FIBRES 513 



Africa. The industry has taken a firm root. Planting 

 proceeds apace, and it should not be many years before 

 British East Africa catches up German East Africa, 

 which has had fourteen years' start, and whose best 

 estates are highly profitable and yield large returns. 



In other tropical countries they deem it inadvisable to 

 cultivate sisal over 1,500 ft. altitude, but British East 

 African planters have proved that an excellent crop can 

 be obtained at 5,000 ft., and are now going farther afield, 

 planting sisal- at Naivasha at about 7,000 to 8,000 ft. 

 altitude. It is too early to ascertain the result. 



Almost close to the Equator, just above Lake Victoria 

 Nyanza, a successful plantation is using raspadors, this 

 being the first machine adapted for the cleaning of sisal, 

 the invention of a Franciscan monk, and still in use in 

 Mexico. The fibre from this district is rather longer and 

 of good colour, though at times a slight defect is visible, 

 due to the pitting of the leaves from the storms which 

 occur in that district. 



Mention should be made of a plantation at the coast 

 north of Mombasa, where a decorticator constructed by 

 Messrs. Robey and Co., Ltd., is at work. 



It is still to be proved whether the coast plantations 

 or those in the uplands will be more profitable. It has 

 been shown that the conditions are quite different. The 

 rich upland soil can produce any crop, and the land will 

 therefore rise in value. This may cause the cultivation 

 of sisal to be eventually confined to the cheaper coral 

 lands of the coast, or, as in German East Africa, to the 

 medium soils. 



The weeding of the coral coast land entails more labour 

 and expense than in areas where the soil can be cultivated 

 by draught animals and mechanical tools, such as the 

 Planet Junior cultivator now in use in the upland district, 

 and a valuable accessory in view of the scarcity of labour. 

 It is doubtful if any great harm is done after the first 

 year by neglecting to keep the land quite clean. The 

 vitality of the agave being greater than that of the weeds 

 enables it to hold its own and thrive, in spite of its 

 enemies. Naturally work has to be adjusted according 

 to the available labour supply, and in many plantations 

 in German East Africa no great stress is laid on cleaning 



