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enquiry. Inadequate preliminary investigation has been the cause 
of failure of various experimental efforts in the past and these have 
resulted in widespread scepticism as to possibility of profitable 
cultivation. The planter should master the facts as to the climatic 
conditions and soil best suited to ramie-growing, and as to.the best 
methods of cultivation, given in the Agricultural Ledger , No. 15 
by Sir GEORGE WATT. He should make sure, by sending home 
samples, that the fibre he can produce is of the right class ; and in 
preparing the raw material for export to the mills he must be 
abreast of the times. 
Many planters are fully aware of the needs of careful study and 
well thought-out methods on the lines indicated, but they are doubt- 
ful of the capacity of the market to take large additional supplies 
of the fibre. ‘ The sceptic should visit the Romford factory where 
he would see the beginnings of a great industry, steadily feeling 
its way to the expansion that lies before it. In any case rapid 
advance in the first instance would have been impossible owing to 
the uncertainly of supply of raw material and the great fluctuations 
in price consequent on manufacturers being mainly dependent upon 
the Chinese grower. Last year the price of the fibre was about 
£24 per ton ; this year, owing to drought and the increasing de- 
mand in Europe ,£40 per ton has been paid. In some respects this 
dependence upon a country so politically unstable as China, whose 
cultivators and dealers are not the most trustworthy of men, has 
not been disadvantageous, for it has deterred the Syndicate from 
experimenting on a large scale. While output lias been restricted 
for want of raw material, the concern has felt its way, and, under 
the skilled advice of a most capable and experienced manager, a 
cool-headed Yorkshire man, it has now arrived at a stage where 
the expansion all along kept in view can safely be undertaken. Its 
manufactures have gained a footing in the English markets from 
which wealthy spinning combinations have tried in vain to dislodge 
them. This attempt has been especially pronounced in respect to 
the large trade in boot thread that has been built up by the Syndi- 
„ cate. A well-known combine tried the cutting game until it was 
selling below cost but the Ramie Company was able to go one 
better right through without loss. For it is to be remembered that, 
although the supply of raw material is so scant and fluctuating that 
prices are comparatively high, ramie threads are not only much 
stronger than linen, but can also be produced much more cheaply 
even on the present comparatively limited scale of manufacture. 
When larger quantities of the fibre are available and the outturn is 
correspondingly increased the ratio of the cost of production will be 
lessened. The boot and saddlery thread were, in the first instance, 
only introduced into the London market, but a demand is now 
growing up in Leicestershire and Northamptonshire, the centres of 
the boot trade, and there can be no doubt' that the combination of 
strength and cheapness will ensure the growth ar.d stability of this 
trade against the competition of the most powerful combines manu- 
facturing linen thread. 
