The Comparative Evaluation of Fourteen Types of Ramie under Cuban Conditions 1

I~AMIE, Boehmeria hives (L.) Oaud., is a shrubby perennial plant which belongs to the Urticaceae or nettle family. The plant is said to be indigenous to China and has been known for centuries to be the source of a desirable ~extile fiber because of its excelling properties in regard to strength, fineness, luster, and durability. The fiber is obtained from the bast portion of the stem or the layer which lies between the central woody cylinder and the epidermis. During the past century, considerable research work has been conducted towards solving the cultural and processing problems associated with the production of this fiber, but in the United States the fiber has never attained a position of much importance in the textile field. Methods of decorticating and degumming the fiber have been so costly as to hinder commercial development. An additional factor which has tended to suppress the advance of the industry is the fact that ramie fiber possesses the properties for imitating such fibers as cotton, silk, and flax. Consequently, efforts have been focused on replacing these fibers with ramie fiber in the manufacture of textiles to which the former were economically better adapted. Instead, attention should be concentrated upon the exclusive uses for which ramie fiber is peculiarly and naturally adapted. This fiber can be used to advantage iri articles such)s-surgical dressings, marine cordage, fish lines and nets, sail cloth, tents, tarpaulins, parachute harness, and toweling materiMs which call for the distinctive merits uharacterizing ramie fiber. Closely related to each other and grouped under the name ramie are several distinct types 6f plants. The two principal species cultivated for fiber are Boehmeria n~vea, distinguished by its large cordate leaves which are very white and tomentose on the under surface, and B. utilis Blume which is characterized by its more robust habit with leaves of only one color, that is, they are green on the under surface in contrast to B. nivea. Some systematic botanists regard B. utilis as a variety of B. nivea, but the majority give it species rank. Most authors refer to 13. nivea as the source of the "China grass" of. commerce, while.B, utilis is generally referred to as "rhea". B. nivea is said to grow chiefly in the more temperate regions of the world, while B. utilis grows best in the tropical and subtropical countries. Jefferson (6)3 states that the fibers from the two gpecies are so