Fibres- 



326 



[April 1908. 



eight to ten years. Cutting takes place 

 three times a year, each yield per indivi- 

 dual plant being from about twenty-five 

 to thirty leaves, the weight of fibre per 

 leaf amounting* to probably not quite 

 half an ounce, so that each plant would 

 give per year about two and one-half 

 pound of fibre. 



From three years and onwards each 

 plant will give off anywhere from two to 

 a half dozen shoots, and, if allowed to 

 flower in its early stage, from the stalk 

 which runs up from the centre to a 

 height of twelve feet and more, it is 

 possible to cut a hundred or more slips, 



Although up to the present no exten- 

 sive plant has been erected for the treat- 

 ment of this fibre by machinery, there 

 is little doubt as to the confidence in its 

 future possessed by those engaged in its 

 cultivation, for whereas experiments as 

 to the possibility of its uses and produc- 

 tion were only begun in 1901, it is safe to 

 say that at present there are fully four to 

 five thousand acres of ground now cleared 

 and set out with four to five million 

 plants in various stages of growth. 



The best localities for the cultivation 

 of Zapupe are gently sloping plains or 

 mountain foothills, with a soil fairly 

 rich to poor and of not too porous a 

 nature. Drainage must be good, as if 

 the plants get set too long in stagnant 

 water the roots will rot and in general 

 the growth and production of fibre will 

 be retarded. As the plant is essentially 

 tropical, it is perhaps needless to say that 

 its cultivation at any considerable alti- 

 tude is an impossibility ; the best results 

 in fact will be obtained where the atmo- 

 sphere is warm and humid and with but 

 slight variations in the temperature. A 

 too sandy soil should be avoided as ab- 

 sorbing too quickly the surface moisture 

 on which the shoots, especially from the 

 parent plant, are dependent. A clayey 

 soil again is equally bad, as it seems to 

 cause the roots to double and break in 

 their endeavours to spread. 



A rough estimate would show that the 

 outlay for tending the young plants in 

 the nursery, preparing the ground for 

 transplanting, together with cost of the 

 plants would be approximately : — 



$35-00 



7-50 

 7'50 



Shoots per 1,000 



Sowing and tending in nursery 



per 1,000 ... 

 Preparing ground and planting 



Total ... §50-00 

 Up to the present time the general 

 uses to which this fibre has been applied 

 have been limited to the making of food 

 and game bags, lariats, and a species of 

 gunny cloth, but more recent experi- 



ments have demonstrated its adapt- 

 ability for working up into rope, and it 

 is on this ground that several local com- 

 panies have been formed and are pro- 

 jected for the raising of this plant on a 

 Jarge scale in order to compete with the 

 Henequen or Sisal hemp growers of 

 Yucatan, in the production of a rope- 

 making fibre. 



Comparison between the respective 

 merits of Sisal hemp and Zapupe from 

 the point of view of the cultivator show 

 many points in favour of the latter if, 

 as is hoped, the fibre of the Zapupe 

 should prove to be equal for commercial 

 purposes to that of the Sisal. For ex- 

 ample, the rapid growth and develop- 

 ment of the Zapupe is quite extraordi- 

 nary. In from three to four years, in 

 many cases, the plant will have arrived 

 at a stage where the gathering or cutting 

 of the leaves may be taken in hand 

 whereas the Henequen or Sisal takes 

 fully six years to arrive at a condition 

 of sufficient maturity to permit of the 

 cutting of the leaf. 



From the point of view of yield of 

 fibre the difference in favour of the 

 Zapupe is again very marked, as the 

 following data will show : — 



Zapupe. Henequen 

 or Sisal. 



Plant ... 1 1 

 Yearly yield of 



leaves ... 80 25 



Cuttings per annum 3 2 

 Weight of fibre per 



leaf ... ... | oz. 1 oz. 



Product ... 2Ubs. U lbs. 



It w r ill be seen from the foregoing that 

 the Zapupe will yield in a year fully a 

 third more weight of fibre than can be 

 obtained from the Sisal, but on the other 

 hand the labour and increased work 

 entailed makes it doubtful whether the 

 revenue derived from the extra weight 

 of fibre produced by the Zapupe would 

 not be more than swallowed up by the 

 excess occasioned in expenditure. For 

 instance, in the Zapupe three cuttings 

 per year are necessary. Eight leaves 

 have to be culled and carted to the 

 decorticating machine. The eighty 

 leaves have to be put through the 

 scraper three times, and the refuse to be 

 removed is equally as great in volume, 

 whereas with the Henequen or Sisal 

 there are only twenty-five leaves per 

 plant to handle from the plantation to 

 the machine shed, the same results are 

 obtained with two scrapings as are pro- 

 duced by three in the case of the other 

 plant, so that it remains quite a question 

 as to whether the larger quantity of 

 fibre obtained really does offset the 

 increase in expenditure that so 



