Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-02-19


which it will be necessary to bend
the stalk with care toward the earth.
When they are three Or four feet
high, and receive a brownish color
near the root, the time has come to
effect the propagation, which is done
by making, with q thin bladed, sharp
and pointed knife, slight incision
below each bud of the stalk, which
is then TO be laid down horizontally
in a furrow of from three to four
inches in depth, covered over with
earth, taking care not to detach the
stem from the mother root. The
first growth will be irregular and
without uniformity of thickness, but
after the first cutting, this irregular
ity ceases, and the fibre becomes
finer and stronger. The shoots null
tiply rapidly after each cutting, COW
ering the ground and preventing the
invasion of weeds. The ramie which
has been transplanted in the South
for two or three years has, it is
claimed, succeeded wonderfully. Its
culture is less costly and much more
profitable than cotton; it yields
three or four crops year, and each
time three thousand pounds an acre,
worth, as it stands, in its rough
state, f35 sterling per tun of 2,240
pounds. The threads are more |
silky, stronger and longer than cot
ton, producing beautiful stufs,
which, by their bri!liancy, compete
with the silks of Lyons, and is
used with equal success mixed with
cotton or wool.
There is exported an article from
China which is called China grass,
which has some resemblance to the
ramie. But it differs from it mas
much as the latter possesses a very
superior fibre and is of more bril-
liant whiteness. Besides this, the
Chinese grass is sown, is delicate
and is an annual, whilst the ramie is
propagated by means of slips with
great rapidity, is perennial, and af
ter certain time requires little Ia
Dor. The ramie is not injured, like
cotton, by rain, drought or the
worm, and, after reaching maturity,
t can remain in the field with impu
lity until the farmer has time to
gather it, as it is enveloped in a
hick rind which protects it. Spring
md autumn are the best seasons for
carrying on the work Of gathering
he crops, though all seasons are
'qually suitable, provided the ground
s carefully watered. 1t is harvested
when the stalks are six or eight feet
Ugh, care being taken to cut them
little below the ground. The
tripping of the bark is accom-
lished by means of simple and
machine, invented in
ais country. 1t is exported in its
Ough state to Europe, where it is
leached for weaving. The strip
ing or peeling of the stalk takes
'om it half its weight, but the value
f the fibre is thereby increased six
undred fold after the bleaching, c
nd is then worth more than $500 R
er ton. The fragments of the ra- D
lie make an excellent forage for D
attic, or may be used for manure. a
he price of the slips, with roots,
packed for transportation,
twenty-five cents each. II
If all that is claimed for the ra- 4
lie be true, it may yet become one
the most valuable Of Southern
APPLES. In this connection it may
e mentioned that Mr.. Philip POul-
i'm, of Greensboro, Georgia, claims
} have invented an improved ger
liuating and transplanting cup, by d
hich is obviated the great draw +
ack in the cultivation of cotton 9
rising from the frosts which in the a.
pring and fall limit the season of L
rowth, and prevent its arriving at Q
Ill maturity, thereby rendering the n
rop precarious and curtailing pro :.
notion