The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1890-03-13

|
out their fibre and sell it as they do
cotton for so much a pound. Into
this machine the okra stalks will be
fed butts forward, and it will cut the
( wood from the fibre. The gluten will
be removed from the fibre by II simple
process and the fibre is ready.
Some beautiful examples have been
exhibited. The fibre is long, exceed
ingly strong, between straw color and
white and with a silken gloss. The
okra plant grows in the South almost
without cultivation to perfection. A
farmer in Edgeield says he can now
prepare the fibre at cost OF cent a
pound, and factory has applied for
all that he can make at a good price.
Tie fibre can be subdivided so that
cloth as we'll as rope and bagging can
be made from it. Secretary Rusk says
that it is very fine fibre and asks for
the process OF making it. 1t promises
to become an important industry and
to far surpass either cotton, jute or
pine straw as bagging for COTTON
New York Herald.
COTTON ROOT ROT.
This disease is too well-kuown, and
its effects too widely felt to need any
description, and while investigators
are still quarIehug over its cause let
us seek remedy.
Here are some facts: Four years
ago l had twenty-acre field in cot
ton and dead spots" of greater or
less size were spread over the whole
patch. The same field had been in
cotton for the previous four years.
Believing in the rotation of crops and
thinking change of crop might
check the disease l set aside four
acres for experiment. The following
year | planted oats, the next corn,
| the next wheat and next year
returned again to cotton. Now as to
result, net one dead stalk could be
found on the four acres, while the
other sixteen acres which had been
continuously in cotton were badly
affected. l never burn off anything
the pillow will turn under, and so
all cornstalks, stubble, grass and weeds
have been plowed in, and to that fact,
added to rotation, attribute the
exemption from disease. am thor
oughly satisfied that whatever may
be the cause of root rot, the blowing
in of enough OF stable manure or veg
etable matter of any kind will tend to
remedy the mischief. Let any one
tloubled with the plague try small
patch and note the result. 1t involves
no expense and very little labor, and
the land will be benefited if the dis
ease is not removed.
SUCCESS IN COTTON GROWING.
A correspondent Writing to Home
and Farm says: give you my ex-
perience with cotton | am trying to
improve. l found stalk of cotton
among my crop that l thought would
be good cotton il planted to itself. /
picked few bolls and planted it, |
got twenty-one stalks, and from these
l got seed to plant one acre by check
ing it three by three feet, and from
two to four seed in check. l got a
poor stand, and on an average | only
had fifCy-fve stalks in a row, when
there should have been seventy. The
land was very poor, as it had been in
cultivation between forty and fifty
years. 1t would have made about 600
pounds seed cotton to the acre with
out manure. first ran center fur
row, then hauled out twenty two horse
wagon loads OF lot manure and put it
down in the furrow. The land was
then bedded with No. l Blinly pillow
as we'll as it could be done with two
good horses. The cotton was planted
the Goth Of April and worked alto
gether with double shovel and Is
inch sweep. There was but little hoe
work to I've done. picked from the
acre 2465 pounds OF seed cotton. That
was three years ago. Since then !
have been working from four to six
acres myself and have been making a
heavy bale OF cotton l worked. Last
year 1 worked four acres and got four
bales OF 4S0 pounds weight.
There can be no question that it
pays to manure land for cotton as for
any other crop. Try few loads on a
small piece of land and compare re-
suits. Let experiment decide.
GRATING.
AS correspondent asks for infor-
nation on this subject, 1 will en-
deavor to describe the process so that
any one can do it.
In the latitude of Texas it can be
done now at any time. Whether the
tree be large or small the same pro-
cess will answer, only if it is on large
trees it is not advisable to graft on
limbs over one inch in diameter. A
fine toothed saw, we'll set and sharp,
a strong bladed knife, little mallet, a
well tapered little wedge and another
small bladed knife that will carry a
sharp edge. Saw the tree or limb off
square, then with the large knife
smooth the stub, taking care that the
bark is not bruised. Place the knife
in the middle of the limb and with
the mallet drive it down until the
split is an inch or more, according to
the thickness of the stick. Drive your