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of ramie even now, find a ready sale at from £80 to £100 per ton, a 

 price which, with the present prices of rough China grass, might make 

 it remunerative to convert its whole quantity into combing waste, if 

 so be that this could be practically carried out. Under such conditions, 

 it is a striking acknowledgment of its value that it should ever have 

 been considered as having any chance at all, and have come so near to 

 actual success as it has done. 



In considering what range of prices would be sufficient to secure a 

 large demand for this material in the present state of the market, 

 several circumstances must be taken into account. 



It is important to bear in mind that, like all other fibres, ramie ex- 

 hibits remarkable differences of quality. In China, where alone it is 

 used for any fine purposes, a difference is even remarked between the 

 various layers of fibre on the same stem, the outside layer close to the 

 bark being stronger and rougher, whilst the inner layer is glossier and 

 finer, and more suitable for high-class fabrics. It is also highly pro- 

 bable that, as in flax, the fibre at the base of the stem is rougher than 

 at the top. Well-marked differences arise from the season of cultiva- 

 tion and the time of cutting. The first crop of the plant is usually 

 shorter and more woody and branched, and yields inferior fibre to the 

 second or third crop, which, in turn, appear to differ from each other. 

 It seems also certain that, like jute, the early-cut stems yield a finer 

 fibre, but in proportionably small quantities, whilst in the perfectly 

 ripe stems the fibre increases in weight and strength, but diminishes 

 in fineness and lustre. If the ramie stems be worked up in their fresh 

 state, and if the time of cutting should have extended over four or 

 six weeks, this in itself would be sufficient to produce fibre of different 

 qualities, even from the same plantation. 



A difference in the soil or mode of cultivation is as sure to produce 

 remarkable differences in the qualities of the fibre as it does in the case 

 of flax or jute. In the ramie stems obtained from France, there was a 

 proportion of strong branched knotty sticks, more than half an inch in 

 diameter at the bottom, whilst there was also a considerable proportion 

 of thin shoots, hardly a quarter of an inch thick, and straight and 

 smooth, although as high as the former, and containing a much finer 

 fibre. The difference arose obviously frcm the former growing as 

 central stems with a number of lateral branches, while the latter grew 

 as parallel shoots thrown out from the same root — a difference which 

 the mode of planting and cultivation would produce. 



On the part of several correspondents who have long given their 

 attention to this fibre, it has been suggested that, for very fine purposes, 

 this plant should not be grown to a greater height than three or four 

 feet, the superior value of the fibre compensating for the diminished 

 out-turn per acre, although even the out-turn might be increased or at 

 least remain unchanged, if the smaller height to which the plant is 

 grown should allow of planting it closer together, or of obtaining more 

 crops per annum than when the plant is grown to its usual height of 

 six or eight feet. The fibre from the smaller stems is likely not only 

 to be finer, but it is also likely to suffer less loss in combing. Although 

 the bark peeled off the six to seven foot stems may be of the same 

 length as the stems, yet the fibres do not run the whole length. At 

 each joint a certain proportion of the fibres stops, so that along with 



