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Culture and Man'ufacture 
 
 Ramie and Jute 
 
 THE UNITED STATES 
 
 EMILE LEFRANC, 
 
 V OF NEW ORLEANS. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
 
 WASHINGTON: 4 
 GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 
 1873- 
 
,A 
 
 •<j • 
 
Department of Agriculture, 
 
 ]]'ashington, December ii, 1S73. 
 Within the last few years the Agricultural Department has taken 
 much interest in the subject of ramie and jute, the seeds of which 
 Avere originally introduced by it into the country and extensively 
 distributed in the Southern States. The effect of this has been to 
 make the impression that the cultivation of these plants is about to 
 become one of the most important industries, and especially valuable 
 because it will give a profitable employment to the planters and lands 
 of a portion of the country where a larger production of cotton so 
 lessens the price as to make any new production desirable. 
 
 Experiments lately made in the State of Louisiana in the cultivation 
 and prei)aration of both ramie and jute seem to settle the (luestion 
 that it is both practicable and profitaljle. The Department has 
 sought .to gather all, the information which can be gained on the 
 subject ; and, at its instance, a treatise has been prepared by Emile 
 Lefranc, of the " Southern Ramie-Planting Association," whose 
 experience, both in the cultivation of these plants and preparation of 
 their fibers, enables him to speak confidently of the success that 
 company h.as met with. 
 
 Although it is the purpose of the Department to publish this in- 
 formation, with plates and drawings of the machinery used, in the 
 forthcoming annual report, yet the Commissioner deems its earlier 
 publication so important, in anticipation of the approaching planting- 
 season in the Southern States, that he takes this mode of putting it 
 into the possession of planters who may be disposed to prosecute 
 
 this industrv. 
 
 FREDK. WATTS, 
 
 Conuuissioner of Agriculture. 
 
RAMIE AND JUTE, 
 
 By Emu.e Lefranc, of New Orleans, Louisiana. 
 
 ]; A M I E . 
 
 At last this remarkable textile plant is enabled to leave the harassing and ex- 
 pensive phase of experimental struggle; it can now safely enter into the l)road 
 and rich sphere of productive cultivation, and open a new source of prosperity m 
 the industrial area of the New World. 
 
 It has just been delivered horn the heavy impediments which have, so far, jire- 
 vented its useful development. 
 
 After having been the object of years of laborious and costly efforts in many 
 quarters, and by many searching minds, the arduous problem of separating econom- 
 ically that fine textile from its green coating has been satisfactorily solved in New 
 Orleans. The difficulty of applying the proper treatment to the fiber is now 
 radically removed by the completion of an improved decorticating-machine pat- 
 ented in 1870 and finally perfected in 1873, that is to say, a few months ago. 
 
 The machine was put publicly in oj)eration last September, on the farm of the 
 "Southern Ramie-Planting Association of New Orleans." 
 
 It has worked for weeks in the regular decortication of ramie and jute in gi-een 
 stalks. Undeniable evidence has been there furnished of the long sought-for dis- 
 covery of a successful method for setting free the rich fiber from its tenacious bark 
 and pithy envelope. 
 
 Introduced into Louisiana toward the fall of 1867, the ramie has had ami^le time 
 to prove its vitality and toughness as a perennial growth. With little or no care 
 it has thriven alone since then, and wherever attention has been given to it its 
 propagation has been considerable. In some rich and elevated soils the plant has 
 stood and propagated without the least cultivation for the last six years. The 
 stems die in winter, and multitudes of others shoot forth every spring. Where the 
 bushes are regularly cut three or four times a year, the more vigorous and luxu- 
 riant is the growth. All these facts sufficiently prove the perennial and hardy 
 vitality of the plant, as also its adaptalnlity to our soil, and the congeniahty of 
 our climate. Therefore the agricultural jiroldems and the questions of acclima- 
 tion are also solved and settled. If the ramie industry did not unfold sooner the 
 advantages of the plant, it was solely on account of the unprofitable or inefiicient 
 methods of extracting the fiber. AMien first introduced on this continent, the 
 treatment of the ramie-plant was erroneously assimilated to that of the nettle 
 family. The universal opinion was that it should be treated like jute, flax, hemp, 
 and other textiles of the cannabis variety, which are disintegrated lengthwise from 
 the stems by the simple process of water fermentation. 
 
 The error was soon discovered. Ramie-fiber admits of no rotting action on the 
 stalks. Steeped and fermented in water or exposed to the air, it is decomposed 
 and reduced to a short and weak filier, saturated with tannic acid and spotted with 
 tan-bark. Moreover the process is tedious and anti-economical. It has been 
 
found that the envelope of the ramie-fiber contains some sulphuric and carbonic 
 elements, which dissolve the joints of the cellulose when the stem is subjected to 
 the acetic degree of fermentation or rotting. Then, some chemists resorted to the 
 process of neutralizing those dissolving elements by means of an acidulated bath 
 for the plants. 
 
 But those different systems were of no avail because they required the additional 
 intervention of machinery to break and hackle the filament, which was otherwise 
 more or less injured in its quality by the unnatural treatment to which it was 
 subjected. In face of the despotic exigencies of economy in labor, and the 
 absolute necessity of a large production, none of those methods was practicable. 
 
 But another road lay open to logical and searching intellects. They were guided 
 by the investigation of the following points : 
 
 First. What is the process of the Chinese, who for centuries have monopolized 
 the ramie-fiber trade? Their process consists in stripping the ramie- plant and 
 scraping the bark containing the filament. 
 
 Second. Why do they not proceed Ijy rotting tlie stalks as they do for their otlier 
 long textiles ? Because they know that the nature of the ramie-plant does not 
 permit it ; they are aware that this fine fiber can only be obtained by separating 
 first the injurious bark, which, being removed, permits the ordinary process of rot- 
 ting and bleaching on the uncoated and free filament. 
 
 The questions being so propounded and answered, there was but one way to^ 
 solve the problem — to construct a machine capable of doing what the Chinese do 
 by hand. Tliey skin the stalk and clean the outer Ijark off with a knife, and each 
 hand obtains in this manner one or two pounds ]3er day of a marketable raw 
 product. A macliine liad, then, to be invented that would supply daily one thousand 
 pounds of a similar product. Such was the task, and it has been accomplished ! 
 
 But inventions of that kind, with no precedent, no basis in existing machinery, 
 are not the work of a day; they are the result of years of persistent experimentati(5n 
 and concentrated thought. 
 
 Sound and useful contrivances have ever been of slow growth. It seems that a 
 certain experimental and painful stage is the necessary tribute paid in advance to 
 the benefits of progress. 
 
