167 
lapful ” , and that was the cause of his failure. But the author has 
already explained that the Chinaman had no machinery, nor any- 
thing that could be called a process, while there was as far as any- 
one can see as much of a market for him as for the Chinaman, so 
that this explanation is no more satisfactory than the previous one. 
The question of where the Ramie can be grown is next discussed, 
and a few (very few) of the countries where it has been successfully 
grown are mentioned. “In the Straits Settlements, the comment 
was made that there seemed little chance of establishing its cultiva- 
tion unless the Government first showed that the experiment was 
likely to succeed by cultivating a patch of an acre or thereabout 1 ’. 
(The author docs not seem to be aware of how much has been done 
in experimental cultivation in the Straits Settlements, or indeed 
elsewhere,) “ It is stated to be indigenous to Singapore ” (which it 
certainly is not) etc. 
After giving the outturns from various experimental patches and 
showing the discrepancies in them and the causes of them, he says 
that speaking generally the yield of clean strips (ribbons) would 
approximate j ton per acre, at all events if care is taken and the 
plant properly cultivated over half a ton should easily be obtained 
in the course of a year. 
“But one thing is clear (he says) it the fibrous strips can be pro- 
duced by the cultivator at £20 a ton without loss he will not have 
any difficulty in earning a dividend on his outlay but not through 
sales at public auction for once again stress has to be laid upon the 
fact that the crops will be machine not hand produced and will 
resemble nothing in the market. The planter's production will in 
fact at all events until the commercial use of ramie fabrics has be- 
come more general be unsaleable except to the owner of the pro- 
cess by which the strips will be degum med and who will alone be 
in a position to spin or dispose of the filasse. So here we have a 
planter producing a substance which we will assume it would pay 
him to grow but with a one man market. The conclusion is obvious 
the cultivator and the manufacturer must for all practical purposes 
be one, — the agreement being that what one produces the other will 
take 
The characteristics of the fibre and its various uses are discussed, 
and in conclusion the author suggests that the time has come for 
further action on the part of the Government of India. Germany he 
says in her African Colonies, Belgium in the Congo and Holland in 
Java are fostering the cultivation of the plant and the production of 
a raw material which will * * * contain a fibre which manufacturers 
are prepared to buy,’’ England and her Colonies lag behind. His 
suggestion is that the Government should guarantee to the manu- 
facturer^ (1) interest on the capital spent in the erection of a plant 
capable of treating a certain amount of fibre a year, (2) to give the 
goods ol the manufacturer the preference if he can produce a thread 
yarn or other material compared with other samples used by them, 
mid manufactured Irom other than Indian products, and (3) to guar- 
antee interest on the manufacturer’s present products, if he will 
