54 A NATURE WOOING. 



are located in New Orleans, and two others at Pensa- 

 cola, Florida. The six factories at New Orleans re- 

 ceived, during the last year, 3,500 bales of rough 

 moss, weighing 10,000,000 pounds, and valued at 

 $315,000. A considerable amount, however, is 

 ginned in the country and shipped direct to con- 

 sumers, or is prepared by the consumers themselves. 

 Persons most familiar with the volume of this indus- 

 try estimate that the value of the prepared moss gath- 

 ered annually in Louisiana, the principal region of 

 supply, is not far from $550,000. The amount gath- 

 ered, however, varies considerably from year to year. 

 Moss can only be profitably collected at times of high 

 floods, when the swamps are navigable to small boats, 

 and the moss, hanging from the branches of the trees, 

 can be easily gathered. The wages earned by the 

 swampers, too, are not large, and the gathering of 

 moss is only resorted to when more profitable em- 

 ployment upon farms can not be obtained." 



March 13, 1899. 'Tis hot, hotter than ordinary 

 March days here, say the old residents. During my 

 walk to the hammocks beyond the railway I have 

 chewed the bitter cud of memory, a memory of a past 

 when life was all before me and false friends were 

 not mine. Then I had no favors to bestow. As soon 

 as one possesses such favors he begins to make ene- 

 mies. Without them he awakens not jealous conten- 

 tions and fierce fights for plunder. He can walk 

 forth, a free man, happy in his poverty, contented 



