| Description | Manuscript and typescript letters and reports, printed documents and press cuttings regarding fibre from 'China grass', ramie, rhea and Boehmeria nivea and Conocephalus niveus. Includes papers regarding specimens and samples sent to Kew, and methods of manufacture, including proceedings of the 'Concours International de la Ramie' [International 'Ramie' [or Rhea] Competition], Paris, 25 Sep 1888, where Daniel Morris represented Kew and the India Office. Includes information regarding companies involved in this trade, and regarding methods of decortification, including the use of different machines to extract the fibres.
Volume includes letters and notes by Thiselton-Dyer, Morris, Jackson and Nicholson; with letters to William Jackson Hooker, Joseph Hooker, Thiselton-Dyer, and Morris. Includes correspondence with the India Office, Foreign Office, and the British Consulate in Barcelona, with letters fom W A Kerr and C W Dieseldorff among others. Includes (f182) samples of fibre, (f250) pressed leaves, and (ff102-103) parcel wrapping. Includes (ff90-91) illustration plate for Conocephalus niveus.
Printed documents include:
- (F9) 'Value of Colonial Museums', COLONIES (1877)
- (F10-17) Minutes, AGRICULTURAL AND HOLTICULTURAL SOCIETY OF INDIA (1880)
- (Ff24-25) INSTRUCTIONS RELATIVE TO THE CULTIVATION AND PREPARATION OF THE FIBRE OF CHINESE GRASS CLOTH (BOEHMERIA NIVEA)
- (F28) E M Holmes, THE NEILGHERRY NETTLE
- (Ff38-63) A Favier, THE TEXTILE NETTLES (RHEA OR RAMIA, CHINESE NETTLE, ETC) HISTORY, CULTURE, DECORTICATION (1882)
- (Ff64-65) 'Cultivation of China Grass', THE PAPER MAKERS' MONTHLY JOURNAL (1883)
- (Ff72-81) LINI-SOIE SYNDICATE
- (Ff82-89) Dr Forbes Watson, 'The Preparation and Use of Rhea Fibre', JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF ARTS (1883)
- (Ff104-106) JOHORE RHEA PLANTATION COMPANY. Prospectus relating to company shares, with details of plantation operating costs.
- (Ff107-108) 'China Grass and the Textile Manufactures. Extracts from the Public Press' (1882-1884). Newspaper cuttings regarding rhea manufacture in places including Johore and India.
- (Ff 112-113b) 'The Fibre Machinery Trials at Calcutta', PLANTER'S GAZETTE (1885).
- (Ff135-134) ON RHEA-RAMIE (CHINA GRASS) (1885)
- (Ff156-161) A Sansone, ON CHINA GRASS OR RHEA-RAMIE FIBRE (1885)
- (F174) Foreign Office report (1886) - Barcelona, Spain. Refers to plans to produce ramie cloth in Gerona.
- (F175) 'Improved Fibre-Extracting Machinery', GLASGOW HERALD (1887)
- (Ff296-307) SOCIÉTÉ AGRICOLE DE LA RAMIE. RAPPORT SUR LA CULTURE INTENSIVE, LE RENDEMENT INDUSTRIEL ET L'AVENIR (Paris: Imprimerie Chaix, 1888).
- (F308) LA DECORTIQUEUSE ARMAND. Poster advertising the sale of machinery.
- (F323) J O Wallace, 'Patent scutching machine for clearning ramie, flax, hemp, etc.' THE MANUFACTURER (1888). Refers to rhea grown at Kew.
- (Ff329-336) PROCEEDINGS OF THE AGRICULTURAL AND HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY OF INDIA FOR NOVEMBER 1888.
- (Ff329-336, 340-341, 498-499) Papers regarding auction house Ide & Christie's with prices for textiles including coir, ramie, jute, hemp and esparto (1888-1889). |