This process consists in subjecting the plant to the action of steam for a period varying from 10 to 25 minutes, according to the length of time the plant had been cut. After steaming, the fiber and its adjuncts were easily stripped from the wood. The importance and value of this invention will be realized, when it is remembered that the plant is cultivated at long distances from the localities where the fiber is prepared for the market. The consequence is, that for every hundredweight of fiber about a ton of woody material has to be transported. Nor is this the only evil, for the gummy matter in which the fiber is embedded becomes dried up during transport, and the separation of the fiber is thus rendered difficult, and even impossible, inasmuch as some of the fiber is left adhering to the wood. M. Favier's process greatly simplifies the commercial production of the fiber up to a certain point, for, at a very small cost, it gives the manufacturer the whole of the fiber in the plant treated. But it still stops short of what is required, in that it delivers the fiber in ribbons, with its cementitious matter and outer skin attached. To remove this, various methods have been tried, but, as far as we are aware, without general success--that is to say, the fiber cannot always be obtained of such a uniformly good quality as to constitute a commercially reliable article. Such was the position of the question when, about a year ago, the whole case was submitted to the distinguished French chemist, Professor Fremy, member of the Institute of France, who is well-known for his researches into the nature of fibrous plants, and the question of their preparation for the market. Professor Fremy thoroughly investigated the matter from a chemical point of view, and at length brought it to a successful and, apparently, a practical issue. One great bar to previous success would appear to have been the absence of exact knowledge as to the nature of the constituents of that portion of the plant which contains the fiber, or, in other words, the casing or bark surrounding the woody stem of the rhea. As determined by Professor Fremy, this consists of the cutose, or outer skin, within which is the vasculose containing the fiber and other conjoined matter, known as cellulose, between which and the woody stem is the pectose, or gum, which causes the skin or bark, as a whole, fiber included, to adhere to the wood. The Professor, therefore, proceeded to carefully investigate the nature of these various substances, and in the result he found that the vasculose and pectose were soluble in an alkali under certain conditions, and that the cellulose was insoluble. He therefore dissolves out the cutose, vasculose, and pectose by a very simple process, obtaining the fiber clean, and free from all extraneous adherent matter, ready for the spinner.