The Indianapolis journal., 1890-06-01

A Plant That May Prove Rival to King
Cotton in the South.

n flont In8t May RrOyc q RIVAL 10 ming
Cotton in the South.
lorna Doone," in Louisville Courier-Journal.
The fiber industry is each year attracting
more and more attention from agricultural
societies. In this day and age of progress
the main idea of the majority of mankind
seems TO be to discover new felds for
labor aud investment. Only few years
said to consist of Yankees and sweet po-
.at0es." and that not 10 per cent. of the
land was available for agriculture. To-day
the public mind has been forced to aban-
don these ideas. and the question now
arises, is there any vegetation Florida will
not producer Fiber plants are indigenous
to Florida conditions. and during the last
year agricultural departments all over the
United States have been watching with
interest the progress of the American Ramie
Company. TO great many the question
now naturally arises. what is ramie! 1t is
an Oriental fiber plant. Its botanical name
is "Boehmeeria nevia.p 1t is member of
the hemp family. and indigenous to south
ern Asia.
Northern capitalists, under the incorpor-
alton of State laws, with capital of ST.
10000, have organized company here in
the heart of the Okeechobee reclaim ed
lands. The company has established the
first plant. The INCORPORATION took place
In November, 1889, and to-day workmen are
engaged in the cultivation of three hum
dred acres of ramie. Rich and light sandy
soil is best adapted to the cultivation of the
fiber plant. and in the reclaimed lands of
Florida the company believe they have
found field where ramie will prove sue
cessful rival to King Cotton.
Since 1876 this noted Oriental fiber plant
has excited great deal of interest in Flor
ida, and the premiums being offered by ag-
ricultural schools show to what extent the
fiber question is agitating the public. In
view of the Immense prospective Importance
of ramie cultivation, j. NJ. Rusk. the ma
tional Secretary of Agriculture. has laid q
bill before Congress asking an appropriation
of S100, 900 to stimulate the cultivation of the
fibrous plant. the manufacture of decorti-
Gators, and the development of chemical
processes for degumming and bleaching.
Many efforts have been made to invent q
machine that will produce fiber from
ramle or jute that can be used for manu-
featuring purposes as substitute for cot
ton or silk. None have succeeded until the
Juvenil improved machine was given trial
on the Landreth seed farm. at Bristol Pa,
in October, 1889. The North American
chronicled the machine complete success,
and gives it as great an Importance in
gin a few years ago in the cotton industry.
The ramie fiber has been prepared by hand
and converted into fine damask. but on such
small scale that, as an industry, it is little
known. The department. at Washington
has for several seasons been soliciting cor
respOndence from those who can give infor-
nation on the culture of fiber plants-such
as jute, hemp, etc.-as well as their prepar-
alton for market, but the field exhibition,
given at the Bloomdale farm, proved the
possibilities of the industry and was i'm
mediately followed by the organization of
the company.
Ramie is equally adapted to the produc-
tiOn of both coarse and fine materials
making the strongest or finest paper, the
strongest cordage or finest thread coarse
eail cloth or dalipafa fabrics for dom asti In
use. SO, to-day, In the rich lands of the
Kissimmee valley. the power of American
enterprise is seen in the successful growing
of this heretofore new American industry.
A manufactury for the conversion of the
fiber into form suitable for weaving will be
completed by fall, after which the pre-
pared ramie fiber will be shipped to be
manufactured into domestic goods to our
Northern cities. The premiums offered
show the immensity of the undertaking.
The plants have been established in diff
ferent Southern sections, and for the best
lot of 1900 pounds of ramie thread spun in
the United States from American-grown
fiber. the competition to take place in De-
cember. 1890, the prize is $4,000. Similar
premiums are offered for the ramie in other
forms. etc. 70
While the company, as an experiment,
grew the plant on their Bloomdale farm in
Pennsylvania. they claim it cannot be
cultivated successfully rorth of the Roam
oke. Here in Florida they will produce
two crops per year, and when the plant is
once established it grows for twenty years.
1t is propagated from divisions of the
roots, and after the second year requires DO
cultivation. In recent interview with
the agent of the company. he states that
this Florida soil will yield an average of
1900 pounds to the acre--commanding not
less than four or five cents per pound. Re-
quiring no little cultivation the crop prom
1ses to be much more profitable than cotton.
The department at Washington now
comes forward with a reward for the finest
fiber plant grown in the United States the
coming year, and the Okeechobee company
have entered as competitors, placing ramie
in advance of any other fiber plant known.
Some perfect specimens on exhibition show
the plant to be very handsome. resembling
silk and very strong. 1t has twice the
strength of flax or hemp. and washes better
than any other textile and becomes whittier
than hemp or flax by bleaching. Manufact-
ured specimens from Oriental countries
where the work has been all done by hand
show beautiful silk luster. and are used
for fancy articles, fine passementeries, etc
This vegetable silk" as it ia called, COM
bines with cotton or WOOL
The financial success of the industry is
yet to be proven, but the company is most
sanguine. and the foundation of another
industry laid, the new South will again
bow TO the supremacy of Northern capital