132 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Frp., 1899. 
In the vernacular (Portuguese) these six grades are jino, superior, bom, 
regular, ordinario, and escolha. ‘The berry is sometimes coloured before ship- 
ment, and sometimes milled. The export firm of Rose and Knowles is 
successful, and another mill is being built, whose owner proposes to mill 
500,000 bags (66,000,000 lb.) a year. Coffee, for the Cape of Good Hope, for 
example, is artifically coloured black to meet the taste of that market. There 
are two classes of beans—flat and round ; and this determines the classification 
of the berry. The former is the Java, the latter the Mocha type. The round 
pea-berry, or Mocha type, represents 3 to 6 per cent. of the production. It is 
graded to-day 2 milreis above the “base” or standard price. The same tree 
produces both varieties. 
RAMIE FIBRE. 
THe Kew Bulletin, treating of the Ramie industry, says :— 
Few practical problems have consumed so much time and energy as the 
attempt to bring China-grass and Ramie into use for manufacturing purposes. 
Notwithstanding all the expenditure of mechanical skill and. inventive ability, 
the conclusion cannot be evaded that we are still as far off as ever from being 
able 10 place upon the market a finished product which will effectually 
compete with silk, flax, and the better qualities of cotton. 
The plants can be grown with the greatest ease. But when the problem 
of treatment is solved, the supply of the raw material will be limited to warm 
countries. The cultivation of China-grass in temperate regions will never 
be able to compete successfully with that of Ramie (or perhaps of China-grass) 
in the tropics. It is known that when ribbons can be produced sufficiently 
cheaply;ithese can be degummed and turned into filasse at a small cost. ‘The 
whole quéstion then still turns, as in 1888, on the production of ribbons. We 
are still waiting for a decorticator which will not merely turn out ribbons fit 
for further manufacturing processes—that has been accomplished—but will 
turn out, say, half-a-ton a day at a small cost. ‘Till this has been found, the 
planter cannot profitably deal with his crop, and the degumming processes, 
now almost entirely dependent on hand-clean fibre from China, are paralysed 
for want of a supply which will allow the finished product to compete with 
other fibres. 
The ribbons must be susceptible of being delivered to the degumming 
factories at a cost not exceeding £7 to £9 per ton. This would pay the 
planter if he hada decorticator which would leave a profit. At present he 
* cannot produce ribbons under £12 to £15 a ton. 
Then the degumming processes should turn out filasse at a total cost of 
£36 to £40 per ton. At this price the demand would be considerable, and a 
large and prosperous industry would result. To put the position in other 
words, filasse must be put upon the market at about 4d. per lb. ‘To use the 
words of one of the speakers in the discussion at the Society of Arts, “unless 
it could be brought down to something like the price of cotton or flax, it was 
impossible to make any profit out of it.” 
RHBEA. 
Tue time for planters in India and the East, generally, to seriously take in 
hand the production of Rhea fibre, has now fully arrived, and we hope, in the 
very near future, to receive more numerous inquiries from our readers as {0 
the best means of disposing of prepared filasse. For some time several factories 
in England and America have been engaged exclusively in manufacturing all 
kinds of textile fabrics from the fibre, and there are unmistakable signs that a 
fine future awaits the new industry. In addition to a profit obtainable from 
