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a sound industrial enterprise ; but English capital was shy ; it had 

 been hit too heavily in the past by ramie to believe in the genuine- 

 ness of a new ramie industrial undertaking : incredulity as to 

 ultimate success was expressed on all sides in such terms as " It is 

 absurd to think that Mrs. Hart can succeed where Lister failed." 

 " Oh, yes, Mrs. Hart will make samples as they all did, but she 

 will never make pieces," and so on, and the enormous sums of 

 money lost by the speaker or by his friends, were instanced as 

 proofs of the disastrous character of ran.ie undertakings. 



But help came from another, a more confident and bolder 

 country than old England, namely, from America, and it was with 

 American capital that "A. M. Hart, Limited," was formed and the 

 enterprise was lifted from the experimental stage to that of a sound 

 commercial industry. English capitalists have since joined us, 

 but at a critical time it was due to the action and initiative of my 

 American co-director that the enterprise was firmly established on 

 a commercial basis. From that date we have gone forward with 

 no uncertain steps ; we have rented a large mill, have put up a 

 considerable amount of machinery, and are engaged in executing 

 orders and Government contracts, which are only an earnest of 

 what we expect and which we are prepared to carry out. 



Everywhere I have tried to allay one bogey which has always 

 frightened the intended planter, namely, that it is necessary to 

 have a costly machine for decorticating the fibre in order to make 

 it marketable. So long as there are millions of people in this 

 world willing to work for 6d. a day or less, ramie is better, in such 

 countries, stripped and decorticated by hand than by any machine 

 that has been or will be invented. In India as in China, in West 

 Africa, in East Africa where native labour is abundant, and in the 

 West Indies, no decorticating machines are necessary; but in 

 Mexico, in the Straits Settlements, in the Southern States of 

 America, where labour is scarce and dear, and on the great rubber 

 lands where ramie would be a valuable catch-crop, decorticating 

 by machinery is essential. 



A great many machines have been invented for this purpose 

 since the Indian Government in 1869 offered two prizes, one for 

 £5,000, and another for £2,000, for machinery or processes by 

 which the fibre could be prepared at such a cost per ton as would 

 render it easily marketable. This offer of prizes was renewed in 

 1877, for sums of £5,000 and £l,000. Various competitive trials 

 were made, and though small prizes were awarded, no machine 

 was found equal to the requirements of the Government, so some 

 years ago the chief of the Economic Department advised the 

 Indian Government to withdraw the competition. 



This offer of the Indian Government to give prizes for decorti- 

 cating machines was unfortunate, as it led those who were 

 interested in ramie on a wrong tack : for it was more important to 

 ascertain the correct scientific principles of treating the fibre in 

 order to prepare it for manufacture, than to decorticate it by 

 machinery on the fields, particularly in India, where, owing to the 



