* 
30 
guard against all possible epe yos however, the yield of fibre per 
acre can be safely placed at half a 
Considerable interest has lately been taken in endeavouring to trace 
the source from which the amas have received their present supply 
f Sisal hemp plants. The Bahamas Sisal (or Pita, as it is called 
ig i : 
891, 
; Dt Perrine’s survivin g daughter, states that the general 
isicing of the Perrine grant (in aecordance with the conditions impose 
by the Government) occurred in 1846. For this purpose 36 families 
f Bahamas people were to be brought over to Florida *to go upon 
e 
After the death of Dr. Perrine and the practical abandonment of the 
ccn e the Agave plants spread rapidly and they were transplanted 
everywhere in gardens by the early settlers for the sake of ornament 
and pisibiy also to make hedges. It is also méntioned by Mrs. Walker 
that a schooner load of young plants was gathered and taken away 
they were taken somewhere to the south, as it was found that they 
would ^ sae audi further north than the spot érigitially intended by 
Dr. Per 
oe e plants were then widely distributed at Key West and the 
adjacent coast. They have lately (1891) been carefully examined again 
by Mr, Charles Dodge with the result already giv 
As the islands of the Bahamas are adjacent to southern Florida and 
Gs, 
the Agricultural Record of Trinidad, January 1891, p.6. According 
to his M RE s view, the Sisal hem lant was introduced to the 
Bahamas by the late Mr. C. Nesbitt, a former Colonial Secretary, who 
