Jan. 1908. J 



15 



Fibres. 



"N"in the Article in " Capital " refers frequently to this cultivation in 

 Assam. But judging from his remarks he very evidently has had no practical 

 experience of Sisal Cultivation. When Sisal planting was started, one of its 

 principal virtues was its supposed indifference to the kind of soil in which it was 

 planted. It was believed to grow best and produce a paying crop upon a soil too 

 poor to support a paying crop of anything else. It was even believed that a worn 

 out tea garden would be rejuvenated into a flourishing concern by simply planting 

 it with Sisal. "N"says that Sisal although growing upon rich cultivated land, 

 grows best and produces best fibre upon poor arid land. Now every Sisal plante r 

 knows— and in some instances the knowledge is likely to be dearly bought — that 

 although Sisal will exist on poor land it will not produce leaves giving either 

 quality or quantity of fibre to pay for the cutting and decorticating. 



According to " N " the Sisal is a long-lived plant if judiciously cultivated. If 

 by judicious cultivation he means that cultivation, which will insure a fair crop of 

 good quality fibre, according to all practical experience of the cultivation of the 

 plant it will shorten its life. But during its shorter life it will produce more fibre 

 and of better quality than it does when grown on poor land, although it may live 

 three or four times the number of years. Contrary to being a long-lived plant it is 

 essentially a short liver, as, like all mono-carpic perennials it dies when it flowers. 



" N " again says that when the plant gets old, in about fifteen years the 

 fibre deteriorates and the plant may be thrown out and replaced. This statement 

 is so ridiculous to those who know anything about the cultivation of Sisal that it is 

 hardly worth while commenting upon it if it were not that beginners might take it 

 seriously. If "N " puts out a plantation of Sisal and gives it that judicious cultiva- 

 tion already alluded to, in fifteen years he will not have one single plant left, as 

 before that time they will all have poled and consequently died. But taking it for 

 granted that the plantation has been properly looked after, the new plants which 

 have replaced the dead ones will be in full bearing, and some of those even will be 

 poling and dying. 



Whether the leaves are cut or not makes no material difference in the time of 

 the plants poling. It used to be thought that if the plants were cut too hard it 

 induced early poling. This has not yet, to the writer's knowledge, been proved, 

 but cutting too hard certainly weakens the plant and shortens the after coming 

 leaves. As to " N's " remarks upon tvet soil, the plant will not grow upon water- 

 logged soil, but will grow luxuriantly upon a soil in which tea will not exist, — a 

 soil, the surface of which is continually only 18 inches above water level. It is not a 

 deep rooter and has no tap root. 



Its roots have not even a spreading habit, and if the soil in which Sisal is 

 planted be not of fair average, to good quality, feeding the plant must be resorted 

 to and is absolutely essential if a profitable quantity and quality of fibre is to be 

 obtained. 



A low-lying damp situation is not a desirable one for this plant owing to its 

 restricted transpiratory system. 



Most Indian plants growing in such situations are provided with free canals 

 which run along the substance of the leaf converging at the tip. This is, supple- 

 mentary to the ordinary transpiratory pores of the leaves and in certain conditions 

 of the atmosphere which retards the usual transpiration, the canals come into use, 

 and the water drips from the tip of the leaf. The Sisal plant is exceedingly deficient 

 in transpiratory pores, and is not provided with such canals, and dur ing a cold damp 

 spell the transpiration is often so checked as to cause a rupture in the tissues of the 

 leaf from pressure within, and causes an unsightly black blotch which discolours 

 the fibre and reduces its value if the attack is severe. 



