Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1897-04-27
A NEW FIBER.
Ramie in the English Market-Diffi-
cuIties in Us Production.

take 10 establish q new INDUSTRY!
British manufacturers are by all ac-
counts among the most conservative
Of mankind, and if the name "ramc"
suggests anything to Lancashire
cotton-spinner it is the recollection
thata great many people have dropped
money over that particular fiber
Nevertheless, it seems probable that
the British manufacturer will have
to take ramie seriously 1t is by no
means a new invention; no one can
say for how many centuries orientals
have used the fiber, which is found
in the bark Of particular kind Of
ncttle, to make themselves rough,
strong cloths, and nets or lines for
their fishing. But as an article Of
European commerce it is so new as
hardly to be counted among English
imports; and, though the plants
which produce it have for many years
been cultivated under European
supervision, it has only been for the
purposes of speculative experiment
The plants can be seen growing any
summer at Kew; one of them, Rhea
nivea, the Chinese variety, hourishes
in the open air. 1t grows like a
Michaelmas daisy in n clunp of tall
shoots springing from a perennial
root, and has big palm-shaped leaves,
with the under side white, like those
of the wild gueldor-rose or cherry
apple.
If you strip the bark from one Of
the shoots and fray it with a knife
there is disclosed a white, silky fiber,
very fine in the strand and extraor-
dinarily strong. What is called China
grass is simply these ribbons of bark
carefully decorticated by hand till
the fiber is left bare 1t is, however,
still coarse and hard, and the inn
mensely laborious process of cleaning
makes it cost too much to be Of any
use in general trade The ramie of
commerce, which is to supersede flax,
hemp and all other textile fabrics lac
cording to the true believers), is the
same fiber more cheaply and better
prepared from a tropical variety of
the same species, Rhea tenacissima.
This differs from Rhea nivea only in
having green leaf; but the essential
point of the matter is that it is trop-
zeal, and will produce at least four
crops year, while the Chinese plant
can at most yield two. The intrinsic
value of the fiber has for a long tine
been fully admitted; so much so
that the Indian government twice Of
| fered prize of 5000 pounds sterling
for Rhea filasse Of high quality pro-
duced at limited cost. The prize was
never won.
The difficulty lay, as it has lain al
ways, in the production, for which
two distinct operations are necessary.
First, the stems have to be stripped
Of their bark, which is done by hand
or machinery, though no machine has
yet been invented which does the
work SO well as the cheaply-purchased
oriental hand labor. Secondly, in the
ribbons so stripped off, the fiber has
to be disengaged from the gummy
bark, and this is only possible by
chemical process. No mechanical
method can thoroughly separate the
gum and the. fiber, although at least
two companies exist which aim at
preparing ramie wholly by machinery.
Various chemical processes were APP
piled, all of which succeeded in turn
ing out a clean "filasee" of fiber; but
unfortunately when the filasse was
worked up into yarns, threads or
stuffs, it was found to perish after
few months. The strong chemical
employed rotted the fiber. This hap |
pened particularly with the products |
of Rhea prepared in France, where |
about ten years ago great interest |
was taken in the matter. After the |
French, the Americans took it up and |
prophesied great things; but they also
dropped money over it. Now it real
ly seems that England is going to step |
inand solve the problem. Mr.. CONFESS, |
a chemist trained in this country, but |
of Indian origin, has patented a
method which turns upon the en-
ployment of zincate of soda. A com
pany has been formed, patents taken
out all over the world, and a sort of |
experimental factory is actually at
work in London which turns out about
two tons a week of ramie ready for
spinning.-London Spectator.
Some Appropriate Interjections.
For the lumberman--Gosh all hem