Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1881-09-15
A NEW PRODUCT.
Which Minnesota Can Cultivate WI
Profit and Advantage.
To the Editor Of the Globe: 3. z.


Profit and Advantage.
To the Editor OF the Globe: =
Having for several years observed the
articles in the German papers on the diff
ferent experiments with Rhea, or Wild
Hemp, in regard to its cultivation, and its
adaptation as textile fabric, and think
ing this plant could be successfully raised
on the rich lands contiguous to the st.
Paul g. Omaha railway, especially in
northwestern iowa and northern Nebras-
ka, | thought your readers would be
pleased to hear the different reports from
our American consul in Germany.
| If the business men of ST. Paul s. Min
neapolis would encourage the raising of
this plant, it would add millions to. our
commerce will here give the report of
J. F. Potter, consul at Crefeld: -.
Extract from the annual report for 1880, of
Consul Potter of Crefeld, Germany.
n. Lewis, Esq, United States consular
agent Dusseldorf, communicates the follow
| ing information concerning a remarkable dis
covery recently developed in that city, and
which consists in reducing a certain vegetable
substance into a fiber which can be success
| fully used as substitute for wool or fax, and
| is called st.aif-
COSMOS FIBER.
This important discovery may be regarded
as another triumph of the science of chemis-
try. This process of producing wool from a
vegetable fiber is the invention of A. E. Neu.
mann, Hungarian by birth. who has covered
his discovery with patents in all civilized
countries. The general adaptation of this ma
terial to the manufacture of textile fabrics
can hardly be questioned, and must be regard
ed by those engaged in textile industries as
revelation that may lead to results of the high
est public Importance. En- tc
II appears that Mr.. Neumann,
as stated by himself, after many years
exerimenting, discovered chemical process
by which the fundamental difference between
vegetable and animal fiber is removed. It is
well known that the difficulty in mixing
wool with cotton and other vegetable fiber
for textile purposes arises from the fact that
| both materials cannot be hOmOgeneOusly dyed
and miled, or fulled. s4G II
The cause of this difficulty is to be sought
for in the different natural structure of the
fbers, the vegetable fiber being straight and
smooth, while the animal fiber is curly and
crinkled. The chief point in the invention of
Mr.. Neumann consists IN this: that, by the
agency of certain chemical substances, the
vegetable fiber is SO efficiently curled and
crinkled that it permanently retains its altered
structure during all the manipulations of
manufacture, and can be dyed with wool, TAX
ing readily the same and equally fast colors,
by one and the same process. The importance
of the invention is obvious, when it is remem-
bered that the cost of producing this fiber is
but small fraction of the cost of sleeps
wool. 1t produces material vastly superior
to shoddy, and is not only much cheaper, but
is also capable of many more and important
uses in the manufacture of cloths, blankets,
fiannels, hosiery, and many other articles, and
is strong and durable, SIS will be seen on exam
ination of samples herewith forwarded.
The only manufacturer Of the new inven-
ton in Europe up to the present date has been
the Cosmos Fibre company of Dusseldorf:
but new companies are now being formed for
manufact uring cosmos cloth in England,
France, Belgium and also in Algers. The re-
suits hitherto obtained are very promising.
Samples of the cloth made wholly or partly
from The ''cosmos fiber'' have been presented
for inspection, W hich, in color, fneness, homo
geneOusness, and strength of the fiber, will
| stand the severest criticism. The cOlOrs in
the samples exhibited, and which consisted of
two-thirds of fiber and one-third wool, were
brilliant and perfectly blended, and experts
would find it very difficult to tell which was
wool or vegetable fiber. Many manufacturers
in Germany, France, Belgium, and Italy are
taking lively interest in the new invention,
and are preparing to introduce it into their
WOODEN manufactures.
Another invention, the property of the
same company, is apparently of equal import
ance to textile industries. By this discovery
or invention the fiber of the ramie, or rhea
| Mo .\ xuhi oh uI1 in
| immense districts in British and Dutch India
and the French Algerian colonies, can be readi-
| ly utilized in the manufacture of linen fabrics,
| The English government has long recognized
the value of this plant, and has offered pre-
MUM of $4,000 for the discovery of a pro-
cess which will successfully remove the woody
and resinous substance of the plant, and leave
only clean fiber. This premium has not yet
been awarded, but is expected that the inventor
| of the process under consideration will be the
| fortunate recipient.
Specimens are shown of partly prepared
srhea stalks" the lower end of which has
been preserved in its natural state while the
upper prepared part shows silky, long-sta-
pied fiber of great strength, and which is capa-
BILE of being treated in the same manner as
fax. It appears probable, in view of the ex-
periments SO successfully made, that in this
vegetable fiber fair substitute has been dis
covered for wool, coarse silk, and linen, and
which, according to the declarations of the
inventor, can be produced at a fraction of the
cost of the latter material, and, SO far as linen
and wool are concerned, of quality quite as
good.
The consular agent at Dusseldorf reports
that he has visited the establishment of the
Cosmos Fibre company, and has carefully
| inspected the various processes of manufac-
:ure and the goods produced, samples of
which with specimens of the raw material are
transmitted with this report.
The ''ramich," or "rhea plant" is found in
great abundance in Algiers, growing wild,
and the Dusseldorf company are about to es-
tablsh an agency there with the necessary
machinery for preparing the fiber, so that it
can be shipped in bales instead of bulky bun
dies in its natural state, as heretofore. The
plant grows abundantly in South America
and in the southern and western portions of
the United States, and is there known as
"wild hemp" A specimen of the stem of one
of the plants which came from British India is
herewith forwarded. When fully grown the
plant is more than six feet high. gz
The establishment in Dusseldorf has been
IN operation about six months, and during
that time has produced $1,000 pounds of The
fiber ready for spinning. The greater part of
this product has been sent to France, Italy
and Belgium, and some to England, where
%, 33H, and 50 per cent. of the vegetable fiber
\