ii8 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
over here to be grown. Japan sent a 
representative over here and found we 
were trying to compete with them so they 
immediately stopped oiir supply of straw. 
The American Company sent a man to 
Japan again andl got a small supply of the 
Chinese straw and they are now making 
a very fine §a"ade of matting but the sup¬ 
ply of raw material is very limited. At 
this point, the Department of Agriculture 
took up the work of introducing these two 
grasses from China and Japan. 
Some experiments have been tried with 
our native grasses on the coast of South 
Carolina, principally in the abandoned 
rice lands. The rice industry along the 
Atlantic Coast, which at one time was so 
thriving, has within the last ten years, en¬ 
tirely died out on account of the rice in 
Louisiana and Texas being grown by the 
use of machinery. The Department 
thought tiiat by introducing the matting 
grass into North and South Carolina, they 
might bring back into' cultivation the 
abandonee! rice fields, but so far have 
proved unsuccessful with the native grass¬ 
es. 
Last yeai* we got a special appropria¬ 
tion through to send a man to Japan to 
get the roots, as the plant is propagated 
in this way. I went to Japan last fall and 
finally succeeded in getting a great many 
roots of the twO' different kinds of Japan¬ 
ese and Chinese roots. These roots were 
finally landed at California but in very bad 
condition, so to save them we left them at 
Chico, Cai., to grow for the summer. The 
plants are now doing very nicely. We 
are now planning tO' distribute those roots 
next fall, beginning at Texas andl running 
along die Gulf into Florida and up into 
South Carolina. The plant requires al¬ 
most the same conditions that are re¬ 
quired in rice culture. It is planteol in the 
winter and then water put on. The water, 
with plenty of fertilizer, forces the plant 
into a very long, slender growth. We 
have arranged now for an experiment 
with some Japanese in Texas who have 
put out about one and one-half acres of it. 
We wish to distribute the plants now at 
Chico in two or three different places in 
Florida as well as Texas. There is now a 
ready market for the straw at $80.00 per 
ton. In Japan, the grass yields from four 
to six tons per acre. 
The way the Chinese and Japanese 
grow it is much cheaper than the methods 
we woulcil have to employ. The labor 
conditions there are nothing compared to 
what they are here. The plant is peren¬ 
nial and you can put it in the ground and 
leave it ; with the aid of water and the 
proper use of fertilizer you can continue to 
harvest year after year. 
Our object is to first find out if the 
grass will grow. Then we will have to 
work it out by practice and find out the 
best methods of growing it. I will be 
glad to answer any questions or talk to 
anyone on the subject. 
Mr. Hart—What is the price of grow¬ 
ing and preparing for market; putting it 
in shape? 
Mr. Tull—The two kinds of straw are 
cured entirely different. Two days of 
hot sunshine will cure it. The process of 
curing in Japan is very crude and very 
long compared to the way in whicli we 
would have to' do it. The grass is cut and 
spread out in the field, and after two days 
of hot sunshine, the farmer considers it 
cured. 
