32 
Tue RamMeEz, 
or glass-cloth plant (Boehmeria nivea), will do fairly well with 
us in many places, but at present can only be recommended 
experimentally, A plantation made by Mr. Fuller at Cheltenham 
some years ago resulted in failure. The plant wants thorough 
shelter from cold winds and frosts. The fibre is very strong and 
valuable, realizing from £30 up to sometimes £100 per.ton. I 
observe that Fiji has gone into growing ramee largely. 
- Tue SUNFLOWER, 
with its large handsome smiling face, is being grown in immense 
areas in Russia, Germany, and other European States, and would 
probably pay well to cultivate in Victoria. On good land the 
yield should be 50 bushels of seed to the acre, and a bushel 
of seed should yield 1 gallon of oil. Haldane says the oil is 
of great value, and is employed for table purposes, lamps, paint- 
ing (especially for greens and blues). It makes excellent soap 
of great softness. When travelling in Switzerland and Germany 
two or three years ago I observed the words liberally placarded 
at all the railway stations “ Zunflower Zweep.” For some time 
I could not imagine what this meant, when presently a ray of 
intelligence ‘flashed across my dull intellect that “Zunflower 
Zweep” just meant Sunflower Soap, and so it proved to be. As 
a lubricant it is most excellent; as a drying oil nearly equal to 
linseed ; quite equal to olive oil for salads and other domestic 
purposes, in fact, seems to be superseding olive oil. The seed, 
shelled and ground, makes very fine sweet flour for bread, and is 
also a valuable food, of course in its whole state, for poultry. 
The seed, roasted and ground, is a substitute for coffee ; the seeds 
also make demulcent and soothing emulsions. No flowers yield 
more honey ; they also give a fine yellow dye. The pith may be 
used in surgery instead of moxa; the oil is used for cloth-dressing ; 
the leaves are excellent fodder, either fresh or dry ; the mare, or 
refuge after expressing the oil, is superior to linseed cake for 
fattening cattle and poultry. By treating the stem like flax a 
very fine fibre is produced, nearly as fine as silk. So you see 
every part of the plant is of value—the flower, the seed, the 
leaves, and the stem, while a valuable potash is made from the 
stem and leaves. As you already know, the sunfloweris an annual 
plant, It isa gross feeder, and does best in a rich calcareous 
soil; one of the best manures for it is old mortar. The im- 
poverishment of the soil by its culture can be remedied greatly by 
burning the stalks and spreading the ashes over the soil, and of 
course the land could be kept in good heart by a liberal use of 
bone-dust, blood manure, guano, or other artificial fertilizers. 
