The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1875-09-16
Experience with Jute In Louisiana,

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Mr.. II. Lefrano, OF New Orleans,
who has devoted much attention 10 the
culture Of both jute and ramie, IN
forms the department OF agriculture
that he has succeeded in raising the
first regular crop in America, OF which
he recently shipped nineteen bales TO
the markets. Of st. LOnis and New YORK,
10 be tested by the manufacturers.
His crop was raised in Plaquemine
Parish, Louisiana, and he believes the
cultivation of the fiber will be rapidly
multiplied by other planters Of that
section. Mr.. Lefranc writes 10 the de-
partment az follows
GAS explained before, this iute fiber
was decortica.ed from dried plants
which had already given their seed. II
ia the second product Of the stalks,
and for that reason the staple may not
be highly classed in comparison with the
India article worked in green, But !
have put enough Of good quality in the
bales to prove that we can advantage
ously compete against foreign iute.
Tho decorticating machine cleans it
more thoroughly ana secures a larger
quantum Of strong 6lament than the
ordinary Hindostan. The refuse Of the
machine is good for paper.
Regarding the economy of this new
industry | am now practically satisfied
that the figures of cost | have given in
my treatise we're sufficiently high. Our
expenses for cultivation scarcely reach
SAFE per acre for multiplication, S15.
These are still subiect to improvement
wherever a closer organization can be
established.
The yield is also satisfactory. Wher-
ever the stand was normal, we obtained
the proportion OF M ton per mere. In
average the lint is Of over two pounds
per foot high on the surface of m acre,
and the plant averages ten feet in any
favorable season, and in rich, moist
land"
Mr.. Lefrance speaks very confidently
of his success in organizing the labor
OF this new and promising industry.
His machine, he says, is actually n pro
duclng fact. II works very well, aud
on dried stalks, which have first fur
nisled their seed, M well as on green
plants, thus securing the important re-
suit Of obtaining both seed and fiber
from the crop. The fiber obtained is
strong and fine enough to bring from
four and n half to five cents a pound,
in gold. The faculty of working the
plant dried is important, as it extends
the manipulating period through the
dull winter season, when labor il album
dant and cheap. Mr.. Lefranc remarks:
"The production or yield is M large
AZ the ability of the feeding hands can
reach. Tho lunches of fifteen or
twenty stalks engaged Mt the time are
almost instantly transformed into clean
iiIament. Hemp, ramie, hibiscus, and
any long fibrous plant are equally well
treated by the apparatus, which capac.
lty and power car be increased 10 M to
produce tons aud tons daily"
These assertions are based ON true,
practical facts, and M soon M they will
he believed and applied in our long
taxtlle growing sections, the country
will ceaso to be tributary for orr actual
enormous import Of foreign staple.
From new observations, l can re assert
That ordinary iute growth gives IN nv
erhRe OF Mt least n ton per acre of
fiber, and that the whole cost of pro,
duction will not exceed $25. In good.
moist land iute grows ten feet in aver
age, and has one.third OF its body in
tlber. The mower and reaper applied
wheat cut iute perfectly well.