53 



Faure Machines are now in practical and successful operation in 

 Bengal, Java, and the United States of America, and the fibre produced 

 by them meets with the entire approval of the spinners, so that the 

 mechanical extraction and preparation of Ramie can now be considered 

 to have passed the experimental stage. 



Large markets for the fibre exist in China, Japan, India, and 

 America ; and on the Continent, where Ramie spinning and weaving 

 is an established and remunerative industry, the demand for the fibre 

 notoriously exceeds the supply. The more important Continental 

 Ramie mills have evinced the greatest interest in, and will eagerly 

 welcome, any possible increase in the regular supply of uniform and 

 fine fibre, as at present they have to a large extent to depend on 

 irregular shipments of native-grown or wild fibre, more or less 

 imperfectly prepared by hand. Given an assured supply of good 

 quality fibre there is justification for the conviction that, within a very 

 short time, the industry in this country also would acquire dimensions 

 proportionate to its merits. 



Extracts from Journals, etc. 



The British Trade Journal of ist March, 1905, quotes as follows from 

 the report of the United States Consul at Plauen (Saxony) : — 



" Ramie. — I desire to draw attention to the growing demand for 

 Ramie in the textile industries of this country. The long, strong, and 

 glossy fibre of this plant serves as an admirable substitute for flax, 

 cotton, or silk, and only its present scarcity and cost prevent a largely 

 increased consumption. If, as was so long and earnestly insisted upon 

 bv the late Professor Waterhouse, our Southern States are specially 

 adapted for the successful cultivation of this plant, it cannot be too 

 strongly urged that experiments in cultivating it be more, widely 

 extended. The raw material will find as ready a market in Europe as 

 would flax fibre." 



The Foreign Office Consular Report No. 3280 (page 53) states: — 



" Inquiries have been made as to the quantities of Rhea, or Ramie, 

 China could be expected to furnish annually. It is stated that, could 

 a minimum of 100 tons per week of floss, or filasse, be guaranteed, 

 there would be an instant conversion or alteration of present machinery 

 to deal with it. Under the present conditions, however, it is difficult 

 to see how even 100 tons per week could be got together, when the 

 quantity exported is so insignificant as not to be deemed worthy of a 

 separate classification in the Customs returns. It has also to be 

 remembered that there is a strong home demand (China) for the fibre, 

 which is woven into the material known as grass-cloth, and that 

 purchasers on behalf of the native looms will inevitably compete. 

 (Shipments of grass-cloth from Kiukiang to other ports in China 

 amounted in value to £53,900 in 1901, £67,740 in 1902, and £98,810 



