The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1869-04-29
Cheap Paper.

Among the branches Of manufacturing o
industry for which the Southern States
have marked and peculiar natural adyan.
tages, the business Of paper making begins
70 loom up into conspicuous prominence.
Already, in spite ofthe high rates Of freight
against which they; must contend, it is no
torious that some Of the Southern paper
mills can undefse1l in the New York mar
ket all competitors Offering an article Of the
same quality. And as the consumption 81
paper steadily increases, year by year, 1t
Is not likely that the facilities which the
South possesses for its manufacture viii
lack anything that energy or capital can
give to develope them ito the utmost. q
There are q multitude of Southern plants,
that afford excellent fbrous material For
pnlp;, but none seems to be attracting III, Sde6,
much attention just now as the okra stalIk.
An. Alabama manufacturing company has
for some time been engaged in experiment.
ing in its use, and with emineshtly satisfac.
tory results. 1t is claimed that the oIkra
ean be bieaohsd to any required degree Of
whiteness; that the cost of reducing it to
."half stuff" and pulp will not, ON a; uonsiri. !,
cradle scale, be greater than tho cost 81
converting rags into pulp; and that the okra
paper ls as soft as rag paper. and almost as
that made from pure linens..thus oomb;nino
in one material q great desidefatuni iii paper
ma m'aaklng-asxibility and al.d strength, The pa
per msas, ,of eots0n rags rsanires an admix-
ture OF hsmp or otker material of strong.
hbre to give'it the requisite strength; but
the okra may be used ,sitfierl ss Ssthard
'ssock, sQ give strength to any4ather ms Os..s
terial, OK by itself sioasJaIswiilw work we'll
In corabination id any desired prioportion
with any other stock, or It may Be made to
alter alternate q with rags, as the circumstances
Or exigenoies Of q mall may at any time
demand. Z ta4 otiH &. 5s estS taa. 42 .
N u would sssm, then, that the only point
remaining for inquiry ,is the. cost. Of okra
stalks in comparison with that of other
paper stock. This, Of course, cannot ,,e
fully determined without further. expert
ment. It may be taken for granted, how I
ever, thst okra csn be grown on large
scale very cheaply, and that II csn be made
70 pay handsome profit to: the producer. 4
and yet be sold to the manufactures At 4
prtoe so low as to enable him to reduce the
cost Of the manufactured article to con.
asa1mers, and K t"tsks the market evsn from
the manufacturers Of straw and wood pansr.
The okra plant is indigenous 10 the South,
and with . soil moderately fertile Will grow
iuxufiantly. Itrequires little skill 10 oul-
Avste IL. The fruit 10 valuable and In
oreasingly popular article Of, diet, and If
produced In too large quantities for the
table II will be found On excellent article
OF food for cattle and hogs. The seed is
'yslusblss,and viii at all tinss command i
ready sale ~ gs9A prices. Is IL, estimated
that the seed product win be ample to nav
Ihs entire expense q caltvatins thei plant. |
lwe trust thst every Southern paper mill wfl;I |
give tha new material . spe.dy end .hs--
ough trial. sud'that cur contemporaries OF |
the press, who srsso deeply Interested
will give tho subject their earnest attention.. |