Rensselaer Union, Volume 1, Number 2, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 October 1868 — Agricultural and Domestic. [ARTICLE]

Agricultural and Domestic.

The “Ramie.?:—_ < This plant, of which very j little is generally known, is coropnmttvely «tw in country. *** Its botanic name is u Boehm- 1 eria Tenacmima” belongs to the order “ Urticaria” is a lialf hardy herbaceous perennial; has deeply serrated, lieartshaped leaves, closely resembling the common nettle, to which jfcuniof plants it belongs, and really promises to become one of the most important and valuable fibrous plants known, and may finally supercede both cotton and flax, the textile fibre l>eing finer than cotton and stronger and more durable than flax, and has as glossy and pare a whiteness as silk: at a distance the plant resembles a fair sized Hydrangea plant (minus its flowers), with which most of your readers are no doubt acquainted; it grows wild in Java from whence it was brought by Don Beniton lice«*l, to Mexico and Cuba and subsequently, in 1867, to Louisiana where it is now being acclimated. It can be harvested three or four times each year, and yields six times as much fibre ns cotton, or rather w lhe profits on one acre are equal to that of six acres of cotton.” I am credibly assured that parties of ' great pecuniary means in London have offered sixty cents per pound for any quantity of it; for a long time irregular quantitfcs have been received of the Ramie from Java and India its native countries where it grows f> or 6 feet high. Caterpillars which annually destroy the cotton crop in different localities are not known to injure this jdaut; it will grow and flourish where cotton w ill and can be propagated by layers, cuttings or parting the roots. Though I have not tried it, I believe that plants can be raised from a single eye afe is practical with the grape vine. With all these facilities for propagating, a skiirfuLworkman cnrTsoon cover an acre from a single plant. The leaves are eaten with great avidity by cattle, w hich, in the absence of fences, as is too common in ~the South, and where cattle are turned out at large—is not a recommendation —but where stock is controlled as with com crops, for hist ance, the foliage may become serviceable and even very valuable where hay has to be wholly imported. It is said to yield six to eight hundred pounds of fibre to the acre yearly; allowiug the smal™TeF'figure~Sd: we have $360.00 per acre, as the cost of cultivation would not exceed that of cotton the first year, say, (except the cost of plants) fifty dollars per acre, and the same for cleaning the fiber, and fifty for plants, we have still left a clear profit of $2lO per acre. After the first year this perennial has only to be worked with plow' and cultivator and the cost of the subsequent crops will not exceed half of the first year, say $25, so that harvesting and, cleansing the fibre would be the chief labor and expense—say altogether SIOO per acre, ; In planting the “Ramie,” it should be put in squares 3 feet .. apart, omitting every 20th row for harvesting, on level ground which must be rich and deeply plowed—a foot deep will be better than 10 inches; this will startlfe the planters South” whose dtepth of plowing:is from 3 to 4 inches, at most; ancT oftener 3 than 4; and then are astonished if a dry or wet season mins their crop. As the plants grow the earth may be turned up to them, (as for blanching celery), when each shoot and branch will strike root and .strengthen the shoots for cutting* of prepare them for removal aa layered plants—spring an 3 fall being the best seasons for propagating, thougnit may be done at all seasons. The time to cut and harvest the stalks so? the fibre, is as soon as .they turn a brownishcolor, the] plant only grows more vigorous for each cutting, t£ie succeeding suckers gradually becoming and taller, and show

can be treated about the same as hemp, and a fiber 10 feet v|ong ha£ been grown in Louisiana, where a number of extensive -fields are now yielding iliiUdV, ■ - The only difficulty with the “Ramie” crop seems to be its preparation for market, on account of the extreme length of its fiber. American ingenuity however will soon surmount this difficulty, in fact a machine has already been constructed on which a quantity of thetfiher has been successfully cleaned and a prize awarded therfor at the Louisiana State Fair, as a new and valuable filler. The inventor of the machine has, I believe, plants for sale at reasonable rates. New York City. \

J. W. GREGORY.