CULTIVATION OF SISAL IN THE BAHAMAS. 600 



young plants develop, so that the pole presents a rather 

 appearance, with the small plants growing out in the places usu- 

 ally occupied by the flowers. When these young plants have 

 attained a height of from three to four inches, they fall to the 

 ground and take root. The old plants also reproduce themselves 

 by means of suckers, and hence, when old and neglected, are often 

 seen surrounded by numerous smaller ones, as in the common 

 houseleek (Sempervivwm). 



Agave rigida, var. sisalana, in Blossom, near Nassau, N. P. 



Such is briefly a general description of the plant that seems 

 destined to occupy the capital and energies of the people of the 

 Bahamas ; for it was this plant that was introduced there a few 

 years ago by Sir Henry Blake,* then governor of the colony. 



* Governor Blake is generally credited with having introduced the plants. But as 

 early as 1854 an agave was sent by the British vice-consul Baldwin from Florida to the 

 Bahamas. It is not unlikely that this plant was the same as those introduced by Dr. Per- 

 rine into Florida. 



