290 



FIBER PLANTS 



FIBER PLANTS 



Venezuela, and one of the plants called " cabulla " 

 of Central America. In most of these countries its 

 fiber is produced in small quantities for domestic 

 use, but only in the islands of Mauritius and St. 

 Helena is it systematically cultivated for the pro- 

 duction of fiber for export. 



Fig, 402. Forto Ricsia 'HagMey iFurcrceatuberosa). Three-year-old plants 

 from bulbs. 



It requires for its best development a tropical 

 climate with a moderate rainfall, and a soil of 

 good fertility. Under favorable conditions it grows 

 more rapidly than sisal, producing its first crop of 

 leaves in the third year. 



The leaves are crushed and the pulp scraped 

 away by machines, but the fiber is afterward washed 

 in soap and water, rinsed, dried, beaten and picked 

 over, requiring a large amount of handling. The 

 green leaves yield about 3 per cent of dry fiber, 

 the yield per acre ranging from 1,000 to 2,000 

 pounds. 



Mauritius fiber is white, soft, more elastic than 

 sisal, but also weaker. It is used either alone or 

 mixed with sisal and other fibers in the cheaper 

 grades of coarse twine and cordage of small diame- 

 ter. During the past five years Mauritius hemp has 

 been quoted in the New York market at six to 

 seven and seven-eighths cents per pound, usually 

 one-fourth to one cent per pound less than sisal. 



Ixtle. (Pigs. 403, 404.) 



Ixtle (ext'-le) or istle (est'-le) and tampico are 

 names applied to a group of hard fibers ten to 

 thirty inches long, obtained from the cogollos 

 (co-hol'-yos) or inner immature leaves of several 

 different kinds of agaves and yuccas, all growing 

 without cultivation on the dry table-lands of 

 northern-central Mexico. None of the ixtle-pro- 

 ducing plants has been cultivated for fiber produc- 

 tion, and they are rarely found even in botanical 

 gardens or collections of economic plants. 

 ■ Three kinds of ixtle are recognized by the trade. 

 (In 'trade quotations the name is usually spelled 

 istle, instead of the Mexican ixtle.) 

 (1) Jaumave istle (How-mah'-ve), a nearly white 



fiber twenty to thirty inches long, resembling sisal 

 but somewhat finer and more flexible, is used largely 

 in the cheaper grades of twine and cordage and 

 for ore sacks. This fiber is secured from Agave 

 lophantha in the Jaumave valley about sixty miles 

 from Victoria, in Tamaulipas. (Fig. 403.) 



(2) Tula istle, shorter and coarser 

 than Jaumave istle, also used for the 

 cheaper grades of cordage, is espe- 

 cially adapted for the manufacture 

 of brushes. This fiber is secured 

 partly from Agave Lecheguilla (Fig. 

 404) in the states of San Luis Potosi, 

 Coahuila, Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon 

 and Zacatecas. The plant is abundant 

 in western Texas, but rarely utilized 

 there. The leaves of Agave univittata, 

 A. eceruleseens and A. Kerchcevei, all 

 growing in the dry highlands of the 

 above-named states, are also used 

 for the production of tula istle. 



(3) Palma istle, a rather gummy, 

 yellowish fiber, ten to thirty inches 

 long, used chiefly in the manufacture 

 of cordage, is obtained from several 

 species of yuccas or "palmas," as 

 these plants are called in Mexico, the 

 principal ones being "palma sam- 

 andoca," Samuda carnerosana; 



" palma pita," Yucca Trecukana and Y. Treeuleana, 

 var. canalieulata. All of these plants grow along 

 the lower slopes of the mountains rising from the 

 high table-lands of Mexico. 



The ixtle fibers are cleaned 'chiefly by hand by 

 drawing each leaf, first one end and then the other, 

 repeatedly between a blunt knife and a block of 

 wood. The palma leaves have to be steamed or 

 given an alkaline bath before the pulp can be 

 scraped away. Machines are beginning to be used 

 for cleaning ixtle, but the results are not yet 

 entirely satisfactory. 



Ixtle fibers have been used in Mexico for textile 

 purposes from prehistoric times, but until within 

 the last decade they were used in this country only 

 for shoe-brushes, 

 clothes - brushes, 

 scrubbing-brushes 

 and the like. The 

 high prices of sisal 

 and abacd have 

 made it neces- 

 sary to introduce 

 cheaper fibers 

 for low-priced 

 cordage, and im- 

 proved cordage 

 machinery has 

 made it possible 

 to use ixtle fibers 

 with good effect. 

 The fiber is strong 



and durable, but rather stiff and harsh. Sacks made 

 of ixtle are said to endure ten years of constant use 

 in handling ores in Mexican mines. In the past ten 

 years the importations of ixtle fibers have increased 



Fig. 403. Jaumave istle (Agave lophan- 

 tha). Fiber is obtained from the 

 inner leaves. 



