The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-01-04
A NEW FABRIC.
1t Is Called Rhea Cloth, and is Produced
in British India.

the positive SUCCESS of the new CONFESS
process for the extraction of textile
fibre from the celebrated rhea plant,
which marks the commercial beginning
Of valuable and likely to be very extern
sive industry. The rhea plant is spe-
cies of the nettle family which grows
with almost the same luxuriance in In
dia as does the Canada thistle in this
county, and from Its bark has come
fibre better known perhaps to the ancient
than to the modern world. Its use in
Egypt, India and China antedates his
tory. Rhea cloth has been unrollsd
from the mummies Of the Nile and I'M
earthed from the burial grounds of AS
sam. In some portions Of the old world
where labor is exceedingly cheap it has
been Manufactured for nets and lines
chiefly, and is probably better known
under the name of "China grass" Its
popularity is it's exceeding Iightness and
strength. But the difficulty heretofore
has been to separate the strohg silky
fibre of the bark from the outer cuticle
and tenacious gum In which they lie
lIuU6tlucus ASCdkAy thAAuJ JS"hS o5o "A.S
Indian government offered prize of
s25, 900 for the invention of a machine r
process which would do this work, hith-
erto done by hand. English, French
and German experimenters have tried
various processes aud produced fabric
which was worked up into variety of
forms all the way from ropes and sail
canvas to pushes and dress goods. They
failed, however, to produce clean,
cheap fibre, and this is just what the
Englishman, CONFESS, has succeeded in
doing.
In the latter process szincate of soda is
employed for the elimination of the
resins, and it effects this without the
slightest injury to the fibre. After the
"ribbons, or strips of bark, have been
freed from dirt they are placed in weak
acid baths over night The next MORN
ing they are passed through mild aka
line bath, and shen boiled in IA weak
solution of caustic soda to which zinc
has been added. When washed and dried
by the usual mechanical means, the fibres
emerge as long, silky filasse, entirely
free from the cuticle and resinous gum
in which they are imbedded, clean,
white and ready for the cone of the spin
ner. They take the most beautiful dyes,
and can be worked into every variety of
fabric, from gorgeous velvets and deli
cate laces to cheap drills. The combined
lightness and toughness of the fibre rem
der it peculiarly suitable for tents and
ship canvas. Ten yards of rhea canvas
weighs on ly as much as six of linen,
wnile its durability and resisting power
to strain are very much greater.
In consequence Of the SUCCESS Of the
CONFESS process, large demand has
sprung up for rhea bark, and the lnGian
government is taking steps to assist the
farmers In adding to their areas of rhea,
and also in disseminating information
as to the best modes of stripping, drying
and baIing the bark. The profit from
the cultivation of rhea is very much
greater than that from any other crop,
and it is probable that in very short
time rhea cloth will come into wide
spread use Its flores are exceeded by
none in fineness, excel all others in
strength, and have been compared to the
trunk of an elephant, which can pick up
q needle or root up a tree. The final
success of the Indian government in Sc
curing commercially profitable process
offers an instructive lesson. If that far
away country can find means to utilize
the rnea plant IT would seem as If an