The record-union., 1892-03-26
TEXTILE INDUSTRIES.
Valuable Information About Ramie
and Its Culture.
Important Facts Stated in Plain Lam
guage and in Very Inter-
esting Form.

| The following communication, recently
published in the Pacific RuyaL Press, will
be read with interest, as it contains much
valuable information:
| TO the Editor: In writing this article
on the very important subject OF ramie
1or tins country, and the great State of
California III particular, at your request,
! please pardon me if / confine myself in
homely way, very closely to the
important Information on the sub
Ject closest to the peoples interest.
/ snail endeaVOr TO give the most impOr-
tant facts in the tewest and plainest words
| possible to make it understood, interest
ing and most useful.
Ramle is a species of nettle, but thorn
less. There are three different varieties
ali suitable for this climate; but they
! vary IN excellence in the marke from
TWO TO four cents pound, the pest, which
L recommend, being worth six cents u
! pound here IN the rough as it comes from
/ the decortlcatorS, dried and baled.
/ DecortIcatlGn of itself is of very SIM
! pie nature, being to strip or peel the bark
from the wood, to knock out the inner
WOOD, which must be done as fast as
Ieafed and cut, or on the same day of cut
ting. 1t can be done to pay by fail, tread
ing with horses, or flax break, and
/ shaken out; or more properly in these
/ Gays, with machine run by horse or
steam power, and with four to six men
working two acres a day, easily. One
/ machine will run through 10 acres in
/ Two months, and keep a gang OF men
/ BUSY ali the summer through. Ramie
VIII grow in about that time if we'll sup
pied with water, irrigation or natural
moisture.
Ramie should be cut green when about
tour or five feet high, and when it first
begins to brown at the bottom Of the
stalks. Ramie will not rot like flax or
hemp, and thus must be broken green
! before the gum or glue sets to the stalks
LII should be run from the decorticator on
an endless wire carrier through drier
and baled at the exit for shipping to the
factory, where it is, by process, ungum-
med and prepared for carding and SPIN
4 nlng. 1t IS excellent to knit or weave
INTO goods OF superior quality, pure or
] mixed with wool for caSSimereS, wooden
and worsted fabrics.
Ramie fiber is of very firm texture
and OF uneven length, from two to six
| inches. 1t is a fiat, hollow ribbon, and
thus takes dyes in all shades of the
! brightest colorS, as well as for black silk.
II is not of such glossy nature as COM
mon silk, but partakes more of what is
called dead silk in black, which all ladies'
know is most desired in expensive goods.
! Silk is wound Off the cocoons from 500 to
| 1,O00 yards long and doubled in the wind
ing seven strands, while ramie, being
short, must be carded and spun like raw
silk or broken silk, and therefore is not
mixed with line silk in the way some
/ Tunes spoken OF, but after made into
| thread IS used to mix in the body, the
strongest parts needed, for the warp or
! filling, and sometimes for the body of the
/ goods when silk may be used for the
raised glossy figures or flowers, giving A
! hpaIItItIli c0ntl1S n nd axnI1iGifn oh
In wool mixtures it can be cut or graded
to the even lengths and carded and spun
| as complete mixture, benefiting the
wool by It's superior strength, gloss anG
! finish, the wool making the nap and
warmth, the ramie alone being porous
and cool for summer wear.
Ramie fiber being smooth. tough and
strong like silk, makes splendid worsted
/ line OF goods pure, such as fancy braids
/ binding, Innings and dress goods, or
mixed with long wool in the more ex-
pensive and intricate varieties of cassi-
meres and worsteds, upholstery, plush
/ and other goods. In tapestry and curtain
goods and rugs, it cannot be excelled by
Oriental importations, as it is most dur
able and fast in coiors. For fish lines.
nets, hammocks, yacht sails and any uses
exposed to moisture, where strength and
durability is desirable, it is not to be
equaled.
I ID lOt d)Ieu W DC worked on
! linen, hemp, cotton or jute machinery 1t
1 Is estimated that some $50, 1000 900 to SO
100000 worth of worsted alone, and OF
wool and wooden goods worth many
more million dollars. are imported into
/ the United States annually. Ramie fiber
/ that can be grown in this country can
! take the place Of this and excel in dura-
/ bility and fine finish, besides for all other
i purposes in ramie goods, pure, mixed
silk and other ways, L have no doubt, to
amount to much more. There is 10 end
or limit to the possibilities, apparently.
/ to the uses to which it can be put WHY
should we not hasten to reap the direct
/ benefit, as we'll as the incidental impetus
it would give to all other enterprises,
employments and home markets +?
Ramie Is now grown in China, Japan,
India, Mexico, Cuba, Hawaii. Samoa
! West Indies, Guatemala, Colombia and
| Brazil, and in the United States in Ala
bama. Louisiana, Texas, California.
Washington and Oregon in small duanti,
ties. 1t is also grown in South France.
Italy and Hungary, and is worth in
! China 500 to 500 per ton cleaned by
/ hand. This is done there by scraping the
pellicle off the outside of the stalk. cut
| green, then peeling the bark, and with
a bamboo stick rubbing out the muci-
laglnous gummy matter over log, and
| repeated washing and drying on scaffolds
or roofs of their houses. For export it is
only partially ungummed. For their
! hand-weaVing they strip this partially
! ungummed fiber into threads as lono, as
| possible, containing, of course, thousands
of fibers, which they tasten, stick or tie
| together end to end, making long threads
in Imitation OF silk, which they weave
4 into goods, then boil and bleach out and
color in the piece. This primitive way
of working, which can only be done with
the cheapest of labor, has deceived most
of our eXperimenters into the belief that
! the fiber was long as the stalk. like flax
and hemp, and of course prevented sue
/ cess in our working it to manufacture nv
machinery. But now that we have Sci
entitically Investigated the fibers before
we undertook to build machinery. and
/ found out just what was wanted. If was
easy enough to solve the difficulty, which.
/ of course, was in a dccorticator', If a
1 decorticator was to do, or could do. the
whole business, which never has or
4 never Will be done economically by one
! But when only decortication was wanted
/ by d decorlcator see Webster, and we
! had q simple way 10 treat or finish it
afterward, success was attained The
| farmer IS not bothered with the ungum-
ming, which is the difficult part of the
work.
AS TO PLANTING.
/ 1t can be done in various ways, but I
I have had early and extended experience
/ in nursery and farming, as well as ma
chinery and manufacturing, so looking
| to the end that the greatest success and
efficiency might be attained, will sug-
I gest this plan: After properly moistening,
/ pillow and pulverize your ground well and
deep, roll smooth, mark out as for corn,
| bat MAKE the rows six feet apart, plant
!, in the burrows from one to three feet
apart. dropped like potatoes, and cover
4 like corn-or you can stick the roots, butt
down, slanting sideways, two or three
] irtnInns laarn and