May 2, 1904.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTUKIST. 
763 
of work, liis family reduced, seeks work, com- 
plains—when lie gets it— it is bOon linished, 
becaij,-e of 'them there Americans and Swedes 
sending sashes, frames, and joinery, even coffins, 
ready-made. He is only required to fix. Well, 
why do you admit them : you have your remedy, 
tax them. Oh '.—I dare say he says— and put up 
the price of bread, so he actually wants ihe em- 
ployment, but would let the foreigner confiscate 
wages he could earn to keep bread cheap which 
he cannot buy, A mason tells me tombstones 
even are imported with no distinctive mark as to 
the place of production or origin. I believe 
the present cotton famine is the outcome of our 
folly and I hope it will stir us up. Why are we 
English so backward ? If we are to compete with 
go a-head nations, we must not let " I dare not " 
wait upon " I would." We cling to old methods 
till others step in before and then at the last 
moment for self-preservation we adopt examples 
others set us. We should take the initiative, if 
we are to progress as of old. It is high time we 
seiiously investigated the possibilities of placing 
Ramie on a sound basis, and relegate cotton 
gambling to a nightmare of the past. We should 
depend on no foreign country for our requirements. 
Everything can be produced by our numerous 
Colonies. Buckle to, John Bull, and make ours a 
grand self-contained Empire. — Yours faithfully, 
D. EDWARDS KADCLYFFE. 
A PLANTER ON RAMIE FIBRE. 
Sumatra, Ned. Indies, March 22. 
Dear Sir, — I have pleasure in sending you the 
following notes on ramie fibre as you are interested 
in the treatment of this textile, and of which 
1 have practical experience. It is well-known 
that the excellent qualities of this fibre are 
the best security in its interests ; and in epite 
of disadvantages and considerable financial 
sacrifices on the part of planters and the 
dark consequences which the victims have had 
to fdce this textile cannot be dropped. Today, 
however, we have no universal treatment for 
the plant and fibre, and it is still a matter 
of difficulty to say which variety of ramie 
is the best fox permanent cultivation in dif- 
ferent countries and which the best method of 
treatment and preparation. These questions 
of general utility can only be practically classified 
and solved by a commission of botanists, planters 
and spinners, &c, 
A good lime ago I told you that spinners in 
England, after certain unfortunate experiences, 
refused to touch ramie any more, and that in 
other countries there were only a few spinners 
who were properly working with Ramie. Today 
these circumstances have changed for the better ; 
we have nsw a number of ramie spinners with 
many thousands of spindles in Europe and in the 
United States ; and there are several planters 
earning their living by goinginforramie cultivation. 
It is, certainly, a fact that Ramie fibre is 
beginning slowly but surely to leat out a ()ath 
for itself through all the difficulties in its way. 
Where formerly the question of machinery was 
the difficulty, now the difficulty is more on the 
side of the cultivation. The question now is 
to grow and produce a more or less prepared 
ramie fibre as cheaply as hemp can be produced. 
The modern state of the textile industry and 
technics is far enough advanced, so that the main 
question is really only to get big quantities of 
ramie properly prepared. The future of ramie 
lies entirely in the hands of the planters. 
The main points in the preparation of the fibre 
which the planter must obseive are: — 
(1.) The delignation, or thfe removal of the 
pith from the stem so that the fibres, which are 
glued on the epidermis by vegetable gum, remain. 
For this preparation no machine is necessary. 
The stem has to be cut by a knife and split as 
the lower end into two or more ribands, to 
that the bark can easily be drawn off and the 
pith falls to the ground. Then this bark must 
be very carefully dried, pressed and baled. 
The colour of this dry produce is brown on 
the outside and greenish on the inside. This 
stuff is known as " Ribbons," and is mostly 
produced in India. It finds buyers in the 
United Kingdom, France and recently also 
in Holland, The prices paid are according 
to the quality and length of the fibre and the 
state of drying, and may vary between. £8 and 
£15 per tone. if. Europe. 
(2) The decortication or the removal of the 
pith and the bark so that only the fibre remains 
with the vegetable gum. This work can be done 
by hand or by machine. P^or bringing the produce 
into this form decorticating machines have been 
wanted for many years, and some very good inven- 
tions, mechanical and chemical, have been made. 
The produce is also the same foim in which it is 
made in China by hand and known under the 
name of "Chinagrass". The colour of the stuff 
thus prepared is straw yellow to light brown. 
This produce always commands a market in 
F'rance, Germany and England. The price is 
about £25 to £3.5 a ton c.i. f. Europe 
(3) The decortication and degumming or 
the removal of the pith, the bark and the vegeta- 
ble gum ; for this preparation machines with 
steam-power are necessary. Ihe produce is a 
more or less pure fibre in a white or greyish 
colour and, properly dried and packed, finds 
the readiest sale, as every small spinner 
can immediately make use of this stuff. The 
former difficulty, whereby the strength of the fibre 
was weakened by the chemical process of degum- 
ming, is now overcome, since a couple of years. The 
price for this produce is, at minimum, £50 a ton 
c. i. f. Europe. 
The further states of treatment are bleaching, 
combing, spinning, dyeing, &c, treatments which 
are completed out of the planter's sphere. 
If a planter is willing to start with ramie he 
will do well, after being certain that he can grow 
a good permanent crop of ramie, to " cut his coat 
according to his cloth" ; and in the beginning, pro- 
duce and sell ribbons prepared by hand. As ramie 
wants at least as much experience as any other 
crop, he has at the beginning enough to do, and 
after a relatively short period he will find his own 
way through the various makes of machines and 
preparations offered ; and also he may be nearly 
certain that his buyer in Europe will give him 
assistance and advice as to how to go farther. I 
think that if a planter has a good sort of ramie 
he Avill easily find a buyer for " ribbons," and 
if this work does not leave enough profit, pro- 
vided the cultivation answers well, the planter 
runs no risks if he then proceeds to go a step 
further and makes " Chinagrass " or later, 
degummed fibre. The chances for the planter of 
making money out of ramiejdo not lie only in a 
decorticating machine, but in a great measure 
in a permanent good cultivation with the efifeetive 
