472 
THE TEOPICAL 
AGRiCULTtJRIST, [Jan. 1 , 1S04; 
THE GROWING OF RAMIE FIBRE. 
The following letter has been addressed to 
several papers : — 
SiK, — I will ask you, Sir, to find me space ia your 
columns to give some information as to the planting 
and growing of the fibre. To see ramie introduced 
into India as an agricultural staple of value is the 
object of my interest in the present movement to 
place ramie products on the markets of the Vi'orld. 
China grass, rhea or ramie has been grown for cen- 
turies in China with success, and has been decorti- 
cated and degummed by simple manual processes, 
and woven by the patient Chinaman into fabrics of 
" vegetable silk," which takes a middle rank be- 
tween real silk and cotton. The ramie plant itself is 
a species of nettle of the order Urticacece and one or 
more of the species of Bcehmeria. The Boshmeria 
Puya, or Pooah plant, which grows wild in the 
north of India, also yields a rhea fibre. The plant 
may be propagated from seeds or slips. If from the 
former, the seeds should be sown in shallow dishes, 
and when about six or eight inches high the young 
shoots should be pricked out into nurseries of pre- 
pared ground. If planted in sufficient space, lateral 
Shoots are given off which, when pegged down, 
take root. The Botanical Gardens of India which 
exist, more or less, to distribute economic plants, 
should be in a position to distribute seeds. Some 
authorities are of ihe opinion that the most success- 
ful method is propagation by root cuttings. 
Next as to the question of soil. There is little 
doubt that different soils would produce different 
types of ramie fibre, but these "experiments have 
yet to be made. What can be proved now from 
experience, gathered in China, tiie West Indies, 
Java and India, is that it is the rich alluvial soils 
which produce the best crops. Briefly good tea- 
fands, good sugar-lands, would also make good 
ramie lands. An abundant rainfall is beneficial to 
the growth of ramie ; it can be grown equally well 
in low-lands and highlands ; but the more slowly 
matured fibre of the cooler districts has qualities 
peculiarly its own. It is, however, by no means 
necessary that ramie should be grown on extensive 
estates and by planters with large capital ; it can 
and ought to be grown also on small patches of 
land by the humble and laborious ryot, he bring- 
ing his ramie crops to the broker, or to the factory 
to sell. This is, however by the way. When the 
young plants are ready to be planted out, they 
should be rooted in the soil sufficiently close 
together to prevent lateral shoots, it being impor- 
tant to obtain long unbroken strands of fibre 
without knots or branches. It is, however, ad- 
visable to cut down the whole of the first crop 
which is short and branched, and to replant the 
cuttings so as to get numerous straight and tall 
stems in their place. The time taken to mature a 
crop would vary with the climatic conditions, but 
in about six to twelve months' time it is generally 
ready to gather, and when once well established, 
from three to five crops a year can easily be ob- 
tained without exhausting the plant. To keep the 
soil clear of weeds is one of the early expenses to be 
incurred ; later when the ground is well covered 
liy the plants, weeding becomes less necessary. 
The soil must, of course, be well manured. 
Kamie is now being grown successfully on the 
West Coast of Africa, in the Argentines, in Java, 
and elsewhere,'and I fail to see why the rich land 
of the Terai, Darjeeling, Nilgiris, etc., and the 
rich and luxuriant soil of Ceylon should not fur- 
nish large and profitable crops of this valuable fibre- 
plant ; and I think that the Government should, 
through the agency of the Botanical Gardens, do 
what is possible to give technical information as 
to the planting and cultivation of the fibre-plant, 
the preparation of the soil, and should provide 
gratis, or at a very low price, the seeds and cuttings 
necessary to encourage the growth of ramiCi 
If these instructions were circulated in leaflets in 
the Vernaculars of different Provinces, much might 
be done to familiarise the minds of the ryots with 
the facts of ramie growing, and a beginning made 
in what I believe would prove an agricultural in- 
dustry of great prospective value to India. In ray 
next letter I propose, with your permission, to 
give some information regarding decorticating and 
degumming the fibre. Baja Vaema, 
3 Northumberland Avenue, London. 
♦- 
PEARL-SHELLS IN THE PHILIPPINES. 
Simultaneously with the information that a new 
pearling ground has been discovered at Chittagong, 
and with the news that a company ia about to be 
formed in Singapore to prospect for pearl shell along 
the shores of the Malay Archipelago, comes the fact 
of the entrance into Manila of a small coasting 
steamer with a cargo of about one ton of shell obtained 
on the South side of the Island of Mindanao at Siasa 
and Paragua, The valuable find is to be reshipped 
in a few days to Messrs W R Grace & Co., of New 
York, the trading allies of the Sulu company. The 
latter is a San Francisco corporation established for 
the purpose of utilising the natural resources of the 
Southern Islands, and the cargo which the steamer 
"Camarines" has just brought up to Manila is a sample 
lot intended to test the market value of the shell. 
At Mindanao the trade is mainly in the hands of 
Chinese vendors, and the demand on the spot being 
somewhat small, a big field is undoubtedly open to the 
Sain company. As is well known, pearl shells are in 
great demand, and are used for a variety of purposes, 
Thousandp in the Bast and Far East wear them on 
their white coats, and many thousands of ladies 
prefer to wear them in the form of brooches, and 
other items of personal adornment. Pearl sheila are 
not common on every strand, but the fisheries of 
Mindanao are exceptionally valuable, and the 
treasure-seekers of the Island must ba congratulated 
on the opening up of a field of enterprise in the 
Philippines which history tells us has lain dormant for 
nearly a century.— (S China M Post. 
FEATHERED STOWAWAYS. 
BIRDS THAT TAKE PASSAGE.'^ ABOARD LINERS. 
[From an article by Mr. F Finn, F Z S in the 
Bombay Gazette, Dec, 8th, we extract the 
following :— ] 
The second stowaway Ihave to record was the last 
I have met and the most remarkable. As the 
P and O steamer " Japan," left Colombo harbour, 
on her homeward voyage last December, a crow 
which perched in the rigging was hungrily 
watching the cook cutting up some meat, was 
carried out to sea, and did not think it worth 
while apparently to make an effort to return. 
He was not a very prosperous-looking crow for 
his face was bare of feathers on one side and 
possibly he thought that a sea voyage might be 
of benefit to his constitution. Be that as it may, 
he stayed on board and was regularly fed at night, 
he roosted aloft in the rigging. This was well 
while the weather was calm, but a day or two 
before we got in to Suez it began to blow very 
hard one nighb and )u the morning the poor crovy 