 Practical persons familiar with the treatment of textiles know the impossibility 
 of cleaning thoroughly any fiber, dried or green, by the continuous action of 
 machinery. Either with drums or beaters the cleaning instruments cannot turn 
 out the filament witliout a certain quantum of chaff and other refuse entangled in 
 the fiber. All experiments on this point have failed, and proved the insuperable 
 difficulty of expelling by continuity of friction all the particles of pith that have 
 penetrated into the filler. It is only through a scraping process, acting in a backward 
 and forward direction, that a perfect cleaning can he obtained. 
 
 The contrivance that cleans ramie, and furnishes a product similar to that ot 
 China, is founded on that true principle, as follows : 
 
 Revolving cleaners, provided with a peculiar sort of knives, receive gradually, 
 by means of a circular carrier, bunches of stems, which are doubled down and 
 hooked in the middle. The carrier withdraws them from the rotary action of the 
 cleaners, and delivers them in the form of clear ribbons, of a light yellow color, as 
 fine as the imported China grass. 
 
 That crude ramie-staple is worth from ^65 to £-]0 per ton in Europe, but 
 American manufacturers offer 20 or 25 cents a pound for it provided a large supply 
 be secured. On account of the aforesaid difliwlty of decortication by machinery, 
 it has hitherto been impossible to comply with this condition, and consequently 
 
the cultivation of the plant has remained stationary in America. Th,s nnpedunent 
 s now "out to disappear, and a flonrishing trade .ill, no douht be soon 
 inau°Lted. Then there will be no reason for confining the value o the fiber to 
 what^tisworthin its crude condition. Properly ungummed and bleached by 
 hpless hereafter described, ramie-fiber acquired a double and tr.ple market 
 vZ Then, if dressed and combed smoothly, it h.s the bearUy and value o 
 itrous staple which is classed next to silk for strength and bnlhancy Th 
 t"ue called -Japan silk," "Canton goods," "grass-cloth," ' Isanknr n.en, 
 ^n^,:^ c^her iarieties of dry-goods, are generally made of ram.e mater.al, more 
 r.1- 1p^s mixed with other fiber. . 
 
 Entir manufacturers have monopolized the ramie, or Chnra grass trade m 
 Europe and America, and kept somewhat secret the process of hmshmg and 
 w L t filer. Almost all the dress-goods-mixed with brilhant mater.als 
 and i fta tng silk fabrics-are made in part of ranrie. Leeds and Bradford are 
 ^e X^J manulacturing centers that use that staple as a :^^^^^^^l^^^ ;^ 
 many sorts of goods. It is a common error to consuler ramie as a substuute for 
 
 cotton. 
 
 None of the Bohemaria or Urtica grasses have the necessary requn-ements for 
 deA onin-that useful king. The effect produced by the ram.e-fiber _.s coohng 
 ate" han warming, and it cannot for that reason take the place of the nuhspensable 
 o tolstaple Flax will, perhaps, feel its competing influence, because the ran.e 
 " cS cottonized ramie, enters into the manu^cture of fine ^-n ^ c^nbr. 
 inritLtions. But the long ramie-staple has a higher ^\f -y'/^^J ^^:t 
 domains of the silk trade that it will predominate as an ally more oi less offiaally 
 rec"' ed. Like certain sorts of wines, such as champagne, port, sherry, Maden , 
 II oLrs, whose consumption exceeds considerably the Senun.e produce he - 
 called silk products greatly surpass in volume the actual amount of s Ik that could 
 be o tied from alUhe cocoons of the whole world. Evidently there js ^ome 
 precious substitute more or less openly introduced nrto the pretended sdk stock 
 mat s this contraband material? Lancashire and Lyons manufacturers could 
 Trob bly answer the query. But, resorting to no such indiscreet quesfon, we can 
 ete some light and information from the following figures of the eastern 
 tZnZ trade! In a pamphlet recently published on the subject of ramie by 
 bTo T^an de Bray, we'fiml that the export of China-grass from Shanghai alon 
 aluiied in 1865 to 3,240,000 kilogrammes-about seven milhons of PO- - 
 is reasonable to infer that this exportation has increased ever since -d tl a Ind a 
 and Japan have furnished also to the outside trade a certain share of ^^ ^ s ^ple 
 Whatever may be the consumption now, it is certain that the demand for thi 
 fine a tide wiU for a long period exceed the supply. The limited surplus over and 
 b ve te home consumption of the crowded populations of Asiatic countries has 
 been a drawback to the diffusion of ramie in other parts of the world. The 
 cleaning process of the Chinese permits to each hand an average of only 1)4 
 nounds a day— hence the limited production. 
 
 'is a well-known fact that, if American manufacturers have not ye displayed 
 their usual enterprising spirit and ingenuity by availing themselves of the advan- 
 a' s without number offered by the ramie, it is because they could not secure a 
 et^i a^supply of the fiber. But the decortication of the plant being now easy and 
 economical L cultivation will receive its due development, and permU our indi^^ 
 Si i^stitulions to check the foreign monopoly of ramie goods, ^e have ^^^^^^^^ 
 hand all the necessary elements for the rapid progress o: its -^^^ P™_ 
 duction ; abundance of plants and roots as acclimated seed ; lands and climate per 
 
fectly suitable ; practical knowledge derived from six years of experiment ; and^ 
 finally, the mechanical means of harvesting this valuable product. 
 
 Having thus exhibited the actual standing of ramie as the element of new 
 branches of manufactures on this continent, and demonstrated that, instead of 
 being abandoned as a failure, w^hich many thought it was, it has silently prepared 
 its way to success, we deem it proper to state briefly the past status of the plant, 
 and the use made of it by its original producers. 
 
 If ramie is a novelty for the New World, it has been in use from remote an- 
 tiquity in the Old. Japan, China, India, and almost all the islands of the East 
 have, for centuries, made of it the basis of their home fabrics, and an object of 
 foreign trade. The Greeks and the Romans used, as silk clothing, ramie goods 
 imported from the countries of Southern Asia. Virgil mentions the fact, and ad- 
 mires those rich tissues, in his Georgics. He calls them the brilliant product ot 
 the silk countries of the East. Several learned Jesuits, when missionaries in Ja- 
 pan and China, discovered that "this brilliant product," so admired by the 
 Roman poet, was the nettle-fiber called "kara" in Japan, "ma," or "chu-ma," 
 in China, " rhea" in the East Indies, and " ramah," or " ramie " in Java. AH 
 these denominations in the languages of the countries producing the plant have 
 some meaning in regard to the varieties in the nettle family. The generic name of 
 the plant is " Urtica," of the Bohemaria tribe. But i>i its numerous varieties 
 there are different qualities classed under two principal types : Urtica nivea, 
 (the English China grass,) and Urtica utilis, or tenacissima, which is the raw/V. 
 The latter is the better of the two. We have both varieties in Louisiana, and we 
 can confirm Dr. Decaisne's assertion of the superiority of ramie over China grass. 
 Thus Urtica nivea, with the leaves green on one side and silvery on the other, 
 is inferior both in productiveness and in quality. Its fiber remains greenish, stiff, 
 and brittle. It is the reverse with the ramie, or Urtica tcjiacissiina. It is 
 partly for that reason that the English government of East India promotes by all 
 possible means the production of that variety in Hindostan. It is named rhca there 
 and ramie here. The Asiatic etymology of the two names corresponds logically to 
 the meaning of "high branches." 
 
