* 
sought to supplant the Gratte and Raspador, such as the 
% 
•Death machine* the *Barraclough machine,* and others, 
have all turned out better qualities of fibre, it is true 
but the total yield has been small and disappointing. In 
fact, taking into account the great efforts made to in- 
troduce and popularise these machines, their extended use 
on a commercial scale has made little or no progress of 
late years. The Weicher machine possesses distinct merit, 
and it is more promising than any (so far as I have ob- 
✓ 
served) with an automatic feed table. It may be said 
against it that it is somewhat heavy and intricate, and 
elther 
its price (not yet fixed) must be higher than^the Gratte 
or Raspador. It deserves, however, to be tried under 
sin table circumstances, and those interested In the fibre 
. -*■ 
industry of the Bahamas, for instance, cannot do better 
than carefully test it on the spot* The inventor would 
then have an opportunity of showing its capabilities in 
the presence of an unlimited supply of leaves. It is im¬ 
possible to do more in this country than form an approxi¬ 
mate idea of its merits. It may be added that it is claimed 
for the machine that it will clean the leaves of Bow-string 
hemp (Sansevieria), Banana (Kfusa sapientum), and possibly 
also pine-apple and Ramie. ITone of these, unfortunately, 
were available at the recent trial. 
f 
