Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1899-10-12
FLORIDA MOSS VALUABLE.
IT CONSTITUTES A LARGE AND
IMPORTANT CROP.
Interesting Account OF Process Through
Which IL Passes in Separat-
ing the Inner and
Outer Parts.

Ohifi hAiH-
The freeze of this year killed the
Florida moss. People who do not rec
ognize what this means must think
that this somber gray drapery Of the
southern forests gives one hundred
bales Il week of moss hair" To the
northern uphOlsterers from the little
village of Micanopy Fla, alone. ana
other factories i'm the state yield many
times as much. and this is only about
one-half of the weight of the moss
when taken from the trees says the
Scientific American. The other half il
the useless envelope TO the inner and
valuable hair. There is "A mistaken idea
as TO how the outer portion Of the
moss Is removed 1t is generally sup
posed that the covering is removed by
chemicals or by passing through some
ingenious stripping machine. The lat
Ter would be too expensive and the
former open to the danger Of injuriny
the natural elasticity of the fiber.
The moss when first gathered is
greenish gray. When Killed by frost
or lack Of proper sustenance. il is
easily distinguished from tile live
moss. 1t turns gray, ana If bitten
feels soft. while the live moss
"cruncheS" between the teeth But
the outer covering will remain on
either the dead or fresh moss for
months. If the moss. either alive or
Killed, is simply piled in heaps in "A
moist place and covered with muck
or sand il soon begins to fermpnt. The
temperature of the interior of the heap
rises To point too hot for the hand 10
bear and. ii not checked. ii keeps
heating till too hot to walk oyer But
this stage means damage TO the Inter |
lor hair and must be avoided Proper |
ly conducted. the fermentation means |
the complete destruction Of the outer |
SKIN ana the moss is left duly col
ored'-that is, showing the dark
brown color OF the hair.
1t reaches this stage in the hands
OF the picKers who then deliver il i'm
loose wagonloads. like hay. TO the gins.
There are about fifty of these ginning
in the state-Vply sim
pie affairs. The building is construct.
eel rs chcaply as possible ana costing
from 5000 To $500. no insurance being
The floor is six feet from
the ground and made OF Stats one AMI
inches apart, so that short
iberS. sticks and dirt will sift out In
the building is nothing but cheap
of n cotton gina cylinder
with twO-inch teeth. which beat the
moss against similar stationary teeth.
taking out sticks ANA rubbing on most
IF the adhering remains of the outer
covering OF the moss The machine IS
heap and very inefficient The result
M moss is either - cent moss" or ,
. cent moss"-the price per pound
liter ginning according to the care /,
with which the picker delivered II.
The writer was surprised to learn
hat this is the only preparation the
moss receives. II is shipped in bales
iirect to the wholesaler who general
y distributes them unopened to the
The freeze will not interfere with
his years crop. The dead moss is
reated just rs before the freeze But d
he outlook for next year is bad The q
rop Will be small. Usually. where !
rec has been picked clean. plenty of
mall bits are left, so that I'm favor !
bic locality the tree will be- full again .
a two or three years. This was shown l
y the practice in moss localities of =
leaning il from the orange trees every Il
NO years. But when the temperature {
I'll TO degrees in the center of the y
tate last February the moss was quite Il
enerally killed and its development II
D checked that the yield will be l'
mailer for several years South Of e.
Gala little harm was done