BCEHME'RIA (after the German naturalist Bidimer). A genus of plants of the natural or der Urticaeea). The fibres of a number of spe cies are used for making ropey. twine, nets, sew ing-thread, and cloth, and some of them appear likely to acquire much economical and commer cial importance. The commercially important species known are Thehmeriu 'lire(' and Brameria tenacissima, the latter being often considered as merely a variety of the former. Thehmeria nirea grows in temperate and sub troi)ieal regions, while the variety flourishes in subtropical and tropical countries. It yields a great part of the fibre employed in China in the manufacture of the beautiful fabric known as China-grass cloth (q.v.). It is a perennial her baceous plant, with broad ovate leaves, which are white and downy beneath, and is of the general habit though destitute of the stinging powers of the nettles. It is carefully cultivated by the Chinese, by whom it is called Won ma. It is propagated either by seeds or by parting the roots. It loves shade and moisture. Three crops are obtained in the season, new shoots springing up after it has been cut. Great atten tion is bestowed upon the preparation of the fibre. This is extracted by hand stripping. by boiling the stalks in water or some chemical solution, or by machinery. Machine methods have so far not met with unqualified success. On the other hand, the first-named two ways of extracting the fibre are more or less intricate and involve a large amount of hand-labor. As a consequence, the bulk of the fibre i3 produced in China and India, where cheap labor is plenti ful. To Ikehmeria nirea properly belongs the name China grass; ramie or rhea should be retained for the plant which Dr. Roxburgh strongly recommended to attention about the beginning of the Nineteenth Century under the name of Urtica tenacissima (see IlAmiE). An al lied species. T•illcbru»nea inteyrifolia, is common in Nepal, Sikkim, and other parts of the Hima laya, to an elevation of 3000 feet above the sea. It is not cultivated, but often overruns abandoned fields. It grows to a height of 6 or S feet, and VariCS from toe thickness of a quill to that of the thumb. The plant is cut down for use when the seed is formed, the bark is then peeled off, dried in the sun for a few days. boiled with wood-ashes for four or five hours, and beaten with a mallet to separate the fibres, which are called pooch or poc,, and also k;en•i or /Kaki. When properly prepared, the fibre is quite equal to the best European flax. The fibres of a number of coarser species are employed in parts of the East Indies for making ropes. The cultivation of Thrhairrior ,fires has been introduced into the southern part of the United States. and with the invention of satisfactory of deeortication and de gumming it will doubtless prove an important industry. Thehmeria cylindric(' is indigenous in
the United States, occurring as an annual in waste places from Canada to Florida and west ward. See Boyle, Fibrons Plants of India ( 1.011 don. 1865) Dodge. Destriptire Catalogue of Use ful Fibre Plants (Washington, 1897)• BOEHIiI VON BAWERK, bein Et:ci:s (1851—). An Austrian political econo mist. lie was born in Briinn, Moravia, February 1•, 1851, was educated at the University of Vi enna, and franc 1572 to 1579 continued his study of political economy in Heidelberg, Leipzig, and .Jena, under Knies, Roscher, and Hildebrand. Ile held for a short time a plane in the Austrian Ministry of Finance, lectured in 1550 at the •ni versity of Vienna, but was called thence to the Cniversity of Innsbruck, where he remained till 1559. Ile then entered once more the Govern went service, in the department of finance, and was Minister of Finance from June lti to October 2, 1895. He was then appointed professor in the University of Vienna and became president of one of the superior courts of administration. In 1897-9S he was again Alinister of Finance; in 1899 he was called to the House of Peers, and since January, 1900, he has again been in charge of the Ministry of Finance. Boehm von Bawerk is one of the leading economists of the so-called Austrian school. With Karl Meager and others, he has contributed to the development of a the ory of value which has received wide acceptance, and has been the cause of still wider discussion, in the economic world. This theory, as elaborat ed by Boehm von Bawerk, is based largely upon psychological principles. its chief feature con sists in a searching analysis of 'subjective value.' In his Kapitalund Kapitalzins ( 1884-89), translated by Smart in 1890 under the title of Capital and Interest, the author makes a bril liant and original study of these two subjects. He does not accept the common classification of land, labor, and capital as the three sources of production, but regards the two former only as real sources, while capital is only a means of production. interest' is employed as a general term for interest in the common sense, and for profits, and its cause and justification are found in the great principle of the difference in value between present 'goods' and future 'goods.' The term 'positive theory of capital' has been applied to the teachings of which Boehm von Bawerk on the Continent is the chief exponent, and which were discussed at great length in contributions to the Qua rtcrly Journal of Economics from 1890 to 1895. Valuable articles on the subject are those by Boner in the same publication on the "Austrian Economists" and on the "Positive Theory of Capital," Vol. 1II. (1889). Boehm von Bawerk also wrote Einige strittigc Fragen der Kapitalstheorie (Vienna. 1900).