machines presented do not appear to possess any 
advantages over those tried at i'aris in 1888 and 1889, 
and fully discussed in the Keiv Bulletin, 1888, p. 
and 1889, p. iG8, — while they are apparently inferior 
to the machines tried also at Paris under the aus^jices 
of tbe Societe des Agiicidteurs de France in Septem.- 
ber 1891. 
The following extracts are taken from the United 
States Report : — 
Machines Entered. 
"The official trials of Ramie machines, under the 
auspices of the office of fibre investigations of the 
U.S. Department of Agriculture, set for the last week 
in September at Audubon Park, New Orleans, came 
off on the 80th of September, and iccluded trials 
upon jute stalks as well as upon stalks of Ramie. 
" Three machines were entered for trial as fol- 
lows :— The Kauffman machine, by the Kauffman 
Fibre Company of New Orleans, La. ; the Felix 
Fremerey Uecorticator, by the Felix Fremerey 
Decorticator Company, of Galveston, Texas; the 
Fibre Delignating machine (known as the J. J. Green 
machine) of the United States Fibre Company of 
Versailles, Ky. 
" The Kaiijf'nmn machine. — According to the entry of 
this machine it requires 15-horso power; it works 
upon green stalks stripped of leaves and upon dried 
stalks. E'our attendenta are required to run it ; floor 
space occupied 6 by 14 feet. The machine is termed 
a decorticator for ramie, jute and hemp 
The Fremereij machine. — In the entry of this 
machine about 6 horse power is stated. The machine 
is arranged to work upon green stalks, either strip- 
ped or with the leaves and upon dry stalks. It 
occupies a floor space of about 5 by 18 feet. The 
machine requires five attendants, three of whom 
may be boys 
" The J. J. Green machine. — Ten-horse power is 
named as the power required to drive this machine. 
The entry states that it works upon dried stalks 
(but it is also expected to work green stalks with 
or without leaves.) Five attendants are required for 
full capacity, three of whom may be boys ; it occupies 
a floor space of 8 by 12 feet." 
Trials of Green Stkipped Ramie. 
" The first trial was with the Kauffman machine, 500 
pounds of green stripped stalks having been weighfd 
out for the test. Of this amount 8;!2 pounds of stalks 
were run through the machine in 42 minutes, when 
the machine clogged. Tlie result in wet ribbons 
was 88 pounds^ and IBS pounds of stalks remained 
uuworked, owing to the inability of the machine to 
proceed farther. 
" Mr. Fremery declined to enter this trial after 
500 pounds of green stripped ramie stalks had been 
weighed out, claiming that the stalks were too uneven 
in size, the construction of his machine requiring 
medium stalks." 
CONCLUSIOJTS. 
In a review of the results of these trials, Mr. 
Charles Richard Dodge, special agent in charge of 
fibre investigations, report as follows: — 
" While the figures for a day's work, based on 
the results of short running, are wholly misleadin<;, 
it is iutoi'esting to note that the output of the 
Kauffman machine, during the 42 minutes of con- 
tinuous work Ijefore it clogged, represents 4,74.=! 
pounris of green stalks in 10 hours of continuous 
action, or a little over 2 tons, with an output of 
1,257 pounds of wet ribbons, equal to about 420 
pounds of dry ribbons, which weight would be con- 
* The United Stites Department of Agriculture. 
Division of Statistics. New Scries : Report No. 91), 
Septombor, and October 1892. Waghingtou Govern- 
lH^u^ I'liatiuij U&cc, p(). 347— ;i54. 
siderable reduced after the loose hurds and woody 
matter remaining in the ribbons produced by this 
machine had been eliminated. 
" In like manner, were the J. J. Green machine 
to run continuously for 10 hours, turning out ribbons 
at the rate of speed shown when in actual opera- 
tion (that is, dedncting the 67 minutes spent in 
cleaning and le-adjustment) the output would have 
shown a capacity of 4,821 pounds of stalks and l,2i>2 
pounds of wet ribbons, equal to about 410 pounds 
of dry ribbons. But, as shewn, both machines were 
unable to finish the 500 pounds of stalks weighed 
out to each for the trial. 
" The results of the new Orleans trials are satis- 
factory as far as they have demon-trated the 
status of the machines entered, and established an 
American record that gives a starting point for future 
comparison, as the results of other trials are made 
known. It is to be regretted, however, that a larger 
number of machines was not represented. In this 
report comparisons cannot be made wi'h the best 
foreign macliines, though I shall endeavour to cover 
the whole ground in a special report. Bulletin No. 5, 
Fibre investigations, to be issued at an early date." 
The trials with Ju'e stems were very similar in 
tlieir results to those no'ed in the case of Ramie 
stems. There was no conclusive evidence either 
way. The best results with Jute stalks as far as 
they went, were given by the Kauffman machine. 
Thii cleaned 100 pound < of stalks in 20 minutes, 
yielding 32 pounds of wet ribbons. The ribbons were 
described " as well delignated with a very small 
percentage of woody waste. The fibre occasionally 
was somewhat broken." — Keiv Bulletin. 
CINCHOiS^A. 
London, Nov, 3. ' 
Notes from Ouh London Letter, 
Meeting Mr. John Hamilton this week, and 
knowing him to ba well-up in all that relates to 
oinohona, it oocurred to me to question him as to 
the improved prospects reported (or the bark. 
His reply waa in BUbstance ;— " Really we eeem 
here to have lost touch with the (ulure of oinohona. 
I can really tell you nothing but what it may be 
believed Mr. John Ferguaon ia as well or better 
acquainted with than I can be. You could not 
have a better authority than that gentleman on 
all matters connected with planting products. 
Yes, it is true that a batter demand has of lata 
been deyeloped in America for quinine. The reason 
for this is not known to me, but it is a fact that 
whereas wa wera exporting to that country a year 
or two baok only three million lb. the amount now 
ia up to about four million or so. The result of 
this has been to make prices here rise somewhat, 
and they seem to be firm ani bo promiae a ohanca 
of expansion. You ask if quinine la looally manu- 
factured in America. Yes, it is. There are, I think, 
two or three well-known manufactories in the States 
and they derive their bark supply through the Eu- 
ropean markets. But London ia no longer the chief 
centre of the trade. We have to watah the sales 
at Amsterdam and one or two other German centres. 
The quotations there now wholly rule prices here. 
You see the larger proportion ol the bark supply 
now comes from Java. How is if, you ask, that 
that island has maintained the cultivation in opposi- 
tion to India and Ceylon ? The answer ia very 
ready. It is simply a case of quality. Java 
send3 us far richer bark than the average of 
Cejlon and Indian growth yield. I suppose this 
to be due to the soil of the island, fjr the rich 
Ledger tree flourishes there, and all the bark 
Java sends us almost is of that valuable kind. 
Do 1 think there is a chance of Oeylon being able 
to competo suocessfully with Java in Iho future? 
Well, I hardly like tJ give an opinion, but 
QeyloQ {«ii8, exQSf t in Qertaia looaiitiei %ui uod«.| 
