202 THE GRASSES OP TENNESSEE. 



RAMIE GRASS, CLOTH PL ANT. -(Baehmeria nivea.) 



Flowers dioecious, or intermixed, clustered in spikes; lough, fibrous 

 bark, the fertile flowers with a tubular or urn-shaped calyx, barely- 

 toothed at the apex, inclosing the ovary, and closely investing the 

 oblong flat akene; leaves ovate, white, downy beneath; three to four 

 feet high. 



This, though called the China cloth plant, really is not a 

 grass or allied to the grasses, but belongs to the Nettle 

 genus and is akin to the Hemp. 



It has been lately introduced and cultivated for its fibre, 

 of which. goods, cloth, and paper are made. 



It has only been known within a few years to possess 

 nutritive qualities, but from the appended letter from Col. 

 Sam'l. D. Morgan, of Nashville, it will be seen it has no 

 mean virtues as a forage plant. The yield per acre is said to 

 be enormous, as much as 1,200 pounds of the dried bark hav- 

 ing been taken from one acre. It has never, to the knowledge 

 of the writer, been raised in Tennessee, nor is it certain 

 that it would grow in this ejimate, it being a native of India, 

 but it can be easily tested, and if its virtues here are equal 

 to the test given by Col. Morgan, it would be a most ex- 

 cellent green soiling crop, and would take a stand by the 

 side of corn fodder or clover. It is not included in the list 

 of Tennessee grasses given- elsewhere. 



Nashville, Nov. 23, 1877. 

 J. B. Killebrew, Commissioner of Agriculture, etc. 



Dbae Sib: — I have a letter from Commissioner W. Q. LeDuc, asking 

 to be informed by me of the result of experiments made in the cultiva- 

 tion of "Ramie, or China grass plant." 



Some ten or more years since I obtained a package of the seed, but 

 haviDg no convenience for growing the plant, I sent them to my son-in- 

 law, Dr. J A. Duncan, of Barnwell Court House, South Carolina, who 

 planted them in his garden, where they grew and flourished vigorously. 

 Some two or three years later his wife prepared a small quantity of the 

 fibre and sent it to me to be exhibited at our State Fair, which I did, 

 and where it was greatly admired for its perfect lustre and exceeding 

 great strength, and though there was no premium for such fibre offered 

 by the society, she was awarded a handsome one for her exhibit. In a 



