THE CUBA REVI E.W 17 



HENEQUEN GROWN IN CUBA AND ITS POSSIBILITIES 



The plant is abundant in many localities of Cuba and is attracting much attention as a 

 commercial proposition owing to the recent disturbances in the Yucatan district of Mexico, 

 and the consequent shortage in the stock of fiber now in this country. 



The henequen s^'sal (Agave foureroydes) grown in Cuba is similar to the Mexican variety 

 and is suitable for the manufacture of binder twines. It grows in large clumps wliich forms 

 patches from one to three feet apart. It grows best on high ground, and plants observed in 

 swampy places were noticeably smaller than the highland product. The leaves grow to be 

 six feet long and all start from a crown near the sm-face of the ground. As many as fifty 

 leaves are found on one plant. When the leaves are cut off with a machete the crown will 

 produce new leaves. The plant is propagated by suckers and is of fairly rapid growth, and 

 the fiber extracted is of much strength and very fine. The fibers are near the upper surface 

 and run the entire length of the leaf. They are extracted by decorticating machineiy in 

 mills located near the plantations and the fibers are washed to remove adhesive pulp and 

 coloring matter and hung in the sun to day and season. The old wooden wheel carts and teams 

 of oxen, similar to the sugar cane carts, are used in transporting the cut henequen from the 

 fields to the mill. From this fiber a rope is manufactured in Cuba which is used only locally 

 in the sugar mills. It is somewhat like a manila rope, but of a whiter color and not so strong. 



The native drivers of ox teams braid their whips from it, preferring it to leather, and claim 

 it equally as lasting as leather, if not more so. Some of the natives braid cord from it and make 

 their hammocks of it. The rope made from sisal fiber is not nearly so strong in tensile strength 

 as manila and when placed in water will soon deteriorate. 



Cuban henequen, known widely as sisal (although this henequen is not the true sisal) should 

 have opportunities for better development and receive clue consideration as a factor in the 

 cordage industry. When it is considered that in the fiscal year 1914 the United States im- 

 ported 195,086 tons of sisal which were valued at .S22, 680,480, and it must be remembered 

 that SOSt- of the binder twine produced in this country is manufactured from sisal fiber; that in 

 normal years about 200,000,000 pounds of binder twine are required for hai'\'esting the grain, 

 corn and flax crops, and from two-thirds to three-quarters of this is made from henequen sisal 

 fiber, practically all of which is produced in Yucatan and exported from Progreso, the magni- 

 tude and importance of this industry, and the possibilities from other sources of supply is 



Drying Hemp 



