RAMIE, RHEA, CHINA GRASS, OR 



19 



APPENDIX B. 



The following is an extract from an article in the " British Trade Journal 



of May 1st, 1898 : 



IMPORTANT PROGRESS WITH RAMIE FIBRE : IT 

 ENTERS A PRACTICAL PHASE. 



In a paper read by Mr. Thos. Barraclough at 

 the Imperial Institute, London, W., under the 

 auspices of the Society of Arts, on the culti- 

 vation and manufacture of the above fibre, 

 which is printed in the "Journal" of ihe 

 Society of Arts for April 2nd, 1897, he laid 

 stress on the fact that one of the principal 

 reasons why this fibre has not yet taken its 

 proper place in the textile market is, that in 

 its various stages, beginning with the cultiva- 

 tion of the fibre and ending with its manufac- 

 ture into textile goods,' there has been an 

 entire absence of sympathy and co-operation 

 between the various parties whose interests are 

 involved the grower, the merchant, the spin- 

 ner, the manufacturer, and others. 



When the 1897 crop of ramie grown on M. 

 Faure's estate in France (first cutting) was 

 almost ready for decortication, Mr. Barra- 

 clough invited a number of gentlemen inter- 

 ested in the cultivation of ramie to meet to- 

 gether at Limoges in order to personally in- 

 spect the Faure decorticating machines at work 

 extracting the fibre from the green stems, and 

 to carefully test the fibre produced. These 

 gentlemen represented firms and planters of 

 ramie in the Straits Settlements, South India, 

 Southern Russia, and other countries. With 

 the view of securing the personal sympathy and 

 the active co-operation of ramie spinners and 

 manufacturers with ramie growers, and of 

 bringing about an interchange of ideas so as 

 to ensure a community of interests, Mr. Barra- 

 clough also specially invited some ramie spin- 

 ners to be present during the trials, to test 

 the Faure machine and the fibre it produces, 

 so as to assure themselves that the fibre is 

 thoroughly well adapted for their manufactur- 

 ing requirements. The invitations were cordi- 

 ally accepted, and the presence of the invited 

 guests at Limoges during the tests was a signal 

 proof of the importance they attached to a full 

 consideration by both the growers and manu- 

 facturers of ramie of the many questions in- 

 volved in its production and utilisation. One 

 of the gentlemen present, who had personally 

 worked the Faure decorticating machine in 

 Sumatra, was pleased to inform the other 

 visitors that the Faure machine had been tes- 

 ted on a plantation in Sumatra, owned by a 

 company of which he is managing director, and 

 the results obtained were thoroughly satisfac- 

 tory ; that he was then in Europe with the 



view of completing arrangements to enter 

 largely into the cultivation of ramie and of 

 purchasing a considerable number of Faure 

 machines. 



The crop of ramie stems at Limoges was cut, 

 the fibre extracted by the Faure machines in 

 the presence of all the gentlemen who had 

 accepted the invitation, and on July 27th, 

 1897, an important conference and discussion 

 was held at Limoges, in which every one of the 

 visitors took part. The discussion referred 

 mainly to three points : (1) Are the visitors 



"^satisfied with the construction and working of 

 the Faure machines? (2) Is the fibre produced 

 by the machines equal to ramie fibre decortica- 

 ted by hand, as in China, and known in the 

 trade as China grass? (3) Is the mechanical 

 decortication of ramie a success? 



After full discussion of the various points, a 

 resolution in French was proposed, of which 

 the following is a literal translation, unani- 

 mously adopted and signed : " Limoges, July 

 27th, 1897. The undersigned, present at the 

 trials made by M. Faure with his new machine 

 for decorticating ramie, are pleased to declare 

 that the results obtained have completely satis- 



1 fied them. Their opinion is that the decortica- 

 tion of ramie by the Faure machine is quite 



' equal to that done by hand. They express 

 their opinion that the problem of mechanical 

 decortication is now solved under conditions 

 absolutely satisfactory." 



This testimonial, emanating as it did from 

 men practical in the cultivation, preparation, 



! and spinning of the fibre, cannot fail to be re- 

 garded as a distinct step forward in the direc- 

 tion of success for ramie. China grass, being 

 ramie prepared by female labour in China at 

 a mere nominal cost, is virtually the only ramie 

 fibre that is at present on the market [1897] 



1 and the few important spinners of the fibre in 

 France and Germany have been practically 

 limited to China grass as their raw material. 

 The supply of this fibre is variable, and the 

 price is generally considered mu*ch too high 

 for an extensive use from the manufacturer's 

 point of view. The result of the conference 

 has a very important bearing on the trade, 

 because it asserts that ramie decorticated by 

 Faure's machines. is equal to China grass, and 

 it necessarily follows that the supply of the 

 fibre will be virtually unlimited, seeing that 

 any quantity of decorticating machines can 

 -be set to work, 



