April i, r886.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



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would have furnished French and Kiiglish mechanics 

 :\\\ experimentol material necessary tti obtain a pract- 

 ical solution ot the problem, which could have been 

 demonstrated bj competition in London. 



Jute, uotwithstar.iiing its low price and easy decortic- 

 ation by rettin^. and thougli imported in England 

 since 17ii(i, remained fifty years without being utilized 

 to any eou^iderable extent. 



It is only in 1840 that a merchant of Dundee per- 

 suaded the Holland home Government to use jute 

 bags, instead of those made out of flax for shipments 

 of coffee by the GoTernment in ludia. A vast Held 

 was thereby opened and Jute siuce then has made 

 considerable headway. The .same will happen with 

 ramie, whose fibre being so much more valuable, has 

 been environed by nature with more obstacles to its 

 decortication, aud it is not surprising that some time 

 and money have been lost in attempting to Kolve 

 the problem. 



Like all great schemes, the ramie question is liable 

 to the accusation of having enthused, cra/.ed and ruined 

 a large number of its devotees. K\\ extensive field 

 of ramie is a beautiful thmg to look at, and when 

 at the same time one considers that the simplest kind 

 of study demonstrates that the bark of each stalk 

 presents an e-xtraordiaary wealth of fibre, astonishment 

 ceases at the fervor of the adepts of this plant. 



As I have said before, the competition at Calcutta, 

 made uod.:r impossible conditions, retarded the inven- 

 tion of a practical machine; for, besides the diffi- 

 culties presented by distance and the absence of 

 materia' for experiment, the European mechanics were 

 asked to produce machine ; which could accomplish 

 the delicate aud tedious hand labour of the Chinese 

 workmen, who made a pound of ramie a day by 

 scraping with a wooden knife a part of the gummy 

 and resinous matters. 



if experiments had been made in London instead 

 of Calcutta on green stalks coming from .Ter.sey, the 

 absurdity ^vould have been (quickly ascertained of 

 asking ef practical machinery more than the mere 

 sep.iration ol the fibre, which in the green state is 

 easily aecouiplished, leaving for chemical agents the 

 task of eliminating the gummy and resinous matter 

 adhering to the bark. 



Taer*- lies the whole secrete. 



If all inventors of decorticating machines, some of 

 which are very clever, have heretofore failed, it is 

 because they have aimed at filling the conditions 

 imposed for the Calcutta competition ; that is, to make 

 a machine capable of producing directly the China 

 grass. This, neverthele.ss came near being accom- 

 plished last year at Calcutta ; but with what paltry 

 results \ 'J'he Smith machine, of London, which ob- 

 tainoil a prize of 2,00l( rupees, or £l,(X^t, produces, with 

 two men aud a three horse-power, sixty pounds a 

 ■lay. 



I.'nder such conditions ramie would be twice as high 

 as silk. What is needed is a combination by which 

 production, cleaning and fal)rication will give a silky 

 fibre ready for the loom at a cost from twenty to 

 twenty-five cents about the price of first-rate flax. 



CTLTL'RE OF R.\M1R. 



We have shown by public ex)(eriments at the Ex- 

 position, what our machine cAu do. We will continue 

 our experiments on green ramie during the last days 

 of the Exposition. 



Our Miachitie is simple and within the means of all 

 cultivatjrs to produce the eruile material. Near it 

 is our .sni.itl apparatus for the cleaning of ramie and 

 all textile plants. We will lay no stress upon facts 

 which have been raaile patent t'l all. The >amples 

 ctiming from our machine and from our apparatus 

 speak for themselves, and have obtained first pre- 

 iniucn.s for ramie and jute. 



Speaking about jute, I must say that I have re- 

 ceived may inquiries about that plant. It would seem 

 that the .Vmerican planter believes in jute without 

 knowing exactly what it can give. Let me advise 

 him to abandon jute. There is nothing in American 

 jute. It eauuut compete with Indian jute, which is 



brought to New York at four or five cents a pound, 

 ready for manufacture. 



I will describe other machines than ours which are 

 now on exhibition. For example, the partisans of 

 work on the dry material will find in Mr. Gibson's 

 machine an excellent one. 



The question of machinery ia now solved, and we 

 will have as many machines as we want so long as 

 they are asked only to work the cruda bark either 

 greeu or dry. 



J^ioiiucttan shoultl non' ht our ohJij pre-occtipation. 

 I'lanting should be done at once — May or June — so 

 •s to raise a crop in autumn, ami I will demonstrate 

 that a net profit of ^lt>J per acre can be made during 

 the year following the first plantation. 



But, what climate is adapted to ramie culture ? 



What quality of oil i* How shall we plant 'f Where 

 are the plants and roots 'i 



How shall we cultivate and reap y How will the 

 crop be sold, and what certainty is there in the 

 future of ramie 'f 



TO WH.\T CLIJIATE IS RAMIE ADAPTED ? 



The State of New Jersey, whose Legislature had offered 

 a prtuuium to ramie planters, has cultivated this plant 

 with success by protecting its roots with straw during 

 winter. I would, nevertheless, advise planters in the 

 Northern States to cultivate it only on a small scale. 



This is not the case in Southern States, from Oali- 

 foruia to the Oarolinas, where by planting in a light soil, 

 somewhat moist aud easy of irrigation, success is 

 certain, however extended may be the enterprise, this 

 particularly in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, 

 Texas, New Mexico and California. The banks of the 

 Mississippi, from New Orleans tn Cairo, will soon, I 

 am confident, be green with ramie, and if your levees 

 are not ab.solutely .secure, it seems as if ramie had 

 been made; for such a contingency, as a .sojourn of 

 even a wholt: month under water does not destroy 

 this plant. 



In support of this I will mention a circumstance 

 which happened in Louisiana : 



Mr. Laforest. or Bayou Heron, who had a half 

 arpent of ramie that remained two months under 

 water after withdrawal of the waters found the 

 plants in good condition. Evidently there is a limit 

 to all tilings, but it is well established that complete 

 immersion for two or three weeks will not injure 

 the ramie. 



now TO PLANT. 



Ramie is a perennial |]laut, and has to be planted 

 but once for every thirty years. The planting is to 

 be done exactly the same as with Irish potatoes. 

 Work the soil well by plowing. Trace rows three 

 feet apart and plant the ramie root in the rows at 

 oue foot distance; then cover with two or three 

 inches of well pulverized earth. At a distance of 

 three feet each, we will have seventy rows to the 

 acre, and planting the roots one foot apart will give 

 us 121) roots per row, or 14,00fp roots per acre. In 

 order to obtain a plantation of straight and well-formed 

 stalks, the plantation must be made closed and uni- 

 form. 



The present high price and scarcity of ramie roots 

 would scarcely admit of the average planter investing 

 at once in I'l.fKlO roots per acre ; but in order to push 

 forward the priii)agation of ramie, I would suggest to 

 planters the following scheme: — 



Leave a distance in planting of three feet between 

 the roots, which, instead of 14,1)00 will make .'5,000 

 roots to the acre. 



In three months, when the stalks will be about 

 two or three feet high, spread them down in the rows 

 without breaking. This will furnish for the autumn 

 i.ew stalks, which will complete the plantation up to 

 14,000 roots, r. isides this, the planter can take 

 from each mol!ur-njot two or throe cuttings to plant 

 anotlier acre, and so on. 



I As I have told you at the begiiming, ramie is the 

 most prolific of all plants, aiul Mr. K. Darby, of 



I New Iberia, La., was right when he said to his sop 

 a few years ago ■ 



