398 



should be resembling more or less the sharp end of a tent peg, so 

 closely are they cut down. As a rule the furrows are run in the 

 usual parallel manner, about seven feet apart with a distance 

 between each plant of about five feet, which would give a little 

 over one thousand plants to the acre. Between three and four 

 years subsequent to transplanting the plant will bloom unless 

 pruned, when flowering will not take place for a matter of fifteen 

 years. In order to increase the fibre producing power of the plant 

 the flowering period must be kept in check as long as possible. 



At from four to five years old the cutting of the leaves can be 

 begun, the plant continuing to produce for a term of eight to ten 

 years. Cutting takes place three times a year, each yield per 

 individual plant being from about twenty-five to thirty leaves, the 

 weight of fibre per leaf amounting to probably not quite half an 

 ounce, so that each plant would give per year about two and one- 

 half pounds of fibre. 



From three years and onwards each plant will give off anywhere 

 from two to a half dozen shoots and, if allowed to flower in its 

 early stage, from the stalk which runs up from the centre to a 

 neignt ot twelve feet and more, it is possible to cut a hundred or 



more slips. 



^li h i°? gh ^ Up . t0 . the present no extensive plant has been 

 Z?£? J°/ A 6 trea *T nt 0f tbis fibre h ? machinery, there is little 



r mE ™h ^ confidenc e in «* future possessed by those engaged 

 u/fJ« ^ °^ f0 !. whereaS ex P pri ments as to the possibility of 



hat JJl It f ° ductlon J*™ only begun in 1901, it is safe to say 

 now tlZT i^f ar ? fall y fo ^to five thousand acres of ground 



2lt:rJo™l aet ° Ut Wlth f ° Ur t0 five million P lant * in ™*°™ 



slonW b nLVn f litieS f0 5 . the , cultiv;lt i°n of the Zapupe are gently 

 Zdof 3 ^Z° r mountam foothills, with a soil fairly rich to poor 



Xnts\re? it fn P n° i° US *■ ^l" 6 ' Draina S e must b e good, as if the 

 Sneraf thl J° £" g \ n Stagnant Water the roots will rot and in 

 fhe nhnt i, !• and P roduct ion of fibre will be retarded. As 



its cumvafnn !f aHy tr °? ical * is P erha P s needless to say that 

 besfresult^n 2 ? J - f?** 1 *™™* altitude is an impossibility ; the 

 adh n/f,! 11 b . G ?*f ined where the atmosphere is warm 



too sandv Sf r th i ?!* 8light variati ons in the temperature. A 

 urfac fLuul ^ mld ^\^ided as absorbing too quickly the 

 Plant J? Xn.nH 0I \ wb f bth e "hoote, especially from the parent 

 seems to cant ^ *' A dayey Soil a ^ ain is ^nally as bad, as it 

 to spread r °° fcS t0 d ° Uble and break ™ their endeavours 



yotg U ptnL Sti in at th:T 1(i Sh ° W that the oM '^ f ° r te » di "g the 

 Planttn- Wethpr M*™!*! 9 P re P arin g the ground for trans- 

 P anting together with cost of the plants would be approximately : 



Shoots per 1,000 ... ... ,L 



Sowing and tending in nursery per 1,000 750 

 Preparing ground and planting 7 !.. ' „ 7.50 



Total $50.00 



m 



