568 FIBRES 



in districts which have been worked inefficiently for many 

 years previously. The old manager having been dis- 

 charged, it becomes the chief aim of his successor to earn 

 a dividend for the shareholders. As a rule he will not 

 rind sufficient mature leaves to feed the decorticating 

 machines, and naturally it is his first object to obtain a 

 sufficient amount of material rapidly this end is attained 

 with greater speed and certainty by " wild cultivation." 



On the other hand, this method of cultivation has 

 serious drawbacks. Such plantations are not easily kept 

 free from weeds, and it is very difficult to gain access to 

 them. The harvestable leaves are unequal, and so is the 

 resulting fibre material. Besides, in such plantations the 

 leaves are far more frequently infected with fungi and 

 bacterial diseases than in well-kept plantations. The 

 weeds often grow over 6 ft. high in such fields, affording 

 cover to countless enemies of the plants. Thus we must 

 bear in mind that in such cases dangerous antagonists of 

 the agavae may find their way into the plantation, and 

 may spread epidemically under conditions favouring their 

 development. A further menace to this method of 

 plantation is that under wild cultivation the sisal plant 

 more easily succumbs to the fate of almost all cultivated 

 plants, viz., that it begins to degenerate. This has 

 already occurred to some extent with the species grown 

 in Java. 



It should, therefore, be noted that by " rational 

 cultivation" i.e., by taking proper regard of accurate 

 planting distances and of regular weeding of the field 

 better results must be obtained in the long run than by 

 the last described method of " wild cultivation." Above 

 all, the quality produced will be more uniform. 



According to the development of the leaves, the agavse 

 are usually allowed to grow for two and a half or, more 

 commonly, three years, before the first cutting is begun. 

 The first harvest of leaves as a rule produces a very 

 irregular material, thus necessitating preliminary sorting 

 of the leaves. From each plant one can obtain at the 

 earliest term of harvest forty to forty-five leaves; at the 

 proper term up to sixty leaves. In the following year, 

 and as a rule also in the third year, the number of 

 harvestable leaves may rise to seventy. Generally 



