284 



FIBER PLANTS 



FIBER PLANTS 



paid for it in this country are usually a fraction of 

 a cent below those paid for jute. 



The plant grows well on alluvial and sandy loam 

 soils from New Jersey to Kansas and Nebraska, but 

 without mechanical methods for preparing the fiber 

 it could not be cultivated with profit. 



Ramie (Fig. 394). 



Ramie, Bmhmeria nivea, Hook and Am., is a per- 

 ennial-rooted, herbaceous plant belonging to the 

 Urticaeex or Nettle family. The rather slender 

 stalks, bearing heart-shaped leaves green above 

 and white beneath, attain a height of three to 

 eight feet. When the plants are crowded thickly, 



Fig. 394. ttasnie {Boshmeria nivea) , Second crop of the 

 season ready for harvest. 



as they should be for fiber production, they bear no 

 branches. When cut during the growing season, 

 new shoots spring up from the roots, so that two 

 to four crops may be had each season. 



Ramie is native in Asia, and is cultivated com- 

 mercially in China, Formosa, southern Japan and 

 to a less extent in India. It has been widely intro- 

 duced in experimental cultivation in the warmer 

 temperate zones of both hemispheres. The plant 

 may be grown without difficulty, but it has not 

 been demonstrated that the fiber may be produced 

 profitably outside of Asia. 



Ramie requires a fertile soil, not subject to 

 drought, but with good drainage. It grows well on 

 sandy loam or alluvial soils, but can not be grown 

 successfully either on stiff clay or light sandy 

 soils. It requires a warm moist climate during the 

 growing season. 



The plant is propagated by seeds and by root- 

 cuttings, and in India to some extent by cuttings 

 of the stems. Transplanting root-cuttings is the 



surest method, but growing from seeds, if carefully 

 attended to, gives a larger number of plants for 

 the same labor. The seed is very small, like tobacco 

 seed. It is germinated in glass-covered flats in 

 greenhouses, or in warm weather out-of-doors in 

 beds inclosed with boards and muslin or canvas 

 cover which is frequently sprinkled. The seeds are 

 sown on the surface, pressed down, but not covered, 

 and they require a warm moist atmosphere for ger- 

 mination. When about an inch high theseedlings 

 must be gradually accustomed to drier air, to pre- 

 vent damping off. When eight to twelve inches 

 high, and after several days' exposure to outdoor 

 conditions, they may be transplanted to the field. 

 The seedlings are set in rows about twenty-four 

 inches apart, and about ten inches apart in the row. 

 If root-cuttings are used instead of seedlings they 

 may be transplanted directly to the field, in rows 

 the same distance apart. In either case, the space 

 between the rows must be cultivated until the 

 ramie is high enough to shade the ground. 



Seedlings or roots set out in May or early June 

 should yield the first crop of shoots about the last 

 of August. Afterward two to four crops should be 

 produced each season. As the plants grow more 

 thickly after the first crop, there will be fewer 

 branching stalks and an increased yield. On rich 

 soil, the fertility of which is kept up by the appli- 

 cation of barnyard manure, the plants will con- 

 tinue to yield shoots for twenty years or longer. 

 Where the winters are cold enough to freeze the 

 ground to a depth of three inches, or to the tops of 

 the roots, the land should be mulched every fall. 



The shoots are harvested when they begin to 

 produce flowers (Fig. 394). The stalks are cut or 

 broken by hand. In some parts'of China the indi- 

 vidual stalks are cut as they reach maturity, the 

 younger stalks being left to develop and the har- 

 vest being thus practically continuous in the. same 

 field. In some places the plants are allowed to dry 

 and are afterward soaked in water before prepar- 

 ing the fiber, but usually the bark, including the 

 fiber, is peeled off immediately after the stalk is 

 cut. It is then cleaned while still fresh by draw- 

 ing it between a wooden or bone knife and a bam- 

 boo thimble, which removes the outer bark and 

 most of the green coloring matter, after which it 

 is dried. This hand-cleaned but not degummed fiber 

 is known commercially as "ramie ribbons" or 

 " China grass." In China, after more or less manip- 

 ulation to subdivide it, it is spun and woven by 

 hand, being used very extensively for summer 

 clothing. It is exported to Europe where it is 

 degummed, bleached, and combed, making a fine 

 silky filasse for spinning. 



Ramie yields two to four cuttings each year 

 after the first, and at each cutting four to eight 

 tons per acre of green stalks from which the leaves 

 have been stripped. The yield of dry ramie ribbons 

 is about eighty pounds per ton of green stalks. 

 These ribbons are quoted in European markets at 

 four to eight dollars per hundredweight. There is 

 a wide variation in quality, the best coming from 

 Formosa. 



Practically no market for ramie fiber has been 



