The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-12-13

be found in those nutrients. The plant
also requires an almost equal percent
age of lime. magneSia, chloride of So
dunn, phosphcric and carbonic acid
A very small proportion of mineral
constituents is found in the ramie
plant, either fiber or bark.
The profits to be made cut of ramie
will depend largely upon the number
of annual crops. 1t is estimated that
only two cuttings are possible in Louis
lana and Texas, three crops on parts
of Florida, and three or four crops in
California. In 1895 Prof Hilgard, of
California, reported to the department
of agriculture that lin the Kern valley
there is little difficulty in getting four
cuts of good size and quality. The
same is probably true of the stronger
soils as far north as Fresno, and south
ward in the valley of South California
In the Sacramento valley doubtless
three cuts can be obtained, at least
when irrigation is employed, or in nat
urally moist land"
Discussing the crops further, Prof
Hilgard said: "At Berkeley and else
where on the Immediate coast, two
cuts (the second usually small one)
is all that can be counted on, but in
the warm valleys of the Coast range
from two to three full crops may be
looked for"
That ramie fiber is to be one of the
great industries of the almost imme-
date future nobody doubts who has
become interested in the development
of this plant But, the difficulties in
the way of the development of this in
dustry, have been considered almost
insurmountable by some of the most
hopeful friends of the wonderful fiber
producer.
Do you remember the common ex-
preston, before the war, that cot
ton is king?" That expression grew
out of the fact, not alone that the
southern plantations produced enor-
nous crops of cotton, but because Of
the invention of the cotton gin. The
patent office at Washington shows
models enough Of cotton gins to show
that hundreds of lives were wasted,
and hearts were broken, in the hope
a perfect cotton gin was invented, cot
ton became king. 1t was the greatest
fibre producer in the world
Well, ramie occupies the position
which cotton occupied in the CONNER
cial world before that wonderful in
ventton was placed within the reach
of the southern planters. Up to date
there has been invented no perfect
ramie gin. The patent office here shows
a score of inventions which have been
abandoned, because they could not full
fiji the claims and expectations of their
inventors.
The prairie farmer no longer goes out
into the field with sickle or cradle.
Modern machinery enables him to
know exactly how much work his reap,
err binder, thresher and ether machin,
cry will do, and how much crop he
can handle. He knows that his
machines will not clog nor get out of
order under ordinary circumstances.
The ramie farmer has no such con-
fidence in any machine which has yet
been made. Therefore, ramie Develop
ment today depends upon the unde-
veloped inventive genius of man. 1t is
the hope of the narrator and it is the
hope Of the department of agriculture
that this subject may engage the at
tention of the man for the times.
There Is no limit to the possibilities
of ramie manufacture when a perfect
ramie gin shall be invented. Stuff
goods, as good as silk or fine linen,
may be made for mems wear, uphol-
stery, curtains, laces, embroidery,
pushes, velvets, yarns and threads for
purposes too numerous to calculate.
1t must be remembered that while
wheat and corn and oats are readily
threshed by modern appliances, the
fiber of ramie is stubbornly resistant
to every mechanical appliance thus far
discovered. The rich fibre is enclosed
in coarse, woody stalk, hidden under
a layer Of outer bark, and tenaciously
holds it's own until the entire mass
has been beaten, broken and thorough
ly scraped The rapidly and smoothly
revolving mechanisms which will dc
this work for American farmers, az
we'll as it is done by Monaghan hand
labor, must yet be discovered.
The gummy matters holding together
the filaments in the bark, seem to
harden upon all machinery yet manu-
factured. The fiber adheres with the
gummy materials, and frequent stop
pages of machinery have caused the
principal trouble. Where is the man
to manufacture a perfect ramie gin?
When he produces the machine, he
may smile at KIondike and the Klor-
dixie diggers, for he will be richer than
Croesus on the day of the general ac-
ceptance of his work.
Edison recently found his machinery
clogged with certain matter. He pro
ceeded to invent a machine which
would not work without that clogging
material May be some inventive
genius will make a ramie gin which
will not work without that gummy
clogger. Then he will wear purple and
fine linen and live in luxury