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The Malayan Ramie Company. 



A company for the cultivation and preparation of Ramie has been 

 formed in London under the title given above, and among the directors 

 we see the names of Sir William Hood Treacher and Mr. William 

 Meikle, both well-known names in the Malay Peninsula. The 

 manager is Mr. E. F. Pumpin who has long made a study of the Ramie 

 plant and visited the East in 1900, examining the conditions of growth 

 and cultivation of the plant. He visited Indo-China and the Malay 

 Peninsula, spending some time at the Botanic Gardens in Singapore. 

 The Company proposes to start their plantations in Sarawak. The 

 share capital is £25,000, divided into 25,000 shares of £1 each. With 

 the prospectus is issued a memorandum on the cultivation and treat- 

 ment of Ramie, which we give below. One would be glad to see this 

 valuable fibre under good and successful cultivation and wish the 

 undertaking every success. 



The Malayan Ramie Company, Limited. 



Memorandum referred to in the accompanying Prospectus. 

 22nd November, 1907. 



Notes on Ramie and its Cultivation and Treatment. 



Ramie is the name now generally used for the fibre obtained from 

 certain species of Urticacce (Nettle), indigenous to some tropical 

 countries. China-grass, nettle-flax, and rhea are other names for the 

 same fibre. 



The nettle plant, the cane of which yields this fibre, is cultivated 

 principally in the East, and there only successfully within certain 

 well-defined geographical limits. 



Although the plant appears to grow on any kind of soil in the 

 tropics where the rainfall is sufficient, it does not grow so vigorously 

 and successfully on stiff, clayey, nor on dry, stony lands, nor on soils 

 standing poor in lime and potash, nor on lands which are periodically 

 flooded. It requires a well-drained, rich, alluvial soil, and the ideal 

 climatic conditions for its growth, both in respect of quantity and 

 quality, are a relatively constant warm temperature, not fluctuating 

 greatly, combined with that humid atmosphere which results from an 

 abundant rainfall well distributed throughout the year. The Malay 

 Peninsula, Borneo, and the Philippines are specially suitable in this 

 respect. It requires also a regular planting and a careful and 

 systematic cultivation, without which it will never be a paying crop. 



It has been conclusively proved that Ramie, when properly 

 cultivated under favourable conditions of climate and soil, will yield 

 five or six crops annually of the best sort of stems for industrial 



