332 _ Remarks on the Agave and other Plants. 
Bromelia, of Pandanus, of Alves, &c. &c., whose clippings will test 
the relative value of their leaves for thread, twine and cordage. 
The Ticu Palm mentioned as a substitute for flax and hemp by the 
Rev. Mr. Walsh in his notice of Brazil, in 1822, and the Sago Palm 
of Rumphius cited by you, on account of the superior fibres of its 
leaves, will certainly grow with the Cocoanut Palm which exists at 
Cape Florida; and if the leaves of the Musa teztzlis should indeed 
yield the manilla hemp,* as mentioned by you on the authority of 
Mr. Crawford, we can insure its flourishing with its brothers, the 
M. paradisiaca and M. sapientum in the tropical half of E. Florida. 
The southern states have already their native Yuccas, which may 
be augmented by the Y. acaulis or Magauy de Cocuy of Caraccas, 
or any other foreign species which may be superior to our own. 
As preferable substitutes for hemp, we may translate from Yuca- 
tan to Florida, the cultivated Sacqui and Yashqui of Sisal, or the 
prickly or prickless leaved Agaves which yield very different quali- 
ties of Henequin, which may soon be increased by the Haytien spe- 
cies cited by yourself, and by every other species or variety possess- 
ing peculiar properties to be found in any part of the West Indies or 
Spanish America. 
The Yucca filamentosa, the Agave Sisala, and the fibrous leaved 
plants in general, are superior to flax and hemp plants, in being per- 
ennial, flourishing in the worst soils and situations, requiring little 
care or cultivation, and furnishing leaves for cutting every day in the 
year. The preparation for market, or the extraction of the paral- 
lel longitudinal fibres of the fresh leaves by seraping only, is the most 
simple operation possible for either the hand or machinery,} and 
hence the article when prepared for market, must be much cheaper 
than that from flax or hemp, and as they are also lighter, and more 
elastic, their relative and positive prices will give to the former a 
preference for all the purposes in offering a competition between 
them. 
The wild plants called Ixtla which abound in the country watered 
by the rivers Tobasco and Goazacoalcos, and from which the Pita of. 
Mexico, is obtained, would readily be mistaken in the first stages of 
their growth for the cultivated pine-apple plants, but at no period 
* I am induced to believe that these fibres are obtained from some other Brome- 
liaceous plants. 
# My inyention can be expressed in two words ;—Rotary Scraper. 
