5.AMIE. 



sown on the surface of the ground in a well-prepared seed bed, wliich 

 must be covered with cloth to keep a warm, saturated atmosphere 

 until they germinate and take root (fig. 2). Wlien 6 to 10 weeks old 

 they may be transplanted to a niu'sery in the open ground, and two 

 months later, when well rooted, they may be set out in the open field. 

 The young plants or roots are set 20 30 inches apart in rows 3 to 4 

 feet apart. The land between the rows must be cultivated. If 

 irrigated, the furrow system must be used to avoid covering the 

 yomig plants with water. 



Fig. 2. — Ramie seed bed covered with cloth to retain heat and prevent evaporation: a. Cover to remaia 

 closed until seedlings are up; 6, cover raised on one side to give ventilation with partial shade. 



HARVESTING. 



The first stalks of ramie are usually much branched and of no value. 

 It is best to cut off the first shoots when they are 10 to 30 inches high, 

 to induce a thicker and more uniform growth of shoots. Afterwards 

 one to four, usually two, crops are cut each year. In Asia, where 

 ramie is commercially cultivated, it is cut by hand. Each stalk is 

 cut as it matures, leaving the younger stalks to grow. The harvest 

 there is almost continuous m the small hand-tended patches. No 

 special machinery has been devised for cutting ramie. It may be cut 

 with self-rake reapers, such as are used for hemp, and must be kept 

 straight. If to be decorticated green it, must be gathered up imme- 

 diately after cutting, but if to be decorticated when dry it should be 



[Cir. 103] 



