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Rh of days. Then they are fed into the machine, which tickles them, turns and twists them, bends and breaks them, shakes them, stretches them. That machine does anything else that may be necessary properly to treat those stalks. But there is no gum to stick and smear over everything; it is eliminated along with the pulp. The fiber is laid down in bale form, and shipped to be prepared for the textile mills, which afford an ever-ready market.

Mr. von Schlichten has spent $350,000 experimenting with ramie-growing and mechanical treatment of the fiber, and he has demonstrated that the San Joaquin valley is capable of producing every pound of fiber now imported into the United States, and the government statistics show that $87,000,000 worth comes from Asia and India annually. With ideal soil conditions and perfect climate, Mr. von Schlichten asserts that California can produce better fibers than any place in the world, and even in competition with the pauper labor of Asia can produce it cheaper. He has evolved a California species of ramie far superior to that grown elsewhere, for although the plant is tropical and subtropical, requiring the moisture of the heavy rainfall of the tropics, it is being produced in California by means of irrigation. In China it is possible to produce only three crops annually, the stalks being from thirty-two to thirty-six inches long, while Mr. von Schlichten cuts six crops a year, the stalks being six to seven feet long, and each cutting is of the same excellent quality. In China, the stalks are from six to ten inches in fiber, while the fibrous portion of the California species is from twelve to seventeen inches long.

What is more, Mr. von Schlichten has proved these things to the satisfaction of shrewd observers, including your very astute Uncle Samuel, who owns forty eight show-me states, two doubting territories and several more or less skeptical insular possessions. And in such things Uncle Sam's the guy who put the mist in pessimist.

These years of study and of sacrifice on the part of Mr. von Schlichten open up new opportunities to the farmers of California. There is no monopoly on ramie. There are thousands of acres of rich level soil available for ramie-growing, and, with increased production, great textile mills may be established on the Pacific Coast.

Having completed his marvelous machine, and having shown that ramie is profitable to the farmer, and being the recipient of high praise from experts and economists, you'd think Mr. von Schlichten was well satisfied. But he isn't. If it weren't for his expansive smile he'd appear gloomy when he says:

"I'll be satisfied when stalks go into the machine and come out twine!"