 Roxburgh in England, Decaisne in France, and the Department of Agriculture 
 in America are the principal introducers of the plant into the scientific spheres of 
 their respective countries. They have personally verified the industrial value of 
 ramie as the genuine kind of Bohemaria, and recommended its adoption to agricul- 
 turists. Decaisne, professor of the Museum of Natural History in Paris, has 
 published a notice in which he traces the use of the textile in Europe as far back as 
 the seventh century. "Russia," hesays, "receiveditfrom the Tartar and the Chinese 
 as damask silk ; Holland received it from her Asiatic establishments, and trades 
 still with it, under the name of nettledoeck ; England, under Queen Elizabeth, 
 learned from the botanist Lobel the value of the article, and has since labored to 
 monopolize its trade throughout the civilized world. 
 
 In Europe, especially in France, new ideas and discoveries are promptly investi- 
 gated and sifted out by scientific volunteers laboring ardently to keep their 
 minds in activity, or to have the pleasure and the honor of contributing to the progress 
 and the welfare of mankind. They do there in theory what our Department of 
 Agriculture does here in practice. They study, think, and write on any agitated sub- 
 ject, and send the result of their mental efforts to some academy or institute, 
 whence it is publicly disseminated throughout the world. 
 
 The ramie question has been turned over and over again, for 3-ears, by writers 
 on industry and economy. Numerous memoirs, pamijhlets, and books have 
 
appeared in the wake of the learned Roxburgh and Dccaisne. But fev.- of those 
 pubhcations possess the tangibihty of accurate facts and of practical knowledge. 
 The majority are merely vague repetitions of old reports, and convey no instruc- 
 tion of a solid nature. One of the rare good treatises on the matter is that of 
 Ramon de la Sagra, member of the French Institute. It has been published in 
 the Bulletin de la Societe d' Acclimation of 1869, whicl^is similar in its object to 
 the monthly reoort of the United States Department of Agriculture. That treatise 
 is a clear and'reliable exposition of the Chinese methods employed in the cultiva- 
 tion and treatment of the plant, but the writer concludes, in harmony with all those 
 that are properly enlightened on the points in question, that the profitable cultiva- 
 tion of ramie is doubtful in European latitudes, or, at all events, not to be attempted 
 until the cleaning can be performed by efficient machinery. In the Union the 
 plant has a wide field and an ample margin in regard to the latitudes congenial to its 
 <Trowlh The Gulf States and California have in that respect the requisite quali- 
 ties particularly Louisiana, where the plant was first introduced from Mexico, in 
 1867, and subjected since to various tests. To two persons is due the credit of its 
 introduction into the United States, viz, Monsieur Ernest Godeaux, m that year 
 consul of France in New Orleans, and Benito Roezl, a Bohemian botanist, once a 
 resident of Santa Comapan, in Mexico. M. Godeaux, who was consul at Shanghai 
 before coming to New Orleans, had brought from China fine white clothing made 
 of "ma." It was remarked and admired by every one for its various quali- 
 ties. Having observed that the latitude and soil of Louisiana could not be uncon- 
 genial to the" plant, M. Godeaux ordered some ramie seed from China. But it 
 failed to come in proper condition. By a curious coincidence Roezl arrived at that 
 time from Vera Cruz with a lot ot ramie roots for sale. He had also a few plants 
 ^rowing in flower-pots. M. Godeaux identified and recommended the plant^ as 
 being the same he had attempted to introduce into Louisiana as a profitable article 
 of cultivation. The Department of Agriculture, then superintended by Gen. 
 Horace Capron, also recognized the identity of that Bohemaria and officially pro- 
 claimed its merits, as the Hon. Frederick Watts now does in regard to jute. 
 
 The New Orleans press, the " Picayune," the "Times," the "Bee," the "Re- 
 naissance Louisianaise," &c., studied elaborately the value and utilization of this 
 textile, and recommended its adoption. Roezl sold his roots in small quantities to 
 numerous experimenters, and the initiation of the plant was effected with varied 
 success in different quarters of Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, South Carolina, 
 Georcria, Alabama, &c. Thus a few hundreds of sickly ratoons, transplanted from 
 ^Mexico,' where a dozen roots had been previously imported from Java, rapidly 
 produced millions of plants in these States. But the vicissitudes of the country, 
 the want of efficient machinery, as also insufficient care and attention caused the 
 decay of a great portion of this first growth. Louisiana is probably the only spot 
 where the propagation of the plant was maintained. All sorts of experiments on 
 the various points to be studied made the writer of this memoir familiar with the 
 ramie cultivation and its requirements. The successful cultivation of the ramie is 
 not exactly an easy task, as many suppose it to be, nor can the plant adapt itself to 
 anv kind of soil indiscriminately, as it has been reported. Experience has demon- 
 strated that a durable stand requires a judicious choice of land and situation, also 
 intelligent and attentive labor at the outset. Bearing in mind that ramie is a 
 perennial growth of great productiveness, which can last for years and years, it 
 will logically be admitted that a selected and well-prepared soil is indispensable to 
 secure "the benefit of frequent cuttings and a lengthened stand. Therefore the 
 
lO 
 
 observation of the following rules will be absolutely necessary for the cultivation of 
 ramie, and for drawing from the rich plant all it can yield : 
 
 First. Whether for nursery purposes or for cultivation, the land must be sufficiently 
 elevated to receive the benefit of natural drainage, because the roots will not live 
 long in a watery bottom. 
 
 Secondly. The soil must be deep, rich, light, and moist as the sandy alluvia of 
 Louisiana. Manure supplies the defects in some lands in these respects. 
 
 Thirdly. The field must be thoroughly cleared of weeds, plowed twice to the depth 
 of 8 or lo inches if possible, harrowed as much as a thorough pulverizing requires, 
 and carefully drained by discriminate lines of ditches. Water must not be allowed 
 to stand in the rows of the plant. 
 
