684 



the fibre is prepared from wild plants (Kew Bull. Dec. 1887, 

 pp, 5-7; 1890, pp. 220-224). There are several machines on the 

 market. In East Africa the '' MoUa ^' machine — used to some 

 extent in Yucatan; of 48 h.p. and capable of treating 85,000- 

 120,000 leaves in 10 hours — requires the produce of at least 

 600,000 plants covering over 300 acres to keep it going profitably 

 (I.e. 1908, p, 301); in Yucatan one fibre machine is stated to be 

 required for every 100 acres (I.e. March 1887, p. 7); in Jamaica 

 one machine (Finnigan Zebriske <fe Co. Patterson, N.J., U.S.A.) 

 of 12-14 h.p. takes 4000 leaves per hour — one man feeding the 

 leaves and one girl taking off the clean fibre (Agric. News 

 Barbados, April 2oth, 1914, p. 134); in the Bahamas 2000 acres 

 of one company occupy two factories and two machines, output 

 about 68 tons, and 1250 acres in bearing of another company 

 are stated to have three factories and two machines — I Todd 

 and 1 Villamor in use; output about 79 tons (Col. Rep. Ann. 

 No. 496 (1906) for 1905-06, p. 13; Agric. News, Barbados, 

 Jan. 6th, 1906, p. 11) for preparation of the fibre. The above 

 remarks on machinery are quoted only to give some indication 

 of the requirements and for fuller particulars reference should be 

 made to the papers in Kew Bulletin and other papers quoted 

 below on the subject. 



The more important species cultivated in Yucatan, Mexico, 

 is Agave foiircroydes^ Lemaire {Agave rigida Mill. var. elongata^ 

 Jacobi), " Henequen," '' Sacci " or '' Sacqui," also known as 

 " Sisal," of which a plant from Yucatan was received at Kew 

 in May 1890; it was dead on arrival and kept as a Museum 

 specimen (now in No. iii. Museum). It differs principally in the 

 length of stem (4 ft. below the leaves) and in having small black 

 teeth about an inch apart along the edges of the leaves (Kew 

 Bull. 1892, p. 22). This plant is reported by Dewey (Verslag 

 van het Veselcongres . . - Soerabaia, 8th July 1911; West 

 Indian Bull. xvi. No. 2, 1917, p. 104) to be the only species 

 cultivated in Yucatan for the production of fibre for export 

 and that it furnishes more than 90 per cent, of the Sisal fibre of 

 commerce. The plant under consideration, however, appears to 

 be better known and more widely distributed under cultivation 

 and in Yucatan the " Yaxci " {A. rigida^ var. sisalana) is said 

 to furnish the best quafity fibre and the *' Sacci " or " Sacqui "^ 

 {A. fourcroydes : syn. A. rigida, Mill, var- elongata Jacobi) the 

 largest quantity of fibre (Kew Bull. March 1887, p. 4). 



In Nigeria it is probable that any development in the culti- 

 vation would be more profitable in the Northern Provinces. 

 In Ilorin it is reported (Ann. Rep. Dept. Agric, N. Nig. 1914, 

 p. 16) that the growth was good of 2 acres of Sisal planted with 

 suckers from Zungeru on June 23rd, 1914, and in the same 

 province (1917) the growth of the crop first planted was reported 

 as entirely satisfactory and ready for cutting. Extraction bv 

 hand on a small scale had been done and some excellent rojie 

 had been produced. A machine had been obtained for extracting 



