104 RAMIE CULTIVATION IN PERAK. 



EEPOET ON THE PROSPECTS OF RAMIE CULTIVATION 

 IN PERAK. 



The possibility of the successful cultivation of ramie 

 depends on (a) Suitability of climate and soil, (b) Cost of 

 production, and (c) Price obtainable for the product. 



In regard to the first condition, there appears to be no 

 question that the climate is eminently suited to ramie, and that 

 there is an abundance of land fit for its gi-owth. 



The cost of production therefore resolves itself into a ques- 

 tion of the cost of the labour necessary to produce a given 

 quantity of the fibre. 



Mr. J. Forbes Royle, in The Fibrous Plants of India, gives 

 the yield at about 12 maunds of fibre per acre. This would 

 equal, at 80 pounds per maund, 960 pounds. 



Mr. J. Montgomery, in a report to the Indian Government, 

 gives the yield per acre as 972 pounds, but with proper culti- 

 vation, he says, 1,000 may be obtained. 



Mr. Hardy is stated to have said, in Rhea, its GnUivation, 

 etc., that a yield of 1,400 to 2,800 of riljbon per year per acre 

 may be obtained ; this would give, of fibi-e, about 840 to 1,680 

 pounds. 



" E.M.," in the British North Borneo Herald puts the yield 

 at from 500 to 1,120 pounds to the acre per annum. 



Mr. E. Mathieu, in the Straits Times, gives the production, 

 under good cultivation, at 30,000 pounds of stems, yielding 

 6 per cent of fibre ; this equals '84 of a ton, or 1,881 pounds. 



I Avill now put the above information into a tabular form, 

 so that it mav be easier to draw deductions from it : — 