 The land being thus prepared, planting becomes easy and promising. Decem- 
 ber, January, and February are the best months in wdiich to plant. Roots, ratoons, 
 and rooted layers are the only available seed. They are generally 4 or 5 inches 
 long, carefully cut, not torn, from the mother-plant. The dusty seed produced by 
 ramie stalks in the fall can be sown, but it is so delicate and requires so much 
 care during the period of germination and growth that it seldom succeeds in open 
 land. The regular germinating power of that dusty seed is also questionable. The 
 Department of Agriculture vainly tried, a few years ago, to diffuse this seminal 
 cultivation by distributing imported seed, which never germinated. 
 
 In the presence of these difficulties, and of the sure propagation obtained from 
 fractional roots, sowing has been abandoned and replanting adopted as follows : 
 
 Furrows 5 or 6 inches deep and 5 feet apart are opened with the plow. The 
 roots are laid lengthwise in the middle, close in succession if a thick stand of crop 
 is desired, but placed at intervals if nursery propagation is the ofjject in view. 
 
 The first mode will absorb 3,000 roots per acre, but will save the labor of often 
 filling the stand by propagation. The second mode will spare three-fourths of that 
 amount of roots, but will impose the obligation of multiplying by layers. Being 
 placed in the furrow closely or at intervals the roots are carefully covered with 
 the hoe. Pulverized earth and manure spread over the roots insure an early and 
 luxuriant growth in the spring. When the shoots have attained a foot in height 
 they are hilled up like potatoes, corn, and all other plants that require good footing 
 and protection from the fermenting effect of stagnant water. The intervals be- 
 tween the rows being deepened by the hilling have also a draining influence, which 
 can be rendered still more effective by ditches dug across from distance to distance, 
 say 15 feet. 
 
 Good crops are obtained by thickening the stands. The stems are then 
 abundant, fine, straight, and rich in fiber. Close planting is then necessary, 
 inasmuch as it prevents the objectionable branching of the stalks. Crooked and 
 branchy ramie is unfit for mechanical decortication ; it causes waste and yields 
 an inferior quality of fiber. The period at which the plant is ripe for cutting is 
 indicated by a brownish tinge at the foot of the stems. At that early stage the 
 plant, though greenish, yields a fine and abundant filament; it also produces three 
 or four crops, according to soil and climate. The first cutting may be unprofitable 
 on account of the irregularity and sparseness of the growth ; but if the stand is 
 well razeed and manured over the stubbles the ensuing cuttings will be productive. 
 For that purpose the field must be kept clear of grass until the growth be 
 sufficiently dense to expel the parasites by its shade. That necessary density is 
 obtained by means of the important laying process. This consists in bending 
 down, right and left along the growing stand, the highest switches, and in covering 
 them with earth up to the tender tip, which must not l)e smothered. One of the 
 
1 1 
 
 causes of the perennity and ot t!ie vigor of the plant is the nourishment it draws 
 from the agencies of -the atmosphere. Consequently the leaves of the layers should 
 never be buried under ground. When properly performed, laying is very 
 profitable ; it creates an abundance ot new roots, and fills up rapidly the voids of 
 the stand. 
 
 After two years the plants may be so thick as to sprea-tl out in the rows. Then 
 the plow or the stubble-cutter has to chop in a line, on one side, the projecting 
 ratoons. If well executed this operation leads to notable advantages : 
 
 First. It extracts roots or fractional plants suitable for the extension of the 
 cultivation elsewhere. 
 
 Secondly. It maintains, as a pruning, a vigorous life and develops a luxuriant 
 growth in the stand. 
 
 Thirdly. If always applied on the same side of the row, this sort of stul)l:ile-cut- 
 ting has the remarkable advantage of removing gradually the growth toward the 
 unoccupied land in the intervals, and of pushing it into a new jjosition without 
 disturbance. 
 
 That slow rotation preserves the suil from rajiid exhaustion, and the ramie from 
 decay, through the accumulation of roots under ground. Of course this lateral 
 plowing will not prevent the opposite row from receiving die benefit of hoeing 
 after each crop. Experiments made in Louisiana have demonstrated the efficiency 
 of that method ; to which are due the preservation and propagation of the plant in 
 that State, while it has been destroyed in other sections for want of similar care. 
 
 It is through such judicious methods that the old land of China has preserved 
 sufficient fertility to produce constantly the ramie for many centuries. After each 
 cutting Chinese planters plow on one .->ide and make cleanly the stand ; then they 
 cover it with a thick coat of manure. That maintains the moisture and fertility ot 
 the soil, and, at the same time, preserves the jdant from excessive heat or extreme 
 cold. That protective system permits in winter ramie cultivation in latitudes 
 corresponding to those of JNIarylantl and Virginia. It could even be undertaken 
 farther north l)y another Chinese application. 
 
 In somecold regions of the northwestern parts of the celestial empire China-grass 
 is cultivated like potatoes. Planters dig up the stand every fall, after the last 
 cutting, and store the roots in cellars to replant them in the spring ; yet tliey 
 generally obtain two crops by that unfavorable process. 
 
 Let us now close this notice v.dtli a description of the harvesting operations. As 
 v.-e Irave already said, the cutting must commence when the stalks, in dense 
 bushes, become brownish at al)out a foot aliove the ground. 
 
 The American Mower, World Xo. i, with the new short blades, will mow ramie 
 easily and rapidly. The reaper will permit the stems to be gathered in sheaves 
 like wheat. Men and women walking beliind the mower tie them and equalize the 
 ends. Thus they build them in stacks from distance to distance on the ground. 
 After a few days the leaves wither and fall under the handling and the shaking 
 they undergo while they are being carried to the machine. Ramie may remain cut 
 from eight to fifteen days, according as the weather is dry or damp, before it is 
 decorticated. 
 
 There is also between the first and last degree of maturity a space of time whicli 
 leaves a sufficient margin for the harvesting of 50 acres per machine. The yield 
 of ramie fiber per acre varies according to the density of the growth. A plantation 
 with regular thick stands will i)roduce from 400 to 500 pounds of crude fiber per 
 acre at each cutting. 
 
 The process of decortication is sim})le and easy. The bunches coming from the 
 
12 
 
 field, with as few leaves as possible, are placed one ]>y one in succession in the 
 compressing aperture of the feeder of an endless circular carrier. The stalks 
 brought under the influence of the attractive rotation of cleaners, revolving with 
 great velocity, are crushed at their entry and scraped at their exit by the peculiar 
 effect of the horizontal carrier, which turns out the cleaned fiber on the opposite 
 side of the feeder. 
 
