RAMIE GRASS.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 16, Issue 867, 15 November 1870, Page 3

RAMIE GRASS.

[from the news op the would.] The most marked success attends the introduction of this textile plant into California. There are 3,000 plants now growing vigorously at Haywood. Every root planted has fifteen and more stems three feet high and nearly as thick as -one's finger. They are in rich loamy laud, with a rather moist subsoil. They were planted late and very little rain has fallen on them. The plant stands our long summer droughts, showiug no signs of suffering. It is set out in rows, a little farther apart than Indian corn, and as a rule, where Indian corn grows without drying the leaves, Ramie will also grow. The plants taken up for exhibition show that the roots strike deep for moisture. They promise two crops this year, to average four feet high ; but, after the first year, three crops may be .expected. Whether, under three croppings, the plant can sustain a healthy growth without irrigation, is a question. Three crops may be reckoued at one and a half tons of elean fibre per acre, which may represent six tons of material drawn from the soil and atmospht re. It would seem to call for irrigation to meet this heavy drain upon the soil. Certainly Ramie is destined to be a leading production of California, when machinery succeeds in cheaply preparing the fibre for market. Hitherto the separation of the inner bark from the woody structure has been effected in New Orleans by a machine that seems not to have given satisfaction. But we are advised that two inventions have recently been made that leave nothing to be desired. One, by M. Emile Lef'ranc, of New Orleans, is pronounced perfect. Another, by L. W. Wright, of Brooklyn, New York, claims to be both chemical and mechanical. It cheaply extracts the matter and prepares the fibre for spinning on machinery now in use for cotton, wool, and flax. Both of these inventors are claimants for the prize offered by the Government of India, viz., .£SOOO.

The New Orleans Times informs us that many planters, encouraged by the perfect working of the Lefranc machine, are; prepared to go largely into the cul ture of this perennial plant, which seems ./destined to take the place of cotton and linen, and to be extensively employed for interweaving with wool and siik. It should be understood that the fibre of Kamie takes the die with those other staples ; and in all eases it imparts a rich gloss and great strength and elasticity to every mixed fabric into the composition of which it enters. Our friends in the colonies should turn their attention to the cultivation of this plant. Its culture offers one of the widest and most \v >fitable fields of enterprise that we know of.