CIRCULAR 5 8 5, U. S. DEPARTMENT OE AGRICULTURE 



ADAPTATION 



Ramie lias been called a semitropical plant. Although it has been 

 grown experimentally in the Tropics, its greatest commercial devel- 

 opment has been in the semitropical regions. It has been reported 

 that it grows better where the winters are cool enough to induce a 

 resting period. However, severe freezing and repeated freezing and 

 thawing are likely to kill the roots, especially if the frost reaches 

 several inches in the ground. Plants seem to stand the winters at 

 Washington. D. C. with some mulching, but mulching on a field scale 

 might be expensive. Recent experiments in Italy have indicated 

 that a Japanese variety of ramie shows surprising resistance to cold. 



Figuee 1. — An experimental planting of ramie being harvested by hand-cutting 

 at one of the State agricultural experiment stations. 



This may account in part for reports that ramie is grown in nearly 

 every province of China to some extent, indicating there must be 

 strains that are resistant to the cold conditions of northern China. 

 However, there are no records to show that the plant will grow under 

 cold conditions as well as it does in the so-called semitropics. 



Regions where frost will not reach the roots and those having an 

 annual well-distributed rainfall of at least -40 inches are the only 

 ones recommended for this crop by some writers. 



In the United States repeated experiments have indicated that the 

 Southern States having high rainfalls are adapted for growing 

 ramie. Although an abundance of moisture is necessary for heavy 

 yields of ramie, moisture at harvesttime may cause a problem. 

 Ramie produces a leafy top with a high moisture content, and it 



