FIBER PLANTS 189 



regions where the soil is too thin and rocky to pro- 

 duce other crops. No fertilizers are used for sisal. 

 The plants when growing thriftily throw up numer- 

 ous suckers from the roots. These are used for 

 starting new plantations. Bulbels are also produced 

 in immense numbers on the flowering stalks. These 

 are sometimes used for planting, but require from 

 one to two years longer to reach maturity. The 

 ground selected for sisal is usually too rocky to ad- 

 mit of plowing, and is, therefore, cleared of brush 

 with a machete, and the dry grass and brush is burned. 

 Small holes are now chopped in the soil at a distance 

 of from seven to nine feet and a sucker planted in 

 each hole. No great pains is required in planting, 

 except to see that enough earth or stone is piled 

 around the sucker to hold it erect. Subsequent cul- 

 tivation consists simply in chopping down grass and 

 weeds with hoe or machete as often as may be neces- 

 sary to prevent them from smothering the plants. 

 From three to five years are required before the 

 plants gain sufficient size to admit of harvesting. 

 After this time one or two of the large, fleshy, lower 

 leaves may be cut each month, and as the plant con- 

 tinues to yield for a number of years, the total 

 amount of fiber produced is considerable. With the 

 price that has prevailed since the Spanish-American 

 War this industry has been very profitable. The 

 leaves are taken to a pulping machine which sepa- 

 rates the fiber. This is dried and then baled for 

 market. 



The kind usually found in the Bahamas differs 

 somewhat from that of Yucatan and is considered to 



