The St. Johns herald., 1890-07-03
THE OKRA FIBER.
Its Claims as Satisfactory Substitute for
 Jute and Ramie.

It's Claims as 0 SatiSfa ctory SuDStlIut TOT
 Jute and Ramie.
 For several years various experiments have been made with okra fiber, and re- gently the Departmentc cf Agriculture has been furnished with beautiful specimens of it, but litt.e has been known of its availability for the manufacture of cheap products. An E.geee.d County planter recently sent the State Department of Agriculture a sample of okra fiber as glossy and strong as ranie. The de- partment sent tho specimen to the Ma tional Department at Washington. Sec retary Rusk, in acknowledging it's re- ceipt, says that the specimen is very fair one, that letters from all parts of the South indicate general inclination to substitute the okra f5er for jute, not only for cotton bagg:ng but for all pur- poses for which jute is used. Secretary Rusk is very anxious to know the proc ess of preparing the f5er. Now comes MT. w. E. Sudiow With the aSsertioy that he can proGac it at a cost not greater than about one cont per pound. Mir. Sudiow is an Englishman, born in Oldham, raised in Manchester, who has large experience in textiles. He is a practical engineer and mach;n;st, and has put up mills in England, France, Australia and Mexico. Mir. Sudlow has been in this State for two years during which time he tells the depart ment he has been looking into the Okra fiber question, and has now reached such conclusions as assure him of it's Ilo hn okra stalk is essentially different from the jute, cotton and ran.:e in this, that the weed surrounds the fiber, while in the others it is mixed with it, and this is tie key of the problem of cheap pro- duction. His experiments last summer and fail prove that the Okra fiber and wood are naturally separated. The mix ing of the fiber with the wood of jute, ramie and cotton makes it necessary to employ manual labor. chiefly to decorti- cate it, and this is so costly that only in India and China, Wtcre labor is excess sively cheap, is it possible to produce the fiber at low prices The okra on the contrary, can be separated 5y ma chinery.
 Mir. Sudlow declares that he can mako machine which will not cost more than an ordinary cotton gin, and which can be employed, as gins are employed, on each large farm or in each neighbor- hood, and that by it's use planters of okra can turn out their fiber and sell it as they do cotton for so much pound. Into this machine the okra stalks will be fed, butts forward and it will cut the wood from the fiber. By means of an ingenious device, which MT. Sudlow has explained to your correspondent moro fully than he cares the public to know, the strips of fl Der and wood will be separated, the glutin will then be removed from the fiber by a simple process, and, after drying, the latter will be ready for the market Mir. Sud- low is now making arrangements for the manufacture of an initial set of machin- cry, which will practically demonstrate the truth of his assertions.
 As to the quality of the fiber, there is not tho least doubt. It is long, strong and glossy. 1t can be so subdivided that it can be used like ramie for tho making of cloth for personal wear, as well as for bagging, rope, etc. The cheapness of it's growing need not be argued about. Abandoned rice fields in the low country would raise forests of it. It thrives in undrained lands. The quantity which can be raised on an acre must be con- sidered only by the ton, and the fiber constitutes most of the stalk, the wood and bark being very thin and papery. The stalks need not be cut at any spec ial time. They can be allowed to lie in tho field before the f Der is extracted.- Columbia (S. e. Letter