350 USEFUL FIBER PLANTS OF THE WORLD. 



than half the quantity of hemp in a day that an average Kentucky 

 negro operator produces on the American brake. Thirty to 35 kilo- 

 grams of fiber per day is the limit of production for a single brake on 

 a Sarthe farm — equal to 6j or 75 pounds of fiber. It is more carefully 

 prepared, however, being twisted into small •• streaks" or loose ropes, 

 a number of thee making up a bundle of several kilograms in weight, 

 this being the form in which French hemp goes to market. In Ken- 

 tucky breaking is an expensive operation, costing $1 to $1.25 per hun- 

 dred pounds of fiber. The work is performed in the winter by negroes, 

 and the best workers will not average more than 150 pounds in a day. 

 A number of patented machines, possessing more or less merit, have 

 been brought to public notice in the past four or live years, several of 

 which have been examined by the Office of Fiber Investigations. The 

 fact remains, however, that while several of the more recent inventions 

 that have been looked into are "promising," the hemp growers of Ken- 

 tucky do not consider that a perfectly satisfactory machine is available 

 at the present time. See Report No. 1, Fiber Investigations Series, 

 page 73. and Report No. 8, same series, page IS. See statements also 

 on jute machinery, same report, page 39. The Kentucky hemp brake 

 is figured on page 109 of this work. 



LEAF FIBER. MACHINES. 



Probably a greater degree of success has been achieved in the inven- 

 tion of machines for extracting of the liber from such fleshy leaved 

 plants as the Agave, etc., than for any other classes of liber plants. 

 Since the establishment of the Office of Fiber Investigations, several 

 successful machines have been placed on the market which will enable 

 a sisal-hemp grower to market his crops without recourse to the clumsy 

 raspadore used so many years in Yucatan. It is not necessary to enu- 

 merate these machines, as they have been fully described in the special 

 reports of the Office of Fiber Investigations, particularly in Nos. 3 and 5. 

 The makers of some of the best of the American machines in this class 

 have, since those reports were published, constructed other machines 

 that are said to clean the leaves of such plants as the pineapple, yucca, 

 etc. A good machine for extracting the liber from the husk of the 

 cocoanut is included in the category. 



COTTOX MACHINERY. 



The Department has made no special study of the various gins. 

 presses, etc. for baling the crops that are available. Brief statements 

 are made under the title Gossypium, in the body of this work, and ref- 

 erence is also made to The Cotton Plant recently published by the 

 Department of Agriculture. See also Spon's Encyclopedia, noted in 

 list of authoi : 



Many other forms of fiber machinery have been devised for employ- 

 ment in the < Hd World: they have not been studied by the Department. 



