VISTAS IN SILK AND RAMIE 



tainly it is fitted for many uses. For its strength, it is 

 used in narrow webbing for parachute harness, and 

 tests prove it superior for machinery belting and car- 

 pets. Its absorbent qualities indicate the ideal towel 

 and bandage. Its fineness and luster have made so-called 

 Shantung or China silk famous, and this illustrious ma- 

 terial is crude stuff compared with cotton-ramie and 

 rayon-ramie fabrics that are being produced experi- 

 mentally in several Southern textile mills. During the 

 war, when the water mains of blasted London were put 

 out of commission, flexible pipes up to fourteen inches 

 in diameter, woven of pure ramie fiber, saved the city 

 from fire and pestilence by rendering much better than 

 substitute service. Out of that harrowing experience, 

 rubberless garden hose is a prospect. Among the sur- 

 prising varieties of postwar applications that are being 

 studied are upholstery, especially automobile seat cover- 

 ings, marine cordage and fish nets, packing for stuffing 

 boxes, light-weight men's suitings, novelty fabrics for 

 sportswear and evening gowns. And that does not 

 begin to be a full catalogue of proposed uses. 



"Why doesn't somebody tell me about these things?" 

 is the immediate reaction of most Americans, and it is 

 quite a shock to learn that ramie was "discovered" by 

 the British textile industry exactly one hundred and 

 forty-five years ago. It has been used in the Orient for 

 centuries. During the past two decades, at least once 

 a year, some chemurgic enthusiast has proposed to do 



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