CULTIVATION OF SISAL IN THE BAHAMAS. 615 



and as the recent " sisal boom " in the Bahamas will increase the 

 demand, there is little doubt but that here, as in so many other 

 cases, necessity will prove the mother of invention. When the 

 fiber can be cheaply produced in large quantities, there is little 

 doubt but that increased uses will be found for it, and that the 

 demand will equal the supply. 



The House of a Sisal Planter, Andkos. 



In 1887 Yucatan exported crude fiber valued at over $3,000,000, 

 besides $37,862 in rope and $43,891 in hammocks. About eighty- 

 four per cent of the crude fiber and fifty per cent of the hammocks 

 came to the United States ; most of the remaining fiber went to 

 England, Germany, and France, while Spain took the rest of the 

 hammocks and all the rope. In 1889 the import of sisal hemp 

 into the United States was between $0,000,000 and $7,000,000, about 

 50,000 tons, on which a duty of fifteen dollars a ton was paid.* 



Now it may be asked, " Why can not the United States produce 

 sisal too ? Is no portion of our vast territory suitable for this 

 crop ? " As we shall see, some one did ask that question over fifty 

 years ago. It is not generally known that in 1827 the Treasury 

 Department issued a circular to some of the American consuls, 

 requesting them to collect and preserve seeds and specimens of 



* The duty has since been removed. 



