The Florida agriculturist. [volume] (DeLand, Fla.) 1878-1911, 1893-10-04

lulu) showed me an article on pineapple
fibre in your valuable paper; the FLOti-
IDA AGRICULTURIST, of August 10Th
was very much pleased TO read it, as
have been experimenting on all kinds Of
fibrous plants including pineapple fibre.
There are a great many pines grown on
the Hawaiian Islands, every year they
are increasing in number. The planters
all at once realized the fact that they
could not get quit OF their leaves fast
enough only by burning them up.
made the suggestion to some of them to
bring me some leaves and would extract
the fibre which would help to pay for
the cultivation of the crop, the skins and
fleShy part of the leaves could be re-
turned to the land as manure, and the
fruit would nearly be "a clear profit.
Three of the planters namely, Mr.. Kid
well, Mr.. SOrbert. and Mr.. Jordan sent
me in leaves from their plantations,
namely from the smooth leaVed Cayenne,
the Hawaiian or native pine, and another
variety forget the name of at present.
passed them through my machine, and
| was surprised to see what beautiful
fibre could be produced from the leaves.
| went further than the mere decortca-
ton. | passed 1t through chemical
process of deguming and bleaching and
the product was like silk | am sorry J
have none Of the degumed and bleached
fibre at present to send to you but will
by next mail. have sent you small
sample of the decortiCated fibre right
from the machine and also small SAM
pie put through the washing and stretch
ing process. lam sorry that the samples
are so small, it costs SO much to send
through the mail here. Will send some
more so that you can see what the ma
chine can do.
The machines are made in various
sizes from 500 pounds to 5000 pounds Of
fibre per ten hours. | mean by these
figures that the machines will produce
that quantity of dressed fibre ready for
the market (not leaves) in that time.
have also machines for ramie, sissa],
banana and other fibrOus plants. Should
any of your people feel inclined to make
any further inquiries with regard to the
matter will be most happy to CORE
spond with them on the subject.
have sent you a copy of the Para
disc of the Pacific for August; on page
1913 you will see our firm name. The
machine is my own invention. Address
John G. White, care of Messrs. White,
Ritman & Co., Honolulu, II. |.
Some of my machinery for ramie and
sissal will be sent on to Figi to fill an Or
der in two or three months.
JOHN c.. WHITE.
We willingly give to Mr.. White the
benefit of what free advertising may be
contained in the above and trust that he
will not be the only one to benefit by it,
but that the pineapple growers of the
East Coast and other sections of Florida
will investigate the matter fully.
The fibre industry is, in our opinion.
sadly neglected in Florida. If properly
developed we think it would prove very
profitable. Mr.. G. r. Dodge, the special
agent of the Department of Agriculture
for the fibre investigation in Florida, is
also of this opinion. In his report he
says that this country imports fibre to
the value of S. .OOO,O 600 annually, while
the Florida article is of better quality
and undoubtedly will command a higher
price in the market than that from Mex
leo.
The investigation by Mr.. Dodge was
as thorough as circumstances would per-
nit. He established factory at Bis
cayne Bay, and with decorticating ma
chimes tested thoroughly the Florida