April 1908. 



327 



Fibrea. 



much extra labour must entail, and 

 scarcity of labour in the hotlands of 

 Mexico, especially near the coast, is and 

 probably will be for many years to come 

 the most formidable difficulty that the 

 planter of this and other produce has to 

 contend with. 



It must, however, also be borne in 

 mind that the cultivation of the Sisal is 

 one to which for the last thirty years 

 and more the closest study has been 

 given, and every possible experiment 

 tried, with the object of increasing the 

 yield and effecting, by improved machin- 

 ery, economies in the expenses of treat- 

 ment, the result of which has been that 

 whilst sale prices have remained at a 

 most profitable figure, the cost of pro- 

 duction has steadily decreased. 



That there is a bright future for those 

 engaged in the production of Zapupe, 

 there can be but little doubt, the value 

 of the fibre having being proved beyond 

 the experimental stage, in addition to 

 which it has been shown that it possesses 

 both for toughness and tensile strength, 

 the necessary qualities to admit of its 

 being worked up into " binder twine," 

 and even more profitable use than its 

 manufacture into rope. As a matter of 

 fact, probably over ninety per cent, of 

 the Sisal to-day produced and exported 

 from the peninsula of Yucatan to the 

 United States is made into "binder 

 twine," and even with this there is a 

 constant demand for other raw materials 

 as substitutes. 



It may prove of interest to prospective 

 Zapupe planters to learn the gigantic 

 strides that have taken place in the pro- 

 duction of Sisal during the last twenty- 

 five years, which are shown by the 

 following table showing the quantities 

 and value of the exports of this produce 

 from Yucatan alone. It is also worthy 

 of note that at its lowest selling price 

 of three-and-a-half cents Mexican per 

 pound (the Mexican cent is about equal 

 to one farthing), there was still a margin 

 of profit to the planter, whose gains were 

 simply notorious throughout the country 

 when the maximum price of nineteen- 

 and-a-half cents Mexican per pound was 

 attained :— 



Weight in Total value 



ars 



Years. 



1880 

 1881 

 1882 

 1883 

 1884 

 1885 

 1886 

 1887 

 1888 

 1889 



Number 



of 

 Bales. 



112,911 



154,730 

 150,585 

 202,805 

 261,137 

 267,478 

 242,791 

 224,865 

 218,129 

 252,432 



Metric 

 Tons. 



18,179 

 24,911 

 24,244 

 32,651 

 42,043 

 43,064 

 39,089 

 36,283 

 35,118 

 40,641 



of 



Exports. 

 £. 

 177,757 

 272,656 

 273,655 

 353,750 

 347,164 

 333,481 

 392,972 

 589,442 

 664,125 



1,024,369 



1890 

 1891 

 1892 

 1893 

 1894 

 1895 

 1896 

 1897 

 1898 

 1899 



1900 

 1901 

 1902 

 1903 

 1904 

 1905 

 1906 



Number 

 of 

 Bales. 



, 279,907 



. 323,585 



,. 363,881 



.. 360,857 



,. 373,773 



.. 383,413 



. 397,163 



. 419,975 



. 418,972 



, 445,978 



. 499,634 



. 517,519 



.. 528,246 



. 590,430 



. 606,008 



. 597,289 



. 599,568 



Weight in 

 Metric 

 Tons. 



45,079 

 52,065 

 58,584 

 58,097 

 61,605 

 61,729 

 65,762 

 70,545 

 68,834 

 73,190 



81,093 

 83,191 

 83,993 

 93,058 

 97,205 

 96,534 

 97,198 



Total value 

 of 



Exports. 

 £ 



523,030 

 657,168 

 839,994 

 846,713 

 684,817 

 611,219 

 726,423 

 821,869 

 1,891,807 

 2,021,124 



2,261,603 

 2,278,345 

 3,643,279 

 3,333,115 

 3,202.258 

 2,692,543 

 2,724,752 



— Royal Botanic Gardens, Keiv Bulletin, 

 No. 10, 1907. 



THE SISAL FIBRE INDUSTRY 

 QUEENSLAND, 

 With Notes on Mauritius Hemp, 

 murva, and the mexican 

 Zapupe Fibre. 



IN 



By A. J. Boyd. 



A very full account of the plant and 

 of the methods concerned in its growth 

 and the production of the fibre. We are 

 limited by considerations of space to the 

 following extracts : — 



Allowing 1,000 plants to the acre, each 

 plant at four years gives forty leaves a 

 year, of a weight of about 120 lb. This has 

 been shown to be the average weight of 

 leaves in Queensland. In Fucatan, the 

 weight averages about lib. 10 oz. Let 

 us take the lesser weight as a basis for 

 a calculation of returns — that is, 50 lb. 

 as the weight of forty leaves. Four per 

 cent, of this turns into marketable fibre, 

 dried and white, or 2 lb. of fibre per 

 plant. This gives us 2,000 lbs. to an acre. 

 The value of the fibre in the Melbourne 

 market is at present (1906) £37 10s. per 

 ton, f.o.b., at Brisbane. We will, how- 

 ever, take £35 as the market price. An 

 allowance for cultivation, preparation, 

 baling, and carriage to a Queensland 

 port of 40 per cent, on the value of the 

 fibre is considerably in excess of the 

 truth-40 per cent, on £35 is £14. Deduct- 

 ing this from the sale price, the net 

 proceeds per acre amount to £21. The 

 planter will, however, do well to reckon 

 for a first crop upon about half ton of 

 fibre per acre ; 40 per cent, on the sale 

 price, £17 10s., reduces this to £10 10s., 

 which represents the net profit per acre. 



