NSW Ramie or Papuan Kenaf?

Will The Choice

Lie Between—

While the Papua-New Guinea kenaf fibre industry is official!,, ~n ■ the experimental stage, and apparently is to remain so until soml sort 'f Government assistance is forthcoming, there has been a snate rrf n.mr ? f for ramie fibre in New South Wales. Ramie is not new * s new is a processing method that, for the first time in the tw7n. ,h h ‘ of°th S e fi^reTrom^the^tem,* 133 knOW ”’ PermitS

A HIGHLY successful method of extracting ramie fibre was • a £ n °unced in Sydney recently, t is thought the process will make amie one of the leading fibres in le world.

The ramie plant is described as herbaceous perennial, and its ■owing habits are somewhat like a ysanthemum. That is, it throws ) tall stalks and when these die are harvested, shoots spring again om the plant’s roots.

In a crysanthemum, the new oots spring away once per year’ th ramie, the shoots are springing i continually. 5 Chief of the NSW Department of fnculture s Division of Plant In

jtfry w - Poggendorff),

could more than mpete with flax; it could strongly aipete with cotton; and present lications are that it could even

replace jute and kenaf in the in dustrial fibre field. ln "

Mr. Poggendorff said that a Sydney businessman, Mr. M. Wise submitted ideas on a method of extracting the fibre about 12 years ago. Experiments had continued ever since. Mr. Wise’s invention was revolutionary, and it had proved highly successful. provea ar^o m i e has b ? en Srown for thous ands of years in China, and Ramie cloth was used to bind Egyptian But hitherto commercial nrnpr C w ll £ ad keen considered practicable because existing methods ° f Q P r 9 ce ssmg, by retting and mechanical decorticating, were un satisfactory because of natural gums present in the plant.

Ramie is the most versatile of all 0S K wool and grain sacks can ü b ? made from it; - and, when washed and bleached, ramie yarn

can be fashioned into materials as fine as linen. Its tensile strength far exceeds that of flax and cotton, and, unlike other fibres, its strength is greater when wet than when dry.

It takes both vat and printed dyes readily.

Mr. Foggendorff said the plant will thrive in areas where there is a rainfall of at least 50 inches. But the ground must be well drained.

Although the plant will stand com plete immersion for several days it will not live if water lies round its roots. It is a perennial; some areas of P-NG should be ideally suited to

its production.

Average life of the plant is from 10 to 15 years, and it can be har vested two or three times a year.

The plants grow to five or six feet in height, and the fibre is found in a layer around the stems.

The extraction method is an entirely new steam process, as opposed to previous mechanical and chemical methods which have failed.

To be economic, ramie must be grown on a large scale, and with careful planning. The plants could be harvested by mechanical means but they must be processed immediately.

This entails having the processing plant, including the costly steam boiler, relatively near the planted fields. Estimated yield is about 20

tons of green stems an acre each year, from three cuts. Recovery of the fibre is about five per cent.

An English textile firm undertook weaving tests on some of the first yarn prepared in Australia. The

results delighted the company and it has indicated that it will purchase all ramie produced.

The department had proved that ramie fibre can be produced economically, said Mr. Foggendorff.

But the Department itself could not enter into commercial production. It now rested with the Government or with private enterprise to put the new industry on its feet. Growers should have a ready market for their produce, and the Department will make available all technical information so far obtained.

Following newspaper publicity about the new method of extraction, the NSW Dept, of Agriculture re ceived many inquiries about the growth and use of ramie fibre. Many of the inquiries, including one from New Guinea, came from farmers who wanted to know more about ramie as a possible crop. Many of them failed to realise that it would be useless to begin growing ramie unless there was a processing plant near them. Numerous inquiries had also come from textile manufac turers requesting samples of the fibre to test its suitability for their particular lines. Some of them ilready use small quantities of it to pve added strength to their naterials.

Editorial Note

It is obvious that ramie, like kenaf, o be successful, will have to have ehind it good organisation and a übstantial amount of capital.

ITiether they are provided by Gov rnment or private enterprise does ot matter very much.

To operate ramie on a commercial ;ale it is essential to have a pre ssing plant within reach of the rowers. In fact, what is required a modification of the sort of set p that exists between cane-farmers id sugar-millers in Northern NSW id Queensland. If production were idertaken on this scale, the NSW epartment of Agriculture is cer in that ramie could complete onomically with any other fibre.

The advantage that ramie hias r er kenaf or jute is that it is much ore versatile. In fact, Mr. Poggen >rff wears a shirt made from ramie; ' nave yet to see a shirt made Dm kenaf.

Another obvious advantage is

at it could be grown in Aus nJa and if there is to be any Dvernment assistance given to a ire industry, something on the istrahan mainland would have eater claim to political sympathy an would a prospective industry the voteless Territory of P-NG