Nevada County picayune., 1890-06-04
SOUTHERN AGRICULTURAL.
THE OKRA PLANT.
tt Is Likely to Take a Prominent Place In
 the Future.

tt is Likely to Take a Prominent Place In
 the Future.
 There seems to be strong proba- bility that the plant known as okra (Abelmoschus esculentus) will be made to furnish valuable fiber. The plant grows wild all through the Southern States, and has been known for years to farmers and stockmen as capable of producing a very strong fiber, which in Texas and other localities is now used in making lariats.
 Ten years ago the Department of Az riculturc had samples of the plant grown in it's greenhouses, and q report was made on the quality of the fiber, but nothing seems to have come of it. Recently, however, the sub ject has been revived, and the Commissioner of Agriculture of South Carolina. Mir \ r. Butler, seems to be very confident that a new industry with vast possibilities is about to be opened up A specimen of the fiber which has been received from MT. But Ter through the department at Wash ington shows long, strong and glossy thread somewhat resembling hemp, though darker in color. The fruit which this okra plant produces is prized as a vegetable, the mucilaginous pods being used for thiekening soup and to form a peculiar Southern dish called gumbo. The Southern soil is especially adapted to growing the plant, as the abandoned rice fields and undrained lands generally could be utilized for raising vast quantities of it. Okra is also a native of the West Indies, nota- bly, Cuba, where it grows in almost all soils, and is indigenous to Africa, where it grows wild. It is abundant on the White Nile and near the Victoria Nyanza, and has long been naturalizcd in India, where it is cultivated for it's edible pods The fiber which has beea produced abroad is described as long and silky and generally strong and pliant, its break ing strain according to Roxburg being seventy-nine pounds dry and ninety-fve pounds wet. When well prepared, as in the Southern Presidency of India, it is adapted for the manufactuf5 of rope, twine, sacking and paper. It is used to adulterate jute in Decca and Mymens- ing. In France the manufacture of pa per from the fiber is patented, and here it receives only mechanical treatment and produces paper called banda, which is said to be equal to that made from pure rags.
 It is claimed for the okra fiber, that, inasmuch as the wood surrounds the fiber instead of being mixed with 1t, as in jute, and also that the work of prep aration can be done by machinery the cost of production can be reduced to one cent per pound Jute can only be profit ably produced in countries where man. ual labor is very cheap, as in India and China, because no machine has been de- vised for separating the wood from the fiber. Vast quantities of jute are i'm ported by the United States, and it is used in making gumny cloth, cordage, shirting, coat Things, and it is exten. sively employed in mixing with silk, cotton and woolen fabrics and in paper making. It is believed that okra fiber can be substituted for jute in the coarser of these lines of manufacture, and some even claim that it will be found availa- ble wherever jute is now employed.
 It is easily to be seen from this that if the okra fiber stands the test of fur ther experiment, a now and most inn portant industry will spring into being. Tho Agricultural Department at Wash ington states it has not yet been deter- mined how the plant will bear cultiva- tion and propagation, and the depart ment is now gathering the seeds and roots to experiment with next year. As the okra now grows luxuriantly in all parts of the South, the production of it even in tho large quantities which i would be required in case the fiber comes into general use will not probably prove a serious barrier to progress in this di- rcction, while the well-known inventive genius of Americans can be depended upon to devise machinery for preparing the fiber, and to make constant improve ments upon it.-Farmers Home Journal