150 
China-grass textures, of which some fine samples may be seen in the museum of 
the Department of Agriculture, manufactured in England. In China the com- 
mon name of this plant is “chou-ma;” in Japan, “'T'sjo ;” in Sumatra, “ caloee;” 
in Malacca, “‘ramee” or “ramie;” in East Celebes, “gambe;” in Assam, “ rheea;” 
in Bonona, “inan;” and in other places it is known by different names. There 
is a slight difference, as to coloring of leaves and dowininess of surface, in differ- 
eat climates and localities; but the balance of authority among botanists seems 
to declare these differences too small to warrant even a separation into varieties, 
In the report of agriculture for 1865 will be found an essay on this fibre, with 
a brief history of the introduction of the plant into the botanic garden of the 
United States in this city, in 1855, by the superintendent, W. R. Smith, who 
obtained it from Jamaica, through Mr. Wilson, of the government gardens of 
that island, and propagated, under glass, about fifty plants from the seed. Mr. 
Saunders, at the experimental garden of this department, has also grown them, 
and now has them in his garden. 
Mr. Bacon, in his recent paper on the ramie, or rami, says, relative to its 
propagation by Mr. Roezl: F 
“The ramie, as Mr. Roezl informs us, is planted like sugar-cane, by laying 
the stalks or canes about two or three inches under the prepared earth in rows. 
The first crop from this planting will reach only two or three feet in height, 
when it will be found ripe for the knife, and should be cut close to the ground. 
These stalks will not produce the thread in perfection. From the stubble thus 
cut new plants will rise and attain a greater height, and be cut in a like manner 
again and again, until, in Santocomapam, Mr. Roezl takes off five crops in each 
season; the plant when well rooted reaching the height of twenty feet, each 
crop being equal to one of hemp as cultivated in Europe. It is his opinion that 
in this country Florida, Louisiana, and the middle and southern portions of 
Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Texas are alone suited in climate to its profit- 
able growth; and that here from three to four crops of it may be made in each 
year. 
“'The plant, when once rooted in the soil, is exceedingly hardy, and in this 
climate a perennial one. It will be greatly benefited by cultivation; but neg- 
lect will not endanger it. It has no insect enemies dangerous to its growth or 
existence. If, when ripe for the knife, the cutting of it is delayed through any 
fortuitous circumstance, it is not injured by standing. 'The machinery invented 
by Mr. Roezl for cleansing it may be provided at a very moderate cost, and is 
simple and comparatively light of carriage. 
“Tt remains only to add, as to its practical value, that in 1865 Mr. Roezl 
sent fifty tierces, containing over five thousand Spanish pounds, of the textile 
to England, and that it was there sold at double the price of the best quality of 
cotton. Fabrics woven from it will be exhibited in the approaching world’s 
exhibition of Paris, woven in the looms of Lyons, Belgium, and England. Its 
great productiveness will, doubtless, in the end reduce the cash value of it in 
the manufacturing markets; but with it that of cotton, linen, and other rivals.” 
NORTH CAROLINA. 
Daniel R. Goodloe, esq., United States commissioner for North Carolina, 
communicates the following: 
Perhaps no‘State in the Union is so remarkable for diversity of climate, soil, 
and productions as North Carolina, and no other has such variety of produc- 
tions. The breadth of latitude covered by its territory is not great, being only 
2° 40’; but in its length, from east to west, it stretches from the sea-board to 
the highest summits of the Alleghany range of mountains, a distance of five 
