Norfolk day book. [volume] (Norfolk and Portsmouth Va.) 1868-1880, 1869-04-30
From the Portsmouth Gazette.

PAPER FROM THE OK&A PLANT.
The Chickasabogue Manufacturing
Company of Alabama is about to make
experiments in new and very impor-
tant use of the okra plant. 1t is con-
sidered certain that the okra can be
bleached to any required degree Of
whitoness that the cost Of reducing it
to "half stuff" and pulp will not, on a
considerable scale be greater than the
cost of converting tho rags into pulp.
The paper itself (says Mobile paper
is as soft as rag paper, and almost as
strong as that made from pure linen
thus combining in one material a great
desideratum in paper making--hexibi-
iity and strength. The paper made of
cotton rags requires an admixture of
hemp or other material of strong fibre
to give it the requisite strength, but the
okra may be used either as "hard
stock" to give strength to any other
material, or by itself alone. 1t will
work we'll in combination in any desired
proportion with any other stock, or it
may be made to alternate with rags, as
the circumstances or exigencios of mill
may at any time demand
The point yet to be demonstrated is
the cost of okra stalks in comparison
with that of other paper stock. This,
of course, cannot be fully determined
without further experiment. 1t may be
taken for granted, however, that okra
can be grown on large scale very
cheaply, and that it can be made to pay
a handsome profit to the producer, and
yet be sold to the manufacturer at a
price so low as to enable him to reduce
the cost of the manufactured article to
consumers, and stake" the marketeven
from the manufacturers of straw and
wood paper. The okra plant is indi-
genous to the South, and with soil
moderately fertile will grow luxuriantly.
1t requires little skill to cultivate it.
The fruit is valuable and increasingly
popular article of diet, and if produced
in too large quantities for the table it
will be found an excellent article of
food for cattle and hogs. The seed is
valuable, and will at all times command
a ready sale at good prices. 1t is esti-
mated that the seed product will be
ample to pay the entire expense of Gull
tivating the plant. The Chickasabogue
mills will begin using the material as
soon as a sufficient supply of it can be
obtained. =
Thus, it will be seen, that another
source of income will be opened, by
which the Southern farmers with little
trouble, may increase their wealth. The
plant is indigenous to the South. and
I, requires but little skill in its cultivation
1t will not only be the means by which
the price of paper will be lessened, but
it will be adding another inducement to
capitalists to build in our midst manu-
! factories. it is hoped the experiment
that the Chickasabogue Manufacturing
Company of Alabama, intend making,
will prove a success. 1t is stated the
okra stalk possesses all of the desired
requirements in paper making-fexl-
bility and strength, which will be a
great desideratum, combining the needed
requisites with less trouble than making
paper from rags. We hope attention
will be paid by the farmers to the cult
walton of the Okra Plant, as it will more
than pay for the trouble expended in
the setting of the seed, and as there is
no doubt that it will prove success in
the manufacture of paper, we ask the
farmers to pay attention to its cu!tiva-
| tion