"' 7 \ -- T' ,;.... <:;, '?- "" "?.as,.," .' s ; ; """ "'; '?" '.'
 ; : ; .1. .
 :" :'< ,. mayy T f"r: :,, ., r"T'l': ; "":' : .:: :

 '
 .. e '


 ....
 812 ;' ';,' THE FLORIDA DISPATCH,'FARMER'AND FRUIT-GROWER. [Ocroakx 18, 1892 \.
 I IJ
 f

 iberPI&nt' climate than these countries afford. cultivation, employing 12,000 Indian attended to, the life of the plant is
 In this colony the plant luxuriates, the laborers. prolonged; the plant will produce a'
 _- - --. length of leaf being four and a half The largest and best estates are on I greater number of leaves, and fibre ofa
 Fiber Industry of Yucatan. feet to five feet, weighing one and a the rocky, gravelly lands, and theyare greater length and superior quality.
 Governor Shea, of the Bahamas, naif to two pounds. In Yucatan a leaf valued from $100,000 to$500,000each. The plantis cut every three months, ;
 tent a special commission, to Yucatan of the yaxqui from a plant of the same Each estate is managed by when seven to nine leaves are gathered.The J
' to., investigate the sisal :hemp industry, age would measure three, and a quar- three principal men: the attorney, the leaf is taken from the plant witha
 and we find his report in the bulletin ter feet, and weigh eleven ounces manager and assistant manager. The clean cut, making the cut down and ;
 of the Jamaica Botanical Department: only.' largest of them employ locomotivesfor inward at an angle of 45.

