340 



THE AGRICULTUKAL NTWB. 



November 2, 1918. 



COTTON. 



SEA ISLAND COTTON MARKET. 



The Report of Messrs. Henry \V. Frost & Co., on 

 Sea Island cotton in the Southern States, for the 

 ■neek ended September 7, 1918, is as follows: — 



ISLASOS. Since our Annual Keport of August 3, the 

 rearket has remained quiet and nnchanged, with only a 

 limited inquiry, but no sales or receipts. 



The unsold stock of old crop is still held on a basis of 

 Fully Fine 72c., of which there is left unsold about :V25 bales 

 bright cotton, and the balance more or less stained. 



• The new crop will not be marketed until October Uocse- 

 (juently the market will not open until then. 



<;"f.oroias .\nd flokihas. There have been sales in 

 Savannah during August aggregating about 600 bales on a 

 basis of average Extra Choice 68J,c , taking such lots as were 

 ordered sold by the owners, the "buying being on account of 

 the Northern Mills. 



The stock is generally held higher, say, aver.ige Extra 

 Choice e'Jc. lo 70c., and a sale has been recently made of 

 100 bales Fancy at 71c., on account of a Southern .Mill. This 

 sale has caused Factors to be firmer in their views, at least 

 temporarily. 



No new crop cotton has been put on the market yet, but 

 there should be some receipts during the next fortnight. 

 However, the planters throughout Klorida have at some 

 meeting parsed resolutions to delay ginning until (Jctober. 



CROP Ai>\ ICE.S. In Carolina and along the coast, the 

 promise of a month ago has deteriorated in consequence of 

 intensely hot and dry weather, and estimates are reduced to 

 7,000 to 8,000 bales. 



In Georgia and Klorida, we have to contirm our 

 advices in our Annual Circular of August 3. The boll 

 weevil is doing considerable injury, and the continued hot 

 weather ha.s caused the plants to shed and to rust. Crop 

 estimates for these States still range from 60,000 to 75,000 B). 



THE OLONA, A VALUABLE HAWAIIAN 

 FIBRE. 



The cver-increasing demand in the world's niarki't for 

 fibres gives interest to the following extract from an account 

 of a possible valuable source of supply of fibre of the finest 

 .juality by Vaughan McCaughey, of the College of Hawaii, 

 pnbli.shed in Science, September 6, \^\i>. 



The Hawaiian peojjle formerly made use af a consider- 

 able range of fibre plants. Some of these were brought by the 

 natives from the South Pacific, others were discovered in the 

 new island home. The paper mulberry {Bruiisionettia pripyri- 

 /era) is an excellent example of a fibre plant widesjjread in 

 the I'acific legion. From its copious bast was made the typical 

 'kapa or bark-cloth of I'olynesia. i)]r<xi& Cfoiic/tdn/i'i /n/i- 

 folia. Gaud.), on the other band, is wholly confined to the 

 Hawaiian Islands; the genus is monotypic and endemic. The 



ancient Hawaiians undoubtedly discovered the valuable fibre 

 <if this plant at a very early time. They were intimately 

 familiar with the local flora and its economic utilization. 

 The olona is mentioned in many of the old songs and legends. 



Special interest is attached to the olona fibre, as it is 

 generally recognized to be the strongest and most durable 

 fibre in the world. No other fibre is recorded to exceed it in 

 these two important characteristics. 



The natural habitat of the olona is the lower and middle 

 forest zone, lying on the mountains between elevations of 800 

 to 1,000 feet. It is strongly bygrophy tic and shade-loving; it 

 never occurs naturally in the open or in dry sections. The 

 favourite habitats are deep, coo], gloomy ravines, or moist 

 slopes that are well screened by forest cover. The olona 

 belongs to that ecilogic section of the Hawaiian flora tha*/ 

 luxur.ates in the dense moist shade of the montane forests. 

 It occurs in little patches or thickets here and there in the 

 forest, but is nowhere abundant. It does not form continu- 

 ous stands; reproduction is not vegetative, but apparently 

 always from seed. In any one spot the collector is not likely 

 to find more than a few score of individual plants. 



The Hawaiians formerly cultivated ihe olona in a 

 primitive manner. Tbey did not prepare the land or plant 

 seed, but merely searched out good patches of the wild 

 ' pLints. Such a patch was cleared of any obstructing vegeta- 

 tion, not disturbing, however, the large trees which shaded 

 the plants. If the olona plants were too crowded they were 

 thinned out. The old plants were pruned so as to give 

 a number of young, straight shoots. 



At irregular intervals, as convenience or nesessity 

 dictated, the grove was visited and the crop harvested. This 

 process consisted in cutting all the long, straight .shoots that 

 had reached a diameter of about 1 inch. The bark of such 

 shoots was rich in bast fibres, and these were of maximum 

 length. Six feet was an average length. The bark was 

 carefully stripped from the wands, in one or more pieces, 

 packed into rolls or bundles, ind carried dov»-n to the settle- 

 ments on the lowlands, where the final operatiooN were 

 performed. 



A suitable situation was foumi along a stream or irriga- 

 tion ditch. The bundles of bark were opened out in the 

 shallow running water, where they were allowed partially to 

 macerate. This recjuired several days: then the long strips 

 were removed frotn the water, and the remaining pulpy 

 matter was scraped frtim them while still wet. The scraping 

 was performed on a long, narrow, haidwood board, specially 

 devised for this purpose. The prepared fibre was carefully 

 dried and rolled into cordage of various sizes. 



Among the Hawaiians it was put to a great variety of 

 uses. All fishing-lines and nets of the best quality were 

 invariably made of olona, becau.se of its high resistance to 

 the action of saltwater. < )lona lines and nets which have 

 been in more or less constant use for over a century are 

 almost as good as new, and arc handed down from generation 

 to generation as precious objects. Most of the natives are 

 very unwilling to part with any of their fishing-gear that is 

 made of olona. 



This fibre nut .inly partakes of all the best characteris- 

 tics of this genus, but is superior to any other of its members, 

 producing the best of all fibres known at the present time. 

 The three dominant features are: — 



First— The great tensile strength. The strength of olona 

 is estimated as about three times the .strength of commercial 

 Manila. The statement is made that olona is about eight 

 times a.i^ strong as the hemp (Caiia/iis Sii/ir'n). So far as I can 

 gather, this great strength is due to the unusual length of 

 the cell in prnportion to its width. 



