Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1908-04-18

Just outside the ginning establish
nlent a score of natives were making
bricks The clay looked to me as
thought IT came from the hills of the
white ants. 1t lay in a pile on the
ground and men and women, dressed
in bark cloth, squatted about it
pounding the clods into dust with
clubs, In pool nearby another gang
natives was mixing the dust and wa
ter together, making the mud out or
which the bricks are nodded. The men
were naked almost to the waist, and
they tramped up and down in the mud
to knead 1t for the bricks.
AFRICA AS A COTTON CONTINENT
The experiments going on as To cot
ton here are representative of others
, now being tried in the various parts of
Africa. | have already written of the
cotton possibilities of the Sudan. They
are enormous, and the cotton now being
raised about Khartum Is equal I'm auali
" TO inc best of that produced on the
delta of the Nile. In British East Afri
ca the authorities are attempting To
raise cotton, and several successful
plantations have been set out in South
Africa l Understand that the Ger,
mans are doing considerable i'm the
same line. not only between here and
Lake Tanganyika, but also along the
coast In the vicinity of Zanzibar and
that they are already producing I'm tho
neighborhood OF "A thousand bales OF
INT por year. They have raised as
much as five hundred bales in a year on
their little plantations In Togoland, on
the Gulf of Guinea. and they have sown
cotton In the kamerun and in South
west Africa.
me Italians are Attempting the same
IN Eritrea, the little strip OF territory
oil. Il.
far their success has been small.
AS to the French, they have done
practically nothing in cotton IN Africa
as yet, The Belgians are making ex-
periments throughout the Kongo val
ley where they have plantations man
aged by Americans from Texas. They
lre using American seed, and the cot
Ton grown Is of excellent quality
The British have an organization
known as the British Cotton Growing
association, which Is backing many OF
me experiments in the English colo
MES. That organization has d. capital
or Sl,O0OOOO, aud It's plantations here
ana there are now producing some
Thing like half million dollars worth
OF cotton a year Some of it's hest
work is being done in West Africa.and
especially IN Nigeria There are also
ginning establishments at Lagos. which
take care OF the cotton grown near the
coast. understand that there are 30
200 or 10000 acres there In "A fairly good
state Of cultivation.
PLANTS WHICH PRODUCE SILK.
1t seems like a fairy story ybe,
say mat there are plants ont here In
AFRICA winch produce fbers which tnnv
possibly be made into silk as fine ne
any spun by the silk worm am
apla INA, TINS Is the case. My inform
am Is Mr. Il. T, Paske-Smtb the
assistant collector at Kampala. who
was formerly stationed away OFF IN
the Interior OF Uganda, He saws thnt
ne round there plant which ne thinks
might be used for silk manufacture.
said he:
81 saw many OF these plants growing
Wiid. They reach height of five or
SIX ieel, ana bear fruit shaped like
the cotton boll but much larger
should say that the average FRUIT is as
big around as a mans fist These hollis
nave a silky fiber three or four inches
long. II looks somewhat like cotton
but u rs Tar more soft fieecy ana
glossy me hber ls wrapped around
the seeds During my stay there |
gathered lot OF tho wild needs and
picked on the INT / then sowed them
In about half an acre Of We'll prepared
ground. They grew rapidly without
further cultivation, and when they ma
luItu collecltu lltle bag OF the SIR
lint I'm the seed and sent IL on Ia ma
authorities al Entebhe. Shortly afte,
that ! took sick with a fever and n
was some months before I recovered.
] then tried To ind what became of my
SILK hbcrhut the authorities ot Entebbe
could not inform me I spoke of the
plant 10 Archdoacon Walker, the head
of the English Church Mission Society
Of Uganda He said he knew It wen
and agreed with me that II might be
valuable. cleaned some OF tho fiber
and STUFFED sofa pillow IT was as
soft AS down"
What is the name Of this fiber, Mir
PRske-Smith2' / asked
~ do not know what It Is called boz
tRnically or that Il Is mentioned 10 any
botany The natives call n Mumbo.H
MORE ABOUT BARK CLOTH.
And this leads me 10 write again