 The yield of the machine will be in proportion to its size and power. The 
 cleaning is incessant if tlie machine is fed constantly by a quick handling. Its 
 principle offers the facility of such an expansion that the apparatus can be made 
 large enough to clean one ton of fiber per day with a twenty-horse motive power. 
 It is not only to ramie, l)Ut also to jute, flax, hemp, and all strong textiles, in green 
 plants, that this new machine can be successfully applied. It is demonstrated by 
 theory and practice that the textiles extracted in a green state retain all the natural 
 qualities of strength and color, which lose always 50 per cent, by the ordinary 
 process of rotting in stalks. The avoiding of that loss is one of the great 
 advantages of the machine, besides the important economy in labor. Now comes 
 the disintegration of the decorticated fiber. 
 
 The yellowish ribbons produced from tlic jjlant engaged in the machine are the 
 crude fibers. Albumen keeps them undivided, but being dried in the shade they 
 acquire in that state a marketable value, which will double and triple by subjecting 
 the filament to the lileaching treatment. However, ramie-planters need not push 
 so far as the industrial preparation of the product, inasmuch as they can sell it in 
 its raw condition to l)leachers and manufacturers, as Ijrown sugar is sold to the 
 refiners. But should they desire to bleach and refine the article, they could do it 
 by the appliance of the ordinary process in use for flax-bleaching. The best 
 method is that of Bethollet, which has been the most extensively used. It 
 consists in first steeping the fibers or vegetable tissues in boiling water, and then 
 in rinsing them in a copious supply of water in order to disengage them from 
 soluble matter. When the water has entirely dropped off they are plunged into a 
 bath of alkaline lye, which is raised to the boiling-point; they are then immersed 
 in a solution of hypochlorite of lime or an alkaline hypochlorite. The tissues are 
 Avashed in a copious supply of water, and then immersed in water acidulated by 
 sulphuric acid : washed with soap and water ; then rinsed in water and dried. 
 Now, much labor is spared l:)y Ijringing the chlorite into immediate contact with 
 the fibers washed in hot water and still damp, or by l>lunging them into a bath 
 saturated with chlorate. 
 
 In conclusion, the ramie cultivation for southern planters and the application 
 of the machine to the operations of the western hemp and flax growers deserve in 
 every respect the most serious attention. They contain undoubtedl)' some elements 
 of beneficial improvement. 
 
 However, there may be one objection to ramie enterprise in the present 
 financial embarrassment of the country. It lies in the ca]iital required to start a 
 regular plantation. The root-seed costs from $20 to $25 a thousand, and at 
 least 3,000 roots are required for each acre. 
 
 That condition may not be accessible to many. At this juncture we have 
 another new, profitable, and cheaper industry to recommend as lieing within the 
 reach of the impoverished millions of our planting districts. That is the 
 cultivation of j/th', so \\'armly advocated during the last few years by our worthy 
 Department of Agriculture. The following notice on the subject of jute will be, 
 it is expected, as the above on ramie, of some advantage to the national interests 
 of the country. 
 
JUTE. 
 
 Jute {Coir/ioms capsiilai-is) is a filamentous plant of the Ilibiscits-hlalvaiea 
 family. It is a native of Hindostan, and has been us&<;l for many years in the 
 textile fabrics of Asia. Its importance as au exportable product dates principally 
 from the cotton crisis created by the war of secession. Then the British trade 
 took advantage of the cotton scarcity to develop the resources of jute as a cheap 
 staple applicable in many European fabrics. 
 
 It was largely imported, brought forward as an auxiliary to the existing staples, 
 and introduced into various spun goods. Though it has been proved unfit to take 
 the place of cotton, the numerous experinients then made through necessity have 
 considerably enlarged the area of jute consumption. Millions of bales are now 
 imported and used M'here only thousands were employed before. It is mixed with 
 other fd)ers, as wool, llax, hemp, cotton, &c., and causes the remarkable cheapness 
 of certain tissues. A more direct and extensive use to which this long fd)er has. 
 been put is in the ground of carpets, in oil-carpetings, twines, cordage, sacks, 
 bagging, &c. 
 
 The great center of jute specialties is Dundee, (Scotland.) There nearly one 
 hundred mills, occupying thousands of hands, work the article into various goods. 
 All over Eurojie jute is applied in numerous i)r()ducts. ( )f late years France has 
 considerably increased her consumjJtion of jute. The assessment of the additional 
 tax on imported textiles amounts for jute only to over 200,000 francs. Other 
 countries consume it in proportion. Ihiglanil, whose consumjition of the article 
 exceeds that of all other countries, has the monopoly of the product through her 
 eastern possessions, where she has developed its cultivation to an enormous and 
 annually-increasing extent. In order to secure for a long time to come the 
 continuation of that impcnlant source of wealth for the national trade, the British 
 government has forced by all possible means the extension of jute-culture, even at 
 the risk of a bread>luff scarcity, as is testified by the present famine in Bengal. 
 
 Last year a royal commission was appointed to examine the subject of jutc- 
 cultivation, and in([uire into the practicability of extending the production, in 
 order to retain in the hands of the British its exclusive supply to the world. That 
 agricultural industry being in the power of English capital, keeping in a sort of 
 bondage millions of Hindoo producers, jute is for England what cotton is to the 
 United States of America — the commodity which constitutes the principal portion 
 of the national exchange. The Old and the New World are tributaries for enormous 
 sums to Bengal, the principal jute-producing section. 
 
 The American trade disburses every year millions of dollars in gold to pay for 
 the manufactured and unmanufactured jute received from Bombay and Calcutta. 
 Though some sorts of canvas are designated in market reports under tlie 
 denomination of American jute-liagging, there is no jute produced in America. 
 The first trial of a regular jute-culture has just been made in Louisiana. 
 
 Desirous of relieving his country from the heavy trihute paid in that respect to 
 India, the Hon. Frederick Watts, Commissioner of the Department of Agriculture, 
 has taken to heart the patriotic task of introducing jute into our agricultural industry. 
 Having obtained from Congress an appropriation for the purchase of some seed 
 from India, Mr. Watts has distributed that seed in the Southern States, and 
 acquired the certainty that the plant can grow and prosper in those having, to a 
 certain extent, some similarity in latitude and soil to the jute districts of India. 
 
14 
 
 Louisiana seems to be remarkably congenial to the plant. Experiments made 
 there on a fair scale have demonstrated, by facts and production, the facility of 
 making jute a very profitable object of cultivation. 
 
 The Southern Ramie-Planting Association of New Orleans has planted it two 
 seasons in succession, and by various methods, with the view of testing the 
 adaptability and the yield of the imported seed. It has succeeded remarkably 
 well, and the reproduced seed has proved to be fully as good as the former, and 
 even superior in some cases. It was so well acclimated tlie second year that it has 
 grown and developed most luxuriantly in the various spots where it has been tried. 
 In general, the domesticated seed has been more vigorous than the seed received 
 from Calcutta. In the parishes of Saint James and Saint John Baptist that prolific 
 plant has attained an average of 8 and 9 feet in height, with a thickness of growth 
 similar to that of wheat ; and in inferior soils around New Orleans it has furnished 
 an average of 6 and 7 feet. That and many other facts conclusively demonstrate 
 that jute finds itself at home in the alluvial and moist soil of Louisiana equally as 
 well as in the old and half-exhausted lands of Hiiidostan. 
 
