YUCCA 



YUKON RIVER 



states of Campeachy and Yucatan, of the 

 Mexican republic, and is noted as being the 

 world's chief source of sisal hemp (see SISAL). 

 Its area of 55,400 square miles is nearly as great 

 as that of the state of Iowa. It is a ledge of 



LOCATION MAP 



limestone little more than half covered with 

 -oil. Its shore line on the west, north and east 

 is covered with shallow water, in which coral 

 formation is actively going on. 



ng a hot and humid climate, Yucatan 

 furnishes ideal conditions for the growth of the 

 sisal plant, which t:ik<- it< moisture from tin- 

 air. It is not grown successfully in any other 

 region. Modem methods and machinery an 

 used in its cultivation, and although the sisal 

 plantations of Yucatan furnish yearly 200,000,- 

 000 pounds of fiber to American markets for 

 tlic manufacture of rope and twine, less than 

 twenty per cent of the best sisal-producing 

 lands are cultivated, because of the scarcity of 

 labor. 



The natives are dependable, and are the paid 

 laborers of the sisal fields. The best relations 

 exist between them and the managers of the 

 plantations, who are in reality the local m 

 trates, the plantations forming villages in them- 

 selves. Other than the native, the majority 

 <>f the population is Spanish. They are an in- 

 telligent people; they live in comfortable 

 homes, educate their children, n. . hom 



are sent to Kiml.md and the Hun d States for 

 m-tmetion, and are loyally developing tMrir 

 own country. 



Yucatan is interesting as the seat of tl 

 cient Maya race, tin- Inchest form . 

 civilization before the coming of >rds, 



ontains many ruins of their an< 

 &. See MAYA IMU \ 



YUCCA, ynk'a, a genus of interc 

 the lily family, native t. 



of North America. A very showy specie?, 

 sometimes called Adam's needle, is often culti- 

 vated in gardens north of its native home, the 

 Southern states. The plant bears a profusion 

 of creamy-white, bell-shaped flowers, which in 

 their setting of long, evergreen leaves, are a 

 most beautiful spectacle. "The nodding bells," 

 says one observer, "by moonlight are transfig- 

 ured, and they fairly radiate a soft, silvery lus- 

 ter, impossible to describe." Another showy 

 species, the Yucca gloriosa, has a stem from two 

 to three feet in height, on the upper part of 

 which is borne a cluster of sword-shaped leaves. 

 A flower stalk grows from the center of the 

 leaf cluster, bearing numerous drooping, bell- 

 shaped flowers, white with a purple stripe. 

 The leaves of the species Yucca glauca, found 

 in the Rocky Mountains region and the \V 

 era plains, yield fibers used by the American 

 Indians in making cordage, baskets and cloth. 



- 



YUCCA TREE 

 In the Mohave De- 

 There are several treelike forn which 

 is shown in the illu.-tration; some of th-- 

 produce wood of commercial value. 



N the juicy fruits of one species as food. 

 YUKON RIVER, the fifth largest n 

 North Amrnci and the i :>oth in 



Alaska and Yukon Territory. It rises in Cana- 

 dian soil, but two-thuds of its course is in 

 Alaska. Its total length, from its mouth to 

 iten of the Lewes, its chief tribu- 

 tary, i.- This is as far as the 

 distance bct\v.n N. \\ York < : Albu- 

 querque, N. M., or between Montreal and 

 Calgary. Its drainage basin comprises 330,000 

 square mile?, of which Ala ly mon 

 than half Not only i- ih< Yukon Ri 



