Main Importations


 RYE, BARLEY, AND BUCKWHEAT
 Charles Mason was instrumental in bringing a number of new
 varieties of rye, barley, and buckwheat to this country. He imported
 the Large Northern Prolific Rye from Germany to be sown in the
 central states, barley from southern Spain, and the Silver Buck-
 wheat from France in 1854. The Saxony rye was considered the
 best of sixteen varieties sown experimentally in 1866. Oderbruch
 barley from the Oder Valley and other barleys were tried with fair
 results. By 1872 the barleys, Chevalier, Probstier, and Saxonion
 had been established as preferred varieties.
 The origin of barley varieties in this country, like many of our
familiar crops, is difficult to trace. Many of the present varieties
have been bred as hybrids by individuals and experimental farms.
Aberg and Wiebe, in a study of the history of barley, have traced
the present commercial varieties back to Colonial times, but many
of the importations were brought in by individuals and the
details were not recorded. (2)

 FIBER CROPS

 RAMIE
 The high prices and planting difficulties surrounding cotton
at the close of the Civil War led to the trial of ramie as a cotton
substitute. The ramie plant (Boehmeria nivea), is a member of
the nettle family. It produces a fine fiber used in the orient in
weaving clothing. The western world was first drawn to ramie in
1851 at an exhibition of its fibers in England. Plants were brought
to Jamaica in 1854 and from there to the Botanical Garden in
Washington the following year. Ten years later, ramie seeds were
imported from China.
 The first plants brought to Louisiana, according to Emile Le
Franc, came from Mexico in 1867 through the help of Ernest
Godeaux, the French consul in New Orleans. Benito Roezl, a
Bohemian botanist, returned from Java the same year with a lot
of ramie roots for sale.
 Interest in ramie cultivation in New Orleans soon after its
introduction forced the price up to one dollar for each subdivision
of roots. The fiber sold for $375 per ton and was used as imitation
silk. A group of ramie enthusiasts in New Orleans in 1873 organ-