Ramil
a plant producing what is popularly known as China grass. The value of ramil as a textile fiber has long been known. China has been making ramil fabrics since the time of Confucius, and the ancient Romans wore robes woven of its silky floss. China not only supplies an enormous home demand, but also exports annually hundreds of millions of pounds to foreign lands. The plants, which are indigenous to Asia, are now grown quite extensively in South America and other warm countries. The plant does well in the S. part of the United States and a finer fiber can be grown there than in the tropics. In such a climate the fiber is long, silky and brilliant, and textiles made from it are stronger than linen and have the luster of silk. One obstacle to the general use of this fiber has been the difficulty of extracting the filaments from the rest of the stalk, but a machine has been invented by an American which removes this.