The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1900-10-29
The Uses of Spanish Moss.


The importance OF this discovery
consists in the fact that next to cot
ton, sugar and strip are the great
est money-producing crops in the
United States. Even ahead of cotton
the sugarcane has claims. because the
people of the United States are the
greatest consumers of sugar in the
world. so that the sugar-maker's mar
Ike. is right at his elbow. with no in
tervening foreign influences to cut or
his profits.
The recent discussion OF sugar-mak-
ing. i'm which Professor Stochbrldge,
of the Florida experimental stationha
led. makes plain the fact that the su-
garcane is the coming rival OF the
cotton plant over the entire area or
the cotton belt. Professor Stockbridge
declares that the crop of sugar ana
sugarcane meets one of the needs OF
the southern farmer. One important
need Of the southern farmer, ana OF
the Georgia farmer today. is money
crop besides cotton. which can be
grown. not by an exceptional man. but
by the average farmer Of Georgia, anu
which, when grown, meets ready
cash sale. and brings him in imme-
diate cash return for his money Such
q statement. il true. is of the hrst I'M
portance. and Professor StockDrldge
proceeds to make good what he says in
a manner so plain as 10 command at
tention.
We furnish the sugar consumption;
we do not furnish the material; we
have to import two and one-half NH
lions of tons annually to meet the de-
mand: sugarcane will grow Wherever
corn Can be raised; its growth calls
for no more expert knowledge than
has to be bestowed upon corn, when
makes the circle OF its cultivation Wlde'
THE sugar which We import says
the professor. lis more than the aggre-
gate value OF all Of the wheat and an
OF the agricultural products exported
from this country" And the seat oil
this immense wealth is in the south
orn states.
But there has been an obstacle, from
the producers point of view, when Is
thus told
That sirup in large quantities can be
eaeil,, producel from Georgia suGdfcdhc
needs no assertion. everybody hno , !,
that The reasons why suSarcahe mas iloI
beer crown more extensively, recoShlZIiS
tb, fatt that il can be grown extensively
here are TWO fold. In the first place pc
cause there is not. and has not beeh, up
% the present uihe, 4 sir,,n 6ut Ne
ket We could make the slrup, put w
could not sell il. Now. why coulah I w w
sell it, Simply because me prouuc. We
mako Is not staple: il won't last, ana mas
,.ot Ia be rushed of To market ana SOFA.
Now. to overcome that condition l wish
"a make "A few suggestions. All OF You, l
believe. or most OF YOU. VIII ackhoMl,suEe
that II good, hrst-class slrup Coulu ~
made from sugarcane. 80 That II Would
keen without fermenting or cryStalllzlhs'
there would be good money IN 1t. say
that IL can he made 50 that IL VIII not
Torment or crystalline.
Vow a few suggestions as 10 how that
is 10 be accomplished. Let's first go mo
thu. reason for the deterioration OF inc
strip after il is made. III we put = nero
ON TOP oil a barrel OF strup anu SEM hIHl
off 10 the station with H. he Is haDle 10
get blown OF of it. Why Is that he
cause IL contains glucose. IL contains eN-
artlv the same fcrmCntinE material that
the Kentuckian uses for the manufacture
of whisky. or the brewer iu st. Louis uses
Tor making beer.
viii not fermcnt. If YOU have only got
the pure sugar. you cannot make II Ter,
iueut You 10 10 any grocery store ana
Inv pure white sugar and mix it in water.
and IL will not fermcnt. Now then. II
doe, not fermcnt because II is sugar. but
because il is impure sugar. IL is impossi-
bic for pure sugar TO tcrment
About three years ago ! undertook 70 m
ypstigfte this subject. 90 ascertain II pos
siblr III there was any means by which
the sirup could be made of a = Cd quality,
and after il was made IL would keep a
reasonable length OF tlme without Ter
ruentfng Until recently all suggestions
toward accomplishing this end had been
made with wrong basis. In other words.
they had been made on the superstition
ont he r
ing something must be added 20 the Strup
10 eton the fcrmenting, or That the sirup
must be embalmed.
ton. based on the fact ! have just given
YOU. that If we would take out the i'm
purities in the sugar il could not ferment.
Tho fact is by what practical means can
we take out the impurities in the strip.
| have tried about everything | have
heard Of, and every thing anybody else
has heard Of 7 suppose. TO find something
that would extract the impurities. and
give. me something that would do the
work.
Bv an accident I discovered a very
simple thing that would do the work
the long gray moss, the Spanish
moss, so called. That is an absolute
and positive prevention of fermen-
tation of strip, and the way to pre-
vent the fermentation OF the strip is
to follow this suggestion: Just fill
a barrel in your mill with this dry
moss, and allow the strip to run
through it, and it will produce a
strip which viii not ferment, which
cannot be made to ferment, and
which I challenge anybody, any
where, and any chemist in the world,
to compel to ferment.
| have here a bottle of sirup which was
made on the 18th day Of January. 1899 It
has never been sealed, il was not put M
while il was hot, il has never been canned
and never been bottled. / simply took il
ont of an open-mouth can when start
ed to this convention. and that can has
been open there since the 4th day of last
April There is the strip. IL will not fer
nacnt and you can test il for yourselves
/ have been making sirups that way for
three years, and none of them ferment.
have done this myself. and scores of
makers of sirup in Florida and South
Georgia have been doing the same thing
and l have vet To find a man who has fol-
lowed out these Instructions and has not
made a success.
Now, after / had been making strip in
published the fact a fellow in South Car
DINA heard of it through a friend of mine
and he actually went to Washington and
patented the method.
So much for the Spanish moss as a
valuable agent in making the most
remuneratiye mOrey crOD in the world