Excerpt from A Report on the Cultivation of Ramie in the United States, Vol. 7: With Statements Concerning the Practice in Foreign Countries, Cost of Cultivation and Percentages of Yield, the Machine Question, and Preparation of the Fiber for Manufacture

Ramie seed is said by Favier to have been first introduced into France in 1836, and in 1844 plants were brought from China by the surgeon of the war ship Favorite which were grown In the acclimating gardens. While one writer claims that the plant was first brought to the gardens of Europe in 1733, Favier states that Dr. Fras cultivated the plant in the botanical gardens of Munich in 1850, and that it was grown in Belgium in 1860.

Our own introduction dates back to 1855, but the records seem to show that it did not obtain a foothold in Mexico until 1867, the year, by the way, in which the first American ramie machine was brought to public attention. It is interesting to note that the first shipment of plants into France, in considerable number, was from America, plants having been imported for distribution in France and Algiers in 1868. From this time, or a little later, its spread to many other coun tries was rapid, until now there is hardly a country on the earth where it will grow that has not experimented with cultivation and with the machine question.

The first French official trials took place in 1888, followed by the trials of 1889, in Paris, at which the writer was present, and which are recorded in Report No. 1 of the Fiber Investigations series. Another trial was held in 1891, and in the same year the first official trials in America took place, in the State of Vera Cruz, in Mexico, followed the next year by the first official trials of American machines in the United States; these being followed by the trials of 1894, just closed.

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