The Brookhaven leader., 1883-11-22
rhe Jate Industry In ,he South
SILK, GRAPE AND TEA CULTURE IN mrssrs-
sIPPI.
ny DAS'L. DENSHrT.
MENEI.As PLANTATION, Miss, l


| AlENEIsAb PLANTATION, MISS, 4
Nov. 5, 1853. {
On my return TO Brookhaven from the
jackson Fair, rode out to Mr.. Menelas's
plantation, two miles below town, on tho
/. {. Railroad. Mr.. c. Menclas was absent
from home, but he left on his premises two
faithful representatives of his views and
wishcs-his brother and his nephew. They
! gave me an interesting account of their ex-
Periments and tests of juto and a jnte ma
! chine, which the friends of this industry
will peruse with much satisfaction.
/ have just examined the Albert Angel
machine, aud jute that has passed through
it. The machine Is substantial and simple,
and can be sold at from $3.50 to $780, This
is very different machine from that sold
| by the Angel Jute Machine Company; it il
great Improvement on that machine.
Mr.. Angel this season spent about two
months at the Menelas plantation Oeaving
about the middle Of October) in company
with Mr.. Menelas experimenting with jute
and the machine. They came to very sat
isfactory conclusions in regard to what is
needed in decorticating jute and preparing
it for market. They think the improved
Angel jute machine of 1854 will do the
work of decortication perfectly.
During the experiments made hero by
Mr.. Angel i'll August, September and Oc-
tober, with field of growing jute at his
service, he passed through the machine at
different periods about n ton of the crop.
Specimens of the work done by the ma
chine, and afterwards completely water
rotted, are hanging around Mr.. Mcnelas's
galleries and in his house in rich profilsion.
The samples are beautiful and strong.
Some of the fibers are six to seven feet in
length, and would have been much longer
but for the bad season and short crop.
Samples of this jute may be seen ut the
Picayune Office, that the readers of the
Picaynne may pass their own Judgment on
its merits. 1t now looks as though jute
culture is bound to DO success i'll the
South, judging from the tests made this
season by Messrs. Angel and Menelas. l
think those who have pronounced jute cul-
ture at the South failure have passed
judgment hastily, before they have heard
the testimony of the witnesses And yet,
it may take two or three years more to
bring this machine to perfection and es-
tablish general confidence in the jute in
dustry Of these States.
Great improvements are not born in day
and they mature slowly. The jute indus
try in its early stages has not developed so
slowly as the cotton industry.
MRssRs. MENELAs AND ANGELES SUCCESS
APPRECIATED BY SOUND JUDGES.
The following letter from John Sloane,
President of the Dolphin Manufacturing
Company, Is Duane street, New York, is
dated Sept. "a, 1888. This company manu-
features hemp carpetings, Napier mating,
webs, twines, etc, and deal heavily in
jute. The President of the company is
very competent judge Of the merits of jute
and other fibres:
c. Menelss, Esq, Brookhaven, Miss:
Dear Sir-The sampeiof jute by mail is
received this morning. | congratulate you
on the greatly improved quality of ibre by
your new method of preparing. This sam
pie is good, and the quality and FIBRE are all
that can be desired.
The shortness of tho growth, the result of
the dry season, Is all that prevents this
sample from being first quality.
/ will give you en- order for ten thousand
bales. of 400 pounds each--price II cents,
delivered in New York from October to
July, 1884, the quality to average as good
as this sampler for any portion of tho
above quantity.
You are now on tho right track, and if
yeu can produce cheap enough to give a
profit to the planter and compete with
India, you will have the American lute
market for the American planter, as soon
as enough Is grown here, if it is prepared
as we'll as this last sample just received.
With best wishes for this result, L am,
yours truly, JOHN SLOANE.
From the Philadelphia Carpet Journal:
w, b. Cunningham, New York, agent for
J. & A. d. Grimond, the extensive Dundee
lutte spinners, receives frequent letters
from the southern planters who are expert
menting in this fibre. Mr.. Menelas, of
Mississippi, has just sent Mr.. Cunningham
q sample Of prepared jutc, ready for use,
which is a little less attractive than the
hanks of silk which come to us from
China.
The above statements are highly encour-
aging to Messrs. Menelas g. Angel, and
their friends have every reason to believe
stnolcs that have delayed the jute enter
prise, and viii win a grand and lasting
victory for Southern agriculture am the
Southern States. Mr. Menelas has fought
n brave battle, single-handed, for the
triumph of the jute industry, and he
richly merits q grand success. he has
showed his Macedonian pluck in this fight,
and is giving his adopted country the full
benefit of it.
SILK, GRAPE AND TEA CULTURE.
Mr.. J. Herbelin, of New Orleans, is
here looking around in the interest of silk
culture. He has at 179 and 18l Custom
house street, New Orleans, a silk spinning
mill. He considers his enterprise q perfect
success. The success of silk-worm raising
in this country, properly managed, be
saws, surpasses his expectations. He says
"During the past eight months have had
employed fifteen women and two men in
nv spinning mills, and believe willihave
coccoons enough to spin for two months
more. This was more than l expected
There are not many States, especially
those of the South, that have not sent me
| their products" Mr.. Menelas has about
| 1000 mulberry trees three years old. He
| is about concluding Rn arrangement with
Mr.. Herbelin to join him in extending silk
culture to the full capacity of the mullber-
nv trees on his plantation. MIR. Herblin
saws that the establishment of silk spinning
mills will encourage the culture of silk
worms, and in few years will greatly
yitalize the whole silk industry.
| Mr. Menelas has paid considerable atten-
ton to grapes, some of them the finest va
rieties in the Sent h. He would have ship
ped large quantity to the different mar
| kets this year had it not been for de-
structive fly that preyed upon his crop in
juno. He has over 100 tea plants, four
wears old, growing in great luxuriance,
buried in leaves of the richest and greenest
hue. Though many doubt that tea cul-
ture can ever be made profitable in the
| o.,ob 5oulfo oaDarallU ansfainAd