449 
Folded ^d. per lb. extra. Terms net cash. 
These are meant for wearing with woollen goods to which they 
impart non shrinking effects. 
Many new patents have been taken out during the last twelve 
months for ramie decorticating machinery, and also for new methods 
of its degumming. The most notable expansion in the trade after 
Germany is in France. In England it has also increased, and has been 
better in Switzerland, where, in 1906, there was comparatively, a quiet 
year in comparison with those preceding it. 
Among other new purposes to which the fibre is being turned may 
be mentioned that of the manufacture of filter cloths, and there is a 
prospect that the waste arising in spinning will be made use of more 
largely by paper manufacturers. When used as a base for this 
purpose many materials, which cannot otherwise be utilised, can be 
employed successfully, and the cost of production is reduced consi- 
derably. 
All classes of paper, from the finest to the commonest qualities, 
can be made economically from ramie waste ; the quality depends large- 
ly on the quantity of the material which is employed in the manufac- 
turing operations. When it is used alone, the quality is of a most ex- 
cellent standard. When mixed witli other materials, it reduces cost 
production, and produces a good article. The adaptability of the fibre 
to take the dye well enables fine tints to be obtained. 
In the United States, the Howard Ramie Fibre Company, which 
put down during the year a plant capable of treating 14 tons of raw 
material weekly, are stated to be making satisfactory progress, and 
overcoming the initial difficulties of their treating and manufacturing 
operations. 
Experiments in the spinning and weaving of the fibre have been 
made in many new districts in England, and on the Continent. 
Straits Times , August 19th 1908- 
Notes on Above. 
The interest in this article lies in the account of the recent 
progress made in Europe in developing the trade and in the tables of 
prices. 
The'account of the Bom Riha is a very old one, and the plant is 
well known, none of the forms of Bahmeria have done as well as a local 
strain, known as the Singapore variety, but the story of B. Nivea and 
the other varieties has often been told in the Bulletin and elsewhere, 
so need not be dilated on. 
The trouble with Ramie is not as people at home seem to suppose 
the preparation of the filasse but the cultivation at a price that will 
pay. 
H. N. Ridley. 
