Note 1 — Economic Reasons for Suppressing the Silk Trade of China in Spain and its Colonies

Probably referring to the plant called “China grass” (Boehmeria nivea), a shrub indigenous in India, and probably in China [265n] and other countries of eastern Asia; also introduced by cultivation into Europe and America. The Chinese name for it is tchou-ma. The well known “ramie” is but a variety (tenacissima) of Boehmeria nivea. The fiber of China grass is considered as a textile substance of the first rank. For description of this plant and its culture and use, see C.R. Dodge’s Useful Fiber Plants of the World (U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, 1897), pp. 85–91.