Agave Cantala and Agave Rigida var. Sisalana. Two species of agave are principally planted, 

 between which there is rather a great difference; namely Agave Cantala and Agave Rigida var. 

 Sisalana. 



The Agave Cantala, which seems to be a native of Java and grows very luxuriously, yields 

 a fibre, that shows very important differences compared with the real Sisai-hemp, the fibre of the 

 Agave Rigida var. Sisalana. 



The Cantala-fibre is much thinner, more brilliant white and more flexible than the Sisal-fibre, 

 and owing to these properties it is suitable for spinning-purposes, for which the coarser Sisal- 

 hemp is less suitable. Owing to ihis. the foreign markets pay more for the carefully prepared Java 

 Cantala-fibre than for the Sisal-fibre. 



Cultivation and preparation. Relative to the cultivation of these agaves but very little can 

 be said, as they need little care and grow well on ground which is less suitable for other 

 cultivated plants. 



The preparation of the fibre by the natives is done, as already mentioned above, in a very 

 primitive way, namely by drawing the agave-leaves, which are usually beaten soft with a stone 

 or a piece of wood, through a simple scraping apparatus. 



The fibre obtained in this way is however usually short and the colour, as well as the 

 cleaning, often leaves much to be desired. 



The fibre prepared by the natives is principally used in this country itself, and only small 

 quantities are exported. 



On the estates which are under European supervision, the preparation of the fibre is done 

 in a less primitive way, and at present a general use is made of fibre-extracting machines. On 



