346 MEDALS FOR CHINA-GRASS FIBRE. 
the Tchou Ma, or Chinese Flax; and this we propose repub- 
lishing, for reasons which will be obvious. 
By this account we learn that the plant is cultivated with 
considerable care; that it may be obtained from seeds, but 
more quickly by parting the roots, as it throws up numerous 
shoots; that these may be cut down, and that fresh ones 
will spring up, so that three several crops are obtained in the 
season. Great care is also taken in the scraping, peeling, 
steeping, and bleaching of the fibre. We also learn that the 
first crop yields strong and coarse fibres, and the second and 
third crops, delicate fibres for the finer fabrics. 
This China-grass fibre has of late years attracted considerable 
attention, and no less than three Prize Medals were given at 
the Exhibition of 1851, for the finely prepared specimens of 
this fibre. These looked like fine white silk or asbestos, some 
dyed of different colours, and some woven into cloth. The 
Jury Report of Class IV thus mentions them: 
“The process of Messrs. L. W. Wright and Co., for the 
preparation of China-grass, &c., for which a patent was obtained 
in 1849, consists, essentially, in a very ingenious arrangement 
for boiling the stems in an alkaline solution, after they have 
previously been steeped for twenty-four hours in water of a tem- 
perature of 90°. The fibre is then thoroughly washed with 
pure water, and finally subjected to the action of a current of 
high-pressure steam till nearly dry. A very beautiful series of 
specimens, illustrating the preparation of this fibre, the various 
stages of the process, the bleaching of it, and the uses to which 
it may be applied, both alone and in conjunction with other 
fibrous materials in the formation of mixed fabrics, is shown by 
Messrs. Wright. 
“Very beautiful samples of China-grass fibre are likewise 
shown by Messrs. Hives and Atkinson. 
“Equally fine specimens are exhibited by Messrs. Marshall 
and Co., of Leeds. 
“For all these samples, the Jury have awarded Prize 
Medals.” 
Caloee or Ramee (Urtica tenacissima, Roxb.) 
Dr. Roxburgh, when making his experiments on Fibres at 
the beginning of this century, took much pains with one of a 