 Texas and Florida have also made successful experiments. 
 
 Before describing the mode of culture and of production applied in the experi- 
 mentations made in Louisiana, let us insert a report from a Boston merchant now 
 residing in Calcutta, who has taken the trouble of examining the jute question. 
 The following is what that gentleman, ]Mr. N. Goddard Fuller, writes on the 
 cultivation of that plant in India : 
 
 " The quantity of jute fiber and seed produced to an acre depends-' greatly on 
 the richness of the land. It is planted in Serajgunge, Naranigunge, (Dacca,) and 
 other northeastern districts, where about four-fifths of the total crop is raised ; the 
 product is from two thousand to three thousand pounds of jute on an average; in 
 some cases, however, as much as four thousand pounds are produced. The 
 yield of seed is about one thousand to one thousand two hundred pounds per acre. 
 In places, say about fifty miles around Calcutta, the production of which is called 
 dessee, or country jute, the yield is smaller, being only about six hundred to one 
 thousand pounds of fiber, and more seed, say one thousand five hundred to one 
 thousand six hundred pounds per acre ; but on rich, damp lands the product is almost 
 as much as in the northeastern provinces. The dessee description was used only 
 for local consumption until al)out five years ago, when shipments of it to England 
 began, and both the shipments and productions of it are increasing every year. Jute 
 is sowed broadcast, and about twenty-two to twenty-eight pounds of seed is required 
 to an acre. In the northeastern provinces it is planted in February and March, and is 
 •cut about the end of June and beginning of July. The dessee is sown in July and 
 August, and cut in August and September. On rich land it grows and ripens quicker. 
 In the northeastern districts, when grown on rich soil, the diameter of the stalk 
 at the bottom is from three-fourths of an inch to one and a quarter inches, and the 
 length from seven to ten feet, and sometimes, but rarely, longer and thicker. 
 
 " The country jute around cities is from four to seven feet long and one-half to 
 three-fourths of an inch in diameter. The plants are cut about three inches above the 
 ground, excepting dowrah, which is uprooted. The Initts are cut at the time of 
 baling the jute for export to Calcutta. When the stalks are cut they have a green 
 bark, which, after going through certain processes, becomes fiber ; the planters 
 cannot tell at the time of cutting the stalks whether any or how far from the 
 bottom will be hard. Tlie stalks are cut about a month before the seed ripens, 
 and the poorer plants are generally let go to seed. Jute made out of the plants 
 

 
 producing seed is hard and barky ; the unripe seed, cut with Uie stalks, is of no 
 use. It grows best on rich, moist ground, but not on low ground. Castor-oil 
 cake is the best for it, and next to that cow-manure, but the country planters, as 
 the ground is naturally rich, use no manure whatever. An acre of cotton costs 
 much more than an acre of jute. Jute and cotton do not interfere with each other 
 in the least. Cotton grows in the northwestern provinces, Central and Southern 
 India, wdiilejute is raised in Bengal. The little cotton that Bengal produces, and 
 the little jute that the cotton districts produce are of poor quality, and only used 
 for local consumption. For the last few years jute has been encroaching on the 
 linseed crop, as the same ground is suitable for both." 
 
 It was in the presence of such inciting reports, and of the encouraging counsels oi 
 the Department of Agriculture, that experiments were earnestly made in Louisiana. 
 The selection of the soil and the methods of planting were diversified in order to 
 discover the best applications. The most favorable and economical system sifted 
 out of these various tests is the following : 
 
 To obtain good fiber-crops the land must be elevated, rich, moist, and well 
 drained, as in India; to raise seed, low lands may be used, provided that favorable 
 weather allows sowing and enables the growing plants to keep above the jioints ot 
 overllow. Mowever, when the growth is full)' started, water is not to be feared, 
 so long as the tips remain above the surface of sid^mersion. 
 
 In the first case, jute is sown broadcast; in the second, in drills five feet apart. 
 That interval is to facilitate the branching, and, at the same time, the destruction 
 by plowing of the tall weeds wdiich generally occupy low lands. In both mclhoils 
 the soil must be as well prepared as for ramie ; plowed as deep as possible in 
 January or February, then left exposed to atmospherical influences until the 
 planting period. That period commences with April and terminates with June, in 
 monthly succession. To prepare for sowing a second plowing is required, and as 
 fine a harrowing as can be effected. The "circular j^ulverizer," applied before 
 the harrow, shortens the labor. Then the sowing for fiber-crop is performed 
 broadcast with a Calhoun sower. With that instrument, costing $8 or $10, a man 
 can sow ten acres of jute per day. The quantity of seed required for each acre is 
 from 12 to 15 pounds. That is amply sufficient, and, if the Hindoos put more in 
 their land, there must be some accountable reason for that excess. Either the con- 
 dition of their seed or of their land is inferior to that of America, or they are 
 singularly prone to go to waste. We have repeatedly observed that, when the 
 growth is thicker than what is allowed by the aforesaid quantum of seed, some 
 natural destructive agent enters into the stand and thins the space to the limit 
 demanded by the plant. This fiict was verified in several spots of jute-plantation 
 in Louisiana. Therefore no advantage at all can be derived from prodigality in 
 sowing. The equal distribution obtained by the mechanical sower may account 
 also for the economical difference existing between us an.d the Hindoo planters, 
 who, having no machinery whatever, do all their work by hand. 
 
 The ground being -well tilled and the seed properly sown, on wet days if possible, 
 the jute is left atone like wheat. No oilier care than that of drainage is necessary 
 until maturity. 
 
 The cost of that first operation cannot exceed $4 ])er acre, if the material is 
 adequate and the management judicious. That expense, of cour.^e, does not in- 
 clude the value of the seed, because, after the first outlay, planters will ijrovide 
 themselves with it from the low lands, or from the weak spots of the plantation. 
 In the Ijottoins, when we plant in drills for seed, a subsequent plowing or two 
 
i6 
 
 will be necessary in ihe intervals to neutralize the encroachments of grass. In 
 Louisiana thaf labor is a necessity principally for the purpose of combating the tall 
 weed called "wild indigo," which occupies the low grounds. That tall weed, 
 which is also fibrous, is the only vegetable that keeps pace in growth with jute; 
 all other plants are distanced and smothered by the shade of the corchorus. 
 
