THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
573 
Feb.  I,  1897.] 
The  enclosures  “A”  are  copies  of  circulars  issued 
by  Messrs.  Franklin  MacVeagh  & Co.,  011  behalf  of 
“Naban  Unfermented  Ce3'lon  Tea  ” as  “the  fiuest 
and  most  delicious  tea  ever  offered  to  lovers  of  choice 
teas.” 
The  enclosure  “ B ” readers  are  already  fami- 
liar with  being  Messrs.  Gow,  Wilson  and  Stanton’s 
circular  which  we  issued  as  a Supplement  on  Tuesday. 
The  advertisements  are  copies  of  attractive  notices 
extolling  our  staple  product,  one  having  a coloured 
picture  of  a native  boy  gathering  tea  leaf. 
RHEA. 
London,  E.C. 
Sir, — I have  from  time  to  time  noticed  interesting 
and  valuable  correspondence  in  the  Press  concerning 
the  above  fibre  and  my  attention  has  been  specially 
drawn  to  recent  correspondence  on  the  subject  in  the 
Ceylon  Observer.  The  success  of  this  unrivalled 
Fibre  has  been  greatly  retarded  by  a simple  but  all- 
important  matter.  Kindly  grant  me  a little  space  for 
the  purpose  of  clearly  putting  the  present  position 
before  your  readers. 
There  has  long  been  a link  missing  in  the  com- 
mercial chain  between  the  rhea  grower  and  the 
manufacturer,  hence  the  troubles  and  difficulties 
experienced  for  many  j'ears  in  introducing  the 
Fibre.  The  grower  has  produced  an  article  called 
“ Ribbons;”  which  the  purchaser  has  not  been  able 
to  utilise  practically  ; consequently  both  have  been 
discouraged  : the  former  because  his  product  has 
neither  obtained  nor  merited  the  commercial  classi- 
fication in  the  fibre  market  necessary  for  ensuring 
profit  on  the  growth,  and  the  latter  because  he  has 
not  seen  his  way  to  invest  the  necessary  capital  in 
new  machinery  for  manufacturing  a fibre  offered  him 
in  a form  that  as  a practical  man  he  cannot  accept 
and  the  supplies  of  which  have  heretofore  been  very 
irregular,  both  in  quality  and  quantity. 
Ribbons  are  the  stems  of  the  plant  freed  from  most 
of  the  internal  woody  pith.  They  contain  the 
coagulated  juice  of  the  stem,  called  “gum,”  some  of 
the  woody  pith  and  all  the  outer  cuticle  or  pellicule, 
which  has  for  years  been  the  despair  of  the  machine 
maker  and  the  chemist.  When  dry  it  assumes  a 
brown  colour  and  adheres  to  the  fibre  by  a peculiarly 
tenacious  gum,  insoluble  except  under  very  severe 
chemical  treatment. 
The  .position  viewed  commercially,  may  be  stated 
as  follows  — 
The  Ribbons  contain  an  enormous  percentage  of 
useless  material,  very  difficult  to  eliminate  in  the 
dry  state  and  on  which  freight  and  carriage  have 
to  be  paid.  Furthermore  they  cannot  be  properly 
compressed  into  bales  suitable  for  cheap  transport 
to  this  country,  as  the  cubic  measurement  is  out  of 
all  proportion  to  the  weight. 
Fibre  Brokers,  experts  in  the  classification  and 
valuation  of  Fibres,  have  not  been  able  to  classify 
ribbons  and  give  them  a practical  market  quotation 
for  the  simple  reason  that  they  represent  an  unknown 
quantity,  it  being  impossible  to  know  by  ordinary 
tests  what  percentage  of  Fibre  they  contain  what 
loss  of  weight  will  result  through  subsequent  treat- 
ment, nor  of  what  quality  the  JFibre  will  ultimately 
prove  to  be,  as  regards  strength,  length,  lustre,  duc- 
tility, etc. 
A moment’s  reflection  will  show  that  the  link  so 
long  missing  must  be  a machine  capable  of  extract- 
ing the  clean  fibre  direct  from  the  green  Rhea  stems 
and  removing  every  particle  of  wood,  the  great  bulk 
of  the  gum,  and  the  outer  cuticle,  so  obstinate  when 
dry. 
The  Link  is  no  longer  missing.  A French  Engineer 
has  produced  a Machine  which,  in  the  opinion  of  Ex- 
perts places  the  Rhea  Fibre  q'uestion  on  an  absolutely 
new  footing  and  ensures  the  commercial  success  of 
this  maguificent  Fibre.  By  means  of  this  Machine 
the  natives  on  the  Plantations  are  able  by  one  operation 
to  transform  the  green  stems  into  clean  fibre,  which 
when  dry  can  be  parked  under  great  pressure  into  bales, 
ju  the  same  way  that  Manilla,  Sisal  Hemp  and  other 
fibres  are  packed,  and  forwarded  to  the  Manu- 
— facturerat  a vory  sm.all  cost  for  freight,  carriage,  etc. 
