167 
The above is a representation of one of the Yucatan machines taken 
from the Report of the Department of Agriculture, U.S.A. [No. 3, 
1891.] The following description of it is quoted by Mr. Charles 
Richard Dodge :— 
“ It is simply a wheel, like a 4-foot pulley, 6-inch face, with pieces of 
foot apart. This wheel runs in a heavy wooden case. When working 
well it makes about 110 revolutions a minute. The leaf is put in 
through a small hole in the case, and being held by a strong clamp, is 
allowed to whip downward as the wheel moves around. A heavy block, 
like the brake of a car-wheel is, by lever, brought to bear on the leaf, 
pressing it against the revolving wheel. In a second the pulp is 
crushed and thrown into a pit under the wheel, and the fibre is drawn 
back, one half of the leaf being cleaned quicker than one can follow the 
motions. The leaf is reversed, and the other end cleaned in the same 
ner.” 
In the Bulletin of the Botanical Department, Jamaica, July 1891, a 
report is published of the results of experiments with the Weicher fibre 
machine at Jamaica. The machine was driven by steam power, and it 
required four persons to feed it and remove the fibre. 
run properly, owing to the fact that the steam plant used was defective, 
i idth, &e. But, 
despite these drawbacks, the operation of the machine was said to be 
decidedly satisfactory, and nearly all present were of opinion that, under 
extracting therefrom 3,000 Ibs. of fibre.” 
uring recent years. Some of these are of undoubted merit, but it i 
and wasteful machines have hitherto been adopted with apparent success, 
re of a peculiar character. Labour there is so cheap that cultivators 
can’ afford to carry on the industry under circumstances entirel 
ited to other parts of the world. Numerous improvements have, 
