6l2 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



islands Eleuthera, for instance have considerable depth of soil ; 

 but it is when growing on the bare, rocky ground described above 

 that the sisal is said to produce fiber of the best quality. 



Given the land, the next step is to clear it, and the method of 

 clearing varies according to the character of the vegetation. If 





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it is " pine-yard/' a fire is started, which burns off the May-pole ; 

 the pines are then cut down, and either made into charcoal or 

 laid in rows across the fields and allowed to decay ; if coppet, the 

 trees and shrubs are cut down with axes or cutlasses, according 

 to their size, and the brush is then burned. 



While his land is being cleared, the planter should be getting 

 his plants ready. As usually obtained, they are fresh from the 

 " pole/' and only from one to four inches in height. These are too 

 small to put out in the fields, so they are set out in beds of cave 

 earth until they get to be eight or ten inches high. When taken 

 from these nurseries their rootlets are carefully trimmed off, and 

 they are then planted every eight or nine feet in rows that are 

 about ten feet apart. Thus an acre of ground usually contains 

 from five to six hundred plants. In order to facilitate carrying 

 the leaves out of the field, the latter is divided by roads into sec- 

 tions of about one hundred acres each. 



After planting, it is not very long before the fields will have 



