VEGETABLE FIBERS. 593 



in the United States Botanical Garden, and subsequently in the experi- 

 mental garden of the Department of Agi-iculture. (See annual report 

 of this department for the year 1867, page 220.) 



In the report of the department for 1873, ?.Ir. Ijefrane states that it 

 was introduced from Mexico in 18G7. The writer says " to two persons 

 is due the credit of its introduction into the United States, viz., Monsieur 

 Ernest Godeau, in that year consul of Prance in N'ew Orleans, and Be- 

 nito lloezl, a" Bohemian botanist, once a resident of Santa Compana in 

 Mexico." 



In this year it was given a fair test and abundantly proved its adapta- 

 bility to the new soil and conditions, as many specimens now in the 

 museum of the department will testify. Through tlie intelligent efforts 

 of Mr. Lefi^anc and ethers interested in promoting this industry, prac- 

 tical direction was given to the experiment, and the question of manu- 

 facture, or rather of preparation, as well as production, fully considered. 



In the annual report for 1873 (quoted above), published just six years 

 after the reintroduction of the j>lant, there is a full and comprehen- 

 sive article giving the results of the experiment, after the first fever of 

 enthusiasm had subsided. In this it is shown that the plant had held 

 its own during that time, even propagating in rich alluvial soils without 

 cultivation. It was also grown from the seed, notwithstanding the im- 

 pression that it could only be grown from cuttings. See article in Eeport 

 Agriculture 1870, page 170, from which the following extract is taken : 



The ramie plant, or Cliina grass of commerce, cultivated in many parts of the South 

 from seeds furnished originally from this department, is found well adapted to that 

 portion of the country, and when it can he utilized cheaply it will become a staple 

 crop. * * * In Goliad, Tex., it grows well both from seed and roots; and in Aus- 

 tin the staple is reported long, liber excellent, white and silky. 



Eeferenee is also made to other localities where grown. 



Of perennial growth, the stems die in winter, but new growths shoot 

 up in the spring, producing strong vigorous stalks in so short a time 

 that it is an easy matter to secure four crops a year, and the plants are 

 better for the cutting. A specimen in the museum, some 4 feet long, 

 or more, with the fiber disintegrated for half its length, was from the 

 fifth cutting in the same season in Louisiana. Thus it is proved that 

 successful cultivation is possible, though " destructive overflows, and 

 finally the discovery of the fact that water wa^ too near the surface of 

 the soil for such deep-rooting plants, caused the suspension of the enter- 

 prise in that section, which, moreover, has become, ftom social and polit- 

 ical turbulence, very unpropitious for any new industry." Believed to 

 be a semi-tropical plant, it was not until the Department of Agriculture 

 grew it in the open air in the centennial grounds that the idea of adapta- 

 tion to a northern climate was suggested. Here w?.s the commence- 

 ment of the more northerly experiment with the plant, though it was 

 already known that in the colder regions of isorthern China the roots 

 are dug up and kept through the winter in cellars for replanting in the 

 spring, like potatoes. 



Judge Watts, then Commissioner of Agriculture, resolved to proceed 

 with the experiment; Mr. Lefranc was commissioned to conduct it, and 

 the first Jersey plantation, &i Camden, was started with roots from the 

 " Centennial patch," and those saved from inundation in Louisiana. Re- 

 garding the success of the experiihent, I give jMt. Lefranc's own words:* 



I was surprised that the growth turned out superior to any growth iu the South, 

 and standing all winter without the least damage, sprouted abundantly in the follow- 



* First New Jersey report of labor and industries. 

 38 A(* 



