April  j,  1897.]  THK  TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
673 
of  tables  showing  composition  of  plant  and  soil, 
and  remarking  that  although  one  part  of  Ben- 
gal seemed  to  suit  the  plant  fairly  well  in 
common  with  other  crops,  it  suffers  severely  from 
long  drought.  The  primitive  modes  of  preparing 
the  fibre  were  described,  and  then  the  various 
modern  processes  were  reviewed,  special  attention 
being  devoted  to  the  Gomess  process,  the  Mac- 
donald.Boyle  process,  and  the  process  of  Mr.  J.  S. 
Brown,  Bally  Paper  Mills,  a working  experimental 
model  and  complete  drawings  of  whose  machines 
w'ere  exhibited.  The  lecturer  then  said  all  fibres 
have  this  in  common,  that  they  arc  e’ong  ited  c“lls, 
but  they  vary  greatly  as  to  length,  thickness,  form 
of  section,  shape  of  ends,  hardness,  softness,  elasti- 
city, flexibility,  lustre,  and  strength.  All  fibers  of 
one  class  however  have  characteristics  in  common, 
that  is  to  say,  that  all  fibers  obtained  from  one 
natural  order  or  family  of  plants  so  closely  resemble 
one  another  as  to  be  only  with  difficulty  distinguished. 
In  the  textile  industries,  for  instanco,  we  have  a wide 
range  of  easily  recognisable  fibres,  as  cctton  and 
jute,  hemp  and  flrx,  wool  and  silk;  but  the  various 
varieties  of  cotton  can  only  be  distinguished  by  an 
expert,  and  same  may  be  said  of  hemp  and  of  the 
animal  fibres,  wool  and  silk,  although  they  are  not 
cellulose.  In  the  paper  industry  we  have  a much 
wider  i-ange  of  fibres,  and  many  of  them  so  .closely 
alike  that  we 'have  to  depend  on  the  appearance  of 
some  invariable  complement  to  the  fibre,  such  as 
the  cells  of  the  pith  or  the  leaf-hair  of  grasses 
to  identify  them.  I have  here  prepared  a table  to 
show  the  chief  physical  characteristics  of  the  most 
important  commercial  fibres,  and  you  will  see  that 
f)r  length,  strength,  and  lustre,  rhea  far  transcends 
all  the  other  vegetable  fibres.  And  besides  all  this 
it  combines  with  its  rare  whiteness  an  affinity  for 
colouring  matters  which  is  not  approached  by  any 
other  normal  cellulose.  Jute  dyes  excellently,  but 
jute  is  a very  pronounced  teguo  cellulose,  and  the 
colours,  w'hen  dyed,  lack  the  purity  of  tone  which 
they  show  so  admirably  on  rhea.  Chemically  con- 
sidered rhea  is  a pecto-cellulose  like  all  the  other 
finest  textiles,  as  linen,  hemp,  and  cotton.  When  w* 
consider  what  may  be  the  future  for  rhea,  we  must 
be  careful  to  bear  in  mind  that  none  of  the  people 
to  whose  lot  it  w'ill  fall  to  make  a success  of  it  have 
any  experience  yet.  That  the  fibre  can  be  extracted 
S3  successfully  as  to  leave  little  to  be  desired  is,  I 
think,  beyond  a doubt;  but  the  growers  are  ouyl  ex- 
perimenting yet,  and  so  we  have  no  good  supply  of 
regular  'qualities  of  fibre,  and  consequently  the 
spinner  has  to  work  upon  an  uneven  material  whose 
qualities  he  has  not  yet  mastered.  Cultivation  and 
frequent  cropping  improve  both  the  strength  and 
fineness  of  the  fibre,  and  when  the  plant  is  produced 
largely  and  steadily,  we  may  expect  to  see  a great 
advance  in  every  direction.  The  fibre  combines  well 
with  silk,  flax,  and  wool,  and,  when  alone,  it  rivals 
the  more  ordinary  sort  of  silk.  Moreover,  it  enjoys 
an  advantage  w'hich  silk  has  not— it  may  be  con- 
verted into  the  most  excellent  paper  after  it  has 
become  useless  for  any  other  purpose.  When  a 
sufficient  supply  is  forthcoming,  machinery  will 
be  modified  so  as  lo  obtain  the  best  result, 
Much  has  been  said  about  rhea  as  a substitute 
for  jute;  but  jute  is  more  easily  cultivated,  and  the 
rayat  would,  I fear,  fail  to  give  rhea  the  raanurii  g 
and  attention  which  it  demands  during  the  greater 
part  of  the  year,  so  that  most  likely  rhea  would 
not  be  widely  cultivated  in  the  jute  districts,  and 
the  jute  business  would  still  continue.  The  whole 
future  of  rhea  now  depends,  on  the  cultivator,  and 
there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  in  many  districts 
it  may  be  grown  at  a profit.  I have  heard  that  the 
company  which  is  working  the  Gomess  patents  can 
manufacture  rhea  filasse  as  cheaply  as  cotton  is 
produced,  but  as  the  raw  material  is  not  sufficiently 
abundant  that  would  not  continue  to  be  the  case 
in  the  event  of  a largely  increased  demand  arising 
soon.  At  present  they  are  producing  about  two  tons 
weekly.  But  the  rhea  fibre  is  more  likely  to  become 
a serious  rival  to  flax  and  wool  than  to  jute.  Jute 
is  indeed  among  textiles,  as  like  newspapers  in  another 
sphere,  often  used  for  nobb  ends,  but,  as  a rule, 
doing  the  drudgery  of  the  world  and  cast  aside 
when  it  has  accomplished  its  more  immediate  purpose. 