 In the field planted broadcast no parasite can resist the vigorous and absorbing 
 influence of jute. Even the hardy and noxious gramineal plant, commonly called 
 "coco" in Louisiana, is destroyed after two seasons of broadcast cultivation. 
 Another peculiar advantage of jute-planting is the antagonistic influence it exerts over 
 insects, especially the lepidoptera tribe, which generates the caterpillar. It having 
 been stated in some reports of the Department of Agriculture that cotton-fields 
 surrounded by jute-plantations were respected by the devouring worms, the director 
 of the Ramie-Planting Association made special experiments to test the reported 
 fact. Three different fields, planted with various sorts of cotton, were belted by 
 jute. None of them were visited by the caterpillar, while the cotton of adjacent 
 plantations was partly destroyed by the insect. That protection is attributed to 
 tlie above-mentioned influence hostile to insects. It was observed that flics 
 and butterflies kept away from jute-fields, especially at tlie blossoming period. 
 The peculiar odor of the flower and the bitter exudation of the leaves seem to be 
 strongly repulsive to them, if not poisonous. So imjiortant a fact deserves to be 
 demonstrated once more on a largei- scale. It would cost but little to plant belts 
 of jute around the regular cotton plantations which have been heretofore invaded 
 by these injurious insects. 
 
 The best period for cutting good crops of jute is during the stage that precedes 
 the blossoming, or, at least, the seeding. The fiber is then fine, white, and 
 strong. The monthly sowing graduates the maturing of the successive crops, 
 which facilitates labor. Ajn-ll planting can be harvested in July, May planting in 
 August, and June planting in September. Any late growth can be harvested in 
 October, and even after if no frost interferes. The i)lant stands green until frost 
 dries it up ; but even then it can furnish a good material for paper. The cutting 
 operation is done with a moiving and reaping apparatus. The mower, World No. 
 I, easily cuts jute of the largest size and thickest stands. The albumen of the 
 plant makes it easier to cut than dry wheat. The reaper gathering the stems, 
 bundles are made and carried as fast as possible to the mill, where the textile is 
 rapidly separated as described in our notice on ramie. Then comes the rotting 
 operation. As fast as the fiber is turned out by the decorticating-machine it is 
 plunged into large vats filled with pure water, and left exposed to the heat of the 
 atmosphere. Kept under at least one foot of water, tlic filament is disintegrated 
 by the dissolution of the gums or resins which united it in a sort of ribbon. That 
 process of fermentation or rotting takes about a week in summer. With care and 
 attention to the proper degree of rotting the fiber comes out almost white, lustrous, 
 and fine like flax. The disintegration is known to be complete when the fiber 
 assumes a pasty character. Then the rotted hanl^s are withdrawn, carefully 
 washed in clear water, and hung up to dry in the sliade. Care must be taken that 
 the filament be well covered with water during the fermenting period, because 
 atmospherical agencies tend to communicate to it a brownish color. After a few 
 days of good weather it is ready to be shaken and twisted for baling like other 
 textiles. That new process of rotting the separated filament instead of whole 
 stalks, combines different profital:)le results — the advantages of economy in labor, 
 in value, and in integrity of product. With this great progress in the manipulation. 
 
17 
 
 the India jute competition will surely be defeated if American agriculturists avail 
 themselves of the chance offered exclusively to them at present. 
 
 The Hindoo planters cut their jute by hand, and subject it to the old system of 
 ditch-rotting; they steep the plants in their draining canals and putrid water-pools 
 until fermentation is generated in the bark ; then they strip and wash by hand the 
 rotted filament on each stalk. All this is done with a great loss of time and of 
 value in the product. The various sizes of the stalks put to rot cause great 
 inequalities in the disintegration ; tips are rotted before the butt-ends, and while 
 the former are weakened by over-rotling, the latter remain yet undivided through 
 an insuiificient action of the ferment. Hence the inferiority of India jute as a 
 filament, and the large amount of butts and other rejected 'parts which have to be 
 deducted from the regular staple. 
 
 The jute-textile is naturally stronger than it is as it comes from India. The 
 unperfect system of disintegration weakens and spoils it in the proportion of at 
 least 50 per cent. 
 
 There is no such loss in the decortication by machinery ; stripped from the green 
 envelope, and reduced to a uniform ribbon, the fiber receives the direct and equal 
 action of rotting ferments, without the injurious influence of excessive or of 
 insufficient disintegration. 
 
 The Hindoo process of rotting the stalks is expensive, though it seems simple 
 and easy. The work of manipulation is considerable, and is entirely wasted on 80 
 per cent, of refuse. Besides all its anti-economical drawbacks, it has the great 
 inconvenience of infusing into the fiber the tannic coloring of the bark. Tiie 
 brown tinge with whicli it is permeated depreciates considerably the staple ; it 
 prevents easy bleaching and mixture in, white and colored goods. 
 
 Fortunately for the United States, all these difficulties are removed by the 
 mechanical decortication applied from ramie to jute. The decorticating-machine 
 has operated publicly on the two plants and demonstrated the facts above stated. 
 
 Having tested the yield by the decortication of several acres, and verified in 
 various manners the practicability of making this culture an abundant source of 
 profit, the experimenters have purposely ceased cutting in order to save as much 
 seed as possible for future development. 
 
 Samples of the fiber have been sent to different manufacturers, who have reported 
 most favorably. Cordage made in New Orleans with the material has been con- 
 sidered superior to any made of the ordinary stock. The raw filament, produced 
 fiirectly by decortication, is already a marketable material. Extracted from young 
 plants, that is to say, plants not yet in blossom, it makes an excellent strong stock 
 for rope. When it becomes appreciated by use it may be classed as valuable as 
 Sisal or Manila hemp. No doubt it will, sooner or later, be adopted in company 
 with, if not in the place of, the imported fiber. It is a well-known fact that fiber ob- 
 tained from its green stem is naturally strong and durable. That explains the 
 qualities of the raw article, inasmuch as we, by our system, can rot it to the decree 
 required for the purpose in view. 
 
 The long, soft staple made from it by water-rolting is remarkable in every sense. 
 It has been pronounced equivalent to Italian henqs for many purposes, especially 
 f(u- packing yarns. As it can be thoroughly bleached and mixed with the other 
 staples, it will soon exceed the value of the best India jute. Ropes made for home 
 consumption of the two sorts — the raw and the retted— have been estimated at an 
 average wholesale price of 20 cents per pound. Deducting 6 cents for waste and 
 making, 14 cents would remain for the fiber. That result would leave a consider- 
 2 R J 
 
able profit to the producer, the average cost of production not being over 3 cents 
 a pound, where the cultivation is well managed. Let us add that the refuse, 
 after the cleaning, furnishes 50 per cent, of good material for paper-making, the other 
 50 per cent, furnishing a good manure. 
 
