354 



[November, 1912. 



SISAL HEMP. 



With the gradual but constant demand lor a 9upply of good com- 

 mercial vegetable fibres, whether lor textile, ropes, cordage or other 

 purposes, there would seem to be a promising future for so valuable a 

 fibre plant as the Sisal Hemp (Agave rigida var. sisalana). This plant 

 furnishes the commercial and well-known Sisal hemp from its leaves, and 

 has been in recent years somewhat extensively cultivated in South 

 America, Hawaii, as well as in British, German and Portuguese Ea&t 

 Africa. It bears long thick, succulent leaves, 4 to 6 feet in length, usually 

 smooth-edged and ending with a terminal spine. The flowering or 

 "poling" (from the fact that the inflorescence is produced on a long 

 upright pole, 10 to 12 feet in height, which springs from the heart of the 

 plant) takes place when the plant is about 7 to 8 years old. " Poling " 

 affects the quality of fibre ; therefore in order to preserve the latter the 

 " pole " should be cut at about 3 feet from the ground, all ground suckers 

 being also removed for the same purpose. If desired for propagation, 

 however, the flowering pole should be allowed to grow, when on an average 

 it will produce from 2,000 to 3,000 bulbils. The latter are an interesting 

 provision of nature, since the plant produces no seed. 



When collecting the leaves for fibre the lower and older ones are taken 

 first. This usually takes place in the third or fourth year from planting, 

 when, under favourable conditions, an average of 25 leaves per annum 

 may be obtained from each plant. Subsequent cuttings may be made 

 at intervals of about six months until the plants have reached an age of 

 about 8 years when, it is considered, the plants should have furnished a 

 total average of about 250 leaves. The plants then cease to be productive, 

 and the ground should be cleared and replanted. It is, however, stated 

 by some planters that a plantation may be maintained in a remunerative 

 condition by merely removing the stumps of the old exhausted plants 

 and thinning out the muckers to the requisite number, but this method 

 is not considered satisfactory. 



With regard to yield, an experimental plantation formed in the 

 Madras Presidency, "on a poor, red, gravelly soil," with a rainfall of 

 23 inches, and concluded in 1911, is officially reported to have given an 

 average yield of 3^ per cent, of fibre, the total return per acre (for 900 

 plants) being about 300 lbs. Sir Daniel Morris, however, estimated a return 

 of 60 lb. from 1,000 plants, while as much as 800 lbs. per acre has been re- 

 corded in an American report on Sisal hemp in Hawaii. 



The plant will thrive in either a dry or moderately wet climate and 

 is not exacting as to soil, though the best returns are produced on good 

 loamy land. It may be said that soil which would be too poor or dry for 

 most other crops would suit the Sisal hemp plant. On average soils the 

 suckers or bulbils may be planted at distances of 8 feet by 5 feet giving 

 1,089 plants to the acie. In the Madras plantation above referred to plants 

 were spaced at 8 feet by 6 feet apart, that is at the rate of 900 plants to 

 the acre. 



H. F. MACMILLAN. 



