The record-union., 1893-01-26
Fiber Culture.

EDS. RECoRD-UNIoN: Diversified farm
ing is necessary to make this State indie
pendent of all others. Fiber culture, sue
cessfully carried forward, would lead to
the establishment of new factories and
give employment to thousands of artisans
and laborers the year around, keeping at
home the millions of dollars which annu-
ally go out of the State for raw products
and manufactured goods.
Cotton can be and is successfully and
protitably grown i'll many of the counties
of California. Flax and hemp can be
raised as successfully and cheaply as in
any portion of the world. Ramie, the
strongest and best fiber of Natures pro-
ductlons, can be, and is being success
fully raised in this State, but as vet
merely on an experimental scale. By
machinery and processes developed in
the last few years. flax and ramie can be
treated cheaply, and from the product
can he manufactured cloths, the finest
linens and dress fabrics, as well as hun
dreds of kinds of coarser goods, as can be
seen by an inspection Of the samples coll
lected during the last two years, and ex-
hlbited by ME, as Superintendent of
Ramie Culture.
Ramie can be profitably grown on mill
ions of acres of the two great valleys of our
State and on thousands of acres of moist
lands in California. Each and every acre
can be made to yield a net profit. over all
expenses, it is said, of at least 500 per
acre. The crop is sure. The market for
the raw or unfinished product is the en-
tire world. Wheat crops, it is said, do not
yield the average grower net profit of
81 so per acre. Actual experiments, as
detailed in the report of the Department
of Ramie Culture, conclusively prove
that ramie, fax, cotton and hemp can be
mazda Drp1t Gtgnlpq of this NJ
State, equal to her fruits or cereals in
amount of dollars and cents, and at a
great profit per acre, the crops being sure
and the expense but nominal. Besides,
capital stands ready to put up factories
for the manufacture of cloth, cordage,
yarns and twineS as soon as the new ma
terial becomes a fixed product in COM
mercial quantities. Ramie is 40 per cent.
stronger and more durable than flax.
Moisture does not rot it, as it does either
cottons or flax.
The capacity of the soil and climate of
California for the production of textile
hberS-cOtt0n, fax and ramie - has
already been demonstrated beyond possi-
ble doubt. This demonstration, with the
exception as to cotton, has been practical
but, as has been said, only on an expert
mental scale in a small way. What is
needed is the planting by State encour-
agement TO the grower of plots ranging
III dI6d ATOul OliG 70 Jbl acres. or q Total OIL
fifty acres. The aggregate result would
be the production OF an amount of fiber
sufficient to eutitle il to merchantable
consideration, and thus offer to capital a
fixed fact on which to base Investments
in refining works, mills and factories
Such a result can without doubt be ac-
complished should the Legislature and
the Governor give sanction to the plan
proposed in the pending bill for the en-
couragement of the growth of textile
hbers in this State.
The range of articles produced from
ramie, cotton and flax is practically linn
ltless, covering innumerabie items of
Caily need and use in the household and
could the raw material be produced and
the goods theretrom manufactured within
the borders of the State, it would save in
the item of home consumption alone and
distribute among our own people mill
ions of dollars now annually sent abroad
beside giving value and production to
millions OF acres Of land now idle
The California farmer, TO insure his
prosperity, needs not only to grow di-
versitied crops, but new crop-a staple
that viii command a cash market price
in the marts OF the world, and for which
there is a home demand, which must. for
years, remain unlimited. In making
practical field trials it is all but useless to
operate on less than one acre or more of
StCbHNtf NA-N - "SNt-N 70 AANNA bSAL6L IL
1ield trial plots were ten acres. This
would give results close to commercial
scale In making the field trial it is not
alone necessary that the plant should be
grown and the stalk gathered, but there
must be processes OF degumming and de-
cortication, so that the fiber must be
ready for the loom. For these purposes
the State Department of Fiber Culture
will invite manufacturers and inventors
of this class of machinery to exhibit their
machines and make practical tests OF the
product so that it may be learned which
OF the many processes and mechanisms
is best adapted TO and most available tor
the purpose. w. Ii. MURRAY.
Sacramento, January 25, 1893.