Diic.  I,  1896.] 
THR  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
413 
THE  RAMIE  SYNDICATE. 
Thu  Textile  Industries  and  Journal  of  Fabrics 
says  : — 
Tile  treatment  of  the  Rhea  or  Ramie  fibre  is  at 
present  receiving  a great  amount  of  attention,  and 
many  inventors  are  attempting  to  perfect  systems  by 
which  they  hope  to  gain  the  immense  returns  that 
are  certain  to  be  the  resvard  of  the  one  wlio  brings 
forward  the  process  which  proves  itself  a perfect  com- 
mercial success.  This  .Tournal  has  paid  no  small 
amount  of  attention  to  the  question  of  Rhea,  and, 
during  the  past  tew  years,  much  interesting  inform- 
ation on  the  subject  has  been  given  in  its  pages. 
One  invention  after  another  has  been  fully  described, 
and,  as  recently  as  July,  we  gave  particulars  of  two 
processes  which  are  considered  to  liave  a favourable 
chance  of  being  crowne  I with  success.  Another  sys- 
tem has  been  brought  prominently  before  the  public, 
namely  that  of  Mr.  Taylor  Burrows  and  Mr.  D. 
Edwards-Radclyffe.  This  being  worked  by  the  Ramie 
Syndicate,  who  after  exhaustive  experiments,  have 
commenced  a factory  at  Hythe  End  Mill,  Staines, 
near  Windsor.  This  factory  is  furnished  with  a com- 
plete plant  for  the  treatment  of  Rhea,  from  the 
decorticating  of  the  stems  to  the  spinning  of  the 
yarns.  There  are  already  between  thirty  and  forty 
liands  employed,  and  the  Syndicate  hopes  before  long 
to  greatly  increase  this  number.  The  factory  pre- 
mises can  be  extended  as  the  success  of  the  euter- 
prize  may  call  for  additions,  and,  we  understand, 
that,  already,  largely  increased  power  has  been  ren- 
dered indispensable. 
Prominence  has  been  given  to  the  Ramie  question 
by  a meeting  of  members  of  the  press,  which  took 
placg  at  the  Syndicate’s  works  a day  or  two  ago 
wire  the  whole  process  was  seen  in  operation.  We 
are  '^formed  that  the  company  is  executing  orders 
for  ^uch  quantities  as  have  never  before  been  at- 
temxited.  The  largest  consignments  are,  however, 
being  made  for  canvas  manufacture,  also  for  sail 
cloths,  fishing-lines,  and  similar  purposes,  but  many 
good  orders  have  been  given  for  the  better  classes  of 
fabrics,  sucli  as  for  lace,  dress  materials,  hosiery, 
cloths  of  various  kinds,  velvets,  and  similar  fabrics, 
and  also  for  tapes  and  boot  laces.  Some  of  the 
Bradford,  Manchester,  and  Glasgow  firms  are  already 
employing  the  Rhea  manufactured  by  this  Syndicate 
in  their  works.  The  great  strength  of  the  fibre  ap- 
peals to  attract  manufacturers,  and,  where  a proper 
chemical  treatment  is  afforded,  time  has  no  w'eaken- 
ing  effget  upon  the  material.  But  this  is  a great  point 
— it  is  a very  easy  matter  to  remove  the  gum  and 
bleach  the  fibre,  but  whether  or  not  its  strength  has 
been  deteriorated,  time  alone  can,  in  many  cases, 
determine.  Should  this  process  possess  all  the  ad- 
vantages claimed  for  it,  manufacturers  will  find 
other  attract'ons  in  Rhea,  apart  from  its  strength, 
as  its  silky  nature  and  its  suitability  for  a 
variety  of  high-class  fabrics  is  well-known. 
When  once  the  proper  method  of  utilizing  Rhea  has 
been  clearly  demonstrated,  there  will  be  no  end  to 
its  uses,  and  so  easily  is  it  cultivated  in  all  sub-tropical 
countries  that,  given  the  demand,  the  supply  may  be 
always  ready. 
The  plant  which  the  Ramie  Syndicate  has  at  work 
includes  decorticating,  boiling  and  softening,  pre- 
paring, combing,  and  sjunning  machinery,  so  that 
the  whole  process  is  gone  through  at  the  vvoik-i.  We 
give  an  illustration  of  the  decorticating  machine  in 
Fig.  1,  which  turns  out  as  much  work  as  fifty  men  can 
do  by  hand  labour.  It  \s'ould  thci'efore  pay  planters 
to  have  such  maobines  in  their  fields,  as  the  treatment 
on  the  spot  would  be  of  great  advantage  to  them, 
whether  compared  with  decorticating  by-  hand  labour 
or  exporting  the  Rhea  in  stem^.  Very  little  need 
be  said  in  reference  to  this  machine.  It  is  simple 
in  construction  and  effective  in  its  operation,  the 
stems  being  fed  in  at  one  end  and  returned  as  fibre, 
whilst  no  skilled  labour  is  required,  two  boy.s  being 
able  to  attend  to  it.  It  is  portable,  and  can  be  worked 
by  steam,  water,  or  animal  pow-er,  so  that  it  is  very 
suitable  for  dealing  with  the  stems  where  grown. 
The  next  process  to  the  decorticating  is  the  boiling, 
which  takes  place  in  a large  square  tank,  heated  from 
underneath  bv  an  ordinary  furnace.  The  tank  con- 
tains perforated,  rotating  cylinders,  into  which  the 
material  is  put,  and  kept  c-ntinually  on  the  move. 
