RAMIE CULTIVATION IN PERAK. 117 



question of ramie. As a matter of fact, however, the really finished fibre, 

 ready for spinning is worth, unbleached, bnt de- gummed, about £50 per 

 ton. The best China -grass, worth £35, is not a finished fibre ; it contains 

 at least 25 per cent of gum, which has to be eliminated before it can be 

 termed " finished." £14 is not even the price of juce from India. 



Now, this is one instance out of hundreds of the way in which the 

 question of ramie is handled. From beginning to end you came across 

 these indefinite and irregular terms, which naturally breed confusion and 

 give the whole thing a character of unreality and uutrustworthiness vei"y 

 difficult to overcome. 



There is no reason why this should be. and after a long study of 

 ramie, extending over some years, I have come to the conclusion that 

 ramie will impose itself if only words and terms are agreed to which will 

 fit exactly its different stages. "La science est une langue bien faite" 

 say the French ; ramie is a case in point, our knowledge of it is confused 

 and uncertain because our language, in connection with it, is loose and 

 inexact. 



This said, allow me to revert to a passage of your letter — "I fancy 

 that as yet we have no data to go by in this part of the world as to the 

 yield, etc." 



This is true, 1 believe, of the Malay Peninsula, where no attempt 

 has ever yet been made to cultivate ramie, but there exist very positive 

 data as regards Java. 



I think it was Dr. Blume, the author of Flora Javo', wlio, after 

 careful experiment, gave the following conclusions — 



" Planting from root cuttings four crops ai'e obtained in Java annu- 

 ally ; the first year the plant yields 4 stems at the first cutting ; 6 to 8 at 

 the second cutting ; 10 to 12 at the third ; 16 to 20 at the fourth cutting." 



" One bouw (7,096 square metres) produces 34,000 kilogrammes of 

 green stems without leaves and topped (the head bud cut off), which give 

 1,020 kilogrammes of dry filasse." 



Taking the bouw at If acres, and working out these figures we find : 



If acres = 34,000 kilos green stems, stripjaed of leaves = 1,020 kih'S 

 dry filasse. 



If acres = 74,900 pounds green stems, stripped of leaves = 2,246 

 pounds dry filasse. 



1 acre = 42,800 pounds green stems, stripped of leaves = 1,280 

 pounds dry filasse. 



Kindly observe that the figure of dry filasse, 1,280 pfninds, represents 

 only 3 per cent of the weight of green stems stripped, so that it must be 

 taken as that of filasse completely decorticated, dried and partially un- 

 gummed, which means a fibi'e of enhanced value. 



You will find that these figures tally pretty closely with my estimate, 

 and I seize this opimrtunity to state that the figures which 1 have put 

 down in my estimate are not haphazard figures but figures which I have 

 mostly obtained from direct sources. 



