SOUTHERN HORIZONS 



something about commercializing this plant somewhere 

 in the Deep South. 



All these brave proposals ended ignominiously, so 

 that in textile and chemical circles noisy shouts of 

 "Ramie! Ramie!" came in time to be ignored as did the 

 peasant boys frantic shouts of "Wolf! Wolf!" But the 

 wolf did come at last, and now it seems that ramie has 

 actually arrived. War demands and the dislocation of 

 normal raw materials have been responsible for this. 



Hemp, sisal, abaca, all the cordage fibers were critical 

 materials. Ramie was obviously a superior substitute. 

 The British found it the best fiber for parachute harness. 

 The United States Navy discovered that it is better than 

 flax for packing propeller tubes. These war demands, 

 however imperative, would not have brought ramie to 

 the market, if this critical need had not prompted the 

 discovery that machines for decorticating hemp and 

 sisal could be adapted to the mechanical separation of 

 the long ramie fibers from the stout stalks. Always this 

 has been the great drawback, for ramie fiber separated 

 by the primitive method of beating the wet stalks was 

 expensive. Moreover, in this harsh treatment it acquired 

 a grievous fault. The sharp blows bruised the fibers, 

 rendering them very tender at this point. Thus ramie 

 had won an undeserved reputation for being a brittle 

 fiber. Mechanical decortication cut costs and eliminated 

 this brittleness. 



Until Pearl Harbor exports of ramie from the Philip- 

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