62 



The Ramie Machine Trials at New Orleans in September, 1892, were 

 held under the auspices of the Office of Fibre Investigations of the 

 United States Department of Agriculture, but the results were not satis- 

 factory. 



During the last few months His Excellency the Governor has been in 

 communication with Mr. W. J. Hollier, who has obtained the sole rights 

 for the West Indies of working the Ramie Machine invented by Samuel 

 Benjamin Allison. A public meeting was convened in Kingston for 

 28th February, by the Jamaica Institute, at the request of the Governor, 

 to hear Mr. Hollier's statements. At this meeting a Committee was 

 formed to go more into details than was possible at a large public gather- 

 ing. Their report was presented and adopted at a subsequent public 

 meeting on 16th March, and is as follows : — 



Report of the Jamaica Committee. 



The Committee appointed by His Excellency the Governor has gone 

 very fully into the question of ramie cultivation in Jamaica, with special 

 reference to the Allison Machine, of which Mr. Hollier holds the patent 

 rights for the West Indies. 



It has thought it best for the purposes of investigation to divide the 

 subject into three parts — (i.) the cultivation of ramie; (ii.) the treatment 

 of its fibre ; (iii.) its commercial value. 



All the information obtainable tends to prove that not only will ramie 

 grow freely in a great part of Jamaica, but that it is a plant, which is 

 well suited for cultivation by planters and small settlers alike, especially 

 by the latter, as it requires but little original outlay, yields a quick re- 

 turn and the only process which has to be carried out on the spot, 

 retting, is very simple. With good soil and moderate rainfall, or irri- 

 gation, ramie will in Jamaica produce four or five cuttings a year. 



It is a plant that, if grown thickly, needs little or no weeding ; and if 

 the waste liquid from the retting process and the leaves are returned to 

 the ground, but little manuring will be necessary on fairly good land. 

 Hitherto the only obstacle in the way of its successful cultivation on a 

 commercial basis, has been the lack of a machine able to treat its fibre 

 expeditiously. 



Alow estimate gives 20,000 lbs. of green stalks with leaves, or 5,000 

 of dried retted stalks as the yield per acre. The minimum product from 

 the dry retted stalks is 15 per cent., or 750 lbs. of raw, merchantable 

 fibre.* . 



Taking 5,000 lbs. of dried retted stalkst as the yield per acre at each 

 cutting, one acre of ramie would, with but slight expenditure for labour, 

 realize about £4 per cutting; assuming that the cultivator gets but 

 2-5ths of a cent per lb. for these retted stalks. 



Taking 7 cents per lb. as the market price in America of the decorti- 

 cated ribbon— deducting one cent per lb. for the royalty of the inventor 

 of the machine, and one cent per lb. for various expenses of carriage, 

 commission, &c. — any company which prepared the fibre would net 5 

 cents per lb. for its decorticated ribbon. It would presumably not offer 



* Assuming it to be 800 lbs, per acre it is then 4 per cent, of the green plants. 



f The following are tho various stages in the manufacture of the ramie 1. 

 Green stalk. 2. Retted stalks. '6. Decorticated ribbon. 4. Degummed fibre. 

 &. Bleached fibre. 6. Corded fibre. 



