198 
The question of fixed capital has come to stay. We are not yet 
out of our first generations as farmers on a grand scale. The first 
generation is taking its hand from the plow, and those who fol- 
low the pioneers, either through deed or sale or probate, must 
hereafter reckon interest on investments as an actual item of cost. 
Farming as an industry is in its transitional stage, and it is to 
meet the new conditions in a businesslike way that experts have 
been giving their attention to the question of devising a system 
of cost accounting for the farmer . — The Bookkeeper. 
RO SELLA VS. CRANBERRY. 
At the experimental gardens at Fort Brown experiments have 
been carried on with the rosella plant, which have proved a great 
success. The rosella plant promises to become a great rival of 
the cranberry. The plant was first introduced into Texas about 
two years ago from Jamaica by the Agricultural Department of 
the United States government, and since that time has proved 
very adaptable to the lower Rio Grande valley soil and climate. 
In the matter of taste the sauce of the rosella can hardly be told 
from the cranberry, and in some localities in south Texas many 
truck growers have supplied the local merchants who have been 
selling it in place of cranberries with practically the same degree 
of satisfaction to the trade. The rosella possesses the attractive 
trade advantage, however, of being two colors, red' and white, 
and alongside of it may be growing a bush bearing red fruit. 
The product of the rosella plant is really not a fruit ; it is the 
fleshy, acid cycles of the flowers that are used for making sauces, 
jellies and refreshing drinks. 
It has been amply demonstrated at the gardens that these plants 
are easily grown here, and are well adapted to the soil and 
climate of the valley, and it is predicted by many that within a 
very few years it will be an extensive and profitable lower Rio 
Grande valley product. The average yield of the plant is twenty 
quarts to the plant, with an average price of five cents per quart. 
The rosella plant in some instances grows to a height of seven 
feet, and 800 to 1,000 of the plants can be grown on an acre, 
which requires considerably less cultivation and attention than 
many of the valley products. 
In the experimental gardens at Fort Brown the seeds of the 
rosella plant were sown last June, and the harvesting of the fruit 
began in November. 
On account of the climatic conditions of the valley, the rosella 
plant is more profitable there than in any other section of the 
state. The plant will bear from one to two months longer on 
account of absence of frost until late in the winter. — San Antonio 
Express. 
