SUMMARY OF THE SITUATION.

From the foregoing it may appear to some readers of these pages that the situation is rather discouraging. It can only be regarded so in the light of the rose-tinted statements frequently made regarding the industry, wherein are set forth the ease and profits of cultivation, with no whisper as to the reasons why the industry has not been established. Having glanced at the facts of the case, let us summarize the situation. The European supply of commercial ramie (that which can be purchased in open market) comes from China. It is produced there in a small way and prepared by tedious methods, which give but a very few pounds of the "China grass" a day-less than 2 pounds, one writer assertsthe operations, according to Michotte, being as follows: The freshly cut stalk is stripped of its leaves and scraped with a bamboo knife to raise the pellicle or outer bark. This done, the fibrous part is extracted in small ribbons. The further preparation consists in boiling these ribbons in lye water; that is, in water and ashes. They are then spread out upon the houses to dry, the operation being repeated several times, the final result being the extraction of about 25 per cent. of the gum.

In manufacture the filaments of ramie are deftly tied or joined together, end to end, and the delicate thread thus formed is woven into the wonderful fabric that bears the name of China grass cloth. With only such rude preparation of the filasse and laborious manufacture the situation would be indeed discouraging, yet for hundreds of years ramie has been manufactured in this manner in Eastern countries. Contrast with these statements some of the facts brought out in this report. From a production of 2 or 3 pounds of ribbons per day by one man, we can now produce by existing machines (even though they are not fully satisfactory) over half a ton of ribbons in ten hours. The record of one of the trials of the Landtsheer machine, at Paris last summer, demonstrated that 22 pounds of wet ribbons could be produced in two and one-half minutes, which, with an allowance of 20 per cent. for chips and refuse, is equal to 1,400 pounds of dry fiber per day; and a later trial of the Favier machine demonstrated a capacity of 1,100 pounds in a day of ten hours. In this connection the importance of a thorough official test of American ramie machines can not be too strongly urged, in order that we may know precisely what America is doing in this direction, and that American inventors may have an opportunity to prove their claims and compare results with their French confrères.

The results of the foreign trials have inspired such confidence in the establishment of the industry in the near future that ramie companies are forming everywhere. In our sister republic of Mexico large tracts of land have been set aside for ramie culture and planting begun, and I am informed that French and American machines will be imported into the country to make practical field tests the present season. The South American republics also are active. In Venezuela alone some 2,500 acres

of land have been given by the Government to a ramie company, which has already made a beginning with cultivation. Even Cuba is interested in the new fiber, and a year ago imported French machinery for actual field experiment, and fiber has been produced in salable quantity in the Sandwich Islands.

It is worth recording that the French Ramie Association ("La Ramie Francaise"), of which M. P. A. Favier is the head, put in operation last year three decorticating establishments in France, Spain, and Egypt, respectively. The association has also a spinning mill operating 2,500 spindles. Its contracts with agriculturists cover 350 hectares of land in the three countries named above.

I have shown in another part of the report how long a time is required to decorticate the product of 50 acres with one of the present machines, but only a hint was given of the tremendous yield of fiber that can be produced on an acre of ground. In France, it is claimed, by estimates based on the weight of stalks that can be produced on a hectare, and after considering the expenses of cultivation and decortication, that an income of 1,500 francs per hectare is possible the third year. This is equal to about $120 per acre. There is no question but that ramie culture will pay well when the industry is fairly established; and the very fact that it will prove so remunerative will spur to greater effort to overthrow all remaining obstacles.

JUTE AND OTHER FIBERS.

Regarding jute there is little that can be added to that which has previously been said in the many reports emanating from this Department. It has been satisfactorily demonstrated over and over again, that we can produce a fine quality of fiber and in any quantity. The nearer approach to a successful solution of the ramie machine problem is most encouraging for jute culture. There are a number of machines in the United States that are claimed to have done fairly good work, we are well aware, and we are hoping much from them, though, if asked to do so, the Department could not, at the date of publication of this report, refer its correspondents to a purchasable machine upon which the decortication could be economically accomplished. We have even endeavored to place a description of one of these machines before the readers of this report, because of the claims that have been made for it, but when the mechanical drawings were received the Department was requested, for reasons given by the inventor in the letter accompanying, to publish only an indication of the principle with a statement of what the new machine would do when completed. Under such circumstances the Department can only wait until positive statements can be made. A machine that will decorticate ramie will strip jute, and probably, with some slight changes, other bast fibers. The problem which has confronted the world with regard to ramie is almost identical, therefore, with that which has proved the stumbling block of the jute industry and other good fibers as well.

For the benefit of those who may wish to make a trial with jute, a brief description of the cultivation of the plant will be given, though the remarks that were made regarding the advisability of farmers going into the culture of ramie apply equally to this fiber. Here is an extract from the Texas letter referred to on a former page:

I was handed a circular from your Department making inquiry about fibers and their culture. Something more than two years ago a mau came here (a Frenchman) and organized a jute manufacturing company with a subscribed capital of $25,000. The same party had a decorticator which he was to furnish to work up the jute ready for manufacturing purposes. In order to get the thing started they made a contract with me to plant, cultivate, and harvest 20 acres of jute at $20 per acre, the company to furnish the seed. I had black land, part loam, and about one-third stiff land. I prepared the land by breaking with two-horse plow and harrowing well. Planted first about 15th to 25th of March, which proved to be too early. The seed rotted in the ground. I planted about two-thirds of it over about the 1st of May, which made

it a little too late to obtain the largest growth.

