May  I,  1897.] 
THE  • TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
755 
siiSe  and  laying  it  out  on  a definite  plan,  Much 
better  results  can  be  obtained.  If  it  be  assumed  that 
ail  estate  of  lj200  acres  be  cleared— preferably  near  a 
navigable  river  for  obvious  reasons — at  least 
900  can  be  put  under  cultivation,  the  remainder 
being  needed  for  roads  and  access  paths.  Dividing 
this  into  suitably  sized  blocks,  they  can  be  filled 
with  young  plants.  These  blocks  are  arranged  and 
the  plants  propagated  in  continuous  succession,  so 
that  by  the  time  the  last  block  is  ready,  the  plants 
in  the  first  are  ready  for  cutting.  When  they  are 
18  in.  high  .no  further  cultivation  is  needed,  and  the 
plants  will  continue  to  grow  for  an  indefinite  period 
if  occasionally  thinned  out.  The  advantage  of  this 
course  over  the  crop  system  is  that,  by  the  latter, 
ripe,  overripe,  and  immature  stalks  are  cut  indis- 
criniinatel}',  thus  preventing  any  possibility  of  uni- 
formity in  the  stalks  or  fibre.  By  the  block  system, 
on  the  contrarj',  only  the  plants  which  have  attained 
a given  maturity  are  cut,  so  that  it  is  reasonable  to 
expect  a more  uniform  quality  of  fibre,  in  addition 
to  which  the  machinery  required  is  less,  as  it  is 
constantly  working  on  a regular  supply,  instead  of 
at  periods,  owing  to  the  intermittance  of  the  supply. 
The  fibre  which  it  is  desired  to  obtain  is  embedded 
in  the  green  stalk  in  a mass  of  gum  or  viscous  sap, 
which  is  surrounded  by  the  bark.  Hitherto  it  has 
been  the  custom  to  strip  the  dried  stalks  by  hand  and 
ship  the  material  to  this  and  other  countries  in  the 
form  of  ribbons.  When  so  dried  there  is  surrounding 
the  fibre  a brittle  bark  and  a quantity  of  dried  gum 
or  resinous  matter,  which  is  insoluble  in  water.  Both 
these  substances  require  removal,  and  it  is  this  which 
has  hitherto  been  the  fatal  stumbling  block.  The 
ramie  which  comes  from  China,  and  bears  the  name  of 
“ China  grass,”  is  partially  prepared  by  hand,  the  bark 
having  been  removed  and  the  gum  to  some  extent. 
Although  the  amount  of  cleansing  needed  is  reduced, 
there  is  still  some  wanted,  as  the  adherent  gum  must 
be  all  removed  before  the  material  can  be  successfully 
worked. 
Prom  what  has  been  said,  it  is  clear  that  there  are 
two  substances  requiring  removal,  the  bark  and  gum. 
Although  attempts  have  been  made  to  efiect  the  cleans- 
ing in  one  operation,  the  experience  of  the  past,  and 
with  other  fibres,  shows  that  a division  of  the  process 
gives  the  best  result.  Just  as  in  the  case  of  fiax  the 
operations  of  retting  and  scutching  are  necessary  to  its 
perfect  cleansing,  so  with  ramie  the  double  operation  is 
the  most  effective.  The  difficulty  has  been  to  determine 
two  points,  namely,  how  to  deal  with  the  stems,  and  the 
character  of  the  machine  which  can  effect  the  operation. 
It  has  been  shown  that  in  drying  the  loss  of  weight 
ig  very  great,  and  in  addition  to  that  the  hardening 
pf  the  gum  renders  it  more  difficult  to  remove.  By 
i he  time  the  fibre  is  extracted  not  more  than  5 per 
“cent,  of  the  green  weight  is  obtained.  It  is  not, 
therefore,  surprising  that  attempts  have  been  made 
to  deal  with  the  stalks  in  a green  state,  which  is  at 
once  the  most  rational  and  economical  plan.  Many 
decorticators  have  tried,  and  we  have,  from  time  to 
time,  described  them  ; but  the  matter  is  one  which 
requires  more  than  the  invention  of  a machine — it 
needs  an  organisation  to  use  the  machine  to  the  best 
advantage.  Such  a machine  has,  it  is  claimed,  been 
invented  by  Mr.  J.  M.  Macdonald,  and  an  inspection 
of  it  proves  it  to  be  simple,  easily  handled,  and 
capable  of  ready  repair — tnree  points  which  are  of 
supreme  importance  when  it  is  desired  to  deal  with 
the  material  at  its  place  of  growth. 
The  system,  it  is  proposed  to  adopt,  is  to  lay  the 
land  out  on  the  block  system,  as  described,  and  to 
place  in  the  centre  of  each  large  block  a set  of 
decorticators  of  the  Macdonald  type,  one  of  which  is 
sufficient  to  treat  the  produce  of  five  acres.  Tramways 
are  arranged  to  take  the  product  to  the  decorticators, 
and  not  more  than  2.50  yards  will  have  to  be  traversed 
by  the  coolie  afcer  cutting  the  stems  before  reaching 
the  tramway.  From  50  to  60  tons  per  acre  of  stems 
can  be  grown  in  a year,  and  each  coolie  can  easily  cut 
6 cwc.  of  stems  per  day.  It  is  intended  that  daily 
cuttings  shall  be  made,  so  that  only  matured  stems 
will  be  treated,  thus  ensuring  a uniformity  of  mate- 
rial, which  is  at  present  absent.  As  the  block  at- 
tended to  by  each  coolie  is  two  acres  in  ektentj  the 
amount  cut  from  it  can  be  easily  Checked  which 
will  ensure  each  decorticator  having  sufficient  work. 
