igo CORDAGE FIBRES 



according to the conditions under which they are 

 grown. In New Zealand the leaves are usually cut 

 in December or January. If two or three of the 

 centre leaves of each plant are left untouched, a crop 

 of three or four leaves can be obtained each year. 



The suitability of the leaves for cutting is judged by 

 their texture and firmness, or by a splitting at the 

 apex, or the recurving of the blade from the midrib. 

 As already stated, only the outer leaves should be 

 cut ; in order not to injure the leaves enclosing the 

 central shoot, the knife is inserted between the leaves, 

 and the outer leaves are cut downwards and out- 

 wards. 



PREPARATION OF THE FIBRE 



The method of extraction practised by the natives, 

 who use only the upper part of the leaf and only one 

 side of it, consists in scraping away the softer tissues 

 with the edge of a mussel-shell and subsequently 

 soaking the fibre in water and drying it. Early in 

 the last century considerable quantities of fibre were 

 prepared in this way, 60 tons, of total value 2,600, 

 being exported in 1828, 841 tons in 1830, and no less 

 than 1,062 tons in 1831 . The fibre thus produced by 

 the natives is of much finer quality than that obtained 

 by the use of machinery. 



There are several machines which are used for 

 extracting New Zealand hemp, but they are all con- 

 structed on the same principle. The leaf is intro- 

 duced between horizontal, fluted, revolving feed- 

 rollers, by which it is crushed and held securely while 

 being scraped. As it passes out, the epidermis and 

 parenchymatous tissue are stripped off by means of a 

 beating-drum, revolving more rapidly than the feed- 

 rollers and carrying flanges on its periphery which 

 press the leaf against a bar and thus exert a scraping 

 action. An arrangement is provided for adjusting 

 the distance between this bar and the drum, so that 

 neither can the leaf pass through unstripped nor the 

 fibres be cut. Vulcanised indiarubber cushions or 

 steel springs are placed over the journals of the upper 



