G62 



RAMIE, CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF. 



height of 3 to 8 feet. Three varieties are used 

 in the manufacture of textile fabrics, cordage, 

 paper, and other things. In the order of their 

 values, these are: Green ramie, or ramie verte 

 ( Urtica utilis tenacissima) ; white ramie, or ramie 

 blanche (Urtica nivea); and another species of 

 white ramie, commonly called candicans (Urtica 

 candicans). Green ramie grows to a height of 

 7 feet, and is especially distinguished from the 

 other varieties by the height and by the leafs be- 

 ing heart-shaped toward the petiole. The leaf 

 is light green, but the under side is usually cov- 

 ered with a grayish down, which appears in the 

 squares formed by prominent but pale-green 

 veins. This variety is of very vigorous growth, 

 producing more stalks to the plant and more 

 abundant and better fiber than the others, and 

 from the remarkably tenacious quality of the 

 fiber it is called the tenacissima. It grows in 

 the warmest climates of the world, but resists 

 cold to the extreme of 8 centigrade, and if cer- 

 tain precautions are taken, it supports 10 ; but 

 it requires a high and even temperature during 

 the period of vegetation. Manufacturers pay 

 the highest prices for the raw material of this 

 variety. 



The white ramie, or nivea. grows nearly as high 

 a* the green ramie, has a leaf slightly tapering 

 toward the petiole, the upper side bright green 

 and the under side covered with down that is 

 snow white on the young leaves, and silvery to 

 light gray as they mature, with veins slightly 

 reddish. When it is dry the leaves recover white- 

 ness and the veins are red brown. This variety 

 resists the cold better than the green ramie, but 

 grows in Europe and America, at least a fiber 

 loss in quantity and inferior in quality. M. P.-A. 

 Favier, of France, the chief authority on this 

 subject, considers the nivea to be the same vari- 

 ety as the tchou-ma of China, which produces a 

 magnificent fiber. 



The ramie candicans grows to a height of 3 

 feet, which distinguishes it from the other two 

 varieties ; but other marks are in the leaf, which 

 tapers very much toward the petiole, and is dark 

 green on the upper side and grayish white on the 

 under side. It is of small importance. 



The ramie stalk consists of an outer bark, 

 which, like the leaves, is useless except for fuel 

 to run the decorticators and to return to the soil 

 as a fertilizer. This covers an inner bark or 

 bast, which contains the textile fiber besides other 

 tissues and mucilaginous substances that must 

 be removed before the fiber can be manufactured. 

 The seeds, resembling hemp seed in shape, are 

 either jet black or pure white, and are extensive- 

 ly used in confectionery by the Chinese. The 

 plant is propagated by seed, by cuttings, by lay- 

 ers, and by division of the roots. In raising from 

 the seed, the greatest care is necessary. The seed 

 is so small that planting in the field is extremely 

 uncertain, and hot-house planting is preferable. 

 After sowing, the seeds are covered thinly with 

 sifted earth, and shaded from the sun till the 

 plants are 2 or 3 inches high. Then sunlight is 

 admitted gradually, and after five or six weeks 

 they are strong enough to be transplanted. The 

 East India method is to propagate by cuttings of 

 the spring-grown stems when they are fully ripe 

 and the epidermis has turned brown. The stem 

 is cut into lengths to include 3 buds, and care is 



taken to leave J of an inch above and below the 

 buds. These are planted a foot apart, with the 

 central bud on a level with the soil, and, in fair 

 weather, they are shaded from the sun for ten 

 days or more. As the plants mature, they are 

 placed farther apart, to an average distance of 3 

 feet. Propagation by division of the roots of 

 fully matured plants is conceded to be the most 

 practical method and the one that gives the best 

 results in America. Roots are planted from 2 to 

 4 feet apart, in furrows 5 or 6 inches deep, and 

 at first are hilled like corn or potatoes; weeds 

 are kept down till the plant is well started, after 

 which they are kept down without labor by the 

 rankness of the ramie's growth and the density 

 of its foliage. In India a rich loam has been 

 found to suit the plant best, but it will grow in 

 almost any soil there, provided there is plenty of 

 moisture and thorough drainage. Everywhere 

 that it has been tried in a wet soil it has failed 

 to thrive. It is reported to the United States 

 Government by Charles Richards Dodge, special 

 agent in charge of fiber investigations for the 

 Department of Agriculture, that " the ground 

 must be well prepared by plowing at least 10 

 inches deep, well pulverized, and, if not natural- 

 ly rich, well fertilized." In the last report (1891) 

 of the agricultural experiment stations of the 

 University of California, Prof. Eugene W. Hil- 

 gard, Director of the Stations, says : " It is hard- 

 ly necessary to remind any intelligent farmer 

 that only strong soils can be expected to pro- 

 duce in one season a crop of 10 tons per acre of 

 dry stalks of any kind, and that few can continue 

 to produce such crops for many years without 

 substantial returns to the land, no matter how 

 fertile originally; but there is no reason why the 

 offal of the ramie crop should not be regularly 

 returned to the soil. The leaves can be and usu- 

 ally are dealt with by stripping the stalk on the 

 ground, leaving them where they grew. As to 

 the stalks, it is true that with 3 or 4 cuts per sea- 

 son it will be difficult to deal with the large mass 

 of refuse by spreading it on the stubble, although 

 in the more northerly portions of the area of cul- 

 tivation it may be desirable to use this material 

 for protection against frost. But as the return 

 must either be made or fertilizers furnished, the 

 proper mode of procedure will be to make com- 

 post heaps of the trash, and thus render it less 

 bulky and more convenient for spreading on the 

 stubble after the last cut." In connection with 

 the preparation of the stalks for manufacture it 

 is shown, from Mr. Dodge's reports, that about 

 one quarter of the refuse may be used to fuel the 

 decorticators, leaving almost the exact quantity 

 desirable for fertilization. Prof. Hilgard contin- 

 ues : " This, in the case of strong soils, is all that 

 will be required to keep up production fora long 

 time, although the raw fiber sold represents a 

 larger portion of the soil's plant food than in the 

 case of cotton, in which the return of seed and 

 stalk will maintain production indefinitely on 

 any soil capable of yielding a profitable crop. 

 When no returns are made, ramie will prove even 

 a more exhaustive crop than is 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' more effectually than 

 with wheat. On the strong black adobe soil of 

 the Berkeley experimental plot, where purposely 