The  practical  result  of  the  new  Machine  is  that 
the  fibre  it  produces  obtains  a proper  classification 
and  price  quotations  in  the  market,  Mr.  Faure  has 
important  machine  making  works,  large  means,  is 
an  experienced  scientific  engineer  and  grows  Rhea 
on  his  own  estate.  His  first  machine  produced 
ribbons  and  gained  the  gold  medal  at  Paris  in  1889, 
Great  success  has  crowned  his  efforts.  His  two 
crops  of  Rhea  in  July  and  October  were  decorti- 
cated by  tlie  new  machines  in  the  presence  of 
many  experts  in  this  fibre.  The  results  were  mar- 
vellous. I send  yon  a post  sample  of  the  fibre  just 
as  it  left  the  machine.  Chemical  inventors  have 
had  to  face  a very  difficult  problem  in  endeavour- 
ing to  deal  with  rhea  ribbons  containing  a condsider- 
able  amount  of  woody  particles  and  of  coagulated 
juice  called  “gum”  and  especially  the  dreaded  outer 
ekin  or  cuticle.  The  greatest  evil  in  connection 
with  many  of  the  degumming  processes  in  the  after 
effect  of  the  chemical  treatment  on  the  fibre  itself. 
Rhea  fibre  has  five  leading  qualities  — enormous 
strength — splendid  lustre— extreme  fineness — great 
ductility  and  wonderful  adaptability  for  taking  and 
retaining  colours.  All  these  qualities  are  liable  to 
be  very  injmiously  attacked  by  the  action  of  the 
chemicals  employed  in  the  majority  of  degumming 
processes.  Manj^  cases  have  occurred  where  the 
damage  has  developed  only  after  some  months,  when 
the  goods  manufactured  from  rhea  have  been  found 
to  be  rotten,  or  the  lustre  quite  gone.  Now  that 
ribbons  are  doomed  to  disappear  and  the  actual 
rhea  fibre  takes  their  place,  the  degumming  part  of 
the  business  assumes  an  entirely  different  aspect, 
because  the  fibre  needs  only  to  be  freed  from  the 
little  gum  that  i.s  left  in  it,  which  can  be  done, 
either  in  India  or  Europe  at  a very  cheap  rate 
by  a simple  process,  absolutely  independent  of  all 
patents.  The  fibre  can  be  degummed  in  2J  hours 
at  a cost  of  less  than  T3  per  ton.  In  this  matter 
I am  not  giving  my  opinion,  but  stating  facts, 
based  on  practical  working  in  France.  The  question 
of  the  cultivation  of  rhea  in  India  is  thus  com 
pletely  metamorphosed.  Practical  machines  can  be 
bought  at  a moderate  price  (£36)  to  extract  the  rhea 
fibre  from  the  stems  in  one  operation  on  the  plan- 
tations. This  fibre  when  dry  can  be  packed  in  bales 
and  forw'arded  to  the  European  markets,  where  it 
at  once  obtains  a classification  and  can  be  sold  at  a 
very  remunerative  price.  Contracts  can  easily  be 
made  for  immense  quantities  of  fibre,  seeing  that 
the  grower  is  now  sure  of  his  production  of  fibre  and 
the  Manufacturer  can  be  equally  assured  of  his 
supply  of  raw  material.— Your  obedient  servant 
MANUFACTURER. 
[If  the  machine  i.s  capable  of  accomplishing 
all  that  is  claimed  for  it  and  if  it  i.s  once 
made  clear  that  tlie  indigenous  plant  in  North- 
ern Bengal  is  not  likely  to  swamp  markets 
and  prices,  those  who  have  already  gone  in 
for  its  culture  in  Ceylon  might  extend  the 
area  of  rhea  'with  advantage. — Ed.  Y.H.J 
USEFUL  PLANTS  AGAINST  MALaRIA 
AND  INSECT  PESTS. 
Dn.iR  Sir,— It  is  a known  fact  that  there  are  many 
members  of  the  Vegetable  Kingdom  (trees,  plants 
shrubs,  orchids,  and  parasites,)  some  indigenous  to 
Ceylon,  possessing  properties  -which  enable  them  to 
ward  off  malaria  and  absorb  noxious  gases  detri- 
mental to  animal  life.  Yet  how  many  of  them  are 
known?  How  many  utilized?  A common  plant 
known  to  the  Sinhalese  as  Maduru  Tala  and  to 
Botanists  as  the  Ocymum  Saueltmi,  so  named  from 
its  being  found  in  the  precincts  of  almost  every  Hindu 
and  Buddhist  temple  in  Ceylon  and  India  is  well 
known  either  fiom  its  inhaling  or  exhaling  powers, 
to  clfectuall}^  keep  away  malaria,  and  although  (speak- 
ing for  ourselves)  so  many  hotbeds  of  fever  of 
different  types,  exist  in  our  midst,  has  this  humble 
plant  been  even  given  a trial.'' 
