475 



The dry process also possesses the ailvantage that each machine can be kept running 

 continuously, on practically uniform material; while in the wet mode of treatment 

 the plants must, in a larj^e field, either bo worked at very difl^reufc dej^roes of matur- 

 ity or else the crop must be attacked with a large number of machines, in order to 

 secure uniformity of the product, after which the machines will lie idle. It would 

 therefore seem, on the most general principles, that where the dry process is climat- 

 ically feasible, it offers advantages ov^er the other method, provided an equally good 

 merchantable product can be turned out. » » » 



By actual trial it has been found to be readily feasible to grow ramie in all the 

 larger valley regions of the State, but it will doubtless prove most profitable where 

 a long growing season, combined with irrigation, permits of making three or four 

 cuts annually. In the Kern Valley there is little difficulty in getting four cuts 

 of good size and quality, and the same is iirobably true on the stronger soils as 

 far north as Fresno and southward iii the valley of Southern California. In the 

 Sacramento Valley three cuts can doubtless be obtained, at least wheu irrigation is 

 employed or in naturally moist laud. At Berkeley and elsewhere on the immediate 

 coast two cuts (the second usually a small one) are all that can be counted on; but 

 in warm valleys of the Coast Range doubtless from two to three full crops, according 

 to the supply of moisture and the strength of the soil, may be looked for. 



A table shows the yield of white-leaved ramie ( Urticanivea) during 4 

 years (1887-90) on the station grounds at Berkeley. The average yield 

 per acre is estimated to have been about 5,700 pounds of dry stalks for 

 the first cut and 3,300 pounds for the second. 



This gross weight of course would be somewhat less in the dry air of the interior 

 of the State, but the figures show that on strong soils the expectation of 18,000 to 

 20,000 pounds iier acre, where four cuts can be made, is not extravagant. The mini- 

 mum product from dry stalks is estimated to be 15 per cent of raw merchantable 

 fiber. » * » 



It is hardly necessary to remind any intelligent farmer that only strong soils can 

 be expected to produce in one season a crop of 10 tons of dry stalks of any kind, and 

 that few can coutinue to produce such crops for many years without substantial 

 returns to the laud, no matter how fertile originally ; but there is no reason why the 

 ofl'al of the ramie crop — the leaves and stock trash — should not be regularly returned 

 to the soil. The leaves can be, and usually are, dealt with by stripping the stalk on 

 the ground, leaving them where they grew. As to the stalks, it is true that with 

 three or four cuts i)er season it will be difficult to deal with the large mass of refuse 

 by spreading it 5u the stubble, although in the more northerly portions of the area 

 of cultivation it may be desirable to use this material for protection against frost. 

 But as cither the return must be made or fertilizers i^urchased, the i>roper mode of 

 procedure will be to make compost heaps of the trash, and thus render it less bulky and 

 more convenient for spreading ou the stubble after the last cut. This, in the case of 

 stroug soils, is allthat will be required to keep up production for along time, although 

 the raw liber sold represents a larger proportion of the soil's plant food than in the case 

 of cotton, in which the return of seed and stalk will maintain production indefi- 

 nitely on any soil capable of yielding a profitable crop. When no returns are made 

 ramie will .prove even a more exhaustive crop than cotton when the seed is not 

 returned, and those engaging in its culture had better understand from the outset 

 that they can "rob the soil" with ramie even more effectually than with wheat. 



Among the strongest soils in the State are those containing more or less of "alkali," 

 and as these are mostly valley lands, the question of their adaptation to ramie 

 culture is important. Experiments have shown that while ramie is a little more sensi- 

 tive to alkali than alfalfa, it will stand all but the strongest spots provided the alkali 

 is not of the " black " kind, viz., carbouate of soda ; and as the conversion of black 

 alkali into " white " is easily eftVcted by the use of proper doses of plaster or gypsum, 

 it may fairly be suiil that with this proviso ramie may be grown in alkali lands avail- 



