88 



USEFUL FIBER PLANTS OF THE WORLD. 



Coast. The other Gulf States, doubtless, will prove equally favorable to this culture 

 when more extensive experiments have been undertaken than are now recorded. 

 Regarding the northern limit of commercial culture it is difficiilt to make positive 

 statements. The plant thrives in South Carolina, and it is fair to suppose that two 

 annual crops are possible, though the quality and yield of the fiber can only be 

 ascertained to a certainty by careful tests of the product of both crops. North of 

 this State commercial culture is hardly possible. Intelligently conducted experi- 

 ments in Missouri have demonstrated that but a single crop of fiber, of doubtful 

 value, can be secured in a season in that latitude, while attempted culture in the 

 State of New Jersey, with the aid of a State bounty, resulted in nothing. In China 

 the commercial crop is produced between latitudes which in 

 this country form very nearly the northern and southern 

 boundaries of Louisiana. Fig. 30 is a properly grown stalk 

 of ramie, which matured seed in ten weeks in Louisiana. 

 (See also fig. 32). Fig. 31 is a stalk of ramie, which grew 

 through an entire season on the grounds of the Department 

 of Agriculture in Washington without even blossoming, while 

 the plants branched to such an extent that the stalks were 

 totally ruined for fiber. In no country are the stalks cnt 

 for fiber until mature, for if cut before proper maturity the 

 portion of the stalk which is still growing and green and suc- 

 culent can not produce fiber. These facts disprove, in toto, 

 the idea that ramie can be cultivated for its fiber as a paying 

 industry in any section where straight, properly-matured 

 stalks, free from branches, can not be grown, and produce at 

 least two annual crops. 



In the Gulf States ramie has been grown experimentally in 

 a great variety of soils, from the light sandy uplands to the 

 rich black lauds of the Louisiana bottoms, though light, 

 sandy, alluvial soils have always given the best results. In 

 California deep alluvial, sandy, or loamy lands which, when 

 well prepared, will hold their moisture through the growing 

 season, or that can be irrigated, are most commonly selected. 

 Dr. Hilgard, director of the California Agricultural Experi- 

 ment Station, says only strong soils can be expected to pro- 

 duce in one season one crop of 10 tons of stalks of any kind, 

 and that few can continue to produce such crops for many 

 years without substantial returns to the land, no matter how 

 fertile originally. Among the strongest soils in the State are 

 those containing more or less of ''alkali.' 7 and, as these are 

 mostly valley lands, the question of their adaptation to ramie 

 culture is important. He considers that the plant will stand 

 alkali provided it is not of the black kind, viz, carbonate of 

 soda. 

 In all countries where ramie has been grown commercially 

 or experimentally the necessity for heavily enriching the soil by the application of 

 the farm manures or chemical fertilizers is emphasized, for successful ramie culture 

 is an impossibility on impoverished land. Where it is difficult to obtain sufficient 

 quantities of manure it is recommended to collect and burn all refuse of decortica- 

 tion and return the ashes to the soil. The proportion of mineral constituents found 

 in the fiber which is taken away is very small. The French writers attach great 

 importance to the use of leaves as fertilizing material, and as these amount to almost 

 half of the green weight of the crop, the advantage of such a practice will be readily 

 appreciated. Well-decomposed -table manures and well-ground chemical fertilizers, 

 guano, and oil cake are all used with success upon French ramie plantations. The 

 practice is to spread these upon the land, the rains or irrigation carrying the nutritive 



Fig. 33.— Au improp- 

 erly grown stalk of 

 ramie. 



