Mai/ 2, 1908.] Agricultural Gazette of N.S.W. 371 



blossoming, as the plant then withers ; while others state that because this indicates old 

 age and the end of the usefulness of the plant, there is no advantage in attempting to save 

 its life further. From the experience of Bahamian planters, not only does the cutting 

 of the leaves retard the period of poling, but it also lessens the size and productiveness 

 of tlie pole. 



In Yucatan the period of usefulness lasts from six to eight years — sometimes from 

 fifteen to twenty years — a plant fifteen years old presenting the appearance of growing 

 at the top of a long foot-stalk several feet from the ground. 



Yield per Acre. 



A plant set out when IS inches higli will produce leaves fit for cutting in three 

 years. The lower leaves, naturally, are the most mature, and cut first ; these should be 

 at least 3 feet long. Mr. Clenunson informs me that the average length of the leaf 

 from four-old plants, as grown in Florida, is H feet 3 inches when cut, and for three 

 years afterwards 6 inches longer eacli year. He also states that thrifty plants at seven 

 years will produce leaves 5 feet in length ; and if the fiowering stalk is cut when it first 

 makes it appearance the plant will continue to grow to profit for twenty-five years. 



Mr, Ranson, of Titusviile (the Indian River region), set out plants in 1887 that were 

 6 to 8 inches high. At two years the leaves of the large jjlants were 2 feet 8 inches 

 long, and at three j^ears the leaves were 3 feet 2 inches long, and were fit to commence 

 cutting. The result of one plant here of two and one-half years' gi'owth is an average 

 of seventeen young plants and ten leaves sufficiently long to harvest. And he states that 

 in the fourth year such a plant will give a still larger result, increasing in usefulness 

 each year until it fiowers, in its eleventh to tliirteenth year, which ends tlie life of the plant. 



I saw plants on th« West Coast, said to be only four j'ears old, the leaves of which 

 measured over 5 feet long. I think, from the above statements, the plant must be of 

 slower growth in the Indian River region than in more ti'opical Florida. 



The late ]\Ir. Van Buren stated that tlie product of nine hundred plants to the acre in 

 the third year, allowing for two or three cuttings of five leaves each, equal to 12 or 15 

 lb. to the plant, would be 6 or 7 tons of green leaves to the acre, worth, at least, •'?3 per 

 ton. He estimated the yield for the following year at 18 tons of leaves, from five or six 

 cuttings, worth about .$50 per acre. In the report of Mr. Preston it is stated that in 

 Yucatan a leaf 4 feet long weighs 1"1 lb., and measures in the widest part Scinches 

 across from spine to spine, and is one-fourth of an inch thick in the centre of the leaf, 

 2 feet from either end. A similar leaf from the Bahamas is said to weigh li lb. and to 

 measure 44 inches wide, and five-sixteentlis of an inch in thickness. 



Cross sections of a leaf. 



Outline drawing, made from a freshly-cut Florida Sisal leaf, 5 feet 8 inches long and 

 inches wide, to illustrate the thickness and shape of the leaf (cross-section) at base 

 and centre or widest portion. It may be stated that the full-grown mature leaves of 

 Florida plant (var. smalana), 'y feet in length, will weigh Ij to 2 lb. 



