El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-05-19
RENE BACHE'S BUDGET
WHERE WOOL CROWS On TREES
INTRODUCING NEW EXILE PLANT TN THE
HAWAIIAN ISLANDS.
A Tree Cotton Used for Making "Al Wool Fabrics.
Grating and Budding For Cotton, a New Discovery.
Curiosities of Cotton as Food Plant.

~ LIMBING trees for wool bids fair
to become before long the ap-
proved method of gathering
one of the most important crops in
the Hawaiian Islands At the present
time, in fact, the federal government
is making certain very interesting ex-
periments with a view TO developing
the Industry IN question.
Strictly speaking, the wool is not
wool at ALL but cotton. 1t is a type
known as twool-cotton," because the
fiber is kinky and strikingly wool
like. From most peoples viewpoint,
however, the most remarkable thing
about it is that it grows on trees.
which attain a height of something
like Is feet.
The notion Of climbing for cotton
seems rather picturesque, but in actual
practice the trees will be kept cut
down TO a size suitable for making
picking easy. Their trunks. in the
course Of a few years, reach a thick
ness greater than that of a mans
thigh, ard their large and heavy
branches bear a profuse crop of fluffy
white hollis.
Comes From Australia.
This wool-cotton comes from Au-
stralia, and it IS understood to be a
cross between our own sea island cot
ton and a certain Peruvian type which
has a wool-Iike fiber 1t is an inter
esting circumstance, by the way. that
all OF the large quantity of this Peru
Wan cotton imported into the United
States IS used by our manufacturers
in the production Of "all wool" fabrics.
AS for tlse hybrid from Australia. it
is especially valuable, combining as it
does the long staple of the sea island
with the woolly texture of the South
American parent, and possessing the
additional advantages OF heavy yield,
great ease of picking. and a higher
percent of lint than the sea island cot
ton affords.
Only the Beginning.
This, however. is only the beginning
of the story, for experiments made
in Hawaii have already shown that
the wool-cotton trees can be grated
and budded just like fruit trees. Thus
any vigorous trees of the kind can
be used az stock on which to bud the
finest varieties of wool-cotton-the
process. as nearly everybody knows,
consisting in cutting a bud, with
piece of bark attached, from a plant
Of the desired strain, and inserting
it in an incision made for the purpose
in the stock.
1t is now planned to grow seedlings
of a vigorous sort in the nursery, IS
is done with common fruits, and,
when these are two or three years
old. to bud them Practically every
bud inserted grows. Indeed, the ex-
pert in charge at the government ex-
pertinent station, on the island of
Oahu, says that 'the day seems near
at hand when one may purchase bud
ded seedlings Of wooi-cotton by the
hundred or thousand. These will be
planted out in orchards like so many
fruit trees and a full year of cultiya-
ton will be saved"
This, Of course. is wholly a new
discovery. But IT is not the only one
made in connection with this interest
ing investigation. The experts have
found much to their own establishment, |
that they can take ordinary cuttings |
Of the wool-cotton tree, plant them in
the ground, and grow big trees from |
them. The cuttings take root imme- |
diately. put forth leaves. and present !
ly become thriving plants, assuming |
at first a bushy form.
The Importance of this is obvious |
enough Cotton ordinarily. in our
own southern states and elsewhere, is |
grown from seed. Consequently there !
is no uniformity in the plants pro-
duced Nobody can tell how a seeding |
is going to turn out On the other |
hand, when cuttings of a superior |
strain are planted. results are abso- |
lutely certain, and all of the plants |
grown from them will meet the speci- |
cations for that strain. In a word, |
this method of planting will enable |
growers to produce certain .unvary-
N o. opd birrlv 7acira FIa grade Of WOOL |
cotton right along, year after year. |