The Meridional. (Abbeville, La.) 1856-1906, 1885-10-10

ieSoutly dppSdfeo III tnc NcW Or-
LEAFS City Item, furnished that paper
BY An Old Planter" The ramie
plant is we'll known in China and
France, and for many years has been
talked Of 10 this State. A company
has been formed in New York for
the purpose of encouraging its cult
vation, aud purchasing the machine
ry for decorticating the plant. Mr..
John W. Anderson, who is president
of the company, visited France for
that purpose, and in mentioning its
qualities, says it is perfect in all re-
spects, being the only known ma
chinery for combing, bleaching,
carding and spinning the ramie. The
patent is secured for the United
States, Mexico and Central America.
One machine for decorticating can
decorticate from three to FIVE tons
per day. After enumeratiug the
various efforts and modes used to
decorticate the plant. or otherwise
Gt it for tie manufacture Of textiles,
the writer has this to say regarding
its planting and production
The company is now importing
ramie roots at $l2 per thousand,
and for the present sending them
on orders at the same price to all
parts of the South. 1t is we'll to
say, right here, that roots are pre-
ferable for planting to seeds to SOW.
Five thousand roots will plant one
acre; from this acre, after the fret
season, roots will be obtained suffi-
cient to plant out fifteen acres, and
so on increasing its own production.
louisiana lands will yield three
crops a year; each crop will give
ten tons of ramie stalk to the acre.
From the thirty tons OF stalk. say
800 4 pounds Weight. eight per cent:
to the International Fibre Company,
New York. They will guarantee a
return Of from ten to fifteen cents
DER pound. When the ramie is
bleached and carded it is worth from
forty to City cents; and foreign mar
+kets are now prepared to take a
million of tons at these prices II.
then, our planters would turn their
attention to the growth Of this plant,
soon our steamboats, would come
into New Orleans via the Mississippi
river heavily freighted with bales Of
this easily cultivated product.
Overfiows do not hurt ramIe; II
has no enemies in worm or caterpil'
lar, nor is it affected by early frost
It is twenty times more valuable
and Eve times easier to cultivate
than cotton. It is Eve times as vsl
liable as rice, aud far easier to cult
yate. 1t is three times as valuable
az Sugar and Eve times as easier Il
handle, and without those uncertain
ties that ever overcloud the suga
: and cotton crops. 1t must not h'
. forgotten shat the ramie, once plant
ed, continually yields crop after crop
and wear after year. without replan'
ing. 1t yields additional roots, 81
that without further outlay you ca
, increase vour acreage. The rami
defes the interference Of the coco
grass.
t The product of $50 acres Of rami
s sbould be at least 1900 tons OF stall
= or fifteen millions of pounds. yiele
ing one million two hundred thos
> sand poands Of fibre, and at the 10,
? price Of eight cents per pound woul
= give a return for the crop sold her
+ on the market of fully $96, 900
from which deduct the cost OF labo
, saw ten or fifteen per cent, VI
y leave so large return THAI ou
d need not hesitate to plant ramI
= II must be remembered that unllk
cane and cotton. there is no need
replanting after the 6rst seaso
b hence The cost OF labor is trtfln'
. and. also, must not be forgotte
, those besetting uncertainties th'
4 threaten the producer OF rice, cal
. and cotton. The lucrativeness
I ramie cultivation is more than su'
o. Gent to induce its being made
le staple product throughout the sont
Ie ern country, Louisiana in particuIa
r. because the plant grows more luz
g riantly there than elsewhere.
N The importance Of the deveic
O. ment OF the advantages OF ran
as planting is obvious, and yet at Il
d time can not be computed; TOR
/ ;l,,+I~ -iU hcrnmr an Addition