The  President  congratulated  the  lecturer  on  his 
successful  lecture  and  demonstration,  and  in  opening 
a di.rcussion  on  the  subject  of  rhea,  said  that  Lord 
Mayo’s  Government  in  offering  a reward  of  £5,000 
for  the  best  process  for  preparing  rhea  had  begun 
at  the  wrong  end.  The  principal  problem  which  had 
alone  to  be  solved  was  the  difficulty  of  getting  the 
material  in  sufficient  quantity  in  India.  It  had  been 
shown  that  the  climate  of  Bengal  was  not  suited  to 
its  cultivation  ; it  required  a moist  and  equable  cli- 
mate, otherwise  interruptions  occurred  in  the  fibre 
which  was  fatal  to  its  utilisation.  He  understood 
that  a keen  controvercy  was  going  on  among  bota- 
nists as  to  whether  the  mistake  had  not  been  made 
of  growing  the  tropical  species  of  rhea  in  semi-tro- 
pical regions  and  the  semi-tropical  in  regions  similarly 
nnsuited  to  them.  Surgeon-Major  Prain  followed  and 
confirmed  what  Sir  John  Woodburu  had  said  with 
regard  to  the  confusion  which  existed  with  regard 
to  the  species  of  rhea  most  suited  for  manufacturing 
purjtoses'  There  was  little  doubt  that  the  tropical 
species  was  the  one  which  Dr.  Roxburgh  had  ori- 
ginally introduced  from  Sumatra,  and  was  therefore 
not  suited  to  India  generally.  He  said  that  Dr. 
George  Watt  had  lately  proceeded  to  Assam  with  the 
object  partly  of  ascertaining  which  species  is  the 
true  rhea.  Mr.  John  Gemmell,  in  the  course  of  a 
few  remarks,  said  that  the  plant  had  been  tried  as 
an  expel  iraent  in  several  tea  gardens  in  Assam  with 
some  success,  but  that  the  cost  of  cultivation  had 
acted  as  a deterrent  to  its  extended  introduction. 
Messrs.  George  S.  Sykes,  James  Luke,  and  G.  W. 
MacMinn  also  contributed  to  the  discussion. — Indian 
and  Eastern  Engineer,  Feb.  20. 
‘i  TEA  AND  MANURING.” 
A young  planter  who  has  been  interested  in 
the  discussion  on  tlie  above  subject  wants  to 
know  whether,  as  a matter  of  fact,  tea  has  ever 
been  known  to  be  killed  through  manuring  • and 
secondly,  whether  tea,  once  manured,’  and 
improved  in  yield,  has  ever  been  known  to  go 
back  to  less  than  the  original  crop  per  acre’ 
We  ai'e  not  .so  sure  about  the  second  ; biitsu’-elva 
negative  is  the  only  ansiver  to  the  first  question  ’ 
.\n  old  and  practical  planter  writes  on  another 
controverted  point  ; — 
As  regards  cultivation  ’ in  previous  corresnond* 
ence,  the  ‘ opinion  ’ of  some  that  returning  green 
primings  to  the  trees  poisons  them,  my  «:pertence  in 
tropical  cultivation  of  over  30  years  is  that  under 
proper  conditions  this  gives  some  of  the  very  best 
esults ! 
UDUGAMA  TEA  AND  TIMBER  COMPANY 
LIMITED. 
At  the  annual  general  meeting  held  on  Isf, 
March  189/,  the  following  Report  was  snb 
mitted  : — 
The  directors  submit  to  the  shareholders  the  account- 
for  the  year  ending  30th  September  1896. 
The  yield  for  the  Saumarez.  XJduEramn  av\/i  tt 
dollj  «nio«ntea  lo  144,350  lb.,  »n  incSa,,  nfej!' 
Su,.r™"  >o2881b.p’o7^jl^ 
Of  the  cleared  land  in  Maininadnlo  , 
m 1805  b.ve  c«»e  o..  S/t  12 
bearing  next  year  ; So  acres  were  nlanteH  l.ct 
and  are  looking  very  healthv  and  SI  ‘ 
now  felled  and  are  ready  for  i ilanL  0-^“^  **’• 
mated  that  when  all  these  clearimrs^o^o 
they  should  yield  150,000  Ib.  ^ ^ ® bearinj^ 
