The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1886-01-21

From the pamphlet issued by Juvenet
d Co, "a St Charles street, New Orleans,
we take the following Treatise on the
Cultivation of Ranie:
Ramie is perennial plant Of the nettle tribe ;
though kindred 10 hemp Il b faf superior 10 val
ne; Il grows like the willow and sends forth nu-
merOus stalks seyerl1 times year, the roots run
deep into the ground and the stalks reach q
height Of from i've to six feet, according 10 coll
and climate; II draws it, nutrition from the air
a. much ~ from the ground. The annual yield
Is from two to thrce crops
CLIMATE AND son.
Ramie prospers in Q temperate climate. and re-
quires light, porous soil, free from swampy sub
soil, which might cause the rotting Of the roots.
NODE or PLANTING.
The ground must be well prepared by plow-
ing and narrowing. The best season for plant
ing is February or March. A little manure
would be good to give the vegetation start.
We do not recommend the long and tedious
method of raising by seed, because it requires
too much time, and the additional work OF
transplanting. Our advice is TO begin the plan
tation with roots The soil being we'll prepared,
the Ramie roots are planted the same as with
potatoes, at a depth of four inches, one foot
apart from each other, In burrows four feet
apart.
NUMBER OF ROOTS PER ACRE.
To obtain full yield, it is necessary 70 start
out with a considerable number OF roots. Planted
as above described, one acre will furnish fifty
burrows Of two hundred feet in length, which.
at the rate of one plant foot, will give 10000
roofs for good planting yield. BY planting In
February or March next, one month after, you
will have two or three stalks per root of about
one or two feet high. The first growth is gen
orally bad, and too woody; it Is proper to cut
with the sickle in April You will then have in
July first crop Of about ten stalks per root and
in October twenty stalks per root. You will
proceed in the same manner the second year,
when, the root being stronger, the first crop will
be ready in June and the second in September.
One hundred stalks will give an average of one
pound of crude bark. The 100000 stalks of
two crops will therefore give 5000 pounds a
year, which, at five cents per pound makes a
gross return of $3.50 per acre.
LABOR AND EXPENSES.
The only comparatively great outlay is in the
roots required for the first planting, but when II
is considered that this outlay has to be made
but once, and that the roots are constantly pro-
cucing new ones for the farther extention OF the
plantation, the cost is in fact small when appor-
toned to each year.
The work of cultivation is cheap. One or
two runs with the cutivator to loosen the
ground, and the plant once started Will rapidly
OutgrOw all weeds, and soon OversnadOW the
ground with a luxuriant foliage.
HARVESTING AND DEcoRTICATING.
The maturity OF Ramie is indicated by a
brownish color at the lower end Of the stalk
The cutting is done by mower. The stalks are
tied up in bundles of two and three hundred,
and carried to the decorIcator, through which
they are passed. This last operation should be
performed while the stalks are fresh as posi-
ble-wi,hin lew days of cutting The capa
city OF our small machine is of one hundred
stalks per minute or sixty pounds per hour, and
six hundred pounds of crude bark per day with
three hands. 1t will take two days and a half
to make the first crop of one acre, as much tor
the second crop, with two days additional for
cutting the stalks and leaves. say $40 crop ex-
penses, adding $25 cost of motive power for the
machine, the annual expenses of maintenance
and blowing, cost of drying and packing the
bark one acre will produce net $85 at any
time, for the Ramie never fails, either from too
much rain or drouth