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method of preparation allows of utilising this rougher portion of 

 the crop also, the remaining portion suitable for fine purposes will 

 always be disproportionately dear. 



" It is clear, therefore, that a rapid development of the ramie trade 

 cannot be expected, until the bulk of the raw fibre can be supplied 

 at a price much below that which it will eventually attain when its 

 higher qualities have been more fully developed, and below that 

 which the finer portion of the crop is likely to command even now. 

 It may finally come to be applied to the manufacture of damask, 

 cambric, and lace, but for some years to come, even if its use for 

 such purposes should prove successful, it will have to be worked 

 up by manufacturers only gradually discovering its properties, and 

 on machinery with processes imitated from those used with other 

 fibres, and therefore not specially adapted to ramie. The con- 

 sumption of the fibre for fine purposes during that experimental 

 stage will be necessarily small, and restricted only to the best 

 qualities. No real outlet, therefore, will have been obtained for 

 ramie unless it be applied for purposes for which, in the opinion 

 of some of its sanguine advocates, it is far too good, such as for 

 cordage, as also for canvas, mixture with I'ough wools, lower kinds 

 of carpets, hangings, linings, certain kinds of linen, &c. It is also 

 to be remembered that only by becoming suitable for the manufac- 

 ture of comparatively cheap articles produced in large quantity, is 

 there any hope of its becoming a great staple. It it were able to 

 compete with only the Courtrai flax, and no cheaper fibres, how- 

 ever successful it might be in this respect, it would never develop 

 into a large trade. 



" It will appear clearly from this discussion, that in all probability 

 the standard price of £50 per ton for machine-prepared ramie in 

 the London market, which was considered sufficiently low in 1870 

 to ensure its extensive introduction, is in the present condition of 

 the market too high to effect this object. Such a price of raw 

 material for fibre available for spinning would correspond, as 

 already calculated, to a price per ton of £75, with the addition of 

 the cost of chemicals, a price which would amount to rather more 

 than that of the finest variety of flax, which enter extensively into 

 the commerce of the country. If ramie with all the disadvantages 

 attending the introduction of a new staple, is to compete success- 

 fully with the fibres which already have possession of the market, 

 there must be some likelihood of obtaining steady supplies of the 

 rough fibre at prices which correspond more nearly with the prices 

 of the other vegetable fibres, such as flax and hemp, that is, at an 

 average price of (at the outside) from £30 to £40 per ton for the 

 better and from £20 to £25 per ton for the lower, qualities. 

 Even with such prices, the fibre freed from gum, and in a condition 

 similar to that of undressed flax, could not be prepared at less 

 than from £35 to £60 per ton, plus cost of chemicals. Considering 

 its superior qualities, however such a price would seem sufficiently 

 low to bring ramie into competition with flax and hemp, even 

 if the latter were somewhat cheaper. It has also to be considered 



