Ramie

RAMIE. This fiber plant has attracted much attention in the South within the last twenty years, and especially so within the last ten years, as also has the other coarser fiber plant of the East Indies, jute, which see. The chief diffi culties in the way of the manufacture of both these articles has been in economically separat ing the fiber. So important hag this matter long been felt that the British government has offered immense rewards in cash to the inventor of a properly and economically working machine. Until this is accomplished the Cultivation of ramie can not be successfully engaged in, in the United States, on account of the high price of manual labor. In India and China, with their wonderfully cheap labor, the cost of separating the fiber is $150 per ton. Its value when pre pared is about $375 per ton in England. •In 1875, a machine was exhibited which it was claimed would separate the fiber at a cost of $30 per ton. Yet but little seemed to come of it, from the fact that like machine-manufactured flax, the quality of the article far fine dress goods was worthless. Later, however, by the combination of chemical means and improved machines, it seems that inventive talent is in a fair way to accomplish the object sought. When so, the cultivation both of ramie and jute will be im mensely profitable in the Gulf States, and in Cal ifornia where' the climate is adapted to the growth of these plants. In relation to the ramie plant and its preparation, the following article, prepared forthe United States government, by an expert, Emile Lefranc, will be interesting. The writer is enthusiastic and•anguine, nevertheless, there are facts of interest aside from this to those in the South who wish to engage in this new indus try. We quote from the writer as follows: In troduced into Louisiana toward the fall of 1867, the ramie has had ample time to prove its vital ity and toughness as a perennial growth. With little or no care it has thriven alone since then, and whenever attention hagbeen giveh to it, its propagation has been considerable. In some rich and elevated soils the plant has stood and propagated without the least cultivation for the last six years. The stems die in winter, and multitudes of others shoot forth every spring. Where the bushes are regularly cut three or four times a year; the more vigorous and luxuri, ant is the growth. All these facts sufficiently prove the perennial and hardy vitality of the plant, as also its adaptability to our soil, and the congeniality of our climate. Therefore the agri cultural Problems and the questions of acclima tion are also solved and settled. If the ramie industry did not unfold sooner the advantage of the plant, it was solely on account of the unprof itable or inefficient methods of extracting the fiber. introduced on this continent, the treatment of the ramie-plant was errone ously assimilated .to that of the nettle family. The "universal opinion was that it should be treated like jute, flax, hemp, and other textiles of the cannabis variety, which are disintegrated lengthwise from the stems by this simple process of The error was soon dis covered. Ramie fiber admits of no rotting action on the stalks. Steeped and fermented in water or exposed to the air, it is decomposed and reduced to a short and weak fiber, sitturated with tannic acid and spotted with tan-bark. Moreover the process is tedious and anti-econom ical. It has been found that the envelope of the ramie-fiber contains some sulphuric and carbonic elements, which dissolve the joints of the cellu lose when the stem is subjected to the acetic degree of fermentation or rotting. Then, some chemists resorted to the process of neutralizing those dissolving elements by means of an acidu lated bath for the But those different systems were of no avail, because they required the additional intervention of machinery to break and hackle the filament, which was other wise more or less injured in' its quality by the unnatural treatment to which it was subjected. In face of the despotic exigencies of economy in labor, and the absolute necessity of a large pro duction, none of those methods were practicable. What is the process of the Chinese, who for centuries have monopolized the trade? Their process consists in stripping the ramie-plant and scraping the bark containing the filament. The contrivance that s ramie, and furnishes a product similar to that of China, is founded on that true principle, as follows: Revolving cleaners, provided with a peculiar sort of knives, receive gradually, by means of a circular carrier, bunches of stems, which are doubled down and hooked in the middle. The carrier Withdraws them from the rotary action of the cleaners, and delivers them in the form of clear ribbons, of a light yellow color, as fine as the imported China grass. English manufacturers have monopolized the ramie or China-grass trade in Europe and America, and kept somewhat secret the process of finishing and weaving the fiber. Almost all the dress-goods, mixed with brilliant materials and imitating silk fabrics; are made in part of ramie. Leeds and Bradford are the principal manufacturing centers that use that staple as a substitute for silk in many sorts of goods. It is a common error to consider ramie as a substitute for cotton. The observation of the following rules will he absolutely necessary for the cultiva tion of ramie, and for drawing from the rich plant all it can yield: For nursery purposes or for cultivation, the land must be sufficiently ele vated to receive the benefit of natural drainage, because the roots will not live long in a watery bottom. The soil must be deep, rich, light and moist as the sandy alluvia of Louisiana. Manure supplies the defects in some lands in-these res pects. The field must be thoroughly cleared of weeds, plowed twice to the depth of eight or ten inches if possible, harrowed as much as a thor ough pulverizing requires, and carefully drained by discriminate lines of ditches. Water must not be allowed to stand in the rows of the plant. The land being thus prepared, planting becomes easy and promising. December, January, and February are the best months in which to plant. Roots, rattoons, and rooted layers are the only available seed. They are generally four or five inches long, carefully cut, not torn, from the mother-plant. The dusty seed produced by the

