1 Ocr., 1898.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 295. 
areas of pineapples are grown solely for the fruit. A trial to increase the 
value of the crop by extracting the fibre might be made. “ Bahemeria nivea 
(the Ramie or Rhea) is indigenous to Scuth Asia, and extends as far east as: 
Japan. It forms the strong and beautiful fibre woven into fabric which is 
inappropriately called Grass Cloth.”— Von Mueller. 
For many years trials with newly invented appliances for separating its 
valuable fibre have been made; but perfection does not seem to have crowned 
the efforts up to the present. The plant does well in North Queensland; but 
it requires rich soil, and would require considerable attention on a eka A 
ton of rhea or ramie branches is said to yield 150 lb. of fibre. There can be 
little doubt that rhea is one of the strongest, if not the strongest, veeetable: 
fibre known. The fabrics made from it wear to an extraordinary extent. It 
is said to be largely mixed with silk. Dr. Royle mentions that it has realised 
at times £120 per ton. The following is extracted from the Produce World 
of 8rd June :— 
“The subjoined trials with respect to ramie may prove useful to such of 
our readers as are interested in making its cultivation commercially successful. 
Tt grows luxuriantly throughout nearly the whole of the tropics, and especially 
within 10 degrees of the equator, where there is a moist climate and very 
little variation in the temperature or in the rainfall throughout the year—the 
Straits Settlements and the surrounding countries, for example. In such a 
climate, the stems can be cut day by day, as they gradually mature, and thus. 
the factory is kept fully employed throughout the year, necessitating only a 
small treating plant. The crop system, hitherto adopted, requires an enormous: 
amount of machinery to deal with—say, the crop of 1,200 acres within a limited 
time—irrespective of the difficulties of getting labour. On an estate of, say, 
1,200 acres, we advocate the laying out of three-acre blocks, two acres of which 
are under cultivation, and the remaining acre devoted to paths. One coolie- 
can attend to each block, as, when once started, he has only to cut a daily 
supply of stems, no cultivation being necessary beyond returning to the land 
the refuse, consisting of the leaves (which are stripped off when the stem is 
cut) and the ashes from the burnt refuse from the decorticators. The 
daily cuttings, assuming a crop of 70 tons of stems per annum per acre, would 
be about 9 ewt. for each 2 acres. Assuming the stems to mature in three 
months, the block would be planted in twelve sections, occupying twelve wecks,. 
and by the time the last section was planted the first should be ready for 
cutting. Each section will require weeding until the stems are about 2 feet 
high, After that no weeding will be necessary, as no weeds can grow in the 
neighbourhood of ramie, after the plant has attained that height. If regularly 
cut, the plants will grow for an indefinite period; but in consequence of the 
spreading of the roots they will require periodical thinning out—removing 
every other one, for instance—care being taken to have other land ready to: 
transplant the roots to, so as to prevent waste. Irrespective of other considera- 
tions, the system of daily cutting is important, inasmuch as only ripe stems are 
eut and a uniform quality of fibre assured, whereas by the crop system ripe, 
overripe, and immature stalks are cut indiscriminately, thus preventing any 
possibility of uniformity in the fibre.” 
The above extract should convince Queenslanders that the cultivation of 
ramie is hardly practicable in North Queensland. The difficulty of labour and 
the unsuitability of the climate would condemn the idea in right-thinking minds.. 
Perhaps the following should be included in this article :—Extract from a letter 
by Mr. Gollan, Superintendent of Government Botanical Gardens, Saharanpore : 
“It is simply folly to think of growing the plant for profit in the compara- 
tively dry districts of Northern India. I believe it could be grown with 
profit in warm, moist districts in Assam, in some parts of Bengal, and in some: 
of the southern and western parts of India; butin Northern India the climate 
is too hot and dry during the hot months and too cold during the caol months 
for the plant to wand freely. Our only crop, which is worthy the name, is the- 
