399 





Up to the present time the general uses to which this fibre has 

 been applied have been limited to the making of food and game 

 bags, lariats, and a species of gunny cloth, but more recent 

 experiments have demonstrated its adaptability for working up 

 into rope, and it is on this ground that several local companies 

 nave been formed and are projected for the raising of this plant 

 on a large scale in order to compete with the Henequen or Sisal 

 hemp growers of Yucatan, in the production of a rope-making fibre. 



Comparison between the respective merits of Sisal hemp and 

 Zapupe from the point of view of the cultivator show many 

 points in favour of the latter if, as is hoped, the fibre of the Zapupe 

 should prove to be equal for commercial purposes to that of the 

 fcisal. For example, the rapid growth and development of the 

 /-apupe is quite extraordinary. In from three to four years, in many 

 cases, the plant will have arrived at a stage where the gathering or 

 cutting of the leaves may be taken in hand, whereas the Henequen 

 or bisal takes fully six years to arrive at a condition of sufficient 

 maturity to permit of the culling of the leaf. 



From the point of view of yield of fibre the difference in favour 

 ot the Zapupe is again very marked, as the following data will 



Henequen or Sisal 



Yearly yield of leavea 

 Cuttings per annum 

 Weight of fibre per leaf 



Product 



• t ft 



- • • 



• • • 



• • ■ 



£ oz. 



not 



It will be seen from the foregoing that the Zapupe will yield 

 in a year fully a third more weight of fibre than can be obtained 

 from the Sisal, but on the other hand the labour and increased 

 work entailed makes it doubtful whether the revenue derived 

 Irom the extra weight of fibre produced by the Zapupe would 



be more than swallowed up by the excess occasioned in 

 expenditure. For instance, in the Zapupe three cuttings per year 

 are necessary. Eighty leaves have to be culled and carted to the 

 decorticating machine. The eighty leaves have to be put through 

 the scraper three times, and the refuse to be removed is equally as 

 great in volume, whereas with the Henequen or Sisal there are only 

 twenty-five leaves per plant to handle from the plantation to the 

 machine shed, the same results are obtained with two scrapings as 

 are produced by three in the case of the other plant, so that it 



much 



■d reallj 

 extra 



does offset the increase in expendit 



ure 



labour must entail, and scarcity of labour in the 



hotlands of Mexico, especially near the coast, is and P r obably wiU 

 be for many years to come the most formidable difficulty that the 

 planter of this and other produce has to contend with. 

 , It must, however, also be borne in mind that the cultivation of 

 the Sisal is one to which for the last thirty years and more the 

 closest study has been given, and every possible experiment tried 

 with thfi nhw „f ; — L^ nff thfl vield and effecting, by improved 