ramie stalks in the fall can be sown, but it is so delicate and requires so much care during the period of germination and growth that it seldom succeeds in open land. The regular germinating power of that seed is also questionable. The Department of Agriculture vainly tried, a few years ago, to diffuse this seminal cultivation by distributing imported seed, which never germin ated. In the presence of these difficulties, and of the sure propagation obtained from fractional, roots, sowing has been abandoned and adopted as follows: Furrows five or six inches deep and five feet apart are opened with the plow.. The roots are laid lengthwise in the middle, close in succession if a thick stand of crop is desired, but placed at intervals if nursery propagation is the object in view. The first mode will absorb 3,000 roots per acre, but will save the labor of often filling the stand by propagation. The sec ond mode will spare three-fou•ths of that amount of roots, but will impose the obligation of multi plying by layers. Being placed in the furrow closely, or at intervals, the roots are carefully covered with the hoe. Pulverized earth and manure spread over the roots insure an early and luxuriant growth in the spring. When the shoots have attained a foot in height they are Billed up like corn, and all other plants that require good footing and protection from the fer- menting effect of stagnant water. The intervals between the rows being deepened by the billing have also a draining influence, which can be ren dered still more effective by ditches dug across from distance to distance, say fifteen fed. Good crops are obtained by thickening, the stands. The stems are then abundant, fine, straight, and rich in fiber. Close planting is then necessary, inasmuch as it prevents the objectionable branch , lag of the stalks.. Crooked and branchy ramie is unfit for mechanical decortication ; it causes waste and yields an inferior quality of fiber. The period at which the plant is ripe for cutting is indicated by a brownish tinge at the foot of the stems. At that early stage the plant, though greenish, yields a fine and abundant filament; it also produces three or four crops according to soil and climate. The first cutting may be unprofitable on account of the irregularity and sparseness of the growth; but if the stand is well razeed and manured over the stubbles the ensuing euttings will be productive. For that purpose the field must be kept clear of grass until thp growth be sufficiently dense to expel the parasites by its shade. That necessary density is obtained by means of the important laying process. This consists in bending down, right and left along the growing stand, the highest switches, and in covering them with earth up to the tender tip, which must not be smothered. One of the causes of the perennity and of the vigor of the plant is the nourishment it draws from the agencies of the atmosphere. Consequently the leaves of the layers should never be buried under ground. When properly performed, laying is very profit • able; it creates an abundance of new roots, and fills up rapidly the voids of the stand. After two years the plants may be so thick as to spread out • in the rows. Then the plow or the stubble-cut ter has to chop in a line, on one side, the pro If well executed this operation leads to notable advantages: It extracts roots or fractional plants suitable for the extension of the cultivation elsewhere. and maintains, as a prun ing, a vigorous life and develops a luxuriant growth in the stand. If always applied on the same side of the row, this sort of stubble-cutting has the remarkable advantage of removing grad ually the growth toward the unoccupied land in the intervals, and of pushing it into a new posi tion without disturbance. That slow rotation preserves the soil from rapid exhaustion, and the ramie from decay, through the accumulation of roots underground. Of course this lateral plow ing will not prevent the opposite row from receiv ing the benefit of hoeing after each crop. Experi ments made in Louisiana have demonstrated the efficiency of that method; to which are due the preservation and propagation of the plant in that State, while it has been destroyed in other sec tions for want of similar care. It is through such judicious methods that the old land of China has preserved sufficient fertility to produce con stantly the ramie for many centuries. After each cutting Chinese planters plow on one side and make cleanly the stand; then they cover it with a thick coat of manure. That maintains the moisture and fertility of the soil, and, at the same time, preserves the plant from excessive heat or extreme cold. That protective system permits in winter ramie cultivation in latitudes corresponding, to those of Maryland and i irginia. It could even be undertaken farther north by another Chinese application. In some cold re gions of the northwestern pads of the Celestial Empire, China-grass is cultivated like potatoes. Planters dig up the stand every fall, after the last cutting, and store the roots in cellars to replant them in the spring; yet they generally obtain two crops by such an unfavorable process. We have given this subject prominence for the reason that when cheap means for successfully reducing the fiber is invented and perfected, it may take as prominent a stand as one of the principal productions in the Gulf States, as hemp once did in Kentucky; such means have not yet been found, and the fiber must be sepa rated in a great, measure, as is still done in China and India, where labor costs but a few cents a day. Hence, there can be no competition here as against such labor until machinery comes to our aid. That this will at length be done, there is no doubt, and in this light those who are ready to avail themselves of cheap means of reduction, when it comes, will reap profits equal to that, on cotton, following the invention of the cotton gin. The British government, years ago, offered a reward equal to $200,000 for machinery that would successfully reduce fibers like that of ramie, for use in India, yet, we believe, it has never yet been awarded.