FIELD


AND


FARM PRODUCTS.


1


succeed well,
growth."
 JUTE AND
warm latitudes
indigenous. A
but the Indian
planted, and th


ly, the culture of
tention ; and, now
has been invented,
are of the highest
that to move our c
an expenditure of


long,


warm


season


favoring


rapid


RAMIE.-All the fibrous plants grown in
do well in Florida, and most of them are
t one time Sisal hemp was extensively grown,
Swar laid waste the country where it was
e cultivation has not been resumed. Recent-


jute and ramie has begun to attract at-
that machinery for preparing the fiber
there can be no doubt that both crops
commercial importance. It is estimated


a


rops
Lbou


for bags and bagging ;
to the best brought fro
tion of them Florida
both grow like weeds.
March or April, and i
gust; it is estimated


of cotton, wheat, and grain requires
t twenty-five million dollars annually
and ramie and jute yield fibers equal
m the East Indies. For the cultiva-
seems especially well adapted, and
The seed of jute should be sown in
t may be cut in June, July, or Au-
that the yield is thirty-five hundred


pounds per acre, and the crop is sure and cultivation easy.
The prepared fiber is used to make bagging, gunny, coarse
cloth, mattings, cheap carpets, and burlaps. The ends of
the stems are used for making paper, as are the old sacks
and bags. The stems may be used for garden fences and
coarse baskets, and they make good charcoal for gunpow-
der.
 Ramie is a permanent crop; once planted, it reproduces
itself indefinitely. It is first produced, not from seeds, but
from small shoots or roots, and about three thousand roots
(costing twenty to twenty-five dollars per thousand) are
required to plant an acre. The crops may be gathered at
any season, and four crops may be obtained from the same
land each year, averaging five hundred pounds to the acre
for each crop. The crude product is worth twenty to
twenty-five cents per pound; prepared properly by machin-