510 FIBRES 



facility in the way of cheap freights, so that the new 

 industry may not be hampered. The tendency is to keep 

 freights far too high, and this must be remedied. 



Mr. A. C. MacDonald, the able Director of Agriculture 

 for British East Africa, has investigated the production of 

 sisal in Punda Milea, and finds that a total weight of three 

 tons per acre is produced during the life of a plant which 

 averages four and a half to five years and occasionally 

 six years. His experiment has been verified and even 

 bettered by subsequent practice. 



In this district it is by no means an easy task to 

 eradicate the sisal " bol " or stump before replanting or 

 preparing the land for another crop. In German East 

 Africa this rots away of itself within a year. At the 

 coast in British East Africa a vigorous jerk will remove 

 the stump, but in the uplands, nourished by the rich soil, 

 the stump is formidable, and can only be extracted by 

 pulling out with four to six oxen yoked to a short rope 

 which is hitched round the root, a second rope at the 

 same time being slipped round another plant, so that the 

 strain on the oxen may be steady and the work be ex- 

 peditiously done. 



Mr. A. C. MacDonald experimented with dry arsenite 

 of soda, which kills the stump and facilitates its removal. 



The ground wants a thorough cleaning, and it is con- 

 sidered prudent to leave it fallow a year, or to take a 

 couple of bean crops before replanting. 



In German East Africa three consecutive crops have 

 been grown, the second and third yielding rather poorer 

 fibre than the first. To what degree soil is exhausted by 

 sisal has yet to be proved. 



Elaborate experiments in fertilizing were carried out at 

 Amani (German East Africa), where it was ascertained 

 that sisal did not benefit by any kind of fertilizer. 



In 1908 a plantation was started by Messrs. Mildmay 

 and Wavell at Nyali on the mainland, opposite the island 

 of Mombasa. It comprises a long strip of coast land of 

 coral formation, more suitable for sisal than for any other 

 crop. The labour of clearing was considerable. No 

 ploughing could be done, so the ground had to be 



