616 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



such, plants in their districts as were " useful as food for man or 

 the domestic animals, or for purposes connected with the manu- 

 factures or any of the useful arts." The American consul at Cam- 

 peche, Dr. Henry Perrine, responded to this call with energy and 

 enthusiasm, and soon introduced into Congress " a bill to encourage 

 the introduction and promote the cultivation of tropical plants in 

 Florida, and conveying to Dr. Perrine and his associates a town- 

 ship of land, on condition that every section should be forfeited if 

 at least one fourth thereof should not be occupied and success- 

 fully cultivated in tropical or other plants within five years." 

 These hard conditions were accepted by Dr. Perrine, and in one of 

 his letters to Congress he calls attention to the sisal plant, and 

 says, " He repeats his unbroken conviction that its introduction 

 will make an era of as great importance to the agricultural pros- 

 perity of our confederation as the invention of the cotton-gin." 



For nearly ten years he labored, sending to Florida plants and 

 seeds, and endeavoring to obtain his township of land, desiring 

 " no more honor than the power of passing the brief term of his 

 painful existence amid the privations and exposure incident to a 

 chief pioneer in the planting and population of tropical Florida." 

 He finally succeeded in establishing a sisal plantation on Indian 

 Cay. Unfortunately, Dr. Perrine was not permitted to see the 

 result of his labors, for, during the Seminole War, the Indians 

 set fire to his buildings, and he himself fell a victim to their mer- 

 ciless attack. With the death of Dr. Perrine ended the cultiva- 

 tion of the plants he had introduced ; but one of them, that he 

 named Agave sisalana, remained, became naturalized, and is now 

 flourishing on some of the Florida Keys, where the young plants 

 are now being gathered and carried to the Bahamas. 



Thus we see that the plants are growing within our borders, 

 and it is only necessary to determine the quality of their fiber; 

 for, although the plants are the same species as those now culti- 

 vated in Yucatan and the Bahamas, the quality of the fiber may 

 not be as good, and yet on the other hand it may be better. For 

 instance, it is said that the Bahama fiber is superior to that pro- 

 duced in Yucatan ; so why may not the " Florida fiber " of the 

 future surpass that of the Bahamas ? In order to determine its 

 value it is only necessary to prepare it by hand from the plants 

 now growing in Florida and compare it with the article now on 

 the market. The subject is being investigated by the Department 

 of Agriculture, and a report may be looked for in the near future. 



It may be said in conclusion that, as a crop, sisal has much to 

 recommend it. It grows best on barren, rocky land that is use- 

 less for other agricultural purposes. Drought affects it but little, 

 if at all, as the writer can testify from his own observation. The 

 yield is not confined to any one season, but is continual ; hence 



