54 
in 1903.) Another competitor would be Japan; Ramie is there woven 
into a kind of cloth and made into kimonos for summer wear, for which 
its coolness and smoothness admirably adapt it.” 
H.M. Consul at Kiukiang (China) in his Report for 1906, states 
that the exports of hemp from that port during the year amounted to 
149,868 cwts. (£253,396), as compared with 135,279 cwts. (£192,974) 
during the preceding year. Most of this is what is known as “ ch’uma,” 
or Ramie fibre. The export is increasing every year, the Japanese 
especially taking advantage of the opportunity offered for obtaining a 
useful product at a low price. 
Professor Alfred F. Barker, Professor of Textile Industries at the 
Bradford Textile College, in his letter appearing in the Textile 
Mercury of 3rd February, 1906, says: — 
“We have found no difficulties of any moment in weaving Ramie, 
although such are popularly supposed to exist. Of course on a tappet 
loom this very inelastic material hangs very loosely during the change 
of shed, but as Ramie is very strong the half or quarter of the warp 
upon which the strain is placed seems quite equal to the call made 
upon it.” 
The Textile Recorder , July, 1907 : — 
“ Ramie Spinning on the Continent.” . . . « Very marked 
improvement is stated to exist in the latest decorticator placed on the 
market by Mr. Faure, of Limoges, France, whose machine for this 
purpose is, up to the present, the most successful yet developed. It is 
reported to work cheaper, and show a much larger yield of cleaned 
fibre per day than its predecessors, the inventor having studied the 
decortication of Ramie for many years, and constructed several 
machines for doing this work, and the product is equal in all respects 
to hand-cleaned China grass.” 
VULCANISATION TESTS WITH PLANTATION 
RUBBERS. 
By Clayton Beadle, F.R.Met.Soc., F.C.S., and Henry 
P. Stevens, M.A., Ph.D., F.C.S. of Clayton Beadle and 
Stevens, 15 Boro’, London, S.E. 
When a raw material which for many years has formed the staple 
of a large industry is by force of circumstances produced in new 
districts and by new methods, the manufacturer naturally asks himself 
whether his new sources of supply are suitable to his methods of 
manufacture. He may, of course, have no difficulty in determining 
