Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-05-02
WHAT RAMIE WILL MAKE.
a Marvellous Fiber Of Which Great Things
Are Expected One Of These Days.
CT had a talk the other day with Mr.. Bur

- marveloue rider OF which Great Infngn
Are Expected One Of These Day..
Sc had a talk the other day with Mr.. Bur-
Il CESS, the famous Boston yacht builder. p"
said Mr.. Charles Richards Dodge to a writer for
The STAR, land he remarked incidentally that
he thought rsmie fiber was likely to be utilized
In the not distant future a. a material for
yacht sails. He seemed to think that such a
fabric might be produced as light and strong
as silk, which would serve for the purpose bet
ter than any kind of stuff thus far employed.
myself would not be surprised if 1t should SO
turn out, though hazard no prediction. One
advantage claimed for ramie sail cloth il that
1t will not mildew.
"Ramie is . provoking substance to deal
with. 1t is a most beautiful fiber, susceptible
OF use in making ever 90 many sorts Of exqui-
site fabrlcs. The world wants ii, but unfortu-
nately, though the plant that produces it il
one Of the most easily grown and prolific vegs-
tables known. no machine or process has thus
far been devised for reducing the raw material
to marketable shape at cheap enough rate to
pay. There would be no end OF the material
ootalnable. but at present it costs more to turn
out the fiber in condition for manufacture thnn
IL Will sell for. Fortunes have been spent In
trying to devise a machine capable Of separat'
ing 1t from the stalks and leaves at an econom-
ical price, but thus far in vain.
SIX KINDS IN CHINA.
1.-The Department Of Agriculture has just re-
ceived. through the Department of State,
samples from China, forwarded by United
States Consul Henry W. Adams at Hankow, of
ali the six kinds of ramie grown in that country,
where alone it is cultivated at profit, though
the production is limited. From this source
the commercial supply of the fiber that reaches
Europe and the United States is obtained.
LABOR, OF course, costs almost nothing there.
and the operation of preparing the material
Tor market is performed by stripping the fresh
cut stalks of the leaves. scraping off the outer
bark and then peeling off. with bamboo knives,
the Nitrous inner bark. which yields the
market table article in small ribbons. Finally,
these ribbons are boiled for a while in I've
water and spread upon the roofs of the houses
to dry. Thus obtained. the ramie is delivered
here and purchasable, in small quantities, at
50 cents pound. BY this method, it is
said, less than two pounds of the rib
bons can be produced by one mans labor
for a day. The samples we have secured in
clude four varieties besides the white and the
green ramie, which reach our shores through
commerce. We shall carefully preserve them
In the fiber collection for comparison.
ARTICLES FROM RAMIE.
"Here are some articles made of ramie that
may interest you. These are laces for curtains.
of very beautiful texture, as you may see; and
these are white goods of various kinds, closely
resembling fine muslins and other such stuffs.
Here Is a bundle of dress goods samples of many
patterns; take notice how sheer and silky some
of them are. Are not these napkins SO like
linen that you could not have told they were
not such if l had not informed YOU? Table
cloths bed spreads and all similar household
articles can be made of ramie. In this package are
pushes and upholstery goods, for hangings, LAM
brcquins and SO forth. Even carpets of the same
material are most handsome and serviceable.
the latter made in this country.
WHAT IT'S.
"What is ramie? Why, it is plant belong
ing to the nettle family, sometimes called the
stingless nettle, which has been cultivated in
China from time immemoriGl. 1t is also known
as China grass. When full grown it attains
height of from four to eight feet. The fiber Is
formed in the bark of the stalk. which has
pithy center. SO fast does it grow that three
aid even five crops year have been obtained
without replanting. In China it is manufac-
tured not only into cordage fish lines, nets and
like coarse products but also into numerous
most delicate and lovely fabrics.
EASILY CULTIVATED.
1T has been estimated that an acre of ramie
one year old will produce p, 500 pounds of
stripped stalks, but. to separate the fiber from
the product of fifty acres. a single machine of
the best pattern thus far devised would REQUIRE
year and a half-simply for one cutting,
mind you. Cultivation at this rate is out of
the question, inasmuch as the machines are
very expensive, costing 81, 900 apiece or SO,
and the farmer could not afford to buy and use
very many. The problem is one to which
American inventors will do well to turn their
attention. Ramie, in the raw, can be raised in
unlimited quantities at small expenditure.
In its marketable shape there is already a con-
siderable demand for it at reasonable prices
particularly IN Europe. Let some ingenious
Yankee find out how to transform the
raw material into fiber cheaply and
his discovery will make him rich. unless
perchance he disposes of it prematurely TO the
capitalist, who commonly devours the fruits
of a poor mans inventions. Let the proper
continuance for the purpose be once rendered
available and Immediately the raising of ramie
will become one of the foremost agricultural
industries of this country, as well as abroad
Fo. many decades past there have been
periodical announcements of the discovery of
practicable machines for rendering the fiber
economically. but none of them has banned
out upon trial. There are now in this country
a number Of devices which have been adyer-
tised to accomplish the purpose, but, although
their inventors have been invited to submit
them to test at the Department of Agriculture.
they have not responded and we cannot speak
with authority concerning them. In many
insances iaruers uaVe Deen persuaded by
manufacturers of machines to plant ramie
and they have lost their crops and
their labor because the means for
transforming the crude product into
the marketable article were not available.
If you wanted to start a mandatory of ramie
goods tomorrow you could not buy for money
enough of the fiber to supply you for any
length of time. because SO little of il ia grown.
There is q firm in Salem, Mass, that has formed
plan, comparatively cheap. for reducing the
fbrous parts of the plant into a wool-like sub
stance from which nice yarns for certain classes
Of manufacture have been produced, and some
thing may come Oft.
Eventually, there is good reason to believe,
that ramie culture will be established on a
profitable basis It affords promise of such
enormous remuneration il only the desired
process can be arrived at that effort is not
likely to be relinquished until the hoped-for
machine 10 invented.
ment there Is very interesting collection Of
ramie in various stages of manufacture and
filling large case. These samples were do
mated by Mr.. Tappan at the close of the me-
chanics' fair in Boston last fall and are well
worth q visit. The plant thrives best in this
country in the gulf states and in California.
There is considerable interest in the culture
this year on the Pacific coast the state of Cali
fornia having recently passed an act encour-
aging tine cultivation Of the plant and offering
a bounty for the fiber. How much this state
aid will accomplish remains to be shown, for
after all 1t is q question Of machinery, and only
an economically satisfactory machine win put
the industry on its feet"
Badly Rusted Coronsts.