37 
at 14s. to 16s. per ton. . Specimens of leaves of the plant yielding lie 
fibre were lately received from Mr. Alexander Gollan, Her Majest 
Consul at Manila, and the above determination was confirmed. Fibre 
from Agave americana is prepared for local use both in India and else- 
where in the East Indies. It is probable that Agave rigida exists only 
here and there as garden vti s, and we are not aware of the occur- 
rence of the unarmed PE plant Agave ae eh var. sisalana anywhere 
the Plants of this have lately been distributed in small 
quantities from Kew to the diim a Gardens at Calcutta, Mad 
bae ca Ms have and Maur 
R ut 1,000 plantes sd forwarded from Kew to the Botanical 
ited i Chlitiita: dh d the Government of India has since taken steps 
to obtain a larger quantity for experimental trial in different parts of 
Fist. 
At the request of the Governor, Sir John Thurston, who is keenly 
interested in the pti enin of new industries in this remote British 
possession, gene of the various species of Agave yielding fibre have 
been forwarded for ales atiois at the Botanical Station at Suva. In 
spite of the long time necessarily occupied in transit by way of Sydney 
he plants have arrived in good order, and the reports received of their 
growth is very satisfactory. 
Frere MackrNEs. 
Until I recently the only machine in use in Yucatan was a clums 
ae sta stated to be a native invention, called a ‘< or.” Rude as this 
ece of siethehtdi is, it is said that a native will clean 20 leaves a 
mi seit with it, though with a'considerable per-centage of waste of fibre. 
While the raspador is said to have been superseded on some plantations, 
it is more or less generally used at the present time for extracting the 
immense quantities of Sisal hemp exported. ‘The average work of one 
machine is claimed to be 7,000 leaves per day with two feeders or 
operatives 



Yucatan “ Raspador " Fibre "aa 
The above is à peru imu of ne: po tan machines taken 
from the Report of the Department fy p aean U.S.A. 
U 70229. 
> 
