277 
ma e mechanism of which is so arranged that one wheel cleans 
etait i the leaf, the chain taking it along, where another wheel 
cleans the other hal and then throws out the clean fibre at the oppi 
en wo men a boy are employed at the machine, one man 
see that the jev enter the machine on their length, and that they do 
not ride one on the other; one to attend to and regulate the machine, 
and the boy to receive the fibre as it is brought out by the endless 
chain. 
As soon as the fibre is extraeted it is dried, for if allowed to remain 
without ne sene to the sun immediately after cleaning it becomes 
dark and spot 
Yield per seh — The yield of fibre from an acre of Henequen is 
from 1,000 lbs. to 1,470 Ibs. per annum. The number of plants usually 
set out in an aere is 650, giving an average of 33 leaves from each 
plant, and from 50 to 70 Ibs. of clean fibre to the 1,000 leaves. Making 
an average calculation of 650 plants to the acre, 33 leaves from each 
plant, yielding 60 lbs, of fibre to the 1,000 leaves, the return would be as 
follows :—33 x 650 = 21,450 leaves yielding 60 x 214155, = 1,287 lbs. 
clean fibre per annum. The planters never speak doubtfully of their 
returns, as experience shows them that their crops can be relied on with 
almost complete certainty. 
Cost of Working and Profits——The planter estimates his crop to 
cost for ei cutting, cleaning, baling and ma arketing from 2} 
cents. to 3 cents. per lb. At the present price of fibre e 5 per cent, 
Ib. taking 3 peri, as the cost of production, an acre yielding 1,287 Ibs. 
would give a net profit of 25 dollars 
ter comparing the soil and plants of the meti with that of 
Yucatan, I assure your Excellency that the on compares most 
favourably with the other; and that we have in this colony eve very re- 
quirement for the development of the sa ng and I am most sanguine 
as to the ultimate result of the Bahama Hemp indus 
(Signed) ^ E. Jerome STUART. 

CCLXXIX.—LIBERIAN COFFEE IN THE MALAY 
NATIVE STATES. 
Continued attention is being directed to the cultivation of Liberian 
coffee in different parts of the world. "There are grounds for believing 
that the neglect into which it had fallen of late years is being gradually 
replaced by a greater interest in the capabilities of the plant, and in its 
undoubted value for cultivation at low elevations and in climates quite 
