6 1 4 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



transversely placed, forming dull knives. The leaf is introduced 

 so as to bring one side in contact with the revolving wheel, which 

 is run by a small engine. A brake then presses the leaf against 

 the scrapers, while the butt is firmly held by a pair of pincers. 

 The scrapers remove the outer surface and some of the soft tis- 

 sue ; then the leaf is taken out and turned, and the other side 

 undergoes the same operation, until only the fibers are left. 

 These are then shaken out and hung in the sun for a few hours 

 to dry. The result is a rather coarse fiber of considerable 

 strength. The finest quality is nearly white, while the inferior 

 grades are yellowish in color. In order to produce the best qual- 

 ity of fiber, the leaves must be cleaned as soon as possible after 

 being cut ; otherwise the fiber is apt to be spotted. 



It may be well to state here that the cultivation of sisal is 

 also being tried in Bermuda, Trinidad, and Jamaica, but on a 

 much smaller scale than in the Bahamas. There, as already stated, 

 large tracts of land have been bought from the Government for 

 the sole purpose of producing the sisal hemp. The price is now 

 four dollars an acre, and two acres are said to produce one ton of 

 fiber. Wages for men vary from thirty-six to sixty cents per 

 day, according to the season and locality, as most of the negroes 

 are spongers, and at certain times of the year labor is not easy to 

 obtain. Women, however, are largely employed in the planting 

 and weeding, and receive on the average twenty-five cents a day. 

 These are the data on which it is stated that a ton of fiber can be 

 produced for fifty dollars. As the price of the fiber is now from 

 one hundred and twenty to one hundred and thirty dollars a ton, 

 and has been as high as two hundred dollars, these figures look 

 attractive. 



But it may well be asked, " How about the quantity of fiber 

 now on the market, and will the market stand the enormous in- 

 crease, that the yield of the Bahamas will give ? " That is, of 

 course the very point on which the question of profit or loss will 

 turn. The writer has been told, by one who is well acquainted 

 with the fiber market, that if the sisal hemp could be sold for 

 four and a half or five and a half cents per pound, in a few years 

 the consumption would be doubled ; for, when the price reaches 

 nine or ten cents a pound, the use of the fiber for many purposes 

 is abandoned, and is replaced by some cheaper material, as jute. 



One of the principal obstacles in the way of cheaper fiber is 

 the need of a good machine, as the one now in use is a crude af- 

 fair, requiring the attendance of two men and a boy besides the 

 engineer, and producing but a small quantity of fiber daily. 

 Although much skill and money have already been spent in 

 attempting to invent a better machine, as yet all efforts have been 

 msuccessful ; but, as inventors and mechanics are still at work, 