 When in the State, I visited twenty- THE PLANT'S TENACITY or LIFE. hauling in the crop from the fields; Cleaning.-As soon as the leaves are '
 eight ,henequen estates, and after others using trucks of carts drawn by cut they are taken to the machine for \
 careful enquiry I have the honor to The henequen and Bahama hempare mules or oxen. cleaning. The cleaning is so arranged 1.1
 the hardiest of all the
 submit thefollowing report: agaves. Estates with less than Soo acres un- that one-half of the leaves to be cleanedis \
 Their to withstand drouth is
 THE SOIL OF YUCATAN. power der cultivation erect one raspador for taken from the cuttings of the day .
 almost incredible. I have known
 dis- every 100 acres. Those of 1,000 acres previous, and the other half from the
 The soil in the fibre producing
 of the Bahama lie
 plants Hemp to on
 use the large automatic machines.Preparing cuttings of the same ,day, as in this
 trict of Yucatan is and
 gravelly stony, the ground for three months, exposedto I
 the fields.The size of manner the work can be commenced
 and varies in color being black
 the rays of the sun, and when
 the cultivations the early in the morning and steadily car-
 brown, and red. There are large tracts planted to with the on estates ranges
 grow greatest
 of land in the district, similar to that vigor.It from 250 to 3,500 acres. They are ried on without waiting for leaves to ..
! on most of our islands, and known as : has never been known for these laid out in fields, or sections, of 20 to be brought in from the field. The -
t "mixed land." The soil has an average plants to be troubled with disease. zoo acres, and contain from 600 to leaves are not allowed to accumulate
 depth of eight inches, and is No fungus or insect can any damage or 900 plants to the acre. beyond half a day's cleaning, for if .
 When the fields the landis left to dry beyond the second day jthey
 underlaid by soft limestone rock, similar affect them, and in 1883, when the I preparing
 to that of our pine barren lands. locust devastated the State of Yucatan, cut during the dry season; is then become hard, and the fibre when extracted -
 The largest fibre fields in the the cattle and, birds dying of starva- allowed to spring up, after which it is will be dark.
 State are to be found on this shallow tion and men were on the eve of despair "sprig weeded," and burnt after the When the raspador is used for extracting -
 stony soil; and the yield of fibre is the only green living plants to first fall of rain. The stumps are cut the fibre two operators are
 greater than on the deeper soil thirty be seen were the differnt species of close to the ground, so as to be out of required; ore stands to the left of the
 miles further inland.I' and they are now looked the way of the leaves of the plants, wheel and the other to the right. The
 agaves uponas
 could not-when looking'' at the the salvation of the State. and to facilitate the running of the operator on the left taking a leaf fastens -
 fibre fields of Yucatan-doubt for a Although not subjected to disease line for planting and getting the rows the small end with a lever to prevent -
 moment that the fibre fields of this and capable of resisting a drouth of straight. the whole of, it being drawn into
 colony are equally good; and if the eleven months in twelve, the plant is Planting.The plants are set out the machine; the larger end is inserted \
 growth of plants is any guarantee of not altogether free from the effects of on the different estates at various dis- ;and cleaned; the other operator then \
 the virtue contained in the soil in sudden changes of heat and cold; tances, being 6 ft. x n ft., SXII, 4XII, hauls out and reverses the leaf, putting
 which they grow, I do not hesitate in and is liable to be damaged by floodsof 6xio, 5XIO, 4x10, 6x9, 5x9, 4x9, in the uncleaned end, at the same time
 saying that the soil of the Bahamas is rain, immediately after a long 6x8.The taking a turn with the cleaned end of
 equally as. good.as the soil of Yucatan. drouth, if accompanied by a sudden'fall rows are kept perfectly straight, the leaf around a brass cleat which is.
 Any one who will look over the of temperature. This happenedin for if they be otherwise there wouldbe fitted to the machine for the purpose,
 grounds of Fort Charlotte will see the Yucatan in 1888, when,' after a ,the greatest difficulty in getting and managing a break that regulatesthe
 soil, trees and weeds of the fibre fields severe_ drouth, the rains came on suddenly through the fields. pressure required for cleaning the
 of Yucatan, with this difference, that with hail, and a heavy wind When planting the laborers have a leaf, finally drawing out the clean fibre.
 the soil there is more stony. from the northwest, with a fall of small line with the distances at which In this: manner fourteen leaves per
. THE DIFFERENT SPECIES OF AGAVES. temperature from 89 1057, and with- the plants are td be set out knotted on minute or 8,400 leaves are cleaned fora
 There are several species of agavesto in one night about 90 per cent. of the it, and a pole cut to the length that day's work.
 be found in Yucatan, but as two plants were damaged or blasted on the the rows are to be apart. A man anda When cleaning with the Villamore,
 only are of commercial value, I con- ends of ,the leaves, about an averageof boy are employed at each line. The Prieto or other automatic machines,
 fine my report to those two. three leaves to the plant being affected boy drops the plants along the row at all that is necessary: is to lay the bundles .
 The H'tntqutnThe species of fibre causing a loss of three to five the distance marked on the line, and of leaves on a platform fitted for
 plant grown in Yucatan, and knownas per cent. of leaf. A similar change then removes the line to the next row, the purpose, when an endless chain
 the sacqui or henequen is a differ- after a protracted drouth happened in dropping the plants as before. The draws them into the machine, the
 ent and distinct agave to that of the this colony in March;last, when a few man does the planting and is respon- mechanism of which is so arrangedthat
 Bahama hemp. of our_ farms were affected, but after sible for the rows being straight. one wheel cleans one-half of the
 The plant is hardy, and has, when : cutting off the ends of the injured When coming to a rock the planter leaf, the chain taking it along, where
 cultivated, an average life of eighteen leaves, there was nothing more seen does not turn aside, but goes on and another wheel cleans the other half,
 years; and propagates itself by send- of the trouble, and the plants remained places the plant in the row a little and then throws out the clean fibre at
 ing out suckers from its roots. healthy andstrong.: I am told that{his beyond. the opposite end. Two men and a
 The henequen requires from five to frequently happens in Florida, as the t The row system facilitates weeding, boy are employed at the machine; one
 eight years' growth to produce a mar- atmosphere is more changeable than admits a free current of air and sun man to see that the leaves enter the
 ketable length (three feet.ot) fibre. The in the Bahamas; but as this colony is light, which is necessary to .harden machine on their length, and that they
 leaf-from which the fibre is extractedhas protected by the Gulf stream, there is and give strength and texture to the do not ride one on the other; one to
 a thorn at the point, and spines on no probability of its happening here fibre; allows the laborer to cut and attend to and regulate the machine,
 its edges, and averages three and a with frequency, and in Yucatan it has bring out thejleaf with dispatch, and, and the boy to receive the fibre as it
 quarter feet in length. happened once only in thirty years. what is of the greatest importance, is brought out by the endless chain.
 The fibre of the plant is white, but The blast is caused by a sudden gives room for replanting the field As soon as the fibre is extracted it
 being inferior to that of the Bahama atmospheric change over which we when the life of the old plants is is dried, for if allowed to remain
 hemp is rated in the market, at from have, and can have, no control, and about to terminate, which cannot be without being exposed to the air im
 ;{;6 to 8 per ton lower. may happen at any time, but the loss done if the plants are growing over mediately after cleaning it becomes
 The Bahama Hemp--The Bahama of leaf three per cent. to four per cent., the field irregularly. dark and spotted.
 hemp differs from the henequen or even five per cent., would be so Plants of less than 15 inches are not Yield per Acre.-The yield of fibre
 inasmuch as the leaves are without slight that it is looked upon with un planted. from an acre of henequen is from i,000
: spines on their edges; and the fibre is concern.I MANAGEMENT OF THE CROP. to; i,47olbs. per annum. The number
. superior: in texture. The plant matures walked through hundreds of acres Cutting.-In Yucatan the henequen of plants usually set out in an acre is .
 from two to three years earlier than of the henequen, but beyond noticingthat matures in five to eight years. In the 550, giving an average of 33 leaves
 the henequen, and has an average life a leaf here and there had a few Bahamas the Bahama hemp maturesin from each plant; and from 50 to 70
 of twelve years. Like the henequenit inches dried on its end, similar to whatis three to five years. bs. of cleanfibre to the 1oooleaves.
 propagates itself from suckers, but is seen in this colony and Cuba, the To neglect cutting the leaves after Making an average calculation of 650
 also capable of producing over 2,000 plants were perfectly healthy and free the plant is matured retards its growth, plants to the acre, 33 leaves from-each
 plants from the "pole" that grows from disease. I which causes it to "pole," at the appearance plant, yielding 60 lbs. of fibre to the
 from the centre of the plant. CULTIVATION OF THE AGAVES. of which the life of the 1,000[ leaves, the return would be'as
 The Bahama hemp is found both The; Estates There ate 200 hene plant is ended, and the planter, after follows:
 in Yucatan, where it is known as the quen estates in Yucatan, varying from reaping a few leaves only, must then 33X650=:21,450 leaves yielding
 vaxqui, and 'in Cuba, but is not culti"rateoV 500 to 28,000 acres in extent, havinga plant his fields afresh. On the other 0X211005=1,287 Ibs. clean fibre per
 ... :as it" requires 'a more congenial total, number of 105,000 acres under hand, when the cutting is regularly annum. The planters never speak



 .
 '. I .

 "
 4


 .
 -
 -