5 



against the revolving wheel. In a second the pulp is crushed and thrown into a pit under tho wheel 

 and the fibre is drawn back, one half of the leaf being cleanei quicker than one can follow the .notions' 

 Itio leat is reversed and the other end cleaned in tlie same manner." 



In tho Bulletin of the Botanical Department, Jamaica, July 1891, a report is published of the re- 

 sults of experiments with the Weicher fibre machine at Jamaica. The machine was driven by steam 

 power, and it required four persons to feed it and remove the fibre. 



Amongst the leaves cleaned were "those of the Sisal hemp plants, Affave rigida, var. elonqata and 

 Agave rigida, var. sisaluna. The results .nay bo briefly summarised at follows : 115 leaves (wei4in<* 

 185 pounds) were cleaned in 17 minutes These Celled wot fibre weighing \30f pounds and dry° fibre 

 weighing 8± pounds. The out-turn of dry fibre per day of 10 hours would thus bo about 291 pounds 



At the Bahamas an Ame.ican machine known as the Albee Smith fibre-cleaning machine was 

 lately tried. An account given by the United States Consul at Nassau, dated July 10th, 1891 states 



t "Considerable difficulty was expei ienced in getting the machine to run properly, owine to the 

 tact that the steam plant used was defective, and tho pulley a' d belts were not of the proper size 

 width, &c. But, despite these drawbacks, the operation of the machine was said to be decidedly satis' 

 factory, and nearly all present were of opinion that, under proper conditions, the machine would verv 

 easily do all that was claimed for it, and that it was a most valuable improvement over all other ma.-hines 

 in use in the colony. The new machine is entirely automatic It grips the leaves continously as f ist 

 as the operators can supply them, holds them firmly during the operation of cleaning, and delivers fch« 

 fibre completely and beautifully cleaned at the further side. No reversing of the leaves or any part of 

 the machinery is required. The operator simply suJies the leaves, and the machine does the rest It is 

 said to be capable of cleaning 50,000 leaves a day, extracting therefrom 3,000 lbs. of fibre " 



It will be noticed that the exact returns are not here given. Those claimed for the mar-hine bv 

 the makers are evidently purely conjectural, and having regard to the tested results of other fibre 

 machines, it is impossible to attach any importance to them. 



Numerous other fibre machines have been brought before the public during recent years Somp 

 of these are of undoubted merit, but ir is evident that the expectations of cultivators of Agave olanr, 

 have not yet been fully met. The conditions existing in Yucatan, where clumsy and wasteful ma 

 chines have hitherto been adopted with apparent success, are of a peculiar character. Labour there i« 

 so cheap that cultivators can afford to carry on the industry under circumstances entirely unsuited to 

 other parts of the world. Numerous improvem >nu have, however, been lately made in English and 

 American machines, and there are good grounds for believing that the problem will be ultimately solvecL 



chine, and so save the time and trouble of reversing the leaves before the whole length can be cleaned. 

 The automatic feeding attached to some machines whereby the leaves are presented sideways may ac- 

 complish this, but so far such an arrangement has not been tested for a sufficient time to judge of its 

 practicability. The urgent demand which will soon be felt in the Bahamas for a satisfactory means 

 of utilising the extensive fibre plantations established in those islauds will call forth strenuous efforts 

 on the part of those interested in the subject. At Mauritius a machine for extracting the fibre of 

 lurcrcea gigantea has been in use for some years, and it appears to givo satisfactory results. This is 

 fully described in the Kew Bulletin, May, 189<>, p. 98. Tho lab mr in Mauritius is chiefly supplied by 

 Indian coolies. 



Market Value of Sisal Hemp. , 

 In view of the largely increased production of Sisal hemp in Yucatan, and the extensive planting 

 which is taken place in the Bahamas, Turks I- lands, Florida, and other places, it may be useful to re- 

 view the prices which have been realised by Sisal hemp of good quality in this, country during the last 

 10 or 15 years. By the courtesy of Messrs. Ide and Christie, fibre brokers, of 72, Mincing Lane, E.O. 

 we are in a position to place on record the average prices per ton of Sisal hemp in the London and 

 Liverpool markets for every month during the last 13 years from 1879 to 1881, both inclusive. The 

 table attached speaks for itself. It miy, however, be useful to point out that tho price per ton has 

 been as low as £17 15s. (in January, 1886), and in March, 1889, it rose as high as £56 !0s. These 

 are the minimum and maximum prices respectively during a period of 13 years. The average price 

 for each of the 13 years, beginning with 1879, are as follows.: — £>A ; £27 ; £28 ; £28 ; £27 ; £21 ; £19 ; 

 £21 ; £33 ; £37 ; £50 ; £30 ; £26. Tho average price for the whole period is £28 10s. nearly. Prices 

 ruled highest during the year 1889, when the average price was £50 por ton. During tho year 1891 

 the average price was £26 per ton, or nearly one half of wnat it was two years previously in 1889. The 



per ton nigner tnan wnen we last noticed. * It is evident mat trie market value or Sisal hemp 

 has shown considerable fluctuation of late years 



It has already been shown that the bulk of the Sisal hemp produce 1 in Yucatan is shipped to the 

 United States. The price paid for Sisal hemp in the New York market during the last 13 years is 

 therefore necessary before we can take a complete view of the Sisal hemp industry for that period. 



So far, we can only give returns of prices iu the United States, published on the 31st December, 

 1891, for the last three years as follows : — 



1889, 8f cents per pound (£40 per ton) ; 1890, 6 cents to Q± cents (nominal) (£28 to £29 par 

 ton) ; 1891, $\ cents to 4§ cents (£*0 to £20 10s. per ton). 



In the meantime the oomplete returns kindly placed at our disposal in regard to Sisal hemp in this 

 country cannot fuil to be of se.vice : — 



* The Return dated 16th May, 1892, gives spot value at £23. " A good business haa boon done during tho mouth 

 at about quotations." 



