August, 1908.] 



128 



Fibres. 



Mr. Boyd says, not only a living, but a 

 most comfortable one for his old age, 

 and a living which begins to be 

 enjoyed within five years of planting. 

 As far as profit is concerned, he adds, 

 putting the expenses at the extreme 

 and the fibre at the lowest price obtain- 

 ed in a series of years in New York, the 

 principal market for the world's pro- 

 duction of Sisal fibre— viz., 4| cents, or 

 2Jd. per lb. — which is equal to £20 19s. 

 8d. per ton, Sisal hemp will give a clear 

 profit of from 50 to 70 per cent. 



As regards the best distance at which 

 to plant, Mr. Boyd says authorities differ ; 



it is however largely a question 



of soil. He advocates 12 feet between 

 the rows and 6 feet between plants, 

 which gives 605 plants per acre ; and 

 he says that the plant thrives best with- 

 out any hoeing or ploughing. Once a 

 field is planted, he adds, it may be 

 practically left to itself, as there is pro- 

 bably no plant except the castor oil 

 plant which requires less care to bring 

 it to perfection, or which giows under 

 more apparently adverse circumstances 

 than Sisal. There is one trouble in 

 Queensland, however, which is tbe same 

 as in India — dearth of plants. In the 

 former country, Mr. Boyd says, the 

 demand is far in excess of the supply, and 

 importations from foregin countries are 

 impossible in some cases owing to the 

 prohibition against their export. He 

 maintains also that the life of the Sisal 

 plant is intimately connected with the 

 production of the pole, and that it may 

 be materially shortened by not cutting 

 the leaves at the right age or by over- 

 cutting. With careful management no 

 pole should appear for ten or even 

 twenty years. It is also believed that 

 the root suckers, if allowed to remain 

 attached to the mother plant for a long 

 period, tend to exhaust the latter and to 

 accelerate the period of poling. As 

 regards probable returns in Queensland, 

 Mr. Boyd remarks :— 



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 

 rate of leaves in Queensland. In Yuca- 

 tan, the weight averages-about lib. 15 oz. 

 Let us take the lesser weight as a basis 

 for a calculation of returns — that is, 

 501b. as the weight of forty leaves. Four 

 per cent, of this turns into marketable 



fibre, dried and white, 2 lb. of fibre per 

 plant. This gives us 2,000 lb. 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, however, 

 take £35 as the market price. An allow- 

 ance 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. Deducting 

 this from the sale price, the net proceeds 

 per acre amount. The planter will, how- 

 ever, do well to reckon for a first crop 

 upon about half a ton of fibre per acre ; 

 40 per cent, on the sale price reduces this 

 to £10 10s., which represents the net 

 profits per acre. Mr. Boyd describes a 

 number of machines, and speaks most 

 favourably of the respective inventions 

 of Mr. T. C. Todd, of New Jersey, U. S. A., 

 and of Mr. Thos. Barraclough, of 

 Bucklesbury, London. Finnally, he says 

 that the Sisal plant has been free from 

 disease and insect pests in Queensland, 

 where its worst enemy is a hurricane. 

 — Indian Agriculturist, Vol. XXXIII,, 

 No. 4, April, 1908. 



AGAVES AND SOIL DENUDATION. 



An excellent example of the use of 

 vegetation in arresting soil denudation 

 is reported from South Africa, where 

 there is removal of the soil through the 

 agencies of burning, excessive trampling, 

 torrential rain, etc. It is stated, how- 

 ever, that a good deal of success has 

 attended efforts made to combat this 

 evil by planting the American 'Aloe ' 

 (probably Agave americana) on affected 

 areas. 



An effective barrier is formed to the 

 denuding effects of torrential rain by the 

 establishment of lines ot these plants 

 across sloping lands, and since the sedi- 

 ment washed down is stopped by the 

 barrier, periodical terraces tend to be- 

 come formed on the hillside in the course 

 of a few years. 



Further, shelter is provided for other 

 plants which grow up below the lines 

 and form an additional mass of vegeta- 

 tion, while the young succulent leaves of 

 the agave afford a supply of palatable 

 food for stock during dry seasons.— 

 Agricultural Neivs, Vol. VII, No. 153, 

 March, 1908. 



