376 



Imports into New York — The increase in imports of crude rubber 

 is steadily maintained. The supply from Brazil remained about the 

 same in quantity but that from most other countries showed an in- 

 crease. The imports of gutta "joolatong" {i.e. jelutong) nearly 

 doubled and the value rose trom £93,000 in 1904 to £177,000 in 

 1905 



This jelutong comes now largely from Sumatra, as well as Borneo. 

 M. GUSTAV Fischer of Palembang tells me the Sumatran jelu- 

 tong is preferred by dealers now. He has been tapping trees after 

 the style used in Para-rubber trees and is obtaining improved 

 samples. The tree is abundant in the Peninsula but seems here 

 to be quite neglected. 



H. N. R. 



RAMIE AGAIN. 



Mr. EDWARDS RADCLIFFE is still perseveringly urging the 

 claims of Ramie as a cultivated plant to take the place of cotton, 

 and has circulated a letter offering to place his process of manu- 

 facture at the disposal of any planter, the only condition being that 

 the planter pays him a royalty, or as he expresses it he will help 

 the planter to exploit Ramie on the no cure no pay principle. 

 With this circular he sends samples of very fine Ramie silk, and 

 also an Article from the British Trade Review, illustrated by a 

 picture of its growth in five months, apparently 8 or 9 feet tall. 

 I think this can hardly be reckoned as an average growth of the 

 plant, at least in this part of the world. 



The article is long and naturally gives much that is known to 

 all, but some statements seem rather too sanguine. Thus "Ramie 

 fetches to-day £32 a ton, I have had to pay as much as £40 though 

 I have bought as low as £18." I am informed it can be grown at 

 an average price of £j to £8. I know the Natives in Asiatic coun- 

 tries are satisfied and make a profit on £\o. The best proof of 

 that it is a profitable crop I gather from Chinese sources. 1 am 

 informed it costs about £7 to grow Ramie in Asiatic Countries and 

 the Chinaman sells his crop for £12 or £14. a ton. An eminent 

 authority tells me it can be grown to sell at a profit for £10." That 

 is to say, about $5 a pikul. Now Ramie is far from a cheap plant 

 to grow. It requires a good deal of labour, good soil and heavy 

 manuring, to make it grow at all well. 



It requires a very considerable area to produce a pikul, and five 

 dollars worth of manure, would not go very far towards manuring 

 this. Where is any p >ssible profit to come from in £10 a ton?" 



It was on absurd figures like those given by Mr. RADCLIFFE that 

 the estimates of the profit was based and which probably induced 

 the buyers in the early days of the recent attempts to push Ramie 

 to the front, to offer £12 and £15 a ton. It may be well doubted 

 that Ramie can be produced in any country where labour is not 

 excessively cheap, at much less than £30 per ton. 



