Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-03-01
OKRA FIBER
Claimed to be the Great Substitute for
Jute.
Cotton Baggi1g tn be Cheaper AMI It vii
ay Brt'cr to Raise Okra
than Cotton.

Mr.. Max Elser showed GAZETTE re-
porter yesterday some samples of okra
| fibre, which for strength aud glossiuesS,
equal that OF any hber probably known.
This sample of okra fiber was sent to Mr..
| W. S. Marshall OF the Panhandle imple-
ment company, and this gentle
man, who is Interested in the
okra fiber culture. has otl.er specimens
OF the okra fiber, which he thinks
| will be the great inovator 'thst will
forever solve the bagging, twine and
rope material question, the former OF
which has especially agitated congress,
the farmers and the whole people of the
South.
Although okra fiber has been expert
mented with for some years, it is only
lately thar II has been called 10 tn e at
| tention of the department. OF agriculture
| at Washington, and seriously considered
| in the South as a cheapened substitute
| for remie, sisal, MANILA, jute and other
! fDers for purposes OF textile mauufac-
| ture.
The department OF agriculture OF South
| Carolina has sent some samples OF okra
| fiber to Secretary Rusk OF the agrirul-
| tural department at Washington. aud
this official says that the specimen was
very fair one, and THAT letters from Nil
| parts of the South Indicate a general
| inclination to substitute the oiSra fiber
| for jute, not only for cotton tagging. but
for all purposes for which lutte Is used.
A Mr. Ludlow OF South Carolina, an
able engineer and machiniSt, who has
had experience with textiles in
England, his native country, says
that he can produce this fiber for less
than q cent a pound. The trouble with
all fbers, jute, ramie and others, Is
that il has to be decorticated. or sepn-
rated, from the woody substance by
hand; and even III the Oriental countries,
where manual labor is so cheap, these
textiles are higL. Mr.. Ludlow claims
that the fiber NAV be turned out Ivy ma
chnery and that he can make IL machine
similar to the ordinary cotton gin into
which the Okra stalks may be thrown,
butts downward. This gentleman claims
that the okrR fiber can be subdivided like
ramis, for the making of cloth for per-
sonal wear, gs well as for bagging,
binder twIne and rope.
Mr. w. s. Marshall OF Fort Worth,
who is interested and has written on the
subject, saws:
''That 1t is most easily decorticated or
peeled-that the wood separates entirely |
from the bark, in which lies all the fiber,
when peeled green. There is no secret |
or mysterious process, says hs, ere |
quired for the degumming or separating |
the fiber from the gum or
waste matter. All that Is needed |
is that the bark be soaked in |
tepid water for few days, when the |
gum diSsolves and the fiber alone is left. |
ANY one can make the experiment for |
himself with little trouble. Any South |
ern gardener who has okra growing can
readily peel it by hand aud soak out the
fiber, the result will De convincing that
there is al abundance OF excellent fiber,
and most easily obtained. Felix FIRE.
mercy 8 machine will decorticate okra as
readilyus any gin will separate cotton fiber
from the seed. The machine separation aud
the degumming process are both so
simple that any farmer can learn and
understand them most thoroughly. The
fiber can lie produced very cheaply all
over the South; and II the people will
take hold of it they can forever solve the
bagging, Irvine and rope material Ques-
ton. -
1.-THE okra - he said isis the common
garden vegetable with which almost
every Southern farmer is familiar. 1t
should be sOwu III drills closely, like
wheat, so that the stalks will grow up
straight like corn stalks. Two crops
each yeaT-one from the seed, and the
other from the sprouts or suckers, after
the first cutting
1t can be- grown anywhere on almost
any kind of land aud as much as 5000 or
Ann nHa tn I'm ha faH
each acre. 1t certainly should bring as
much per pound as jute butts, which are
now worth to cents per pound. The
fiber is fully as valuable as juts for cot
ton bagging and will take the place of
MANILA siSal aud twiue.
DR.. 81 Chambers Of New Orleans, re-
ferred to as sending Mr.. Marshall the
samples, says in his letter:
1.-THE hber is my process and will send
you some more still finer, and am salts
fed can work up the fiber st great say
ing aud make and build the
machine st small cost. can
furnish you all seed wanted
at 25c. per pound, the regular trade
see that In regular published Erice.
have to have pods opened and shelled to
bill orders. So always fresh. -
Mr.. Max EIser, the cashier of the City
National bank, and storkholder OF the
Moss Collar, Bagg ng and Cordage COM
pany, OF Fort Worth, informed a repor-
ter yesterday that the Moss Collar COM
pany would sell the seed to the farmers
81 cost, and would buy all the product
'that can be rarted TO the mill -
II the okra fiber will fulfill the promise
Of Its availability for the manufacture of
cheap products, and there is no reason
n the world yet set forth TO controvert
Il, okra will certainly be a great deal
more remunerative than cotton, II not
he best paying product that can be put
a the ground.