Oct. 1, 1903.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
2.3? 
dependa on deliverin!? to tlie mannfacturers the 
article most snitable for their machinery. 
The treatment when in a dry HtaA.'- necessitates 
foil grown stems, which in temperate zones will 
only permit of two crops per annum ; while, on 
the contrary, when treated in a green state the 
stems need not be so fully developed, and several 
crops can be obtained. 
Treatment in the dry ilate. — It is difficult to ezplain 
why BO much attention has been paid to this mode 
of treatment. No earlier records give any indication 
of it ; in fact the people of A^ia, notably the 
Chinese, who for many centuries faave u?ed the 
nettle fibres, have never prepared them in a dry state 
like flax and hemp are treated, on the contrary, they 
decorticate them absolutely green, and remove the 
bark while the stems are growing. It would be a 
false economical basis for one to compare ramie with 
flax and hemp believing that the unique advantage 
of the dry treatment consists in the ability to store, 
it in stacks or ^heds, un'il -n opportune time for 
decorticating. The grower might then perform this 
work in the winter time when other labour is slack. 
In France, and even in those parts of Europe 
most favoured by the climate, it would be &lmoat 
impossible to dry the stems in the open air. More- 
over, as regards France, the growing of ramie does 
not seem to have given very satisfactory results, even 
in the colonies the moisture of the air is too great 
to enable ua to obtain, by open-air drying, stems 
sufficiently dry to suit the decorticating machines 
at present in use. In India and China where the 
growth of the ramie is very abundant, and labour very 
cheap, it is impossible to get the stems, even com- 
paratively, dry in the open air. and any attempt at 
storace will lead to fermentation, and consequently 
the fibre will be spoiled. 
The dry stem is also hygrometrical, and rapidly 
absorbs the moisture in the air, as has been proved 
by erperiments with stove-dried plants. 
Insufficiently dried stems cannot be decorticated 
sfttiafactorily, as the beaters and scrapers of the 
machines acting upon a soft spongy matter, weaken 
and soil the fibres, without fully removing the woody 
part, or even the cuticle. When exposed to the air 
this later becomes of a brownish colour, hard and 
homy, resisting all efforts to remove it by machinery. 
The strips thus obtained can only be cleaned a-nd 
deprived of cuticle and gum by means of chemical 
baths, which often have to be so strong that they 
damage the quality and strength of the fibre. 
Tne machines for dry work require to be fed 
with weil-grown stems of fairly uniform diameter, in 
order to produce good strips. 
If the stems are cut before maturity they often 
become flat and out of shape in drying, and the 
machine does not act uniformly on all the surfaces 
but leaves a good deal of woody substance in the 
strips. With well-grown and perfectly dried stems, 
certain m' chines do good work in removing the 
bark and woody part, but the strips retain the 
cuticle, which is very difficult to get rid of by the 
chemical baths used for the purpose at present. 
All these objections apply when the stems are passed 
through the machines as a first operation after being 
dried but we bear of a new method of first sub- 
mitting thorn to chemical action, and then decorti- 
cating. 
So far the decorticating has been found very 
difficult, particularly in tropical humid climates, 
where the -crops are very hesivy. 
It often involves manipulations very costly to the 
cultivator, and is sometimes impossible if he has to 
cut the crop and spread it over large areas to dry. 
Some authorities contend that drying in stoves 
is the only effectual mode of getting rid of the 
moisture, but that is impracticable, and would greatly 
increase expenses. 
Triatment in the Green State. — It is very easy to 
decorticate the ramie stems in a green state, and the 
Asiatics use only this method in treating their 
fibre nettles. Immediately after the stem h cut 
there is no difficulty in removing the barkand 7/oo''y 
part, on account of their rnoir-jt statf^, without m?iny 
fibres adhering to them. The Chinese, in fact, 
often decorticate the plant while growing. Many 
decorticating machines have failed to ^ive satisfactory 
results because they have been fed with only com- 
paratively green sterns, which have already lost a 
good deal of their vegetable moisture. This leads to 
a question important for both cultivators and manu- 
facturers. At what 3ta!:;e of its growth oisht the 
r-j.mie to be cut, or in other words, what i-i meant 
by green stems ? Recent experiments demonstrate 
that the best time is just after the sterna have 
reached their full height, when still herbaceous, 
soft, and succulent, and when the bark has formed, 
but not become brown. At this period, before the 
appearance of the eyes at the axils of the leaves, the 
primary useful fibres are already formed, and have 
sufficient strength ; but afterwards only layers of 
useless fibre are produced It is therefore clearly a 
mistake to let the bark thicken, hardening the epi- 
dermis and increasing the woody part. In time the 
fibres lose their flneress, flexibility, and whiteness, 
in short their most valuable qualities, and become 
more and more surrouaded by the hardened cuticle 
and gum, two substances which are very diffiault 
to get rid of when ancient. 
To minimise the formation of these deleterious 
substances the plauts should be pretty close-set and 
well watered, to induce a rapid lengthening of the 
stems. In a thick plantation, there are very few 
leaves at ths b=tse of the stem, the ramifications are 
not developed, and the atmospheric influences act less 
directly on the cuticle, which consequently remains 
softer and thinner. 
In warm and temperate climates, with good irri- 
gation, as many as five successive full grown crops 
have been obtained per annum and in tropical 
climates, with regular and abundant rains still more. 
The use and value of green ramie stems depends 
entirely on their treatment, and if by certain ins- 
truments or ma.chines, the bark , woody matter, and 
cuticle can be removed without damaging the fibre, 
and the liquid gum pressed out, strips of fibre will 
be obtained divided in rumeroua filaments, and free 
from a great portion of the useless elements. Cire 
must be taken, however, that the beating and 
scraping be not too violent or the fibre will be injured. 
In order to prevent the hardening of the remaining 
gummy matter, some authorities recommend that the 
strips should be placed in a chemical bath, imme- 
diately after being taken from the machines. Other 
authorities w.uld sotk the geeen stems first, or subject 
them to the action of a certain gas, then dry and 
s'ork them mechanically. Thii preliminary treat, 
ment by liquids or gas would change the gummy 
matter to a powder, and when the stems were 
afterwards well dried, decortication would be easy 
by means of beaters or stripping machinery. 
These operations itfer to the green stems, which 
do not require to reach maturity in order to provide 
good fibre, and taking everything into consideration, 
are much easier to treat than fhe dried ones. The 
fibres are of a superior quality, and one may 
cut four times the number of crops — which point is 
of vast economical importance in warm climates 
where the stems reach a height of about 5 feet in 
thirty-five to forty days, wken well watered by 
regular rain, or irrigated. 
THE WEIGHT AND VALUE OF THE CROPS. 
The results of the crops vary according to the 
locality, the number of cuttings per annum, the 
system of treatment, and the skill of the labourers, 
which makes it impossible to fix a general standard 
revenue per acre. In t king the gross weight of 
the yield per acre of yreen ordri ;d stems, we only 
obtain a very approximate estimate of the initial 
value of the crop, as the quantity of useftil fibre is 
not in proportion. The weight of the green stems 