The second planting I got a good stand and it all made a very satisfactory grow th from 6 to 9 feet high, with an average of about 7 feet. It is very tedious to work with when it first comes up, and requires the weeds and grass to be cleaned by hand-picking, as no tool can be used to work among the plants. This crop was raised in 1888, and was never harvested. The man that organized the company was to have the decorticator here by the time the jute was ready to cut, but he went from here to New York and we lost track of him, so we had no machinery to work the crop with. The crop bore an abundance of seed, but the pods burst open and spilled the seed out. With machinery to separate the fiber we can raise either jute or ramie on our valley lands.

The extract tells its own story and comment is unnecessary. Reference may be made also to an item in the Manufacturers' Record to the effect that a prominent manufacturer in Ohio will buy 2,500 tons of jute fiber the present season, and pay 4 cents a pound for it. The market price for the imported article in the New York market is from 2 to 4 cents. If our Southern farmers have means to decorticate it, and can grow it with a profit to themselves and sell the cleaned fiber at 4 cents a pound, there is probably a large demand for it already, because what one jutə manufacturer can afford to do another can do, and if a prime article is produced, no manufacturer can lose anything at the figure quoted. It is stated that jute can be grown in Texas at a cost of 21 to 2 cents a pound, and yield the farmers $40 to $60 per acre. This is a very good showing, but at the same time we would advise no one to go into the culture extensively until he has assured himself, by a knowledge of every step from seed to fiber, that he can produce it profitably. Undoubtedly when these fiber industries are fairly started, and a steady market is assured, they will be the means of putting considerable money in the pockets of the Southern farmers, a consummation devoutly to be wished, and for the realization of which the Department of Agriculture will do all in its power.

The following regarding the cultivation of jute is by Mr. Felix Fremerey, before referred to, who has had practical experience in its cultivation. The two varieties are Corchorus capsularis and C. olitorius.

The seeds of both varieties are sown as soon as the soil gets warm-about the beginning of April-in drills some 5 or 6 inches apart, taking about 15 pounds of seed to the acre of the former, and, of the latter, about 20 pounds.

The olitorius kind growing faster, its stalks will be matured enough for cutting in about seventy or eighty days after sowing. When the stems have reached a length of some 8 or 9 feet, its filasse being a very fine structure, it will command a higher price. The capsularis stems will grow to a height of from 9 to 10 or 11 feet in about eighty or ninety or one hundred days, when they should be cut. In every case none of either species should be allowed to grow any longer than to their blooming time, by risk of the stalks branching out and rendering their decortication very difficult if not impossible. The best mode for cutting is by means of a mowing-machine having a dropper attachment. Farmers not having a degumming apparatus at their disposition will be compelled to operate this manipulation in a pool or tank, or in running water. The ribbons, before getting dry, are tied in bundles of from 50 to 60 pounds and carried to the water, where the decomposition of the glutinous matter is

These figures are given on the authority of Prof. S. Waterhouse of St. Louis.

achieved in six to ten days, according to the degree of the warmth of the water. When the gum is properly destroyed by fermentation, the fibers are submitted to a thorough washing, then dried in the sun or some place in the barn, when they are ready for packing. The market price of jute filasse is mostly dependent upon the care in its preparation.

The earlier experiments of the Department proved that the plant requires a hot damp climate and a moist soil of sandy clay or alluvial mold.

The advantage of jute production to the South is made apparent by a glance at our jute imports in a single year. These amount to a total of $7,000,000. The latest quotations per pound for the different grades of jute are as follows:

If jute is placed on the free list with sisal, manila and other foreign cordage fibers it will be very difficult to compete with it, for prices are low now. But it is said that American agriculture can receive no benefit from a duty on jute, because farmers can not produce it commercially for want of decorticating machinery. Recalling the interest in the jute bagging question, it should be borne in mind, however, that if we are not growing jute we are producing a good quality of bagging from low-grade cotton, and also from pine fiber. And with the thousands of tons of flax straw produced every year on western farms, and which now is wasted, every pound of jute imported for bagging purposes represents so much money that ought to go to the farmers of our own country.

OTHER FIBERS.

Considerable interest has been aroused recently in regard to okra. This plant, which thrives everywhere in the South, furnishes a valuable fiber, some very fine specimens of which have lately been received. Sisal hemp can be grown in Florida, remarkably fine samples of this fiber also having been sent from several localities. But the catalogue is a long one, many interesting additions to the list having been made in the last two or three months, including a malvaceous plant growing wild over several States, the fiber of which, grown in India, is stated to be more valuable than jute.

There are many other fibrous plants, that are now growing or that can be grown in the South, of which considerable might be said. The investigation, as it relates to these Southern fibers, however, has hardly been more than begun; and while a great deal of important information has already been collected, so much ground has yet to be covered that it must be left for the later report.