448 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTI RIST. 
[Jan. i, 1895. 
HEA RED1VIVUS. 
About very few products has so much been 
written during the past twenty years as 
Rhea fibre, extracted from anettlewort, botanically 
known as Bohmeria nivea. The plant is in- 
digenous in Northern India, especially Assam, 
and also in China ; grows very readily over a 
wide range of climate and country, and is very 
easily cultivated and reaped. The great value 
of the fibre — Chinese grass-cloth — has long ago 
been recognized ; but the difficulty and expense 
of preparation were so great that the Indian 
Government, at the instance of Dr. Forbes 
Watson, ottered a prize of R5.000 to the in- 
ventor of a machine that would prepare and 
cleanse the fibre, quickly, efficiently and econo- 
mically. The fibre is just what the manufac- 
turers of Bradford have been longing for as 
something between jute and silk. The grass- 
cloth made from it rivals the best Irench 
cambric in softness and fineness of texture. 
When in Dundee in 1884 — during the very depth 
of the planting depression in Ceylon — we did all we 
could to interest the large jute manufacturers 
and their Bradford agents, in this island as a fibre- 
growing country, and in response to our letters 
in the Dundee Advertiser, there was a move- 
ment to exploit our lowcountry and form a "Dundee- 
Ceylon Fibre Limited Company " to operate in the 
Southern Province, a paradise for fibre-growing 
plants. But the difficulty that could not be 
overcome was as to the profitable preparation 
of the fibre, especially of ramie or rhea. 
Messrs. Death & Elwood were supposed at 
me time to have overcome all obstacles with 
iheir machine ; but it was found there was a 
gummy substance which could not be got rid 
of, save by a slow expensive process ; and so the 
matter has rested until the present year, although 
a M. F'avier near Avignon in France professes to 
manufacture ramie to the value of £40,000 a year, 
getting the raw material from China. Very 
Jittle has been heard, however, of this French 
Company ; and rhea or ramie has, of late years 
ather dropped out of view. 
There has been a special revival of interest of 
late in consequence of a Mr. A. F. Bilderdeck 
Gomess, F.R.M.S., a practical Chemist, discover- 
ing a process by which all difficulties are over- 
come at very little expense. The fibre pre- 
pared and treated by him is most highly spoken 
of by manufacturers who say they can use large 
quantities of it. A Company has been formed 
ot take over Mr. Gomess's Patents, called the 
" Khea F'ibre Treatment Company, Ld." with a 
capital of £130,000, and the prospectus estimates 
that the fibre can be produced at 3d per lb., 
while it is valued at from 8d to Is 6d per lb. 
A profit equal to 76 per cent on the capital 
of the Company is accordingly estimated. Patents 
have been got for the United Kingdom, nearly 
al the Continent of Europe, United States, 
India and Ceylon. It is as agent of this Com- 
pany that Capt. Whitley carries a commission 
empowering him to deal in the raw material for 
the Company. Among other proposals is one to 
cultivate rhea in Johore ; but the Southern 
Province of Ceylon with its cheap labour ought to 
be quite as convenient. Meantime, however, 
Calcutta merchants offer to collect a large 
quantity of the raw material from the indigenous 
plants and to supply f.o.b. at a rate well within 
the limit of the London Company. The expectation 
is that 2,000 tons a year can be taken off by manu- 
facturers to mix with silk at 6d a lb., wool at 
Isj best hemp 5$d, or sea-island cotton at 6d a 
lb. When the indigenous supply gets scarce, 
Ceylon ought to lie ax good a country as any 
in which to cultivate Bohmeria mvea. We 
await news now of the London Company actu- 
ally setting to work and earning its 78 per cent 
dividends. 
INDIAN PATENTS. 
Calcutta, the lftth November 1891. 
The fees prescribed in Schedule 4 of Act V of lb8»> 
have been paid for the continuance of exclusive pri- 
ikge in respect of the undermentioned in\euUou<>. — 
Improvements in the construction of metal fit rati 
or boxes. — No. 253 of 1890. — Arthur Andrews, of No. 
5, Lyons Range, in the Town of Calcutta, Merchant, 
for improvements in the construction of metal chests 
or boxes. (From 24th November 1894 to 23rd No\. 
1895.) 
Improvements in Rice-Milling. — No. 172 of 1890.— 
Robert Aitken Speirs and Heinrich Stumpp, Rice- 
millers and Engineers, residing at Upper l-'oozoon- 
doung, in the city of Rangoon, Lower Burma, for 
improvements in rice-milling, which has for its object 
the better polishing and finishing of cleaned or 
pearled rice. (From 18th December 1894 to 17th 
December 189!>.) — Indian Emjxnttr. 
TEA AND COFFEE IN NORTH TKAVAN 
CORE. 
Mr. Wm. Mackenzie returned from North 
Trarancoro whither he had gone on a short 
visit to his friend Mr. Knight. He mlly 
corroborates what lias been said by Mr. P. K. 
Buchanan and Mr. T. Davidson regarding the 
soil and the climate. He says he was 
very agreeably surprised with all that he 
said in that vast district and that 
portions of it both high and low are better 
suited for tea and Lioerian coffee than ours 
because of the superior soil. The higher range 
was in very respect suitable for tea, the soil 
and climate bearing favourable comparison 
with the Agras here. The transport was 
carried on by means of bullock carts 
which however were much smaller than 
ours, (the load being only altout a third 
cof what a Ceylon cart carries) over roads which 
ould not cost more than K2,000 or K3.000 per 
miles, rivers being forded which we would 
bridge here. 
SCOTTISH CEYLON TEA COY. 
We learn that a number of the S.C.T. Cos 
£10 shares have been sold in London as high as 
£17 10s per share. This is, we suppose, the highest 
attained by any sterling shares of a Ceylon Tea 
Plantation Company? 
"TheI va Coffee Company '— and its chief 
local Manager Mr. John Rettie— have to be con- 
gratulated on the opening of the grand new tea 
factory in the town of Badulla — a factory which 
will serve not only adjacent tea fields belonging 
to the Company, but also a great deal of leaf 
purchased from small proprietors who will thus 
be saved the cost of building or machinery on 
their own account. Such central large F'actories 
are a public benefit ; while we have no doubt that 
under the shrewd management available in the 
present instance, the investment will prove a v^ery 
profitable one to the shareholders. 