The  process  takes  about  three  hours  to  accomplish, 
and  the  fibre  is  then  placed  in  the  bleaching  tank, 
where  a secret  chemical  process  adapt.s  it  for  fur; her 
mechanical  treatment.  The  bleaching  is  described 
as  having  no  deleterious  effect  upon  the  material,  as 
i.s  the  case  where  high  pressure  steaming  is 
adopi ed,  or  whore  caustic  soda  is  employ'ed,  but  the 
gum  is  thoroughly'  extracted. 
The  next  machine,  shown  in  Fig.  2,  combines  the 
purposes  of  a wringer,  separator,  aud  softener. 
This  requires  but  little  description  ns  the  illustra- 
tion easily  explains  itself.  Its  main  feature  con- 
sists of  a number  of  fluted  rollers,  between  which 
the  material  is  passed.  The  drawing  machine, 
Fig.  o,  is  worthy  of  attention,  as  the  fibres  are 
evenly  drawn,  without  waste,  into  a sliver,  to  be 
treated  on  the  combing  and  spinning  machinery. 
A travelling  apron.  A,  is  mounted  on  rollers,  B and 
Bl.  On  this  the  fibre  is  placed  in  parallel  order. 
The  apron  rotates  tow-ards  the  machine.  There  is 
a roller,  B,  and  another,  C,  placed  over  B,  both  of 
which  are  fluted.  The  latter  acts  as  a pressure 
roller,  so  that  a firm  grip  upon  the  fibre  is  secured. 
Next  is  another  apron,  mounted  on  rollers,  FI  and 
F.  The  roller,  FI,  is  placed  in  contact  with,  but 
a little  lovver  than,  that  marked  B.  The  other 
roller,  F,  has  another  one,  G,  a.nd  another,  J,  below 
it.  These  latter  are  also  fluted,  the  former  acting 
as  a pressure  roller.  The  speed  of  these  is  greater 
than  that  of  the  first  pair  of  rollers,  so  that  the 
proper  drawing  action  may  be  afforded,  in  order 
to  bring  the  fibres  parallel.  A feed  sheet,  I,  passes 
round  a roller,  J,  and  carries  the  fibres  to  the 
last  pair  of  roller,  K and  L,  and,  after  pas- 
sing between  those,  goes  forward  uude-r  a large  lapping 
drum,  M,  and  over  other  rollers,  Jl,  and  .12,  and 
back  to  the  roller,  J,  near  the  second  apron.  There 
are  springs  and  levers  to  keep  top  and  bottom  rollers 
in  contact.  The  fibre  to  be  treated  is  wet  and  is 
kejit  in  this  condition  during  the  operation  of 
drav/ing,  which,  by  this  means,  is  more  easily  accom- 
plished. The  fibres  therefore  pass  from  the  first 
liair  of  rollers,  B C,  to  the  second  pair,  F G,  and  the 
drawing  is  repeated  through  the  third  pair,  K and  L, 
when  the  fibres  are  thoroughly  drawn  out,  and 
appeared  in  the  form  of  an  even  sliver.  This  may 
be  wound  on  a cylinder,  M,  or  run  into  a sliver  can, 
or  disposed  of  in  any  suitable  manner,  as  it  leaves 
the  machine. 
Numerous  modifications  have  been  made  in  the 
combing,  spi;  ning,  and  other  machines  employed, 
and  so  effectively  can  Rhea  filasse  be  treated  that, 
if  put  into  work  one  day,  the  y'aru  can  be  delivered 
the  next.  By  the  complete  machinery  -which  the 
Syndicate  has  at  work,  the  fibre  can  be  prep  ired  for 
any  br.xuch  of  the  textile  trades — woollen,  cotton, 
linen,  or  silk.  The  present  price  of  Rhea  is  about 
£15  per  ton,  but,  when  a good  demand  is  established, 
it  is  considered  that  the  price  will  come  as  low  as 
£1)  per  ton,  but  even  at  the  higher  rate,  we  under- 
stand that,  by  this  process,  filasse  and  prepared 
sliver  can  be  produced  at  from  2|d.  to  fid.  per 
pound,  which  will  realize  from  Is.  fid.  to  5s.  per 
pound  in  the  market,  according,  to  the  purpose  for 
which  it  is  produced. 
TriEEE  IS  NO  heason  why  Rhea  Fibke  should  xor 
COVIPETE  WITH  Cotton.— -If  only  planters  ivill  keep  ii, 
up,  the  area  for  growing  is  enormous,  aud  the  price 
could  be  reduced  lower  than  cotton,  and  still  pay 
the  planters  enormous  profits.  The  official  report 
from  Mexico,  where  it  is  being  taken  up  by  the 
Minister  of  Bublic  Works,  although  there  they  are 
under  the  disadvantage  of  stripping  the  libbons  by 
hand  labour,  says  the  profit  shows  145  per  cent, 
on  the  working  c.apital.  Now  -u'ith  decorticators, 
this  profit  would  be  increased,  and  if  the  planters 
will  go  one  step  further,  and  ungum  it  whilst  green, 
not  only  will  a still  superior  quality  of  fibre  be 
produced,  but  the  filasse  will  command  a higher 
price.  The  report  adds  “ all  scientific  authorities 
