The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1888-11-22
RHEEA FIBRE.
Its Eminent Suitability for Tex
tile Purposes.
Its Economical Utilization a
Great Industrial Problem.

Its Economical Utilization a
Great Industrial Problem.
The great strength, length, aud lus-
tro of the fibre of the rheea plant, quail
tiles which eminen tly recommend it for
use in textile manufactures, have rem
dercd that plant tho subject of
solicitous attention for many years past.
The production of thu fire in quantity,
in an economical manner and In d suit :.
ablo condition for textile purposes,
constitutes, in fact, one of the most i'm
portant industrial probloms Of the
present day. For moro than thirty
years endeavors have been made to
utilize this fibre commercially; many
thousands of pounds have been spent;
the aid Of both mechanical and chemi-
cal science has been invoked, but almost
all in vain, for although this fibre is
used to some extent, that extent Is ex-
tremely circumscribed. Twice during
the past eighteen years tho In
dian Government has offered prize OF
$25, 900 for a machine which should
cfflctually produce the fibre in the re-
quired condition, the prize having been
twice competed for and twice with
drawn. The French Government has
recently taken up tho matter, and has
offered prizes of the value of $1,000 for
any process or machine that will pro-
duce the fibre ia commercial quantities
and of proper quality. The great diff
Guilty in tho way of success is the salts
factory treatment Of tho gummy matter
in which the fibro is i'm mbedded. 1t has
been found easy to decorticate the
rheea stems-that il, to remove the
fire, with its adhering bark aud ce-
mentitious matter, from the wood, but
difficult to produce the fibres clean and
FREQ from all extraneous and adherent
matter, ready for the spinner, on q
commercial scale. Thi, holds good
with all tho varieties of this fibre,
whether they be known under tho name
OF China grass, rheea or ramie-rheea
being the Indian and ramie the Malay
name of the plant.
Oae thing is very certain, and that is,
that with machine constructed for an
other purpose, as the one under notice
is, and admittedly imperfect as regards
its treatment of tho rheea plant, the
| fibre of the latter can be, and IS, OBJ
tanned undamagei and fairly free from
the woody stem. The machine in ques-
tioa is fax-scutching machine OF
novel design, and about feet 6 inches
high by feet wide, and 5 feet long
over all; its working capacity being
put at 1cwt OF rettcd flax per hour 1t
consists OF an upper feed table on which
the fax straw is fed to three pairs OF
flutcd rollers, which deliver the flax
downwards between five pairs of pin
ming tools, alternating with six pairs OF
guide rollers. Tho pinning tools resem-
Bile hand -hackles. aud may be popu-
larly described as very coarse wire
brushes. They are attached to two
vertical frames, to which horizontal
to-and-fro motion is impaired, and the
pins interlace as the two sides approach.
The fibrous material is drawn down.
wards by the rollers, which have an in
termittont motion, and at each mo-
mentary pause the pricking pins enter
the material and are rapidly withdrawn
from it. By degrees this fibrous de.
scending curtain is delivered off to 9
sloping receiving table at the bottom O.
the machine, over which table the
woody substance has previously passed
to receiver in crushed and
semi -pulverizcd condition and per
fectly FREQ from fibre. But inasmuch
as it does its work perfectly as re-
CARDS flax, the principle would appear
to be correct. 1t is, moreover, to b.
born in mind that, as We have already
stated, the machine was not designed
to treat rheca, but fax. Hence in som'
of its details it is imperfect as regard:
rheea. Nevertheless, wo saw som'
stems of rheca put through with excel
lent results, as far as the mechanica
separation OF the fibre from the barl
and wood is concerned. Tho stem
were those of rheca grown at Kew; the.
wero about six feet high and Of fai
sizc. They had been retted for fou
days and were not quito dry. Mr.
, Wallace holds that they should b.
retted for eight days and completed.
dried. However this may be, tn
stems we saw put through the machine
wero quickly done, and the fibre pro-
duced was from wood. 1t is intend
D ed to send To India machine special,
. made for dealing with rheea. The frs
a point settlcd-that is, the proper stag,
at which the machine shall be used
: Mr.. Wallace is confident of being abl
: to produce the fbro from his machin
f ready for use by thu spinner, just as b
3 has already done with fl K. 1t is to b
r hoped that he will succeed in effecti1I
I his object, which will be the means o
+. giving to tho textile industry tibr
= which has been pronounced to be tn
strongest ia nature, and for which tn
trade has been long and anxiously look
ing.-[ London Times.
A Starter.
Mr.. Bsmp has been calling for nearl
/ tvo hours They are talking mu sic Ian