April 1908.] 



325 



FIBRES. 



ZAPUPE FIBRE PLANT. 



In Continuation of the note published 

 in the Keiv Bulletin, No. 5, 1900, p. 190, 

 the following report by Mr. L. J. Nunn, 

 British Vice-Consul at Vera Cruz 

 Mexico, which we have received through 

 the courtesy of the Under Secretary of 

 State for the Colonies, is of considerable 

 interest. 



It is suggested that Zapupe might be 

 profitably introduced into the West 

 Indies and other tropical colonial 

 stations, but at present, unfortunately, 

 we are still ignorant of the specific 

 identity of this Agave. 



A small plant, grown from one of the 

 bulbils referred to in the previous note, 

 is making good growth in the erardens. 



Letter from the British Vice-Consul, 

 Vera Cruz, Mexico, to L. J. Jerome, Esq., 

 His Majesty's Consul, Mexico. 



Vera Cruz, 20th June, 1907. 



Sir, — In view of the increasing atten- 

 tion that is being given to the culti- 

 vation of the Zapupe, a fibre-producing 

 plant similar in most respects to the 

 Henequen or Sisal hemp, the source of 

 so much wealth to the planters of 

 Yucatan, I have the honour to transmit 

 herewith a short report on its cultivation 

 and uses, more especially as compared 

 with the Sisal, as I believe, from the 

 nature of the soil in which it is raised in 

 this State, that it might be profitably 

 introduced into some of the islands of 

 the West Indies and other parts of the 

 Empire within the tropics. 



1 have, &c, 

 (Signed) L. J. NUNN, 



British Vice-Consul 



The Cultivation and Uses op the 

 Zapupe in Mexico. 



Of the many experiments that have 

 been made with fibre-producing plants 

 to discover one that would equal for 

 production and results the Henequen or 

 Sisal of Yucatan, all seem to have given 

 but little result with the possible excep- 

 tion of the Zapupe, to the cultivation 

 of which, in a limited way, a consider- 

 able deg ree of attention has been 

 devoted i in the State of Vera Cruz 

 during he last three or four years. 

 Attempts have been made, as is well 

 known, in various parts of the world, 

 but more especially in some of the 

 islands of the West Indies, to raise Sisal 

 or Henequen, but in general these 

 attempts have been failures, the con- 

 sensus of opinion being that there are 

 certain peculiarities in the barren and 

 arid plains of Yucatan, which, together 



with climatic conditions, render the 

 land unrivalled for the cultivation of 

 this particular class of hemp-producer. 

 It would seem, however, that in the 

 Zapupe a rival to the Henequen or Sisal 

 has been discovered, that can be pro- 

 duced under equally as economical 

 conditions, and which will give as good 

 if not better results under more varied 

 conditions of soil and climate. 



Botanists, it would appear, have not 

 yet decided on the exact classification of 

 the Zapupe, and although it resembles in 

 many points the Henequen, it can only 

 be said that they are both of the 

 Agave family. 



The first experiments in the cultivation 

 of the Zapupe were undertaken in the 

 year 1901 or 1902 on a small scale, on some 

 lands cleared for this purpose in the 

 Canton of Tuxpan, in the State of Vera 

 Cruz, where it is found in its wild state, 

 and it is estimated that in the same 

 vicinity there are now set out over five 

 million plants in various stages of growth. 



The cultivation of the plant requires 

 no particular skill nor does it require 

 much attention, a point of considerable 

 moment in countries where labour is 

 scarce andaptto be unreliable. The usual 

 methods adopted are to take the young 

 shoots when they are but a few inches 

 high, cut them clear from the parent plant 

 and set them out in carefully prepared 

 nurseries, where they are allowed to 

 remain from eight to ten months, by 

 which time they will have assumed a 

 height of from a foot to two feet above 

 the ground. At this stage they are then 

 transplanted to ordinary lands, all the 

 preparation required being to turn the 

 ground up with a plough and set the 

 young plants in the furrow, banking the 

 soil up around them so that they may be 

 well covered. One of the reasons for 

 this is that when the young plants are 

 lifted from the nursery all the roots are 

 cut off that part where the roots should 

 be resembling more or less the sharp end 

 of a tent peg, so closely are they cut 

 down. As a rule, the furrows are run in 

 the usual parallel manner, about seven 

 feet apart with a distance between each 

 plant of about five feet, which would 

 give a little over one thousand plants to 

 the acre. Between three and four years 

 subsequent to transplanting the plant 

 will bloom unless pruned, when flower- 

 ing will not take place for a matter of 

 fifteen years. In order to increase the 

 fibre-producing power of the plant, the 

 flowering period must be kept in check 

 as long as possible. 



At from four to five years old the cut- 

 ting of the leaves can be begun, the plant 

 continuing to produce for a term of 



