351 



Agave fourcroydes^oxJli^nequen and Agave sisalana or Sisal Heiiip 

 in Jamaica, 



2. *' Tlie Departmental records sliow that one authenticated 

 plant of Heneqnen was obtained from Kew in 1883 and planted at 

 the Parade Garden. In 1886 the Colonial Secretary tried to secure 

 a large consignment of Henequen plants from Yucatan through 

 the British Consul at Progresso, The growers in Yucatan, how- 

 ever, refused to supply suckers, and the Consul was only able to 

 send us 12 plants, which were set out at Hope Gardens. 



'^ The Government of the Bahamas also at this time prohibited 

 the export of suckers of the ' true Sisal ' {Agave sisalana) so that 

 Sir Henry Blake, who was very interested in this industry and 

 desired to start it in Jamaica, was obliged to get suckers from the 

 Caicos Islands. Some 23,000 of these were obtained and phmted 

 at Hope on an area of 30 acres now occupied by the Farm School. 

 In 1891, 100,000 plants of Agave sisalana were obtained from 

 Florida and distributed to the planters. The late Colonel Ward 

 took most of these plants and set them out at Halse Hall, in Vera. 



3. *' The plants of Agave sisalana' at Hope resulted in failure, 

 as the plants poled at about two years and died before the leaves 

 were fit for cutting. Owing to a marked fall in the price of Sisal 

 Hemp fibre, Colonel Ward abandoned his enterprise and the 

 industry was apparently quite dead by 1895. 



4. '* The recent success of Mr* Eric Anderson in the cultivation 

 oiAgave sisalana at the foot of the limestone hills above Morelands 

 Estate, in Yere, has created a new interest in the Sisal Hemp 

 industry. It is now demonstrated that the Sisalana will grow for 

 several years without poling provided it be grown on its natural 

 soil, which is that of a limestone formation, 



** Mr. Anderson has also demoiistrated that by cutting the leavea 

 at three years instead of four years the plants are less liable to 

 premature poling. 



" There is a large supply of plants of Agave sisalana at present 

 available in Jamaica, and it certainly merits the attention of 

 planters who possess soils of limestone formation in the dry low- 

 lands of the islands. 



5. ^^ My attention to the property of the Henequen (Agave four- 

 croydes) of not poling for a long time, even on a soil devoid of lime, 

 was directed by the discovery by Mr. W. Harris, that a Henequen 

 plant in the Parade Garden which poled in 1909 was apparently 

 fourteen years old. 



'^ The soil of the Parade Garden is a gravelly, alluvial deposit, 

 very deficient in lime. Three plants of Henequen in the Cactus 

 collection at Hope, which were set out in 1904 and are now ten 

 years old, have not yet poled. It is, therefore, apparent that 

 Henequen can be grown on dry, alluvial soils not of limestone 

 formation without premature poling, 



" There are large areas of dry, useless land in the Liguanea and 

 St. Catherine plains that are at present almost useless for cultiva- 

 tion where Henequen should grow and yield profitable crops of 

 fibre. 



* The spelling fourcroydes has been adopted instead of fourcroxdcs in 

 accordance with Trelease s Memoir. 



