DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE. 43 



which remain unidentified, one of these being the immense Agave figured by the 

 author on page 38 of Rept. 5, Fib. Inv. series. 

 The commercial Agaves are described on the pages which follow. 



Agave americana. Century Plant. American Aloe. 



Endogen. Amaryllidacecv. Aloe-like leaf cluster. 



Native names. — Maguey, the plant; Pita, the fiber (Mex.); Pile, aloes (Fr.); 

 Bans-keora (Hind.); Jungli (Beng.); Cutthalay-nar (Ind. of Royle) ; Seubbara 

 (Arab.). 



A native of tropical America, but now distributed over both hemispheres. Em- 

 ployed in the United States as an ornamental plant; in Mexico, for its fiber; in India 

 (Madras), as a hedge plant along railways ; in Spain and Sicily, for cordage and mats ; 

 in the West Indies, for cordage, hammocks, and fishing lines; in South America, 

 for various uses. Fig. 1, PI. I, is a century plant in the grounds of the Alcazar Hotel, 

 St. Augustine, Fla. 



Structural Fiber. — Three to 7 feet, derived from the leaves. " Commercial fiber 

 is white to straw color. Its main faults are the stiffuess, shortness, and thinness of 

 wall of the individual fibers, and a liability to rot." (Spon.) ' 'Composed of large 

 filaments, white, brilliant, and readily separated by friction ; it takes color freely 

 and easily. It is light, and contracts under water rapidly." (Watt.) Commercial 

 quotation, London, £35 to £40 per ton. A number of samples in the Government 

 fiber exhibit (W. C. E., 1893), including not only those prepared by myself, but 

 samples extracted by Mr. T. Albee Smith, of Baltimore, show a line, soft, white fiber, 

 of more or less brilliancy, a distinctive characteristic being a wavy or crinkled 

 appearance which prevents the bundles of fibers in mass from lying closely parallel, 

 as is the case with sisal hemp and similar straight fibers. Another marked peculiar- 

 ity-is great elasticity. 



Dr. Forbes Royle states that the India pita has been found superior in strength to 

 either coir, jute, or sunn hemp. In a trial of strength near Calcutta, the tests were 

 made with ropes 1 fathom long and 3 inches in circumference, with the following 

 results: The Agave or pita broke in a strain of 2,519^ pounds; coir, 2,175 pounds; 

 jute, 2,456^ pounds, and sunn hemp, 2,269^ pounds. In an experiment with Russian 

 hemp and pita, the first named broke with 160 pounds' weight, and the latter with 

 270 pounds. These experiments show the great strength of the fiber, which is 

 worthy of more extended cultivation and employment in the arts. 



Among the interesting uses of this fiber is the manufacture of lace by the peasant 

 women of Fayal. At one time the Mus. U. S. Dept. Ag. contained a valuable series 

 of manufactures of this delicate and beautiful lace, which at that time was largely 

 sold in Paris at very high prices. It was said by the donor of the series that there 

 were but 25 women on the island capable of producing this lace, the art requiring 

 practice from childhood. 



Cultivation and preparation.— The plant is cultivated in Mexico, in the south 

 of Europe, in India, Mauritius, etc. The best account of the method of cultivation 

 is given in the Die. Ec. Prod. Ind., Vol. I, p. 137. 



No attempt has been made in the United States either to cultivate the species or 

 to use the leaves of growing plants for fiber. R. W. Paton, representing a California 

 industrial company, corresponded with the Department of Agriculture a few years 

 ago relative to cultivation in southern California, and proposed to utilize the fiber 

 in commerce. The want of a good machine, however, was the principal obstacle 

 met with in the endeavor to start the industry. A quantity of leaves were at that 

 time sent to Mr. Van Buren, of Jacksonville, Fla., to be extracted by his machine, 

 but this inventor found the leaves too thick and wide for the machine as at that 

 time constructed. T. Albee Smith, has cleaned the leaves successfully on a machine 

 described in Rept. 3, Fib. Inv., Dept. Ag., p. 39. A powerful machine employed for 

 extracting the fiber is also described in Spon's Enc, pt. 3, p. 913. 



