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like the Heatben Chinee in the Amei-ican poem, a great deal too 

 sharp for us. We find that these unsophisticated children of the 

 East, if not so wonderfully wise as we are, have yet a great deal of 



' That low cunning which in fools supplies, 

 And amply too, the place of being wise.' 



If we had any just claim to the title, which is sometimes sati,rically 

 applied to us, of a Christian nation, we might blush perhaps at 

 being outdone in r*oguei"y by these simple heathens ; as it is, we cry 

 ' 'Tis a wicked world ! ' and put up with our failur-e." 



There was another quite as an important consideration as the 

 loss of money in the purchase of bad material, or the discomfort we 

 suffered. We lived in a trying and changeable climate, and need 

 to be warmly clad. There was but little warmth in shoddy or jute 

 goods. Ask any physician if at any period of his long experience 

 there ever was a time in which old and young sufi'ered so much f i-om 

 sciatica, rheumatism, and nervous diseases as now. He attributed 

 a vast deal of this eufifering to the showy but slop-shop material 

 employed to afford warmth to the body. What would a cotton 

 spinner say or do if his cook sent to his table to satisfy his appetite 

 a round of boiled beef served with leeks, apples, and woody 

 blackberries — with a tart composed of strawberries, onions, and 

 stringy asparagus ? It would be quite as consistent a procedure as 

 some of the admixtures of fibrous materials he was sending forth 

 to the world. He found he had diverged from his original intent : 

 referring back again to the Ramie plant, it was introduced into 

 America in 1867, had taken kindly to the soil of the Southern States, 

 which was well adapted to it. The planters propagated itfrom cuttings, 

 rather than the seed, which was common in India. It grew rapidly, 

 yielded abundantly to the acre (and return in fibre) ; grew, indeed, 

 like a nettle. Its fibre was contained in and protected by its stalk 

 or stem. No caterpillar," army worm," or insect, could injure it, like 

 the cotton. It was proved that its culture would afford a great 

 profit, as it required less labour, less outlay, care, and anxiety than 

 any other crop. It would bear all the heat that cotton would. In 

 winter cotton died outi-ight, being entirely killed by the frost, and 

 must be replanted. Ramie was only killed down to the ground by 

 frost, and as soon as the frost was over, the plant jjut out again. It 

 was a perenial. Three crops a-year were obtained without re- 

 planting — the plant would be of great value to the South, if only 



