The Palatka news and advertiser., 1915-04-16
USES FOR DESP|SED
WATER HyAC|NTH.
Florida's Water Nuisance
can be Made into Rope,
Furniture or Fuel.

Word has gone out from Wash
ington within the past week to the
effect that during the last four or
five years experiments have been
carried on in the southern part of
French lndo-China for the purpose of
turning to some profit the water hya-
cinth which encumbers the lowerMe-
kong and other waters of Cochin
China and Cambodia to such degree
that it has become positive men
ace to navigation
The most extensive and successful
of these experiments have been con-
Quoted in the Central Prison, at
Puompenh Cambodia, Here the
fibre produced by this plant has been
used in the manufactur Of rope, twine.
mating, paddy sacks, boxes and
chairs, sofas, cradles and other ar
ticles of furniture, 1t has been mixed
with silk to form somewhat sIitf
but durable cloth.
As soon as the plant is gather ed
il is stripped of its leaves and passed
through a fibre crusher until the fibre
is completely separated from the
pulp. The fibre is then gradually
dried in the shade When carefully
treated II is strong, flexible and elias
tic. Rope, textiles and furniture
made of it. when treated with car
bolineum, become impervious to the
ravages of the weather or of white
ants and insects, so damaging to fur
niture in this locality,
Naturally. the first experiments
made were in the manufacture of
paddy sacks; for rice constitutes
about 20 per cent. of the exports of
this region,a and for this trade jute
sacks sometimes TO the value of more
than S2,000,000 a year are imported.
mainly from Calcutta and other ports
of British India. These experiments
have not been sufficiently successful
TO induce private interests TO under
take the manufacture of this article,
and the prison has not heeN able TO
find ready sale for its prodlct.
The sacks of this fibre are said to be
as resistant and durable as those of
jute. but they are heavier and less
hexihle and absorb moisture more
readily. Further experiments, look
ing TO a correction of these defects
are being carried on.
Recent experiments in the manu-
facture of furniture have been more
successful. A double strand twine
of this fibre is woven on rattan stays
over bamboo frame in the same
manner as in the manufacture of rat
tan furniture. The chairs and sofas
made of this fibre are incomparably
than those made Of bamboo, but it is
TOO early to pass upon their relative
durability. The product finds
ready market at better price than
smaller al ticles made of bamboo.
So far as experiments carried on
in French-lNdo-China are concerned
water hyacinth fibre has entered the
commercial field as a rival Of rattan
rather than jute However, these
experiments are still in their early
stages and, with the double incentive
Of a good market for paddy sacks
and the desires to be rid of q noX-
ious and threatening weed, they will
probably be contiuTed so long as
there is a reasonable hope of success,
The director of the prison at Phom-
penh, who has made a careful and
thorough study Of the subject, is au-
thority for the statement that since
April. 1911, this plant has been dried,
compressed into briquets, and used as
fuel at Khartum and other points
on the upper Nile These briquets
can be PIT on the market there at
Sc ton. and it is said that tests
made on a steamer on the White
Nile have demonstrated that their
efficiency as a fuel is exactly equiva-
lent to that Of an equal amount Of
the best coal.