The Ocala evening star., 1910-03-26

and by Prof. Baker, of the Rollins
College at Winter Park. Fla, of the
fruit of the soap tree; these expert
ments have been conducive to the
opening of q market OF commercial
value for various products
Fifth-The second free distribu-
by me, this time OF all the seeds that
| have been able to secure from Mr..
J. II. Livingston tand some other
small producers) and this second dis
tribution has been much more i'm
portant than the first one, as guam
tity of seeds distributed and as an
absorbing. intense interest, awaken
ed for the development OF the soap
tree industry among the highest ele-
ments of progressiveness. such as the
mightiest organs of the press and
| foremost of all the great Industrial
power. the Scientific American.
whose columns have been opened
free TO my communications for the
| interest of the industry; and the re-
suits OF that liberal and generous
! policy. emulated from the long
| standing one of the Florida Times
| Union. has been such. that in less
| than two weeks after the article pub
| lished by the Scientific American the
| applications had completely exhaust
| ed my stock of seeds.
Sixth-The material. substantial
| opening of the market for the soap
nut and its derivations.
| Seyenth-The enormous quantity
of seeds which have been planted
without or through my agency and
| initiative. In order TO show the in
| terest manifested substantially, !
! think it proper TO enter into a kind
| of statistical figuring, because il will
| give information that may be wanted
| in the future and because 1t will no
| doubt prove to be an incentive for
| more elaborate development.
CD To my initiative is due that
the Government has imported seeds
from Algeria and China, distributed
| them. grown trees. and also is dis
tributing same, l cannot say what
quantities.
90 Mr.. Livingston has, for the
past three years, distributed free or
| sold, probably thousands of seeds.
besides the thousands planted by
| himself.
! CD Messrs Eugene and Alex Mer-
rill have imported. through my
| agency. living trees and seeds from
Algeria.
(4) Mr. Fetting, Sr. has pur-
chased from Mr.. ]. H. Livingston
hundreds of trees and probably 90
900 seeds.
| (5) At this writing, negotiations
| are pending. the object of which
is to take off my hands the balance
of my stock of seeds and perhaps
some 1000 trees one year old. The
proposition comes from one of the
| most prominent men of Jacksonville.
1t is quite probable that the project
this is printed.
CD And the hundreds of thous-
ands distributed by me. disseminat-
ed mostly all over this State, but
also in other states of the Union,
and even foreign countries. / am
conservatively safe in saying that in
| Florida, this summer. could be found
probably one-half million of growing
soap-nut trees, some coming into
bearing next year. all of these being
species of China origin. And / am
also safe in saying positively that
that industry is now an established
fact.
Eighth-And last but not least.
the warm. encouraging Endorsement
of my work by the officials of the
United States Department of Agri-
culture, whose work in the same line
atteStS the Importance OF the indus
try and gives guaranty for further
and more important developments
than | could hope TO attain.
How the Industry Stands To-day
. The above description refers TO the
situation of the soap berry tree in
dustry in the spring OF 1908. Since
10
in the way of experiments in Great
ing commercial products from the
berries. the samples of which are on
record at the Bureau OF Plant In
dustry. United States Department OF
Agriculture. Washington. D. c.
Not only have | added TO the value
of the raw material by my own ex-
perimentS. but / have secured the
cooperation OF scientific laboratories
OF first class standing and succeeded
: in having these laboratories work in
connection with the United States
! Department of Agriculture.
From this country and from for
eign countries | have been asked for
price quotations on the berries for
enormous quantities. Mr.. Living
ston himself has been asked for quo
tations for car load lots. From the
; northwest. the west and the Pacific
; slope applications for seeds come
both TO me and 10 Mr.. Livingston by
+ the scores.
. The prospects are OF the brightest
Imaginable for that industry. which
!, is now on a substantial basis and
ii is not idle talk to assert that in
a very few years from now the re-
! sources available from the trees
growing in Florida Will Surpass in
magnitude and profits the most san
. guine eXpectatiOns.-The Florida