SISAL HEMP 167 



The Agaves are indigenous to South America 

 and the southern parts of North America, especially 

 Mexico. They have been introduced into many other 

 countries, including Florida, the Bahamas and other 

 parts of the West Indies, British Honduras, South 

 Africa, East Africa, West Africa, Madagascar, Mauri- 

 tius, India, Indo-China, the Dutch East Indies, the 

 Philippine Islands, the tropical parts of Australia, 

 Papua, Fiji, and Hawaii. 



There are a great many different kinds of agave 

 in existence and so much confusion has arisen with 

 regard to their nomenclature that it is often extremely 

 difficult to establish the identity of plants yielding 

 commercial varieties of fibre. Comparatively re- 

 cently, however, Professor Lyster Dewey, of the 

 United States Department of Agriculture, has stated 

 that there are only three species which are concerned 

 with the question of the commercial production of 

 Sisal .hemp. These are as follows : (i) Agave four- 

 croydes, the Yucatan Sisal plant, which furnishes 

 over 90 per cent, of the world's supply ; the leaves 

 of this species bear marginal spines. It was formerly 

 known as A. rigida var. elongata, and occurs in Mexico, 

 Cuba, and South America, and has been introduced 

 into East Africa. (2) Agave sisalana. This species is 

 grown for local use by the natives of Central America 

 and Southern Mexico, but is not exported from Yuca- 

 tan to any great extent. It is cultivated com- 

 mercially in the Bahamas, West Indies, East Africa, 

 India, Indo-China, and to a small extent in Java. 

 (3) Agave Cantala. This is the " Maguey " plant 

 of the Philippine Islands, and is grown in limited 

 quantities in Java and India. 



PRODUCTION 



' The first attempts to introduce Sisal hemp into 

 commerce were made in Mexico in 1839. The fibre 

 was cleaned in a primitive manner, and was after- 

 wards packed in loose bales and sent to New York, 

 where it found a market but was not very remunera- 

 tive. The methods of preparation were so slow and 



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