It  is  intended  to  treat  the  stems  in  their  green 
state,  first  by  decortication  and  then  by  immediately 
degumming.  The  advantage  of  this  is  two-fold.  First 
all  the  bark  and  stalks  can  be  returned  to  the 
field  in  the  form  of  ashes,  as  when  dried  they 
will  be  used  for  fuel.  In  this  way  the  mineral 
nutrients  are  returned  to  the  land,  which 
as  we  have  seen,  so  freely  gives  them  up. 
Second,  the  degumming  takes  place  at  a 
time  when  the  gum  is  soft  and  fluid,  thus  enabling 
it  to  be  removed  by  solvents  of  a weaker  kind 
than  are  necessary  when  the  stalks  have  dried. 
This  is  so  obviously  the  right  thing  that  it  only 
requires  saying  that  the  risk  of  damage  to  the  fibre 
will  be  much  reduced.  In  the  third  place,  the  fibre 
will  be  shipped  as  cleaned  filasse  ready  for  use  by 
the  spinner  at  this  side.  Freight  will  thus  be  saved, 
the  spinner  will  save  the  cost  of  preparation,  and 
the  laud  be  enriched  by  those  materials  which  are 
so  beneficial  to  it  and  so  useless  to  the  manufac- 
ture!. It  is  estimated  that  the  material  in  the 
form  of  degummed  filasse  will  be  placed  in  this 
country  at  a cost  not  exceeding  £45  per  ton,  which 
leave  a good  profit  to  the  grower. 
The  ideas  on  manuring  are  a little  crude,  i.e. 
burning  the  waste  products  so  as  to  return  the  minerals! 
In  the  same  circular  from  which  we  have  quoted,  it  is 
stated  that  an  annual  crop  of  4 cwts.  removes  the 
following  huge  amounts  of  plant  food  : 
Nitrogen  3701b.  of  which  Bark 
X Fibre 
per  cent  per  cent  percent 
15  29  S5 
10  60  25 
Potash  2521b. 
Ph.  Acid  1561b. 
Lime  7581b.  3 16  87 
There  is  no  doubt  that  the  methods  to  be  employed 
save  a great  deal  of  loss  in  mineral,  but  the  burning 
will  cause  a total  loss  of  the  far  more  valuable  and 
expensive  nitrogen. 
An  analysis  givew  of  the  ash  of  green  plants  re- 
vealed that  Lime  was  present  to  the  extent  of  30  82 
parts  in  every  hundred.  Potash  11-8  and  Phosphoric 
Acid  7‘29. 
We  may  add  that  Mr.  J.  M.  Macdonald,  the  Man- 
aging Director  of  the  Syndicate,  with  whom  we  are 
in  communication,  intends  to  remain  in  the  Straits 
until  the  first  hundred  tons  of  filasse  (fibre  ready  for 
spinning)  are  dispatched  to  England.  Mr.  Macdon- 
ald has  further  very  kindly  stated  that  he  is  ready  to 
send  us  information  of  the  progress  of  the  estate  in  due 
course  for  the  benefit  of  our  readers.  His  present  ad. 
dress  is  “ Poste  Restante,”  Singapore.— RnttsA  AbrtA 
Romeo //crafd,  March  1. 
HIGH-GROWN  TEA  IN  CEYLON  IN 
1887-1896. 
The  following  report  by  Mr.  John  Hughes 
Agricultural  Analyst,  on  a packet  of  Ceylon 
tea  from  a high-elevation  garden,  the  tea  of 
which  he  had  analyzed  ten  years  previously 
ought  to  be  interesting  to  jdanters  : — ’ 
“ I have  been  examining  the  tea  you  were  so 
kind  as  to  bring  me  the  last  time  you  called  and 
have  compared  the  results  with  the  Pekoe  Souchong 
sent  in  1887  : — ° 
1887.  1896. 
Water  lost  at  212' F ..  ..  7,30  3 gQ 
Soluble  extract  . . . . . . 37.90  37  40 
Mineral  matters  or  ash..  ..  5..13 
Nitrogen 4.40  454 
The  water  is  much  less  in  1896,  the  tea  prohably 
having  been  much  more  perfectly  dried  The 
amount  of  extract  as  the  result  of  infusion  with 
boiling  water,  which  was  allowed  to  stand  10  minutes 
13  remarkably  similar  to  that  of  1887  tea  as  also  is 
the  percentage  of  nitrogen.  The  quantity  of  ash. 
however,  is  notably  less  about  -75  in  round  numbers 
and  it  is  of  a white  appearance,  rather  th.ui  of  the’ 
more  usual  darher  color.  I imagine,  but  I have  not 
