xii SISAL HEMP AND BLACK WATTLE 113 



soil, and, most important of all, a good supply of local 

 labour. An ideal spot would be three or four thousand 

 acres of red soil, with little clearing required, sloping 

 gradually down to a stream, with possibly a small 

 waterfall thereon. This area would touch the line on 

 one side and be bounded on the other with a native 

 reserve. If I had to distinguish, I would suggest that 

 labour is the most essential consideration, and a 

 compact configuration of ground with gradual and 

 easy slopes the second. 



In British East Africa, sisal poles sooner than in the 

 Bahamas or Yucatan, from five to five and a half years 

 being the accepted period. This fact, though at first 

 the premature poles caused somewhat of a panic 

 among planters, is in reality all to the good. The 

 effect is that all the leaves must be cleared from the 

 plants in two and a half to three years instead of in a 

 longer period. Provided, therefore, that the leaves 

 have arrived at a marketable length, which is in fact 

 the case, it means economy in space, a great 

 desideratum. The number of leaves number between 

 200 and 220, which is an unusually good average ; 

 indeed in German East Africa 160 is held to be 

 more than respectable. 



The principal point that has worried sisal growers 

 has been the best distance between each planted 

 sucker or bulbil. The original idea was to plant 

 sufficiently far apart to enable the crop to be renewed 

 by the growth of suckers between the original rows. 

 To attain this result 6 feet by 9 feet or an even 

 greater interval was desirable. It was found, however, 

 that the second or intermediate crop was short of fibre, 

 owing presumably to the exhaustion of the ground. 

 Nowadays, therefore, it is held desirable to plant as 



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