Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-03-12
Mr.. Hurst and the Coon
tie Berry.
BY Frederic ]. Hsskln
by Frederic J. Haskin

from this town in factory which il said
10 be the only one OF its kisd in the world
1t makes high grade Of starch out OF a
common weed which grows all over the
country and in every vacant LOT IN the
town, and which was long regarded by
most people not merely as useless, but MS a
positive pest.
This factory is owned by one man, who
invented his own process, built large
part of his own machinery, and does large
part of his own work. He has perhaps the
most absolute monopoly in monopoly
ridden republic. He maintains his monopo-
ly by keeping his process Of manufacture
an absolute secret. He will tell you any
thing about himself and his factory, ex-
cept how il works. His name is A. B.
Hurst, and he il q big, gray-headcd man,
very good-natured, and having more fun
with his little factory than q boy with a
new sled.
The coontie berry, sometimes known as
the comte berry, upon which Mr.. Hurst
has founded his fortune, is n small shrub,
usually less than foot high and decorated
with large bright red berries, having very
/ tough skins. II YOU pull up this plant. you
arc surprised To find that IL has n very large
root, resembling sweet potato and Seem
ing out of all proportion 10 the size OF the
plant. The scientific name OF this plant
is Zamia Floridana, and il is q species OF
arrowroot. IL grows literally all over the
sandy pine barrens OF the east coast OF
| Florida. You can walk ten feet from the
road anywhere and find a specimen. Mr..
| Hurst has an enormous supply OF raw
| material to draw upon, and he gets IL for
next TO nothing He pays farmers very
small sum for the right to cart away The
| coonties on their lands. Starch is made
from a similar plant which is cultivated In
| the West Indies, but as far as could be
| learned, Hurst is the only man who has
made success Of utilizing the wild one.
This coontie is very well, or rather
| badly known 10 the natives, because it is
| the natural enemy of the turkey. When
| the white men first moved into these
parts, they were surprised TO discover
| that there were no wild turkeys on the
/ east coast. although the interior and the
west coast country were full OF them. The
reason for this, they discovered when they
| introduced domestic turkeys. A domestic
/ turkey would get along fine until he came
/ 10 his first coontie plant, which would
necessarily be soon after his arrival. He
would then )au<e and scrutinlze those
/ bright red berries with a gladdened eye.
/ He would seem TO feel sure that they were
| food Of very desirable sort. In just few
| minutes be would have filed his crop
with the big, luscious-iooking fruit, and
| for time thereafter he would ENJOY
sense Of personal well-bcing and content
ment. But this wsuld not last long, for he
would soon begin to weaken.
Not that the coonties poisoned him.
| According TO the most reliable accounts,
| the whole trouble with them il that their
III lE ya7Y YF4f
all the mechanical and chemical agents
which turkeys gjzzard can bring 10 bear
upon them They do not afford the bird
any more nourishment than so many
marbles They occupy the bunker space,
but do not deliver the fuel value Alter
a few days, the turkey who has eaten
coonties dies of starvation and disap-
pointment.
Mr.. Hurst is therefore not only making
use Of a hitherto useless plant, but ne IS
avengIng the turkey, and making the
east coast Of Florida safe for him.
Mr.. Hurst used TO be an orange-grower,
but he lost heavily IN the great freeze or
1894, and resolved there and then, az he
put it, ito go into some business that
didn't depend on the weather.
He got Interested IN making starch by
working for a company which was trying
10 manufacture it ont of the West indian
Cassava. While so engaged he saw
specimen OF the root of the coontie, and
realized that here was rich and abundant
source of starch, if only a way could be
found OF getting at it. He went to work at
finding this way. The way proved much
longer and harder 20 find than anyone
would believed possible. There WAS an
abundance of starch in the coontie 10 be
sure, but there were also a great many
other things. The difficulty was TO make
starch free of all impurities on a COM
mercial scale And Mr.. Hurst took no
chemists or engineers into his confidence
and formed no connections OF any kind.
His was the cautious, secretIve method OF
the countrvman. He Intended 10 work the
thing out for himself and to be sore owner
when he succeeded. He spent all OF his
OWN money and borrowed all the money
he could. He invented machines that no.
body would try TO make, and he made them
himself. He scored failure after failure.
But he had the creative mind and the
singleness of purpose that goes with IT.
The making OF starch out OF coontle ber-
ries became the one object OF his existence.
Finally, after he had worked more than
II years, and spent S93, 900, mostly bor-
rowed, he had the satisfaction OF seeing
SS8fpW
fine of grain and pronounced by govern
ment chemists as absolutely pure. He
now produces 5000 pounds day and all
OF ii is bought in advance at very good
price by one of the great biscuit compa
MES. They use it IN certain products to
which they wish to impart special keeping
qualities. MIR. Hurst expects soon TO take
out trade mark and to put his product
on the market IN little packages Tor house
hold consumption.
He seems to have no idea, however, OF
capitalizing or expanding. His factory is
big unpainted shed out Ia the pine woods
where the coonties grow. He was found
working in it, stripped TO his uhdershirt
and busted all over with the fine yellowish
powder which is his product. His only
assistant was Negro, who shoveled the
great tubers into the crlisher which
initiates the process. \ small wood
burning engine furnished the power, stttti
the rest of the process consists of a mys,,
terious series of watts and things, elevated 1
above the floor in such way that no
casual observer could see what was gong
on within them.
MIR. Hurst was perfectly willing to talk
about coonties. He walked out INTO the
woods. and showed us a specimen OF the
plant growing. He had learned, he SAID,
since he began making his starch, that the |
Seminole Indians used to make starch OF
the plant, and this was one OF their staple |
food supplies during their long war with |
the United States government, 10 which /