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POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



if we can produce it at a price low enough to compete with the cheaper 

 grades of the imported India fiber. Rough flax and common hemp 

 might be used in lieu of jute, in bagging manufacture, but the ques- 

 tion of competition is still a factor. Sisal hemp, which has been im- 

 ported to the value of seven million dollars a year, when prices were 

 high, will grow in southern Florida, and the plant has been the sub- 

 ject of exhaustive study and experiment. This plant was first grown 

 in the United States on Indian Key, Florida, about 1836, a few 



tw.vm : 





%:J~-- 



Pineapple Field in Florii 



plants having been introduced from Mexico by Dr. Henry Perrine, 

 and from this early attempt at cultivation the species has spread over 

 southern Florida, the remains of former small experimental tracts 

 being found at many points, though uncared for. 



The high prices of cordage fibers in 1890 and 1891, brought 

 about by the schemes of certain cordage concerns, called attention to 

 the necessity of producing, if possible, a portion of the supply of 

 these hard fibers within our own borders. In 1891, in response to 

 requests for definite information regarding the growth of the Sisal 

 hemp plant, a preliminary survey of the Key system and Biscayne 

 Bay region of southern Florida was made by the Department of 

 Agriculture, and in the following year an experimental factory was 



