VISTAS IN SILK AND RAMIE 



pines grew rapidly. Afterwards Haiti and various Cen- 

 tral American countries adopted the plant. Interest in 

 ramie, always slumbering in the Deep South, reawak- 

 ened. Substantial and influential friends began be- 

 stirring themselves, and the states of Alabama and 

 Florida and the United States Department of Agricul- 

 ture lent a hand. 



A prominent banker in Alabama caught the vision of 

 another new Southern horizon and started a ramie 

 plantation. When he ran into processing troubles, the 

 Newport Industries took over at the suggestion of the 

 Governor. It was a logical move, for the company had 

 been operating throughout the Deep South for thirty 

 years, collecting pine stumps for its wood rosin plants 

 at Pensacola and Bay Minette. It has, therefore, local 

 experience and agricultural interest with the resources 

 to back them up and, most important, an experienced, 

 aggressive research staff. In cooperation with the state, 

 experimental plantings were made at the Alabama State 

 Prison Farm at Atmore, and a thorough scientific in- 

 vestigationchemical and microscopic was undertaken 

 of the ramie fiber. Simultaneously the mechanical de- 

 corticator was studied and an improved machine de- 

 vised. Samples of fiber, both raw and degummed, were 

 sent to textile mills and spinning, weaving, and knitting 

 experiments started, working with ramie alone and in 

 many combinations with cotton, wool, and burlap. A 



185 