 It is the same case with ramie, the cultivation of which can be easily associated 
 with that of jute. The two cultures will ultimately be the most profitable of the 
 country — especially in Louisiana, where the decaying cultivation of sixgar-cane 
 demands a substitute. 
 
 The plants whose introduction is here advocated will become for sugar-planters 
 a timely relief, inasmuch as the large capital invested in their machinery can be 
 utilized in ramie and jute production. Then, but a small outlay for seed and the 
 decorticating apparatus will be necessary. 
 
 There are two species of jute, as of ramie, the dacca and the dessec. The 
 difference between them is notable. The first grows higher in stalks, but thinner 
 in stands. It is the reverse with the second, which, however, grows and matures 
 faster. The yield and quality of fiber in each are nearly the same. They are 
 distinguished by the seed. One is inclosed in a pod, the other in a bean. The 
 seed of the dacca variety is brown; that of the dessee green. We have cultivated 
 both varieties, and we think that, the last named could furnish two crops a year on 
 account of its rapid growth. The dessee crop can be made within two months 
 after sowing. 
 
 Besides the "Ramie-Planting Association of New Orleans," several Louisiana 
 j^lanters have experimented on the jute. M. de Lobel-Mahy, of Saint James 
 Parish, a gentleman of intellectual culture, has planted some for seed, and he 
 expresses his opinion as follows : 
 
 " I am convinced that the jute-cultivation can perfectly succeed in Louisiana. 
 Most probably that plant will produce better results than the sugar-cane cultivation, 
 which is rendered more and more difficult by high wages," &c. 
 
 Dr. B. Laplace, a planter of ability in Saint John Baptist Parish, has also 
 tried the jute. "There is not a more profitable cultivation," he says, "if only 6 
 cents can be obtained for the water-rotted jjroduct." 
 
 Mr. Revillion, of Lac Arthur, Calcasieu Parish, reports a remarkable growth, 
 and the successful destruction of c?co by jute; of which he speaks, like Dr. 
 Laplace, with enthusiastic confidence. 
 
 Mr. F. Sanfroid, merchant, of New Orleans, has obtained such a prolific growth 
 of jute in a garden that he thinks it destined to restore the prosperity of our 
 agricultural industry if extensively cultivated. 
 
 Dr. Landry, of New Orleans, has observed the influence of jute-growth on insects, 
 and writes as follows : " I have seen, on the first of October, a cotton-field in full foli- 
 age, flowers and bolls, without a single insect-bite. That cotton was surrounded by a 
 jute-growth. All the other cotton-fields, far and around, were more or less dev- 
 astated by worms. If this fact does not conclusively prove the protective influ- 
 ence of jute over cotton, it at least contains a great presumption in favor of the 
 affirmative, as the emanations from the jute-flower are injurious to the insects. 
 Paris-green has succeeded generally in saving tha cotton, wherever it was properly 
 applied ; but the jute would cost less and be more reliable, on account of the uncer- 
 tainty of negro labor in disseminating the green poison over the cotton-leaves." 
 
 Besides ihese, and many other opinions expressed in favor of jute-planting, 
 besides, also, the repeated recommendations of the Hon. Frederick Watts, many 
 merchants, manufacturers, and gentlemen of standing and intelligence in the North 
 warmly advocate jute-production in the United States. The Hon. E. H. Derby, 
 
19 
 
 of Boston, has for years past earnestly fostered tlie idea of its introduction. He 
 has studied the question, and, by publications, has disseminated a knowledge of the 
 subject with perseverance and talent. 
 
 Having visited jute manufactories in Dundee, that gentleman has described m 
 some official reports the working of the article, and sho^n how easy it would be for 
 Americans to establish such factories in the Union. 
 
 Thomas H. Dunham, esq., another Boston gentleman of high patriotic senti- 
 ments, has also, for a long period, recommended the same object, and has spoken 
 with competency on the matter. "Our Government," he writes, "should do 
 all in its power to encourage the growth of jute in the country. How nnmense 
 would be the trade! Manila paper is nine-tenths jute; gunny-bags, oil-cloth, 
 burlap, gunny-cloth— what vast use we make of each and all. Sacking for wheat 
 in the California market alone is an immense trade for jute. What is wanted in 
 the United States is a special worker to go into the carrying out of its growth, 
 taking such practical steps as will insure its universal growth where it is possible 
 in this country, making the matter a special bounty to encourage and stimulate 
 the growth of jute. No one man can prepare the work unless he has that and 
 nothfng else to attend to. A pamphlet may give facts, but it brings so much care ; 
 one has to give time, patience, care far beyond his means. I hail with great 
 satisfaction the specimens of American jute sent to me ; they are worthy of all 
 praise and encouragement. The country is indebted to the producer, and I 
 would have his labor remunerated. I will do all I can to further the labor in this 
 culture. The policy of the British government is to hold the jute trade ; our 
 policy is to bring every facility to its growth and culture here. The great use of 
 jute in all branches will give it a constant demand fully equal to one-half of our 
 cotton-crop. It is good for a variety of purposes." 
 
 The above opinions express the sentiments of all competent economists and en- 
 lightened citizens desirous of promoting the national welfare. Every one famil- 
 [^i- with this important question thinks the Government should take immediate 
 steps to pODularize the cultivation of jute throughout the Union. 
 
 1st. A knowledge of the culture and production should be diffused by means 
 of a short treatise distributed free. 
 
 2d. Premiums of sufficient amount to attract capital should be offered for the 
 largest and best cultivation. 
 
 3d. A model jute-plantation should be established and managed by the Govern- 
 ment, under the superintendence of the Department of Agriculture, to start the 
 great work, to impart the initial teaching, and, at the same time, to produce seed 
 for the people. We have now in the country all the necessary elements for a suc- 
 cessful and rapid development of jute-cultivation; lands adapted to the purpose; 
 climate congenial; seed domesticated; practical knowledge of the culture, and all 
 the mechanical requisites for a valuable production. But little effort and outlay 
 on the part of Government would be necessary to develop jute and ramie culture 
 so as to suppress foreign monopolies and save millions of dollars to the country, 
 and to establish new industries which would give employment to millions of la- 
 borers. Tn every sense the matter is worthy of the patriotic attention of our 
 national Congress. 
 
 New Oki.f.ans, La., Dcccmhcr, 1S73. 
 
Culture and Manufacture 
 
 Ramie and Jute 
 
 THE UNITED STATES 
 
 EMILE LEFRANC, 
 
 OF NEW ORLEANS. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
 
 WASHINGTON: A 
 GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 
 
 1873- 
 
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