664 



RAMIE, CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OP. 



of our familiar fiber plants. The stalks are first 

 allowed to dry in the field, if this can be done, 

 and when dry they are subjected to the action of 

 breaking, and of beating and combing machines 

 that remove stalk and bark, with gum ; after 

 which they are put into the alkaline bath, as in 

 the " wet " process. 



Some Englishmen were the first to seek to in- 

 troduce ramie into Europe, about one hundred 

 years ago, and a decorticating and degumming 

 machine was the first requisite, as the want of it 

 has remained the obstacle to ramie's success as a 

 useful commodity in modern commerce. The 

 first attempt to decorticate the plant stalks by 

 machinery was made in 1816 in India, whither 

 England sent a flax and hemp machine for the pur- 

 pose. It failed, and so also did all other efforts 

 at that time. At the London Exhibition of 1851 

 the product was shown in every condition from 

 the crude fiber to woven fabrics. Three prizes 

 were awarded, and interest was revived upon the 

 introduction of the plant into several new fields 

 for cultivation ; and, somewhat later, still an- 

 other impulse was given to the search for a de- 

 corticating process upon the threatened scarcity 

 of cotton at the outbreak of the civil war in the 

 United States. During the past thirty years 

 there have probably been 100 inventions for this 

 purpose. In England much attention has been 

 given to the matter, and to experimental culture 

 of the plant ; and Dr. Morris, of the Royal Kew 

 Gardens, is one of the chief authorities on the 

 subject. In Prance, where the subject was taken 

 up next and where it has been assiduously pur- 

 sued for half a century, there is a long list of 

 fiber merchants, manufacturers, and inventors 

 who have become distinguished in their efforts 

 to bring this fiber into popular use. Among 

 them is M. P.-A. Favier, director of the principal 

 ramie factories of France and inventor of the 

 only decorticator that worked successfully. 

 Others are: Alexandre Thibaud, of Nimes; Dr. 

 Granguard, of Marseilles ; Count of Malartie, of 

 Dijon ; Dr. Alquie, of Montpelliere ; Baron de 

 Brais ; Numa Bothier : Hardy, of Algiers : Bailly, 

 of Nay ; Rolland and Boski, of Paris ; Senator 

 Peray, of Essonnes ; Goncet de Mas, of Padua ; 

 Pinchon, of Rouen ; Mouchel, of Elbeuf. These 

 gentlemen, after prolonged failure, have at 

 length produced in France a fabric that has 

 begun to displace flax, hemp, cotton, and silk. 



At the outbreak of the civil war in the United 

 States (1861) the first ramie factory of Europe 

 was established by M. Thibaud in Nimes. It 

 has survived many vicissitudes, and now sup- 

 plies the mills for the French army. About the 

 same time M. Favier began a public advocacy of 

 the value of the fiber, and the importance of 

 placing it among the chief industries of 

 France, also pursuing his inventions for decorti- 

 cating and degumming. 



In 1881 the first French ramie company was 

 founded and the experimental cultivation of the 

 plant undertaken in several places in Prance, in 

 the north of Spain, and in Egypt, with factories 

 for decortication. Cultivation did not succeed, 

 and factories at Entraigues, near Avignon, at 

 Voiron, and in the department of the Nord were 

 fed on raw material from China, which was too 

 costly for financial success, but enabled the so- 

 ciety to show results. Since then M. Favier has 



made still greater improvements on his machines. 

 The stalks, stripped of leaves and of any size or 

 length, are introduced into the machine, an oper- 

 ator being required at each end, to feed in the 

 stalks and remove the fiber. The ribbons are 

 delivered free from wood, parallel and unbroken, 

 without waste. The number of stalks intro- 

 duced varies from 60 to 100 a minute, and 6,000 

 to 11,000 pounds of stalks may be passed through 

 the machine in a working day. One-horse power 

 is required to drive the machine, and the refuse 

 of the stalks is used for fuel. The machine is 

 mounted upon wheels. Its weight is about 1 

 ton, and its cost is about $400. Calculating 

 upon three cuttings a year and an average crop 

 of 2,640 pounds of green stalks to the acre, and 

 the use of the machine for six weeks at each cut- 

 ting, one machine will suffice for about 15 acres. 



Improved machines for decorticating ramie in 

 the dry state have also proved satisfactory. 

 They are considerably higher in price ($500 to 

 $900), the capacity being relatively greater, but 

 have less interest for Americans, as the moist 

 climatic conditions of the most successful ramie- 

 growing districts demand a machine to decorti- 

 cate the stalks green, and immediately after the 

 cutting, otherwise kiln drying is necessary to 

 prevent great loss from damp heat. The cloth 

 of ramie does not lint. Several of the largest 

 restaurants in Paris have adopted ramie table 

 damask instead of linen. Druggets, curtains, 

 furniture stuffs, and light materials for ladies' 

 robes have the brilliance of silk ; and cordage, 

 fish nets, and sail cloth are not rotted by water. 

 The War Department has adopted it for cordage 

 and cables, war balloons, and powder sacks, and 

 the Bank of France now iises it for bank notes, 

 because it is lighter and at the same time more 

 substantial than the material formerly in use, 

 besides better to print on. 



The specific gravity of ramie yarn is less than 

 that of linen yarn in the ratio of 6 to 10, so that 

 1 kilogramme (2 pounds) of linen yarn No. 10 

 measures 6,000 metres (over 6,600 yards), while 

 the same weight of ramie yarn measures 10,000 

 metres. On the other hand, ramie yarn is 

 heavier than cotton in the ratio of 6 to 5. It is 

 easily distinguishable from other yarns by its high 

 luster and silky appearance, and in its fiber by 

 its great length, which is often 25 to 40 centi- 

 metres and more (from about 1 to 1| yard), by a 

 certain straightness and stiffness, and by the de- 

 cided superiority in breadth, which is four times 

 that of flax, often six times that of cotton, and 

 twenty times that of silk, while for strength 

 the ramie is at least twice as strong as the best 

 hemp. 



Mr. Dodge reports to the United States De- 

 partment of Agriculture that " a new use for the 

 fiber is in the manufacture of ' absorbent.' It is 

 said that while cotton lint, specially prepared 

 for this purpose, absorbs 87-J per cent, of water, 

 actual tests show that ramie absorbs 87'9 per 

 cent. This substance is already on the market." 



The model ramie factory is that of Valobre, in 

 the Department of Vaucluse, which is now run- 

 ning at considerable profit. It stands on one of 

 the water courses that escape from the celebrated 

 fountain of Vaucluse, and, with its dependen- 

 cies, occupies more than 12 acres, entirely sur- 

 rounded by water. The principal buildings form 



