50 FLOHIDA: ITS CLIMATE, SOIL, PRODUCTIONS, 



Compile, the bread root of the Indians, grows without any cultivation. 

 All of the above have only been grown for domestic use for starch and 

 for food, and have limited sale in this and adjoining States. The atten- 

 tion of Northern starch manufacturers has lately been drawn to them, 

 and Governor Sinclair, of New Hampshire, having tested the roots by 

 actual experiments, has introduced a pioneer factory in Orange County. 

 As either and all of these roots have a larger percentage of starch in 

 them than the Irish potato, and can be grown at the same price, and 

 manufactured all the year, we may look for a large business in this in- 

 dustry. 



SISAL HEMP, RAMIE, JUTE. 



All of the fibrous plants grown in warm latitudes are found here. 

 Some years ago the Sisal hemp was largely grown, but the Indian war 

 broke up the country where it was planted, and the cultivation has not 

 been resumed to any extent. A Key West writer says that a ton of fiber 

 may be grown to an acre, worth $300. Extensive preparations are being 

 made for the cultivation of jute in South Florida, and at no distant day 

 it will become a leading industry. Col. A. B. Lindermann, of Philadel- 

 phia, is at the head of a company, recently organized, to test the culti- 

 vation of jute and indigo upon a large scale. An ample supply of seed 

 has been imported from India; suitable lands have been selected from 

 the Disston purchase, in Sumter County, and arrangements are now 

 being made to procure the necessary workmen. An expert will visit the 

 crop during the coining summer, and should his report be favorable, a 

 large amount of English capital will at once be invested in the business, 



A variety of wild jute is found growing abundantly in East and South 

 Florida. A sample of the fiber of this plant, roughly prepared, was 

 taken to Dundee, Scotland, where the principal jute factories of the 

 world are located, and was valued by the proprietors of the works at 

 $90 per ton. Two crops can be readily grown during the season, and 

 improved machinery has lately been devised for the preparation ot the 

 fiber. The plant grows vigorously upon low, wet soils, is difficult to 

 eradicate when once planted, and promises to add another to the many 

 flourishing industries of Florida. It is believed by those who have in- 

 vestigated the subject, that this State is capable of furnishing all the 

 jute required for consumption in this country, now imported from Cal- 

 cutta at a cost of many millions annually. 



INDIGO, CASTOR BEAN, AND SILK. 



The indigo plant is indigenous in Florida; during the English occu- 

 pation it was extensively cultivated, manufactured, and exported ; now 

 it is occasionally made for domestic use. The castor bean here attains 

 the size of a tree often 30 feet high, grows rapidly, and bears largely ; 

 now only used for home purposes. Silk some years ago attracted a good 

 deal of attention, but is now only occasionally produced as a pastime. 



