122 



[August, 1908. 



FIBRES. 



SISAL FIBRE IN FOREIGN LANDS' 



The cultivation of Sisal hemp in Ger- 

 man East Africa, judging by an article 

 which is published in thelast issue of the 

 Bulletin oj the Imperial Institute, is pro- 

 gressing most favourably. The original 

 plants, 1,000 in number, were imported 

 from Florida in 1893, but of these only 62 

 survived. However, propagation from 

 them was so carefully attended to that 

 by 1898 the number had increased to 

 63,000, and by 1904, out of a total of 

 1,800,000 plants, 1,300,000 were ripe for 

 cutting. From these 624 tons of fibre 

 were obtained, which gives a yield of 

 about 17 oz. per plant, but in the follow- 

 ing year the yield from the same number 

 of plants was 887 tons or about 25 oz, 

 per plant ; and it is calculated that 

 the annual crop from an acre planted 

 with 800 plants should amount to from 

 900 lb. to 1,200 lb. of fibre. It is to be noted 

 also that as it is found in German East 

 Africa that cutting can only be carried 

 on for two or three years before the 

 plant poles, after which it dies, it is 

 necessary to insert new plants between 

 the old ones in order that the yield may 

 be maintained. The progress of the in- 

 dustry in the Colony may best be 

 judged by the quantity of hemp export- 

 ed, which in 1903, i.e., ten years after the 

 first plants were introduced, amounted 

 to 422 tons of the value of £16,000. In 

 1906, however, the quantity of fibre 

 exported amounted to 1,836 tons, of the 

 value of £66,900. Here is a lesson for 

 agriculturists in India, where the Sisal 

 plant thrives admirably, and where there 

 are hundreds and thousands of acres 

 lying fallow on which it should succeed 

 admirably. 



The machine employed for Sisal hemP 

 extraction in the larger undertakings i n 

 German East Africa is one which is used 

 to some extent in Yucatan, Mexico, andi s 

 known as the " Mola" machine. It costs 

 about £650, is capable of treating from 

 85,000 to 120,000 leaves in ten hours, and 

 needs about 48 h.p. to drive it. The 

 bundles of leaves as brought in from the 

 plantation are placed by one or two 

 workers on a travelling lattice, which 

 carries them up to a table in front of 

 the machine. Four men are then re- 

 quired to open the bundles and lay the 

 leaves on the conveyor, which introduces 

 them to two raspadors arranged at right- 

 angles to one another, where they are 

 cleaned, one-half of the leaf being strip- 

 ped at a time. The fibre on leaving the 



machine slides down on a wooden frame, 

 and is then subjected to washing, women 

 being employed for this work, in order 

 to keep the machine sufficiently employ- 

 ed, a plantation of at least 600,000 plants is 

 said to be required. The disadvantages 

 of this machine are the difficulty of 

 replacing damaged parts, and the lack of 

 durability of the bronze coating with 

 which certain portions of it are provided. 



The Sisal fibre industry also bids fair 

 to become well established in Queens- 

 land, and numbers of interesting parti- 

 culars regarding it are to be found in a 

 Bulletin on the subject issued by Mr. 

 A. J. Boyd, of the Department of Agri- 

 culture and Stock, Brisbane. He states 

 that in writing his pamphlet he was 

 "actuated solely by the desire to establish 

 an industry which, in all other countries 

 where it has been introduced, has put 

 thousands, aye, even millions of pounds 

 sterling into the pocket of planters and 

 farmers, besides furnishing a consider- 

 able revenue to the countries interested." 

 Mr. Boyd first of all deals with the 

 possibility of unremunerative prices 

 resulting from increased production, 

 regarding which he says :— 



" These fears may be at once dismissed. 

 The Sisal hemp market, for the past 

 twenty years, shows that the demand is 

 constantly increasing. The greater the 

 production the greater the demand. 

 Phenomenal prices, such as those of* 1890, 

 when the price ran up to £50 15s. per ton 

 have been obtained. But I would point 

 out that such exceptional prices have 

 been the result of "Trusts," and cannot 

 for a moment be regarded as a regular 

 market price. If the planter obtains £25 

 per ton for the product, there remains a 

 big margin of profit, as I shall presently 

 show when dealing with the returns of 

 plantations in Yucatan, the Bahamas, 

 Florida, Mauritius and other tropical 

 countries. The enormous trade done in 

 these countries and the ever-increasing 

 demand with which the production has 

 not yet been able to keep pace, the 

 expansion of the wheat-growing industry 

 for which millions of pounds of binder 

 twine are needed annually, and of late 

 the alarming decrease in the production 

 of Manila hemp (Musa textilis), all tend 

 to show that those entering upon the 

 Sisal hemp industry cannot fail, if 

 they go into the matter in earnest, to 

 reap a rich reward." 



The Arabs say that he who plants a 

 date palm has provided for his old age, so 

 he who plants a field of Sisal provides, 



