CULTIVATION OF SISAL IN THE BAHAMAS. 607 



of plantain (Musa textilis), belonging to the same .genus as the 

 hanana. 



Sisal hemp, the subject of this paper, is obtained from the 

 leaves of some of the species and varieties of the genus Agave, 

 one species of which is well known in cultivation under the name 

 of " century plant." This genus belongs to the order Amarylli- 

 dacecB, and is related to the snow-drop, amaryllis, and narcissus ; 

 but, owing to the much greater size of the plants, and some pecul- 

 iar points of structure, it stands prominent among its congeners. 

 The agaves are indigenous in the New World only, and the major- 

 ity of the species are natives of Mexico, only a few being known 

 within the limits of the United States. 



The same general appearance is presented by all, so that any 

 one familiar with the century plant can form a very good idea of 

 ihe appearance of the other species of the genus. In all, the 

 leaves are thick and fleshy, as they contain the supply of material 

 which is to nourish the great flower-stem when the plant arrives 

 at maturity. This stem, which is a prolongation of the trunk of 

 the plant, shoots up from the center of the rosette of leaves, and 

 often attains a height of from twenty to thirty feet. The time 

 required to arrive at maturity varies in the different species, and 

 in the same species under different conditions. The "century 

 plant " in its native home, Mexico, blossoms in from ten to fifteen 

 years, while with us it requires thirty, fifty, or in some cases, it is 

 said, even a hundred years to mature. During the production of 

 the great flower-stalk the store of nourishment in the massive 

 leaves is exhausted, and, after the fruit is produced, the plant 

 withers and dies. 



The leaves of all the agaves contain what are known botani- 

 cally as the fibro-vascular bundles. In order to see these, it is 

 only necessary to cut off a leaf of the century plant; as, in a 

 thick transverse section, that has been allowed to dry slightly, the 

 fibers will look like short bristles projecting from the surround- 

 ing soft tissue ; and in a longitudinal section these bristly points 

 are seen as threads running through the leaf. Should the ob- 

 server be the fortunate possessor of a compound microscope, on 

 examining these threads he will find them composed of exceed- 

 ingly fine, elongated cells, closely connected in a bundle, and 

 surrounded by the much larger circular cells that compose the 

 soft parts of the leaf. When the outer skin and the soft tissue of 

 the leaf are removed, the fibro-vascular bundles remain and con- 

 stitute what is commercially known as " fiber." 



While all the agaves will yield fiber of some kind, it is only in 

 a few that the quantity and quality of the material are such as to 

 make its manufacture profitable. This fact has been known for 

 a long time in Yucatan, the home of the sisal industry. There 



